Progressive RockMetalJazz
Writers:
Josep Maria Llovera
David Sàez
Combine reference points like Opeth and Porcupine Tree and it’s hard not to end up with something interesting, if fairly specific. Even so, it also pulls in somewhat more classic sonorities toward the end of the album, where a couple of keyboard solos stand out and tie everything together nicely. And there’s also a guest spot from Ross Jennings, which naturally takes them into Haken territory. So, if that’s your kind of thing, you’ll find this a magnificent record you can’t afford to miss.
Battlesnake “Dawn of the Exultants and the Hunt for the Sheperd”
These eccentric Australians offer us a new instalment where they keep mining humour and theatrics. This time we get more reference points closer to traditional metal, like Judas Priest or Green Lung, but with classic proto-metal elements in the style of Blue Öyster Cult or Wishbone Ash. Fans of more modern bands like Ghost will almost certainly enjoy this one too.
Sometimes you get the feeling there’s a kind of competition going on to see who can push things further into extremity within prog tech metal, even at the cost of sacrificing any sense of coherent composition. In the end we get a machine gun, in the shape of a drum kit, hiding some compositions that would be quite pleasant in another format, though then they might not be as “admired” or “respected” by certain corners of the audience. If it’s not a day when you’re liable to end up with a headache, it’s well worth giving this a listen, and afterwards you’ll want to hear the Dalibert & Sylvian offering we’ve got for you.
Ferrvmort “La Conjura de la Discòrdia”
With the heat of the season, it’s always nice to venture into a dark, gloomy forest, thick with black moss and few living things around. Maybe the sounds feel threatening, and the few movements you sense out of the corner of your eye don’t seem to have good intentions.
The personal project of Ferran Giralt, guitarist of Coure, the Barcelona post-dark-doom band with free-jazz trumpets, explores dark territory here, as if it were the soundtrack to a horror film. Compositions born as therapy that turn into expressions of buried fears. Four deeply dark ambient tracks, with no blast beats, no double kick drums, no growls. The only track with lyrics is a recited poem. Dark and deep, that much is certain.
Hey! This guy already put out a full-length record back at the end of 2024, “Ferrvmata”, with his first experiments in this vein. In his own words: “A pure exercise in introspection that has served as a therapeutic act. Having crossed a difficult path of detoxification, facing head-on a series of mental taboos and nihilistic routines I went through every day. Something I’ve managed to do, and I’m very proud of it. The conjunction and expression of these strong emotions, fighting the withdrawal from past rituals, has ended up shaping a small, dark and strange journey.”
A pleasant surprise for the summer solstice, one that could bury you right through to the winter solstice.
Go Go Penguin “Necessary Fictions”
New record from the Manchester trio, who keep exploring the borders of smooth jazz, or “blend jazz” as it’s apparently being called now, though we’re not quite sure why. Either way, when the music is good, labels become secondary, so if you like instrumental jazz with plenty of rhythm and a trip-hop edge, or the more minimalist kind, you can’t miss this album.
Unlike previous records, here they’ve leaned more heavily into electric bass, modular synthesizers, and collaborations with several artists lending their voices to the trio’s compositions, likely in an attempt to expand their music to new audiences. Either way, if you like them, you’ll be able to catch them this autumn at the Barcelona Jazz Festival.
“Three Sisters” is a record full of refined psychedelia, with a fluid, hypnotic, fresh sound. All three musicians shine in their genre fusion, but the bass groove deserves special mention, present on every track with some really elegant lines. The record closes with “No Word”, the group’s first track with vocals. It’s a surprise that adds new dimensions to what had been, until now, purely instrumental psych-rock.
Don’t do what “someone” did and start listening to the record expecting the legendary Italian Goblin, because if you’re expecting a horror-movie soundtrack, you’re in for a brilliant surprise! Not a disappointment!
After publishing his memoir, we now get the soundtrack that goes with it, since the album’s theme revolves around his father. So we get calm, relatively simple compositions, with a notable richness of arrangements, that can keep us company on days when we need a certain dose of relaxation, because thrilling and exciting it is not. At times it has a few Roger Waters tics, at others it sounds somewhat like Sting, and at certain moments it leans toward Pink Floyd, but it never quite manages to get us excited.
Katatonia “Nightmares as Extensions of the Walking State”
Katatonia’s thirteenth record is the first since the definitive split between their singer, Jonas Renkse, and Anders Nyström, guitarist and keyboardist since the band’s founding. A split driven by clashing views, both compositional and personal. Renkse has kept hold of the reins of the project as its undisputed leader, something that had seemed to be settling in with an iron fist for a while now.
This new rebirth shows more compositional continuity than a break with the past. The singer remains, as it could hardly be otherwise, the cornerstone of the brand. His velvety voice and melancholic cadence give it character and define these Swedes’ style. This time they sound thicker, darker and heavier, which doesn’t come across as especially exciting, but repeat listens let us sense possible interesting directions for the band’s future.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard “Phantom Island”
You can expect just about anything from the crazy King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and that’s where the surprise lies: whatever style these Australians decide to adopt for any given record, we can be certain it’ll be quality material, and they’ll defend it as if they’d invented the style themselves. We can see it in their prolific discography, or in their live shows, as we recently enjoyed at home over three consecutive nights with a completely different setlist each time, covering everything from the jazziest to the most experimental, by way of an electronic set or more thrash or prog-metal tracks, always carrying their psychedelic stamp… all done with an ease that feels anything but improvised.
On “Phantom Island” what grabs our attention is the use of orchestra, brass and strings, blended together excellently. We find everything from jazz fusion, to Chicago-style seventies rock, or (forgive us if this offends anyone) the more symphonic parts that recall ELO or Pink Floyd’s “Atom Heart Mother”. We’ll also find the most psychedelic Beatles of “Sgt. Pepper’s” or the Rolling Stones of “Their Satanic Majesties Request”, as if covered with the virtuosity of The Mars Volta. A thoroughly shaken and stirred cocktail.
An entertaining madness that will surely plant a few more names in your head and get your feet tapping along without you even meaning to.
From Helsinki comes this band’s debut record, which reminds us of a softer version of what a current-day Elder might sound like, leaning more heavily on the melodic and psychedelic side than the stoner elements. They describe their genre as a late strain of “Indie Bath”, which, for the curious, is a scene that emerged in the nineties in the English city of Bath; so when do we get an “El Palau d’Anglesola Prunk Style”?
If we can manage not to be overly demanding about the production, we’ll enjoy a good album with interesting, intense instrumental passages.
Melaine Dalibert & David Sylvian “Vermillion Hours”
Released through French label Mind Travels, this collaboration is carried mostly by the French pianist; just take a look at David Sylvian’s website, where it’s described as: “New album by Melaine Dalibert”. And since we’ve known for years now that the British composer no longer works as a vocalist, it’s hard to argue with him. Even more so when the record consists of two thoroughly minimalist pieces, with a piano dripping notes over background keyboard textures, which makes it very useful as playlist material for anyone prone to heart palpitations, or as a counter-asana after listening to Fallujah.
Nad Sylvan, stage name of Hugh Erik Stewart, has had a fairly long, prolific career, though we can’t ignore that he’s best known for his solid work fronting the trib… band, the one Steve Hackett put together to tour playing Genesis material. The album itself is decent but not especially notable. It moves between tracks reminiscent of late-seventies Gentle Giant, back when they didn’t overthink things, and others closer to what The Flower Kings might do. On the plus side, it doesn’t try to cash in on the work described above, but instead delivers an honest record true to his own tastes and artistic vision.
The solo project of virtuoso Californian guitarist Charlie Robbins presents this full-length record that recalls Polyphia quite a bit, though with rather more accessible moments. Essential listening for lovers of the six strings.
We’ve had to wait seven years for new material. Many of us discovered these Frenchmen thanks to their appearance at the Tòtum Festival back in 2019, and the well-known pandemic likely derailed their career from there. So we should be grateful they’re back with an acoustic record, blending new songs with others from their earlier work. Even more so given the elegance with which every arrangement has been handled, and the sensitivity of their performances, making this EP ideal for a relaxed listen that lets itself move you.
Writers: Josep Maria Llovera, David Sàez