New Releases: June 2026

The Samurai Of Prog – The 7 Voyages of Sinbad (June 2026)

The multinational collective The Samurai Of Prog, originally orchestrated by Marco Bernard and Kimmo Pörsti alongside Steve Unruh, has earned an irreplaceable cult status within contemporary symphonic progressive rock. Since starting out as a tribute band, they’ve evolved into a genuine syndicate of virtuosos who preserve and revitalise the essence of the genre’s golden years. On this colossal new concept work based on the voyages of Sinbad, the band doesn’t just pay homage to the roots of Genesis, Yes or ELP, but builds an imaginative world of its own, overflowing with harmonic and instrumental richness.

The record is structured around long-form suites where majestic symphonic arrangements stand out, alongside an omnipresent string section adding dramatic depth, and extensive use of vintage keyboards (Mellotron, Moog and Hammond organs) that will delight purists. Each “voyage” is an independent sonic odyssey that, combined with the talent of numerous top-tier guest musicians from the international scene, makes this album one of the most ambitious, complete and essential records of the year. A genuine feast for the intellect and the senses.

Rating: 8.5/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Official Bandcamp: Listen to the album by The Samurai Of Prog

Evergrey – Architects of a New Weave (June 2026)

Since forming in Gothenburg, Sweden, in the late nineties, Evergrey have been one of the most distinctive bands on the European scene, building their legacy on deeply melancholic, dark and emotional progressive metal. Tirelessly led by Tom S. Englund’s charismatic, cracked voice and compositional soul, the band has always steered clear of technical wankery in favour of “feeling” and lyrical introspection, exploring paranoia, anguish and human solitude.

“Architects of a New Weave” arrives as a mature statement of intent, consolidating the powerful, atmospheric sound they perfected on their most recent releases. Here we find the classic wall of down-tuned guitars and oppressive rhythm sections, balanced by near-cinematic curtains of keyboards that bring epic grandeur. This constant contrast between the vocal’s melodic fragility and the tight riffing shows that, despite their years on the road, Evergrey still have fresh ideas to move you and crush necks in equal measure.

Rating: 8.2/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Official Bandcamp: Listen to the album by Evergrey

Ayreon – 30th Anniversary: An Amazing Flight Through Time (June 2026)

It’s impossible to understand the phenomenon of modern metal and progressive rock without the figure of Dutch genius Arjen Anthony Lucassen. The universe he began creating in 1995 with “The Final Experiment” was the starting gun for a mega-project that would define the rules of space rock opera, bringing together dozens of singers and instrumentalists in epic science-fiction plots spanning centuries, planets and lost civilisations. With this commemorative release, Lucassen celebrates his project’s resilience and the loyalty of its enormous fanbase (“Ayreonauts”).

As expected, this is no mere commercial compilation. “An Amazing Flight Through Time” reinterprets some of the most glorious fragments of the band’s historic catalogue (with direct references to landmark works like “Into the Electric Castle” or “The Human Equation”), adding massive orchestral arrangements, reimagined solos and brand-new duets between the project’s classic vocalists. A masterclass in production and arrangement where otherworldly synthesizers collide with heavy guitars, making it clear why Ayreon remains the undisputed king of progressive opera.

Rating: 9.0/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Official Bandcamp: Listen to the album by Ayreon

Marco Ragni feat. Bjørn Riis – The Radical Act (June 2026)

Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist Marco Ragni has built a great reputation in the most atmospheric, dreamlike and psychedelic corner of progressive rock. Restless by nature and extremely prolific, Ragni has found his signature sound in expansive slowness and texture-building. For his new record, he invites Bjørn Riis (guitarist, vocalist and mastermind behind the revered Norwegian band Airbag), achieving an artistic synergy that exceeds expectations.

The combination of the Italian’s spacey universe and enveloping synthesizers pairs surprisingly well with the pinpoint emotion of Riis’s guitar. Together they gift us “The Radical Act”, an unhurried, nostalgic journey packed with extended instrumental developments, where the sustained, melancholic guitar tone — with its undeniable debt to peak-form David Gilmour — floats freely over tapestries of keyboards and hypnotic percussion. A record for dimming the lights, closing your eyes, and letting yourself drift far from the everyday noise.

Rating: 8.0/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Official Bandcamp: Listen to the album by Marco Ragni

Deep Purple – Splat! (July 2026)

When a band reaches the level of living legend that Deep Purple have, every new release can be read as a celebration, a miracle of longevity. Absolute pioneers of hard rock and, alongside Sabbath and Zeppelin, founding fathers of everything we’d later understand as heavy metal, the story of the “Mark II” line-up onward is living history of contemporary music. In the middle of 2026, putting out a studio album of original material is an exercise in pride, proof that the flame of pure rock still burns bright.

“Splat!” reflects exactly that: an unselfconscious band with absolutely nothing left to prove to the industry. The record strips away modern artifice to deliver a very warm, live-sounding production, where the impressive duels between Don Airey’s crunchy Hammond organ and razor-sharp guitar solos stand out spectacularly. Even though Ian Gillan’s vocal range has naturally settled into more restrained registers over the years, the rhythm section driven by Ian Paice keeps that swing and untamable nerve that makes them irreplaceable. Pure rock-and-roll vice.

Rating: 7.5/10 ⭐⭐⭐½

DevilDriver – Strike and Kill (July 2026)

Talking about DevilDriver means talking about one of the most well-oiled, lethal groove-metal machines to emerge from the early-2000s United States. Founded and led by the charismatic Dez Fafara (ex-Coal Chamber), the band has stayed faithful for two decades to its trademark sound: supersonic drumming with a demolishing double-kick, suffocating structures, an affinity for extremely rhythmic death metal, and torn, furious vocals that take no prisoners on any track.

With “Strike and Kill”, far from running out of steam, the formula is condensed into highly effective pills of sonic violence. Over a crystal-clear yet full-bodied mix, the breakdowns and rhythmic explosions are specifically engineered to tear apart festivals the world over. While the band isn’t reinventing the wheel, the technical virtuosity in the guitar section is absolutely worthy of praise, alternating dizzying solos with neck-snapping riffs built for the biggest mosh pits. Straight for the jugular.

Rating: 7.8/10 ⭐⭐⭐½

Official Bandcamp: Listen to the album by DevilDriver

Snarky Puppy & Metropole Orkest – Somni (June 2026)

Snarky Puppy’s ambition knows no known limits. The instrumental collective created and led from the bass by the genius Michael League has spent years laying down the law in modern jazz fusion and avant-garde R&B, racking up Grammy awards and systematically breaking down stylistic barriers. For the hotly anticipated album “Somni”, the group revives its stellar collaboration with the legendary Dutch Metropole Orkest, a formula that already brought them intergalactic fame and promises to raise their arrangements to unprecedented heights.

The symbiosis between the full symphony orchestra and Snarky Puppy’s electric groove is simply monumental. The strings here take on both harmonic and rhythmic roles, supporting the extremely complex brass and drum lines that define League and company. This is a record that demands multiple listens to grasp its layers and the underlying mathematical harmony, while keeping an almost-funk pulse that’s fresh and organic throughout. A showcase of collective improvisation where virtuosity never eclipses the power of melody, making “Somni” a masterpiece of contemporary arrangement.

Rating: 9.1/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Matt Berry – Everything’s Peachy (June 2026)

Reducing Matt Berry to the label of “comedian” alone would be a grave mistake and an insult to his undeniable compositional talent. Known worldwide for his sarcasm in shows like “What We Do in the Shadows” or “The IT Crowd”, Berry has spent many years putting out splendid records under the Acid Jazz label. His true weakness is a deep love for the English sonic aesthetic of the sixties and seventies, ranging from eccentric folk-pop all the way to jazz-funk, always playing and self-producing most of the instruments himself.

“Everything’s Peachy” reveals itself as a genuine celebration of British library music and the most instrumental, smoky end of acid jazz. A profusion of analogue Moog and Mellotron synths, run through organic phaser filters over an extremely raw rhythm section, turns these songs into hypnotic tracks that ooze coolness. A total masterclass in replicating a period-accurate retro groove without tipping into mere parody, this is a delightful record that will appeal to curious modern jazz-funk fans and lovers of vintage soundtracks alike.

Rating: 8.3/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Official Bandcamp: Listen to the album by Matt Berry

Ibrahim Maalouf – Trumpets of Michel-Ange (Vol. 2) (July 2026)

Ibrahim Maalouf is an absolutely essential artist for understanding the future and the globalisation of improvised music. Born into a prodigious Lebanese family, Maalouf has made famous his particular and unique use of the four-valve trumpet (created by his father), a tool that lets him play the quarter-tones typical of Arabic music, opening the door to fusions that would have been unthinkable before he burst onto the scene. In him converge French jazz virtuosity, urban hip hop, Afrobeat and Middle Eastern sounds, all with enviable technical purity.

On this second instalment of his already acclaimed “Trumpets of Michel-Ange” project, the energy climbs sharply toward more world-beat-oriented structures. The trumpet’s microtonality drives extremely long, euphoric improvisations over a brutal cushion of polyrhythmic percussion. There’s a striking, beautiful contrast between the pieces of atmospheric reflection and the dynamic bursts that invite live-show ecstasy. A top-tier cosmopolitan work, mature, rich in texture and completely revolutionary in how it reimagines the horn section.

Rating: 8.6/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

The Tomeka Reid Quartet – Dance! Skip! Hop! (May/June 2026)

Tomeka Reid, hailing from Chicago’s bubbling creative scene, has spent years dismantling the canon and repositioning the cello within the rigid structure of contemporary jazz and the avant-garde. Far from being a merely orchestral or background element, Reid gives the cello a leading, soloistic voice, percussive and harmonically daring, often played pizzicato, putting its impact on par with a distorted double bass or a second rhythm guitar.

On this sublime “Dance! Skip! Hop!”, she leads a fully stellar quartet featuring the invaluable contribution of Mary Halvorson, possibly one of the most original and boundary-breaking guitarists of our era. The album embraces intellectual dissonance and free jazz with impressive ease, building complex patterns that avoid the genre’s traditional edge and demand active participation from the listener. Despite the evident sonic deconstruction and surprising metre changes, the group never quite lets go of a subtle, jagged thread of groove that ends up fascinating and pulling the listener along. A genuine landmark work of nonconformist jazz from 2026.

Rating: 8.8/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

Official Bandcamp: Listen to the album by The Tomeka Reid Quartet

Deirdre Cartwright – Organik (July 2026)

Iconic English guitarist Deirdre Cartwright carved out a place on television and in the collective memory of eighties British musicians thanks to the BBC’s famous “Rockschool” programme and her membership of the group Tour De Force. Throughout her career, she’s been a constant reference point for her solid jazz lines, her bop training and her openness to the jazz-rock and European fusion culture of that era, showing reverent respect for the greats of the six strings while stamping her solos with an unmistakable elegance.

With “Organik”, she offers us a return to the strictest old-school organ-trio format, fusing the academic sophistication of instrumental jazz with Latin funk and a contagious groovy pulse. The thick, saturated organ tone provides masterful support for emphasising the rhythm, creating a warm setting over which Cartwright sketches melodies that seem simple but are complex to execute jazzwise. Far from chasing grand technical flourishes, the record radiates maturity, collective enjoyment and a pristine sound that becomes a sincere, relaxed ode to the golden age of late-twentieth-century instrumental fusion.

Rating: 8.0/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐