Progressive RockMetal
Writers:
Josep Maria Llovera
Gabriel Martín
David Sàez
Anneke van Giersbergen “La Vie”
“La Vie” is the first instalment of a trilogy our beloved Anneke plans to deliver by 2026 in the form of three EPs: “La Vie”, “La Mort” and “L’Amour”. Here we find four tracks where, following the recent death of her parents, she reflects on life, love and death. Personal, tender and emotional songs, always carried by that captivating voice that has stolen our hearts, and even though she occasionally slips in those Eurovision-style rhythms she’s so fond of, she wins us over and lets us enjoy this utterly charming guilty pleasure.
We’ll be waiting for the next instalments. She’s promised that once the third one is released, the whole trilogy will also come out as a compilation on CD and LP.
Riz Story has cooked up this record entirely on his own, playing every instrument and handling every production task; and, naturally, that approach was bound to run into difficulties somewhere, and in this case that’s exactly where the shortfalls show. On top of that, we get almost two hours of fairly personal music based on dystopian conversations the artist has had with an AI. The result is quite curious at times, blending Beatles-esque psychedelia, Queensrÿche-style epicness or kitschy Marilyn Manson vibes. And, as a curiosity, check out his Wikipedia entry — you’ll spot some names who accompanied him back in the early nineties.
Second full-length record from this Brazilian outfit, who’ve forged a lovely, consistent album with calm tracks drawing on influences like Pink Floyd, Steven Wilson or Camel. Full of ambient passages that wrap tenderly around a guitar that breaks through gently, it’s a delight for those moments when you want to steer clear of heavy sounds and enjoy some gentleness. Don’t miss it.
Coheed and Cambria “The Father of Make Believe”
Prog, or progressive, is a catch-all drawer where things get filed under all sorts of criteria. One of them is simply when someone makes things a bit more elaborate than usual. That’s the case with this band and this album. It’s essentially a collection of pretty-rock songs a touch more complex than what’s generally acceptable, and not much more. Very well made, with the personal stamp we always find in their compositions, but not especially significant, and for ears used to more convoluted material it ends up sitting somewhere in between.
Second record from this Copenhagen band, on which they develop highly complete, complex compositions ranging from prog-metal to, midway through the opening track, an adaptation of Saint-Saëns’s “Danse Macabre”. There are forceful passages with vigorous guitars and lyrical fragments where the piano and voice stand practically bare; all of it brought together with mastery and excellent taste.
Djabe & Steve Hackett “Freya: Artict Jam”
A lovely album between smooth jazz and jazz-rock from this Hungarian outfit, featuring a collaboration with a major name in prog. Impeccably crafted, yes, but at times treading dangerously close to the border of elevator music, or at least predictable jazz. Listeners with a particular fondness for more homogeneous music, brilliantly performed and full of polish, will likely enjoy it a great deal.
Don Airey “Pushed to the Edge”
Don Airey is an institution in the world of hard rock. Every song in the genre where, out of nowhere, keyboards suddenly appear and lift it to sublime heights, has been arranged and performed by this keyboard monster; just check his Wikipedia page (second time we’ve sent you there) to admire his CV. And what will we find on his album, besides an ugly cover? If you love classic hard rock in the vein of Rainbow or Deep Purple, you’ll enjoy it. It wasn’t hard to guess, since those are the two bands where, across different decades, he’s shone the most. Lastly, Don, find someone to sort out your website, because it’s annoying that it never works and we have to link your Facebook instead.
Echolyn “Time Silent Radio II” and “Time Silent Radio VII”
After a long hiatus (we thought they were done for), Echolyn offer us two different records with diverging approaches, both very well produced: “Time Silent Radio II” is split into two suites, moving through familiar symphonic-rock passages, but it doesn’t captivate the way “Mei” or their self-titled “Echolyn” did. Flawless execution but without phrasing that turns your head, though there’s plenty of emphasis on vocal harmonies. Even so, as background listening it’s very pleasant. “Time Silent Radio VII”, meanwhile, is a compendium of good pop-rock songs, though not especially progressive, offering something that will please fans of the style, well made and elegant.
The return of these Germans after more than a decade of inactivity. Their offering is quite interesting; a kind of very melodic prog with fairly forceful twists and a touch of metal. It moves through a multifaceted territory where we find passages in the style of Pattern-Seeking Animals, Arena, or closer to Threshold, Sieges Even. A fine combination of all these influences in a more than notable work.
Ghost Of The Machine “Empires Must Fall”
From Yorkshire comes this fairly standard entry within prog that draws on the classic British bands of the eighties: Marillion, Pallas, IQ or Galahad. There’s certainly an attempt, at least in the arrangements, to give it a more rocking, modern feel, but it doesn’t quite stand out among so much competition within the style. Even so, if you can look past the dated keyboards, you’ll genuinely enjoy it if these reference points are to your taste.
Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate “The Uncertainty Principle”
The studio project of Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland offers us a new instalment where we find compositions with a flavour of Steven Wilson, Pink Floyd or Frost*. While more than acceptable, the result ends up feeling a touch cold, since the programmed electronic drums give it an artificial air, lacking a bit of human feel, especially on the more up-tempo tracks.
Sometimes the best favour you can do a band is not review them. We’ll try to describe this as indie with pretentious prog airs, on top of being poorly produced. Consider yourselves warned.
Debut from this band of eclectic musicians from Rochester, New York. Their sound is pure, unfiltered seventies prog, in the style of Genesis or a more recent The Flower Kings, with a strangely simple approach, some shortcomings and questionable execution — an odd thing for an American production, though it does prove that the need for capable producers to help a band take a leap in quality applies everywhere. Even so, it’s a lovely record that’s genuinely enjoyable.
Imperial Triumphant “Goldstar”
Listening to this band is like snorting habanero chilli powder — it doesn’t sit well with everyone. Unclassifiable beyond saying they play experimental metal that’s very hard to digest: plenty of elegant growls, graceful blast beats, delicate distortion… In short, gallant, gentle songs (songs?) that, somehow, you listen to all the way through and think it might be good to see a therapist. Fabulous.
Over their career, the Plymouth band have given us excellent albums that have earned them a legion of diehard fans and a long career. Without doing their discography a disservice, “Dominion” won’t stand out within their history. It’s true the band is fully recognisable in the compositions, and it even recalls their early work at times, but they’ve ended up producing an overly homogeneous record, full of mid-tempo tracks that aren’t especially entertaining. Everyone’s allowed an off day.
Jason Bieler and The Baron von Bielski Orchestra “The Escapologist”
There’s simply too much new music to keep up with, and sometimes, for a few days, something slips past us that turns out to be well worth recovering. That’s what happened with this record from Jason Bieler (Saigon Kick), which is wild enough to deserve a mention and a listen. It does have some fairly standard rock tracks, but also others that are hard to pin down, and which are, if nothing else, thoroughly anti-mainstream.
Jethro Tull “Curious Ruminant”
What more can be said about this institution that hasn’t already been said. Their latest album won’t disappoint anyone, since it’s made honestly, showing us the special sensitivity Ian Anderson brings to his compositions, and opting for a direct production that very fittingly captures the essence of a veteran band that, at this stage, isn’t about to go wild and experiment the way they did back in the eighties (ah, what nostalgia for that “Under the Wraps” from 1984). So we get a notable record, straightforward and unpretentious, steering clear of extreme complexity, and one that will please everyone.
Jonas Reingold’s project reaches its sixth instalment, a new record following the paths of neo-prog. There was an attempt to do something a bit more modern, but it stops at throwing in an occasional double-kick rhythm here and there. So it’s stuck to the more classic concepts of the style, putting his compositional skill to use in delivering a track packed with prominent collaborating musicians, resulting in a high-quality, rather lovely product that ends up feeling a touch predictable, since it sounds like more of the same and comes across as relatively flat.
Besides treaties, good music also gets made in Maastricht. Back in 2021 they released a numbered, signed vinyl edition of 250 copies, on request, from the band. It contained, in full, a roughly twenty-minute piece they called “Babel”, inspired by the famous biblical story. This year they’ve released an edition offering six independent tracks taken from the original composition, which has the drawback of ending inconclusively, since the pieces have simply been cut apart and nothing more. That said, it closes with the full work at the end, which is possibly among the best they’ve offered to date, and where there are notable levels of delicacy and elegance, with great consistency in the production. The recommendation is to go straight for the big prize and enjoy the experience. Essential.
Malabriega “Frippada Andaluza”
The opening of this frippada makes it very clear we’re in the presence of a progressive band, where the title already winks at the creator of King Crimson. Flamenco inevitably enters with Juan Castro’s energetic voice and Manuel Soto’s Spanish-guitar accompaniment, which gradually intertwine and blend with the melodic, electric sounds of Joaquín Sainz. Throughout the record we get to enjoy these variations, where, across every style they touch, they flow from Andalusian rock to post-rock and to prog so organically and naturally that it gives Malabriega a distinctive stamp all their own. Wait until you travel to the most fierce, dark, metallic and fluid proggy south on “Calamidad”, and see how it leaves you.
A textbook prog-metal EP. It’ll remind you of the Dream Theater school filtered through Between the Buried and Me, so it’s well suited to those who love intense emotions and biting riffs.
O.R.k. “Firehouse of Falsehoods”
By this point we can safely say that the line-up built around Lorenzo Esposito on vocals, backed by two well-known prog names — the ever-smiling Colin Edwin, Porcupine Tree’s bassist, and Pat Mastelotto, King Crimson’s drummer — and rounded out by Carmelo Pipitone on guitars, has become a stable band.
It opens with energetic tracks recalling early Soundgarden, then moves through cuts with slower but perhaps more complex rhythms (don’t miss Pipitone’s solo and Mastelotto’s surges of intensity on “Mask Becomes the Face”). The record closes with “Dive In”, a track for those who recognise prog by a song’s length: almost fourteen minutes, with those slowly building intros, while we get to enjoy picking out each musician’s work throughout the track (good grief, the drums and bass on this one).
This fifth record may be the band’s most aggressive yet. It keeps the versatility that defines them, but on “Firehouse of Falsehoods” they’ve shown themselves rawer and more direct than ever. Everyone’s happy.
From Nottingham comes this heavy-prog offering that will likely captivate fans of the genre. The band combines classic elements of British progressive rock with modern influences, delivering a mix of powerful riffs, complex arrangements and some atmospheric passages alongside others with a jazzy touch.
You’ll find a full review at Tótum Revolútum Press.
Swedish act Streetlight, with their record “Night Vision”, offer us a whole set of AOR tracks. Elegant, but with an eighties sound that contrasts with their youth. Worth highlighting are the singles “Long Distance Runner” and “Sleep Walk”, the epic “Fly With Eables”, the standard-issue ballad “Where Did Love Go?” and the best and longest track, “End Game”. Perfect for driving calmly and not thinking about anything. It’ll delight fans of well-made AOR, especially with those “eighties” touches.
Charlie Griffiths (Haken) indulges his teenage influences on an album that suspiciously recalls the thrash-metal compositions of the late eighties and early nineties. The melodies are a touch friendlier than Megadeth, but that’s basically the whole description, and there’s no point racking our brains looking for some possible, probable prog detail, because he is who he is. None of that here. And if you’re still in any doubt about the reference points, just look at the cover.
Uranus Space Club “Space Pleasures”
If you like guitar and vocals, you won’t find either here. The dominant role goes to long, intense bass riffs, which support the saxophone and keyboards carrying the melodic weight. Their blend of dark rock, a touch of jazz, a bit of funk and the occasional passage that could be considered prog is the album’s strong point. There’s a funny, very loose cover of “Black Sabbath”, retitled here as “Funk Sabbath”. They really work best when they lean into a darker, rougher line rather than when they try to be pleasant, which makes the record a bit uneven, if still curious.
Writers: Josep Maria Llovera, Gabriel Martín, David Sàez