March has been an incredible month by all comparisons, after a slightly disappointing February. There are two sure-shot AOTY contenders for prog and one for metal outside prog. I also listened to a deep house album for the first time and it was a sick find. Go on, find out what I’m talking about!

Quicklinks –

Page 1:

GREAT PROG ALBUMS I MISSED from February 2018

PROG ALBUM REVIEWS and ALBUM OF THE MONTH – March 2018

Page 2: METAL HIGHLIGHTS – March 2018

Page 3: NON-PROG / NON-METAL HIGHLIGHT (February 2018 release)

Page 4: FILM and SERIES

Enjoy!

⊕ GREAT PROG ALBUMS I MISSED from February 2018⊕

Dead Empires – Designed to Disappear

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Metal (Harsh Vocals)

I discovered this band from a monthly update of Heavyblogisheavy (Do check their site, it’s amazing) and the fact that this album has a good score here has to do a lot with the excellent title track. The genre is progressive metal of the sludge variety with squealy guitars and slurry harsh vocals, but there’s a lot of experimentation going on here. “The Form” features frequent tempo-switching, while “Reverse Speak” has an abrupt, drum-driven intro and some of the album’s best riffs as well as a cool piano introduction a few minutes in. “A Summertime Song” is a chill, bass-heavy track, fitting its name well, though the heavy midsection goes on for way too long; while “Ergot” has a straight-up snappy riff. Coming to the title track, it opens with a bagpiper-sounding sound off the keys I assume (reminds of a David Maxim Micic track), and is less experimental than the other tracks but extremely satisfying to listen to. The drummer is very consistent during the album and is extraordinary here, improvising during the intro and leading every change in musical direction. It’s almost entirely sung with cleans too, which got me thinking that they are under-exploited in the rest of the album. In fact, I would say the title track is a nice summary of all the musical concepts of the album and a good way to see if the band suits your tastes. The major flaws of the album conflict with each other from track to track. Some tracks, such as “A Summertime Song” could be more concise where as others, such as “Reverse Speak”, could give the riffs more space to breath, as on the title track.

Rating – 7 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify // Bandcamp

Gleb Kolyadin – Gleb Kolyadin

Genre (RYM) – Jazz Fusion, Progressive Rock, Art Rock (Instrumental / Clean Vocals)

Even though this is should be a major release, I found out about it a good fifteen days after its release date perhaps because the hype wasn’t very high. Gleb Kolyadin, best known for being the pianist on the Russian chamber-pop and progressive rock band iamthemorning, has gathered, in his debut solo project, an ensemble of striking guest musicians: Gavin Harrison, Nick Beggs, Theo Travis (all Porcupine Tree), Steve Hogarth (Marillion) and Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), among others. The album’s strength lies in those sections and tracks where Kolyadin, using his various classical influences, plays off his various guest instrumentalists and occasionally himself, using layering. These include the onset of the album, where on “Insight”, the duo of Harrison and Kolyadin seem to just be having a fun jam together before Travis joins in with a short sax solo. “Kaleidoscope” features a short operatic vocals section as the bridge and Travis contributes this time on the flute, reminding me of his work on Steven Wilson‘s “The Holy Drinker”. The synth is also utilized expertly, close to the climax. “Confluence” takes a bit too long to build up, but when it does, it culminates in the best section of the album. A soaring low note off the piano is joined by a a more vibrant higher one and they play off each like children in a park. The album also explores various moods and emotions, as should most instrumental (or nearly) albums should do. You feel gaiety and revelation at its inception, then tension and anticipation during the midsection of “Into The Void” and “The Room” and nostalgia during “The Best of Days”. The shorter songs wouldn’t feel out of place in a “Chill” or “Serene” playlist, and I also enjoyed the usage of pauses during the intro of “Astral Architecture”.

Looking at what Kolyadin could improve on, the album could be tighter and I was disappointed by technical superfluousness of Jordan Ruddess’ contribution on “Storyteller”, going entirely against the established musical precedents in the album. I also found the guest vocalist selection of Hogarth and Moss poor. I assume Kolyadin chose them to capture the attention of the older progger generation who would, no doubt, check out this album just for these names. But they don’t suit the music and contrast the freshness of listening to an entirely piano-driven album.

Rating – 7.5 / 10

Notable Tracks: Insight, Kaleidoscope, The Room

Links (Album): Spotify // Bandcamp

⊕ BEST OF PROG – March 2018⊕

Owane – Yeah Whatever

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Rock, Jazz Fusion (Instrumental)

Owane is a jazz fusion and prog rock instrumental artist I recently discovered after Plini (my favourite musician of the genre) shared his music on social media. It gets off to an incredible start with “Groove of Satan” and “Love Juice”. The former’s guitar-work sounds just like that of Plini, and includes a weird yet unique beat (Drums on the record are by Maciej Dzik). The latter track has an brilliant opening bass riff with a serene piano tune. The added saxophone bit is one of the best uses of the instrument I’ve heard this year. In fact I can hear a few Plini influences elsewhere too, such as on the rising melody off “One Curl in Bangkok”. Other fun songs include “Indian Explosion Bowling”, which includes electronics and some sampled sounds. However, some tracks give the impression that they are just bunch of riff ideas tied together on songs. The only catchy bit off “Saturday Ends” is its outro riff and “Rock is too Heavy” is even more disjointed, with the sole retaining factor being the underlying piano low notes. This nature also extends to the album in its entirety as well. The album fails to tie everything together: the tracks could be a part of several different album concepts. In general, I’ve been disappointed by the last few jazz fusion / prog rock projects (Last year it was Nova Collective) I’ve heard, they just sound too similar to each other.

Rating – 6.5 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify // YouTube // Bandcamp

Them Moose Rush – Don’t Pick Your Noise

Genre (RYM) – Alternative Rock, Progressive Rock (Clean Vocals)

Truth be told, I still haven’t explored The Mars Volta‘s discography extensively, though I’m aware of their more popular content. So when I heard that this young Croatian band Them Moose Rush take a leaf off TMV, I didn’t know what to expect. ‘Don’t Pick Your Noise’ definitely took me by surprise. While hardcore or post-hardcore cleans are definitely not my cup of tea, I found myself enjoying Nikola Runjavec behind the mic, though he does get a bit over-indulgent at times, in “Dumadu Honey” for example. However, I love how he translates the progressive essence of the genre into continuous vocal improvisations. Overall, I enjoyed the shorter tracks a lot more than the more experimental tracks. These include the title track, “Stupid Face” (Which has the funniest profanities I’ve heard in a song for a while) and “Radio Violence”. The instrumentation and composition in them are more straightforward and very catchy. The last two tracks are excellent too, particularly “Whim” whose ‘tudu-tudu’ intro sequence is well constructed. In addition to “Dumadu”, I didn’t quite enjoy “Anoie” and “Dreydribble” as much as the others as they are too slow in the build-up. While its true that the album didn’t stick with me as much as the ones below did, the band is definitely one that will remain on my radar for the near future. I’d definitely recommend listeners to check out the album if they like the vocals.

Rating – 7.5 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify // Bandcamp

Oceans of Slumber – The Banished Heart

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Metal, Doom Metal (Clean / Mixed Vocals)

Oceans of Slumber is a progressive doom metal band from Texas that has quite the USP in today’s prog scene – that of vocalist Cammie Gilbert, who gives the music and genre an extremely fresh perspective, even if the instrumentation by itself isn’t very groundbreaking. My favourite of the album is the title track – Supported by dominant piano melodies, it features one of the most stunning clean vocal performances of the year. Gilbert warbles over the softer sections, roars into falsettos during the chorus, one where the drums burst into blast beats; and collapses into an emotional phrase of “Can you see it?, Can you feel it? Finally in my arms”, an experience completely worth nine minutes of your day (Check out the link below). The other heavier tracks are excellent listens well – After an initial build-up, “At Dawn” turns into a ferocious riff and harsh vocals combo, while Dobber Beverly does a fantastic job switching things on the drums. “Etiolation” is quite similar, featuring the best contrast in harsh and clean vocals. “A Path of Broken Stars” has a straight up death metal opening riff, and the clean female vocals fore-fronting them makes it all the more interesting. In general, I enjoyed the heavier songs and much of the praise must go to Sean Gary and Anthony Contreras for their excellent work on the guitar. They ensure there’s depth to the music apart from the vocals, a negative you could fault the debut album of VUUR with, for example.

There are a few problems that linger in the album – The slower tracks do not capture my attention as well and they are a bit uninspired in instrumentation. These include the shorter ‘interlude’ tracks such as “The Watcher” as well as the last few almost entirely vocals-centric tracks, such as “No Color, No Light”. Internal consistency of songs wavers as well – Take for example, the opening track “The Decay of Disregard”. The heavier sections are excellent and the sinister nature of the riffs follow Gilbert’s range very well but after about six minutes, the chorus is repeated so many times that the track loses all the momentum. A more trimmed down version of the album by, say about 10 minutes, would have improved the album’s overall listen-ability.

Rating – 7.5 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify

Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal (Harsh / Mixed Vocals)

The new Rivers of Nihil record has been getting unprecedented coverage recently – I’ve seen friends and musicians sharing the album on their walls. But I am confused by the sheer worship it’s receiving because I can spot a few reasons which prevent it from being perfect, but let’s start with the positives. The bassist and drummer are the standout performers here, and this is evident clearly on two tracks. The title track has a jazzy start to it, and the thick and melodious bass underlines the clean vocals during most of it. “A Home”, on the other hand is more old school death metal track, except for the resounding, energetic and blast-beat scattered performance by Jared Klein behind the drum-kit. The guitar riffs are slightly less consistent, but are more interesting in the first few tracks, especially on “The Silent Life”, than the next few. “Subtle Change” for example, has one of the best guitar solos of the year, but the riffs are run-of-the-mill and so is the case on “Hollow”. All the saxophone melodies and ‘crying’ solos are really good, but again from reactions you’d think it’s something completely new for death metal. In fact, Howling Sycamore did it just as well a couple of months ago. The atmospheric nature of tech death is achieved through the instrumental track “Terrestria III : Wither” and the use of forlorn-themed lyrics. I did find this track too long and one of the electronic beats is completely unnecessary as the ‘creaks’ effect packs a bigger punch. I’m on the fence currently about whether I like Jake Dieffenbach‘s harsh vocals as I find them monochrome. The addition of cleans on a few tracks provide a welcome change.

While most of the instrumentation is excellent, the same cannot be said of the production. The band has opted for an old-school approach, which is of course better suited to the album’s theme on paper. But all the instruments, other than the sax and to an extent the guitars, sound very turbid, and the contrast in the sound from this album and to the last two in this list is night and day. The drums sound the worst of the lot and the continuous unrefined thudding tires your ears quickly. I believe the band has all the elements to make a perfect record with more refined production and consistent riff composition.

Rating – 7.5 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify // YouTube // Bandcamp

Barren Earth – A Complex of Cages

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Metal, Melodic Death Metal (Mixed Vocals)

Finnish prog death band Barren Earth released a record last Friday and it’s captured quite a bit of my attention during the last week. To describe the new album in one sentence, here’s what I thought of intially – “Opeth-like composition with cleans similar to two amazing vocalists, Andreas Frigstad (In Vain) and Jón Aldará (Hamferð)”. A few minutes after I wrote this sentence, I discovered that Aldará is also the vocalist on Barren Earth! No wonder the vocal resemblance was so uncanny.

The best tracks from the album are all varied in composition. “Further Down” has well-written riffs and good alternating of harsh and cleans before a brilliant guitar and keys sequence ups the tempo, all while the bass roars along. It also has a sweet but short acoustic intro to the final passage. “Scatterprey” goes full Opeth during its bridge, a controlled blur of vocals, guitar and organ. “Dysphoria” is similar and “Spire” has a dazzling outro with ‘Oh’s that would be even better to chant along live. “Withdrawal” is a beautiful album closer: less heavy in instrumentation, but includes a sensational vocal performance by Aldará, whose Nordic accent gives the band a unique identity. If it hasn’t been established already, the guitarists Janne Perttilä and Sami Yli-Sirniö are the stars of the show, along with keyboardist Antti Myllynen who makes his presence counted. Aldará’s vocals are fantastic on, but are a bit overused in sections such as the chorus of “Further Down” and most of “The Ruby”.

The album falls short of perfection for a couple of reasons. While the sound is definitely interesting and catchy (This is my first contact with the band’s music), it is lacking in original composition at times. The primary riff of “Zeal”, for example, is one you’d come across commonly in the genre. The second and most stark negative is the length. Several of the slower portions don’t work as well as the faster guitar driven material and the problem is multiplied when the track length is bigger. The aforementioned “Zeal” suffers from this problem for most of its length and so does “Solitude Pith”, thought the organ covers for it partially.

Rating – 7.5 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify // YouTube

Between the Buried and Me – Automata I

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Metal (Mixed Vocals)

Between the Buried and Me‘s Automata I is the first major prog release of the year, and I’ve taken the opportunity to write in detail what I think of (half of) the album.

Last year, I got to see a stunning gig with Devin Townsend Project as the main act, BTBAM and Leprous as the supporting acts. While I was extremely up to date with Leprous discography and most of Devin Townsend‘s work, BTBAM was, perhaps surprisingly, elusive to my ear. When I did dive into the discography, I also found the band incredibly hard to listen to. The slightly incoherent and abrupt harsh vocals, and continuous (and again, abrupt) changes in song structure meant that the band was not meant for me. But, as is with many bands labelled as prog, with patience I’ve grown to love a few albums. Colors is absolute prog metal classics now in my eyes, and I consider the outro of “White Walls” to be among the greatest ever made. Dan Briggs and Blake Richardson are the best bassists and drummers of this generation and I’ve even come to appreciate Roger’s vocals once I got to hear the band live. The Parallax II was a landmark album, combining the classic BTBAM sound with newer and bolder influences. I’ll admit I’ve still not gotten around to The Great Misdirect yet, but I’m sure it would with time. While many critics consider Coma Ecliptic a blip and while I agree it is a bit lacking compared to the precedent, I would say it was just an attempt by the band to keep things a bit more simple, while still capable of producing the odd scorcher such as “Turn on the Darkness”.

Which brings us to today: Automata I starts off with “Condemned to the Gallows”, a track that has everything I love about the band and more. I remember listening to the pre-release and exclaiming to myself – “Now we’re talking!”. After a brief intro and clean phrase, the songs bursts into a cool electronic beat and Tommy Rogers, using his inimitable delivery style, puts in one of his best harsh vocal performances. There’s also competent vocal layering, especially evident in the final phrases of the song. The album has a futuristic concept involving robots and dreams, among other, and lyrically the song signifies the end of humanity. “House Organ” continues in a groovy fashion, helped again by the underlying combination of electronics, Blake Richardson‘s cymbal-centric beats and Paul Waggoner fast-picked riffs. The vocal layering reappears during the chorus as “Shines down” runs in the background. “Yellow Eyes” and “Blot” on the other hand are classic BTBAM tracks in terms of composition – A lack of solid structure (This point could be viewed in both a negative and positive fashion) as an initial vocal section transitions abruptly into a bass-heavy riff, a calmer ‘bridge’ with cleans, a motif that involves harsh vocals. The electronics, such as the robotic creak that frequent “Yellow Eyes”, are a good approach to tie together the album’s overall futuristic concept. The oriental riff (keys / guitar) of ‘Blot’ is so unique and unexpected, and that harsh vocal outro is so awesome that I wouldn’t have minded if it was repeated a few more times.

A lot of people are baffled by the band’s decision to release a double album, and I am one of them. They never appeared to shy away from lengthy and epic concept albums before and the reasoning given is even more stupefying. Yes, people have lesser time to sit down and listen to lengthy albums in today’s age but this is not always on the listener. If the album is excellent but long, I’m sure the fan-base of the band will take the time to listen to it in its entirety. But now, all we have for a few months is the abrupt and jarring end after a fantastic outro of “Blot”. However, this is a more of a structural negative rather than a musical one, which is the case on “Millions”. This track, other than giving some intriguing prologue to the concept, is completely forgettable. The clean, slightly nasal, vocals get annoying after a while, and the second-half of the track is extremely repetitive while the riffs are kept too simple compared to what Waggoner is capable of.

Rating – 8 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify // YouTube

Augury – Illusive Golden Age

Genre (RYM) – Technical Death Metal, Progressive Metal (Harsh / Mixed Vocals)

A month or so back, I listened to the first pre-release of Augury, “Mater Dolorosa”, which was my first tryst with the band. Initially abrasive, I still had the tinge that I get when I listen to music that has potential to grow on me, and it indeed did so. And safe to say, ‘Illusive Golden Age’, the Canadian tech death metal band’s first album after 9 years (!) has done so too.

I rarely do so, but this album’s write-up involves a dissection of the music based on individual instrumentalists’s performance, because they truly deserve all the accolades. Let’s start with, in my eyes, the person behind the most impressive bass performance I’ve heard since forever, Dominic “Forest” Lapointe. The album starts in the most amazing fashion as Forest is a given a few seconds to ‘free-style’ on his fretless bass while the guitars rise in volume. He then continues to baffle the listener at every opportunity. Aided by a perfect mix in the available audible range, an extra-bass headphone, for example, reveals all the minute details he implements. The bass riffs on “Living Vault”, “Message Sonore” and one of the best tracks I’ve heard this year i.e. album-closer “Anchorite”; are all heavy and beautifully mixed. The composition regularly allows him to shine as well, giving his bass space to breathe in the calmer sections of “Carrion Tide” as well in the break of “Mater Dolorosa”.

Guitarists Patrick Loisel (Who doubles up as the vocalist) and Mathieu Marcotte are almost equally worth their weight in gold. An awesome tech death album without memorable riffs is an oxymoron that definitely doesn’t apply here. I could classify the riffs as of two types : Ones which are less progressive, more traditional death metal banger kind, like on “The Living Vault” and “Message Sonore”; while the other are more elaborate and complex, like on “Illusive Golden Age” and “Mater Dolorosa”. Solos are executed only when the time and occasion are right, case in point being the wonderful climax of the latter track.

My favourite feature in tech death albums are the drums and Antoine Baril definitely does the genre justice. The unrelenting blast beats are supplemented by extensive cymbal crashes, and they all sound crystal-clear in the mix. Loisel’s vocals are nightmarish, revolving from deep growls to ghoulish screams, sometimes layered on top of each other. The occasional cleans, such as on “Carrion Tide” provide a pleasant break. And to top it all, the production is astonishingly good, as good as my #1 of March. I’ve already written about it, but it’s refreshing to hear every cymbal crash, every bass string and every guitar note on paying careful attention, even when so much is going on at the same time. If you’d ask me why this isn’t a 10/10, I’d say with a heavy heart there’s one song that I don’t enjoy as much as the others and that is “Parallel Biospheres”. But I have a feeling I’ll come around to it too eventually, this album is the definition of a grower. But hey, a 9.5 is better than almost everything in 2017! The Artisan Era, a young and upcoming label, have a real beauty in their hands.

Rating – 9.5 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify // YouTube // Bandcamp

⊗ ALBUM OF THE MONTH⊗

Slugdge – Esoteric Malacalogy

Genre (RYM) – Death Metal, Progressive Metal (Harsh / Mixed Vocals)

I’d been asking recently when I would come across my next perfect record. The last one that was a definite 10 in my eyes was Vektor‘s Terminal Redux and ever since there hasn’t been an album which has hooked me as much and in which I haven’t found any flaws. I actually heard ‘Esoteric Malacology’ for the first time in preparation for the February column and was already ready to crown it the album of the month just a couple of listens in. However as the days have gone by in this month, I’ve come to realise there is actually not a single flaw in it and it has even become to an essential part of my routine. I get up, with sleep still in my eyes, and my fingers automatically open up Spotify so that the first thing I hear on the day “War Squids”. ‘Esoteric Malacology’ has become my morning coffee.

Coincidentally this album was my first foray into Slugdge’s clammy discography but a first-time listener would actually find it easy to get hooked to the music. This is because in parts, the music resembles some of the best albums of two of the most popular prog bands out there – Gojira and Mastodon. The hard-hitting and catchy riffs remind me of those on my favourite Gojira album, ‘The way of all flesh’. “The Spectral Burrows” and “Slat Thrower” take me back to a time when blowing my face apart to the likes of “Oroborous” was my favourite hobby. The booming harsh vocals from “Crop Killer” and “Putrid Fairytale” has a Joe Duplantier power behind them. “Transvilvanian Fungus” has a sludge metal feel that you could place to the early Mastodon era, especially when you hear the rising cleans for the first time. To top this all, the band consists of just two members, Matt Moss and Kev Pearson. The talent in these guys is incredible in how they manage to elevate the music above and beyond influences to create something for the ages, displaying a masterclass in riff writing in the process. The guitars are the absolute stars of the shows, melting you apart in their heaviness song after song (Please listen to “Salt Thrower”). The album is also a clear example that you don’t need guitar solos if you do the basics, i.e. riffs right. In fact, other than a couple of short ones, the album completely refrains from any technical ‘wankery’.

The music is aided by some of the best production I’ve heard in death metal. “Crop Killer” opens up with a metallic, polished bass tapping sequence. The riffs are dynamic, loud and the rhythm harmonies are always accessible. The clean and harsh vocals are mixed in perfectly: each syllable is coherent, even with all the miry instrumentation. Each cymbal crash on the drums adds to the overwhelming experience. The occasional audio samples (“Limo Vincit Omnia”) supplement the atmosphere well.

Finally, if the music wasn’t enough to win you over, the lyrics will surely get a smirk out of you. Filled with encyclopedic mollusk terminology, the band use slugs metaphorically to talk about the collapsing world, with made up characters (“Rhaexorog”) and everything. As much as this sounds like a gimmick, the lyrics are profound and poetical, even if they are coated frequently in oozy lexicon.

Do not miss this album, it is by its very definition a modern classic. Here’s hoping “Esoteric Malacology” impels you to join the ‘Praise Mollusca!’ cult just as it has done to me.

Rating – 10 / 10

Links (Album): Spotify // YouTube // Bandcamp

Feb and March 2018 Prog Albums on review standby for April edition:

Ostura – The Room

Mile Marker Zero – The Fifth Row

Kino – Radio Voltaire

⊕ SPOTIFY PLAYLIST – BEST OF MARCH 2018 ⊕