After a break of a couple of months, I’m back with my favourite August releases! The month’s not been the most exciting for prog, but we’ve got a couple of good albums that that would perk your interest, have a look!

To be noted that I also enjoyed an EP called Children of the Arbat by Atumatu (Bandcamp link, fans of Porcupine Tree would appreciate), but am not including EPs on these columns any longer.

Quicklinks –

Page 1:

BEST OF PROG and ALBUM OF THE MONTH – August 2018

Notes on albums that didn’t make the cut

Page 2:

NON-PROG SHOWCASE of August 2018: Alice in Chains: ‘Rainier Fog’

Page 3:

FILM and SERIES (Only 1 series this time around, :sadcat:)

Enjoy!

⊕ BEST OF PROG – August 2018⊕

Mike Kershaw – Arms Open Wide

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Rock (Clean Vocals)

Label – Bad Elephant Music

It started as something of an inside joke, but I’m starting to believe the term ‘dad prog’ can actually be applied to some of the bands in prog rock . They are generally ones that are quite faithful to the 70s progs scene and include a Pink Floyd-inspired psychedelic sound in instrumentation, while of course having those aged vocals. Mike Kershaw‘s ‘Arms Wide Open’ thus fits in quite well. The first few songs are part of a reasonably well-constructed quartet titled “The Fear Quartet”. The fear is efficiently portrayed in the atmospherics, while the synth and guitars get a bit of action, including some of that Pink Floyd sound I talked about earlier. Kershaw himself sounds a bit like Peter Gabriel in his higher notes. “I Wish Your Eyes Were Mine” has enjoyable chorus and strings, while the cymbals enter the fray as the beats progress. “A Promise” hints at a bit of funk in the riffing while “Dark Spaces” has some cool xylophone sounding effects in in the overall sound.

Needless to say, close to nothing is original in composition, thought the band does use the Pink Floyd influence sufficiently well to not sound too derivative. The vocals are a bit of a problem, the maturity of them is brought even more to the fore because of how they are mixed in, and they run out of ideas too fast, the biggest change coming on the lower, slightly aggressive ones off “A Promise”. Other than that, the album is quite well-produced. Chances are that you’ll listen to the album, find it pleasant enough to sit through the one time, but never come back to it.

Rating – 5.5 / 10

Notable Tracks – “The Fear Quartet”, “I Wish Your Eyes Were Mine”

Links (Album): Spotify // Apple Music // Bandcamp

Opus of a Machine – Stray Fire

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Rock (Clean Vocals)

Label – Independent

This month’s blog is especially dominated by relatively underground bands from the Down Under, and Opus of a Machine is another one on the list. ‘Stray Fire’ has a few great tracks. Album closer and lengthiest track “Beacon” opens with soft verses that slowly turn into heavier riffs and gaze-y atmospheres. The buildup continues and culminates in an astonishing final section that combines those heavy riffs, repeated short phrases in a chant, and a djent flavour that reminds one of a similar sequence on Caligula’s Horse‘s “Graves” minus the sax. Opener “Strength in Stone” is also a good listen, using nice hooks on the guitar alongside pleasant verses. These songs build-up quite well, alternating tranquil moments with heavy guitars.

If these two songs were the norm on the album, I’d have bumped it up but the midsection is a unfortunately just a collection of fillers and passable material. “Wild//Unknown” is three minutes of a single phrase repeated with a post- background, while “Rudi’s Song” is very lazy in the buildup. “Stray Fire” is slightly better, but the verses and chorus are far from memorable. Anyhow, I’d recommend you give “Beacon” a go, it’s one of the more enjoyable tracks of the month.

Rating – 6 / 10

Notable Tracks – “Beacon”, “Strength in Stone”

Links (Album): Spotify // Apple Music // Bandcamp

The Dark Third – Even as the Light Grows

Genre (RYM) – Art Rock, Post Rock, Progressive Rock (Clean Vocals)

Label – Independent

The Dark Third is the first prog or prog-related band that I’ve come across from New Zealand. I was taken aback by the explosion of sounds on the intro of “The Dreams of Lesser Men”, something you might expect on a few atmospheric black metal or blackgaze bands: Quick picking of strings accompanied by blast beats, enveloped by atmospherics. It quickly breaks down into softer build-up (Post- style), with hints of a voila instrument I can’t quite place. The acoustics used are rather simple yet effective, invoking a bit of Opeth in its sound, while pleasant piano melodies loiter around. The other longer track, “The Regressor” is darker in sound and the lyrics. It gets wonderfully heavy in the climax, combining a few dissonant sounds that make you slightly uncomfortable. Overall the lyrics are well written, encapsulating the dream-like intention.

The album has a few problems that are quite stark. The blackgazy sections sound a bit disorganized in the songwriting, and the transitions could definitely be smoother. The dissonant sections get a bit uncomfortable after a while, intended or not. The drums are very prominent in the mix too, which overwhelms the overall backdrop intended. However, considering this is a debut effort, I believe this band has potential to create a unique combination of shoegaze, post- rock and progressive rock.

Rating – 6 / 10

Notable Tracks – “The Dreams of Lesser Men”, “The Regressor”

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

Circles – The Last One

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

Label – Season of Mist

Circles‘ ‘The Last One’ is one of the bigger djent releases of the year, The Australian band, signed now to Season of Mist, don’t have too much competition in the sense that not a lot of djent releases so far have made an impact of me, though I’ll straight up confess I’m not a particular fan of the genre.

The album opener “Winter”, has much to like: The opening djent riff forewarns the listener that the ear is in for a carnage while the bass’ sweet tone is audible during one the well-placed breaks. The vocals are a bit reminiscent of Dan Tompkins‘, without the range that the latter vocalist employs with ease. I particularly like “Dream Sequence” followed by “Renegade”. The former has an excellent intro, utilizing a rather technical primary riff and follows the verses with a pleasant bridge of soft guitar and echoing words. The latter is the best on the album, using some cool synth effects to surprise the listener. The riffing is top notch again (The one on the outro is sick) while it also introduces a few harshes, using the dichotomy with the cleans in the surrounding atmospherics. In general, there is good variation in instrumentation displayed here, with the bass, guitars and occasional piano all working alongside each other well. The nu-metal kind of intro to “Tether” is also a tidy section.

There is an evident lack of polish in the production, however. The drums sound a bit flat and the vocals especially lack both the variety and the glaze to aid uninterrupted listening. The album overall is also lacking in catchy phrases or choruses, a fault that I find more often than not in djent albums (A vast generalization I know, but one that I believe exists). Among those that failed to capture me are “The Messenger” and particularly “Ghosts” that has unmemorable verses only to be slightly saved by a few touches on the outro. I also think the vocals get a bit overbearing at times, and lack sufficient emotional moments.

Rating – 6 / 10

Notable Tracks – “Renegade”, “Winter”, “Dream Sequence”

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

Erra – Neon

Genre (RYM) – Metalcore, Progressive Metal (Mixed Vocals)

Label – Sumerian Records

Erra‘s Neon is an album strictly recommended for fans faithful to the metalcore genre. Much like a bunch of bands emerging from the scene, the band employs a duet of cleans and harshes along with very competent instrumentation. The first two tracks are very well composed: “Breach” has an excellent primary riff, and the playing off the post-hardcoreish cleans with the rather abrasive harshes works well on it. “Monolith” opts for a darker tone, and a good, poppy chorus by Jesse Cash. In fact, the best track on the album, “Hyperreality” indeed balances the poppy sensibilities of post-hardcore acts like Dance Gavin Dance (‘Artificial Selection’ is one of my favourites of the year so far) in its delivery of the chorus and fun riffing during the verses. It also has a short but sweet solo during the bridge. In general, the verses are dominated by the harsh vocals (by J.T. Cavey) while the choruses by the cleans, acting as a break in the heaviness of the former.

The second half of the album is significantly weaker than the first though, which is disappointing as “Hyperreality” showed a lot of potential. It’s hard to place what exactly goes wrong after. Perhaps the abrasive nature of the harsh vocals get tiring after a while, while the riffs too lack the punch of the predecessors. In particular, I was taken aback by the lack of hooks on “Disarray”, “Expiate” and “Unify”. Moreover, the production falls a bit flat, again the drums being the instrument that takes a hit on the range. The lyrics are slightly better than your average metalcore, has to be said.

Rating – 6.5 / 10

Notable Tracks – “Hyperreality”, “Breach”, “Monolith”

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

The Pineapple Thief – Dissolution

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Rock (Clean Vocals)

Label – Kscope

The Pineapple Thief may be of the more popular modern progressive rock acts, but I haven’t had a chance to properly explore their music until now. I gave ‘Your Wilderness’ a few goes, but it didn’t seem to click. I’ve given ‘Dissolution’ more than a few goes to formulate my opinion, bit it hasn’t really changed much.

Pre-review, I read up online that Gavin Harrison, perhaps the most popular member of the band, has had a bigger role to play in the album. Indeed, his contributions are center to several of my favourite sections. “Try as I Might” has memorable strings supported by fun drum rolls, all the while using the Porcupine Tree influences in vocals and riffing (The album has a whole bunch of guitar riff tones reminiscent of PT). “White Mist”, branded as the band’s “Anasthesize”, has a very groovy beat running along the entirety of its eleven minutes, only to be disrupted by an extended assemblage of echoing samples (flashbacks of Lunatic Soul‘s ‘Fractured’), heavier riffs and increasingly chaotic drums. “Threatening War” is also a good listen: the vocals are a tad more aggressive and Harrison again is very busy behind the drum-set.

For a while I found it hard to place what wasn’t capturing me about the band that it does to so many. First off, I think the vocals could be much better. I understand that the grim subject matter doesn’t necessitate more variation in vocals (The welcome change in tone on “Threatening War” is all the more welcome now that you think of it) but it gets ho-hum after a while. Another small bother is the repetitive nature by which Bruce Soord delivers certain phrases: “Go shed a light, go share a lie” from “Shed a Light” is one among a few on the album. The guitar also could be better: Apart from the few cool but ultimately unoriginal riffs, I felt a bit more progressive infusion in the riff-writing could do the album wonders: I get the feeling that Harrison is the only one who’s trying to liven up and experiment with the music here.

Rating – 6.5 / 10

Notable Tracks – “White Mist”, “Try as I Might”,”Threatening War”

Links (Album): Spotify // Apple Music

Manticora – To Kill to Love to Kill

Genre (RYM) – Power Metal, Progressive Metal (Clean Vocals)

Label – ViciSolum Records

I’ll again have to thank Angry Metal Guy again for introducing me to one of the better albums of the month. Manticora from Denmark have been around for a while, but sometimes it takes a great album like this one to put the band in a larger spotlight.

‘To Kill to Live to Kill’ is quite long, but never boring. The guitars (Kristian Larsen, Stefan Johansson) are a huge reasons why this is the case: The riffing is incredibly heavy, astonishingly technical and full of variation. The variety of riffs here reminds me how Slugdge effortly switches from one to another, while the writing itself takes some influence from the recent Symphony-X effort. After a short concert sample, “Echoes of a Silent Scream” gets things going with those riffs. The vocals (Lars Larsen) would probably make or break one’s opinion about the band: They remind me of those of Alan Tecchio from the thrash legends Watchtower, whom I recently discovered. They are quite high-pitched, which makes their combination with heavy instrumentation quite different. Interestingly, several of the tracks have quick, technical riffing and drumming (Excellent work by Mads Volf) that wouldn’t sound out of place in thrash music. While the album is quite consistent in composition, I can still pick a few favourites: “Farmer’s Tale Pt.1” has one of those fiend-ish riffs but does a good job of giving them short, cello-filled breaks, while also having a catchy chorus and a good solo. “Growth”, the longest track on the album, has a fun “Growth, growth” chant that circulates during its length, and a gorgeous, proggy bridge with brilliant breakdowns of the bass and the guitar. A few of the songs have short harsh vocals segments that fit in very well, while the cinematic backdrop adds to the larger than life sound.

While the consistency is indeed there, I feel the band got slight overindulgent in their wish to stuff in so many compositional ideas. The album could definitely use some trim, because the continuous barrage of music especially gets old on the final two tracks. The breaks are indeed a nice touch, but a straight-up ballad could have worked wonders. “Nothing Lasts Forever” has the right intention initially, with the piano melodies and spoken word, but later adds heavier guitar and more vocals. Ultimately, I’d recommend everyone to try this album once: if you are okay with the vocals, you’ll be in for a ride.

Rating – 8 / 10

Notable Tracks – “The Farmer’s Tale Pt. 1”, “Growth”, “Through the Eyes of the Killer”

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

⊗ ALBUM OF THE MONTH⊗

Lux Terminus – The Courage to Be

Genre (RYM) – Progressive Metal (Instrumental / Clean Vocals)

Label – Independent

August hasn’t been a great month for music, but Lux Terminus‘ debut album, ‘The Courage to Be’ has been a shining ray of light, ever since their keyboardist Vikram Shankar joined us on the discord server on r/progmetal while we dove into his keys-centric instrumental project. A keys-centric album might evoke comparisons with the Gleb Kolyadin effort that came out in February, but this one is quite a bit different in style and composition.

For starters, a bunch of the tracks have the djent-equivalent of piano riffs, perfectly labelled as ‘Plonk’ by the man himself. These keys riffs are essentially based on the same concept as djent, low notes that are magnified in the mix to give an almighty heavy sound that might surprise a first-time listener. “Electrocommunion” is where you’d first hear this sound, and they wonderful lead into softer and eventually shred sections on the piano. “The Journey” and “Abberation” alternate these riffs with jazzier and chamber music influences, on the the other hand, while the latter also includes a Rudess-influenced synth solo. The placement of songs in general is excellent, often alternating the softer ones (Which are all slightly connected in a sense) with these heavier ones. “Miles Away” especially is an instant show-stopper: the drums (Matthew Kerschner) and bass (Brian Craft) step out of the shadows of their supporting roles to execute energetic drum fills and employ a catchy, buzzy riff respectively. “Effusion” too has more action for the two, with the drummer getting to kick the double bass pedals for a bit while the bassist gets to use those actual djent-sounding strums, all while a cool 80s synth effect strikes the ear eventually.

The biggest surprise is the twenty-minute title track. It is, in a sense, a summary of most of the ideas that the artist presents previously, with cinematic background scores, in the first few minutes, and a guitar solo and cello outro by guest musicians Timo Somers and Raphael Weinroth-Browne respectively. While I appreciate the ambition, I feel, outside of the guest musicians, the track doesn’t do much new, and while it flows smoothly, does get tedious around the mid-way point. An hour of absorbing instrumental music is a challenging task for even the most talented, and at the end of the day I feel the ambition of putting down a twenty minute song is slightly misplaced. This is basically my only qualm about the entire album, along with slight filler of a track that is “Spectral Shape”. It however ends on a very high point: Anneke Van Giersbergen treats us to a few vocal lines that sound refreshingly different from the Vuur and Devin Townsend Project efforts that she’s been a part of recently: True candy for the ears as the album heads to its resolution.

Lux Terminus‘ ‘The Courage to Be’ is my favourite album of August and is a must listen for the entire spectrum of prog fans.

Rating – 8.5 / 10

Notable Tracks – “Miles Away”, “Aberration”, “Electrocommunion”

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

⊕ Notes on Albums that didn’t make the cut⊕

Time, the Valuator – How Fleeing, How Fragile

Genre – Djent, Progressive Metal

This is really your distinctly average djent album that is released once or twice a month these days. The riffing (guitar, keys) is okay, but the vocals didn’t capture me at all. The drums sound flat and the lyrics are quite mediocre. I did like a few tracks though: “Terminus” and “Fugitive”, which has a short rap-metal verse and a catchy chorus. But this debut effort ain’t going into get more playtime anytime soon.

Tides of Man- Every Nothing

Genre – Post-rock, Progressive Rock

An hour-long instrumental album should have enough hooks and variations to consistently engage the listener, if the year’s Night Verses and Lux Terminus albums are anything to go by. The former album is actually a good example of how variety in songwriting is key as the band uses several post- influences that Tides of Man does too. Unfortunately, this album is far too repetitive for my liking and is quite predictable in its build-up and climaxes. The recent Long Distance Calling effort had more interesting sequences in its first half than this one has in its entirety.

Zevious – Lowlands

Genre – Avant-Prog, Math Rock

Lowlands is a very weird album. The first song, “Tube Lord” is actually quite great and got me perked up a bit: The guitar melodies are well- constructed and the bass and drums contribute to a menacing build-up. The album soon turns into an un-listenable mess on “Smear Campaign”, which starts well but turns into a repetitive, dissonant mess. After that, there was only one track “Null Island” that came anything close to the first one in terms of enjoyability, while occasionally again opting for the dissonant chaos and obscure, offbeat nature of “Smear..”. Avoid this one.

⊕ Albums to be covered on September 2018 edition⊕

Great Leap Skyward – Map of Broken Dreams

⊕ SPOTIFY Playlist – Best of August 2018⊕

Quicklinks –

Page 1:

BEST OF PROG and ALBUM OF THE MONTH – August 2018

Notes on albums that didn’t make the cut

Page 2:

NON-PROG SHOWCASE of August 2018: Alice in Chains: ‘Rainier Fog’

Page 3:

FILM and SERIES (Only 1 series this time around, :sadcat:)