Style: Progressive rock, symphonic prog (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Gong, Steve Hillage, Rush, Motorpsycho
Country: Tennessee, United States
Release date: 4 July 2025

Very few works are as satisfying to come across as an overly ambitious yet brilliant opus. Azure’s Fym, Dissona’s Paleopneumatic, and Native Construct’s Quiet World are journeys across fantastical landscapes and across genres, dedicating themselves to a persistent theatrical grandeur; their lofty goals are overwhelmingly successful, and a slight lack of polish lends these records a timeless charm and a much-needed sense of humanity. Enter Pishogue, a genre-transcending duo featuring Georgia’s Finnian Boyson as Bælor’Throndoth and Tennessee’s Spife as, uh, Spife. Pishogue’s self-titled LP explored menacing and hypnotic Berlin school synths as a framework for an expansive story involving the collapsed continent of The Eldslunds, a setting rife with advanced technology, magical corruption, and prophecy. The duo’s latest release, The Tree at the End of Time, wholly recontextualizes the synths of Pishogue into a symphonic prog framework, detailing a pivotal moment in The Eldslunds’ history involving the transfer of knowledge and subsequent ascension of a Pishogue introduced in the debut. Like the titular character, do Pishogue transcend their expectations or do they collapse under the weight of their ambition?

Comprised of two expansive twenty-minute pieces, The Tree at the End of Time explores myriad textures as the movements weave in and out of free-form keyboard soundscapes and psychedelic, high-energy progressive rock jams. Dissonance is used as an accentuating feature, both in the synths (14:10 on “The Ascension of Metatron”) and in the guitars (4:30 on “The Tree”). In The Eldslunds, improvisation is the name of the game: each track moves about within a loose structure, focused more on the natural evolution of a song than on careful placement of motifs as Spife and Bælor’Throndoth play ideas off of each other. The record exudes 70s sensibilities, particularly in the fuzzy and warm production, the instrumental timbre, and in Spife’s vocal performance. Atop all this is an intricate story involving a Pishogue discovering a tree that imbues them with aeons of knowledge, cementing them as an avatar for the old gods.

Throughout both synthesized soundscapes and distorted progressive rock, the free and relaxed nature of improvisation is fully embodied across The Tree at the End of Time. Ideas introduced by Spife are allowed to stew for a few bars before Bælor’Throndoth introduces additional layers, and vice versa. Most notable is the accelerando drum buildup near the end of “The Tree”. Bælor’Throndoth smartly waits for Spife’s drum solo to culminate before releasing the tension with bright synth pads and swirling organ melodies, only to then build those into an utterly explosive finale alongside a cacophony of percussion. Additionally, the ferocious and kinetic jam at 4:20 on “The Tree” features keyboards that slowly creep in, allowing the listener to settle into the groove before being twisted into a frenetic and whining synth/guitar dance. Pishogue’s synergy is palpable across the record, as their performances show a prudence necessary to keep the loose song structures stable and cohesive. However, that doesn’t mean they restrain themselves entirely, as plenty of chaos is allowed to bleed in across both pieces in tandem with the more intense story beats. A frightening and volcanic section erupts around 12:40 of “The Ascension of Metatron”, where wailing guitars and stuttering drums are buried under harsh organ stabs, reflecting the inability of the Pishogue’s mind to comprehend the weight of The Tree’s gifted knowledge.

Whereas most prog prides itself on crystal-clear, almost clinical precision and cleanliness, Pishogue revel in an organic and raw feel that lends itself magnificently to The Tree at the End of Time’s improvisational nature. For example, the organ melody that introduces a Rush-flavored drum pattern on “The Ascension of Metatron” begins just a bit earlier than the drums, and the two fall out of lockstep for a couple of bars near the end of the first verse when briefly switching to an off-beat, but the section as a whole is so energetic and fun that the brief blemishes do little to mar the enjoyment. Where it becomes a bit more challenging to appreciate The Tree at the End of Time’s looseness is when these moments go on for too long: the organ solo at 4:50 on “Ascension” falls out of line with the drums a bit too persistently and ends up pulling me out of the experience for a moment. The track quickly pulls itself back together, though, with biting drum-bass interplay leading into a delicate and ethereal folk section. Additionally, many of the vocal performances are a little too raw and wild, particularly across “Ascension” during the blown-out and overwhelming vocals around 14:25 and the pitchy delivery in the track’s first verse. These are likely meant to represent the more fractured moments of the Pishogue’s sanity, but they are just a bit too grating in delivery; if anywhere could use some polish, it would be these sections.

Despite the occasionally eldritch soundscapes, free-form song structure, and use of dissonance, much of The Tree at the End of Time is ineffably cozy thanks to its unapologetic 70s sensibilities. The aforementioned folk section of “Ascension”, for example, features soft harmonized vocals, gently picked guitars, and wistfully delicate synth melodies not unlike the contemporary folk of the time; a playful flute dances around the section as well. Around 9:10 on “The Tree”, a fuzzy guitar melody evokes the feeling of entering an enchanted forest before leading into a triumphant solo. The more intense sections of the record often sit right alongside these more serene and bright sections, showcasing an effective compositional balance and evoking a dynamic narrative arc with logical flow.

The Tree at the End of Time shows a skillful collaboration between two artists, embracing the organic and sometimes messy nature of improvisation among monolithic symphonic prog pieces. Though a few sections could benefit from a bit of extra polish, particularly in the vocal delivery and in the rhythmic execution, much of the record effectively glides along its stream of consciousness and tells a dynamic high fantasy story.

Recommended tracks: The Tree
You may also like: Moving Gelatine Plates, We Broke The Weather, Karmic Juggernaut, David Bedford, Egg
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Instagram

Label: Independent

Pishogue is:
– Spife (drums, guitar, bass, keyboards, violin, vocals)
– Bælor’Throndoth (bass, keyboards)

The post Review: Pishogue – The Tree at the End of Time appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: progressive metal (instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Liquid Tension Experiment, Syncatto, Plini, Intervals, David Maxim Micic
Country: Tennessee, United States
Release date: 27 June 2025

As the extremely on point EP title tells you, Arch Echo are embarking on a journey of releasing three EPs of three songs each, and this is the first of them. While I’d prefer an album of nine tracks, this concept does lend itself to splitting up the review, so I’m covering Catalyst, but you’ll get two other author’s opinions on the next installments of 3X3. Forged from Berklee College of Music’s progressive (metal) division—other notable alums include Dream Theater, Native Construct, Bent Knee, Sound Struggle, and Ok Goodnight—the Nashville-based quintet have endless instrumental capabilities and have been in the instrumental prog metal spotlight for the better part of a decade now. Does Catalyst act as the impetus for a new and exciting era for Arch Echo? 

Catalyst is nothing new for the band, but they reinforce their position as one of the instrumental powerhouses in progressive metal. Adam Rafowitz and Adam Bentley coax the most succulent and bright tones out of their guitars, with lead melodies expressive enough to completely replace a singer without it feeling like Arch Echo are missing something. The two guitarists write extremely hooky riffs like Syncatto; for instance, the lead ‘chorus’ on “Catalyst” is effortlessly technical yet smooth because of Rafowitz’s trademark legato providing excellent contrast atop Bentley’s tight, djent rhythms. The two guitarists also let shreddy solos rip, drawing from metal’s virtuosic lineage and mixing that with slick jazz technique à la Plini. All three tracks have highlight solos, but the techniques used around 1:45 in “Sprout Tower” are novel in their discography and stick out as particularly rad in context—it sounds like he uses a whammy pedal blending up an octave with the original sound, with the octave coming in and out from the whammy.

Of course, Arch Echo excels with the synergistic interplay between the dual guitarists and Joey Izzo’s keyboards. Izzo is omnipresent, either giving the songs a lush background with a variety of keys and synths or soloing in unison with one of the guitarists in a glorious display of the capabilities of human fingers. Deciding the color palette of each track, Izzo uses a wide variety of tones, ranging from delightful and decadent in the tastiest solos (“Catalyst,” “”MAGIC!”) to a-little-too-retro (“Sprout Tower” intro). At 2:45 in “MAGIC!,” he transitions to arpeggiating with a more traditional piano on top of a groovy, hip-dipping djent riff, and I adore the tasteful juxtaposition from the gentler timbre of the piano. 

Behind the kit, Richie Martinez is surely one of the most energetic drummers in metal, a master at making complex rhythms with jazzy intonations incredibly groovy. With Martinez always perfectly in sync with the main melodies, it’s easy to tell that this is Arch Echo’s first release with full group in-person writing in years. While he never gets a chance to take the spotlight as much as the other instruments, his brief drum fill to open the album and playful lead with Izzo near the end of “MAGIC!” demonstrate what a pivotal role Martinez plays. 

That bassist Joe Calderone is so left out of the mix is a huge surprise considering two-fifths of the band have music production degrees from Berklee. But when he gets a chance to shine, he runs away with it: on “Catalyst” he performs a lovely bass solo in the bridge, and he duets briefly with Martinez during “MAGIC!” as if he were a jazz upright bassist. Beyond Calderone being pushed out of the songs a bit too much, Arch Echo’s tour with VOLA corrupted them with a more djent-focused sound. I’ve pointed out places it worked, but just as often it doesn’t, particularly throughout “Sprout Tower.” The track is painfully slow by Arch Echo standards, leaving even Martinez unable to inject it with much energy for the most part. I always appreciate a change of pace, but the melodies are more djentrified with more emphasis on the low end of the guitarists’ range. 

Arch Echo are Arch Echo, though, and I don’t think they could write a bad song if they tried. At their nadir, they play relatively standard djent in a song which still had a highlight guitar solo. “Catalyst” and “MAGIC!” are both infectious pieces with energy, bombast, virtuosity, and memorability. As an EP, the release obviously feels short, but knowing we’ve got the remainder of 3X3 coming, I’m excited to hear more great tunes from one of the best prog bands of the last decade. Catalyst is a solid start.

Recommended tracks: Catalyst, MAGIC!
You may also like: Sound Struggle, Coevality, Soften the Glare, Poh Hock, Lux Terminus, Sam Mooradian
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram

Label: independent

Arch Echo is:
Keyboards: Joey Izzo
Guitar: Adam Rafowitz
Guitar: Adam Bentley
Bass: Joe Calderone
Drums: Richie Martinez

The post Review: Arch Echo – 3X3: Catalyst appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Album Art by Paige Weatherwax

Style: Avant-Garde Metal, Progressive Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Between The Buried and Me, Devin Townsend, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Mr. Bungle, Diablo Swing Orchestra
Country: United States, TN
Release date: 11 April 2025

Flummox are a band that defy singular definition. Are they death metal, bluegrass, circus music, musical theater, power punk, or psychedelic rock? If your answer is “all of the above—and then some,” you’re only beginning to grasp their ambition. Over a decade ago, Alyson Dellinger and Drew Jones birthed this Frankenstein of a band in the unlikely crucible of Tennessee—a state steeped in musical tradition. With the creative spark of new members and several years of maturing, Flummox hit their stride with 2022’s Rephlummoxed. With all its surreal, avant-garde grandeur, that album left one lingering question: how do you follow it up?

To understand how Southern Progress attempts to answer the album that preceded it, we first need to examine the structural blueprint of both records. Rephlummoxed built its identity on sprawling, multi-part compositions—songs whose lengths have a floor of five minutes and a ceiling of fourteen. The vast song lengths give the band’s pandemonium room to breathe, allowing the manic ambition to unfold at full scale. What emerged was bold, momentous, and endlessly engaging—a charismatic, aural riot fully earned by its ambition.

The architecture of Southern Progress sharply deviates from the long-form approach. Gone are the whimsical interludes and sprawling epics, save for the final song; in their place, Flummox attempt to use a leaner, more streamlined framework, with most tracks hovering around four to five minutes in length. None of the band’s genre-blurring mastery is lost—there’s still enough stylistic whiplash and personality to earn the approval of Mike Patton or Frank Zappa—but something about this new structural gamble doesn’t quite work.

A dissonance of expectation permeates this album, manifesting as a subtle but persistent disconnect between form and function. Everything that made Rephlummoxed soar feels truncated here. Something essential in the magic of their chaos gets lost when it’s compressed to the length of a standard pop rock song. That tension leaves many tracks feeling like incomplete snapshots of something greater, or ideas that might have been better served by embracing more conventional songcraft.

The first two tracks of the album, “What We’re in For…” and “Southern Progress,” immediately showcase the record’s fundamental confusion. The former opens with proggy, deranged grooves, then settles into a gentler, swing-inflected rhythm. From there, it pivots back into metal grooves that almost carry a sense of symphonic grandeur—only for Flummox to completely kill the momentum by abruptly oscillating between still sound samples and disjointed riffing, before trailing off into a full minute of ambient drift. “Southern Progress” then kicks in with an almost whiplash transition, fusing proggy power punk, death metal, and sludge. It starts off promising but soon collapses into a series of metal breakdowns that occupy far too much of the track’s runtime, before hastily returning to its original theme and ending without resolution. Both songs feel like fragments of a greater idea, pieces that would have been better served by being combined into one longer, more ambitious work.

Following these disorienting misfires is “Long Pork,” which assaults the listener with monolithic, sludgy riffing that drones through your bones, steadily building in intensity before attempting a vaguely post-rock crescendo. The whole endeavor falls flat because there either isn’t enough material to properly earn the climax or the song ends immediately upon reaching it.

Southern Progress closes with its longest track, “Coyote Gospel,” clocking in at just over eight minutes. Flummox clearly aimed to end the album with something grand as it’s a concept song tackling the hypocritical, cynical reality of Christian society. What they actually delivered, however, is a track that confuses concept with songcraft. “Coyote Gospel” comes across as a smorgasbord of ideas whose disjointedness outweighs its charm and gets in the way of any kind of momentum it could possibly build.

A few glimpses of coherence appear on this record. “Siren Shock” locks onto a well-structured, quirky southern metal aesthetic, with riffs that draw from the most charming corners of country rock—only amped up into a glorious rodeo that sounds like it could trample the stars out of the sky. “Executive Dysfunction” blends imperious sludge with tongue-in-cheek nods to Mr. Bungle, before shifting in its second half into lush prog and symphonic black metal. It’s chaotic, but perfectly balanced and fully realized, a rare moment where Flummox’s madness feels not just unleashed, but sculpted.

Ultimately, Southern Progress feels like the work of a band whose ambitions outpace their understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses—caught between the pull of vast ambition and the demands of focused brevity. Structurally, much of the album sounds like what you’d get if you hacked a random four-minute section out of a fifteen-minute Between the Buried and Me epic and tried to pass it off as a self-contained statement. Instead of embarking on a glorious journey across ten different dimensions of bedlam, you’re handed fractured, short-lived fragments of aimless indulgence. The ineffable eldritch opossum that defines the soul of Flummox can’t be contained within earthly constraints—it must either tame itself to speak the common tongue, or fully embrace its madness. But it can’t do both.

Recommended tracks: “Siren Shock”, “Executive Dysfunction”
You may also like: OMB, Schizoid Lloyd, öOoOoOoOoOo, Victory Over the Sun
Final verdict: 5.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: Needlejuice – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Flummox is:
– Alyson Blake Dellinger (vocals, guitar, bass)
– Chase McCutcheon (guitar)
– Max Mobarry (guitars, vocals, fretless acoustic bass, keyboards, midi programming, percussion, trumpet, sound design, scoring, editing and production)
– Jesse Peck (keyboards)
– Alan Pfeifer (drums)
With guests:
– Jo Cleary (violin)
– Melody Ryan (flute)
– Braxton Nicholas (tenor saxophone)
– Eric McMyermick (accordion)
– Angela Lese (flute)

The post Review: Flummox – Southern Progress appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: avant-garde/symphonic black metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Blut Aus Nord, Gorguts, Emperor 
Review by: Andy
Country: United States
Release date: 18 Novemeber, 2022

I love writing long, winding sentences full of cascading clauses and too many commas, but most of the music I cover doesn’t so easily lend itself to my stylistic preferences; however, every once in a while an avant-garde black metal band like SkyThala releases an album so sprawling and complex that I can afford to get cheeky with my language, allowing me to flex with over-the-top prose to adequately describe such a monumental, once-a-year release. SkyThala, in fact, play a type of avant-garde black metal, one which is steeped in Stravinsky-esque Russian high modern classical and general aesthetic maximalism–jagged, dissonant riffs melt your face as they burn fierce and bright until they smolder away into embers of symphonies of horns and woodwinds or choral synths. I will go ahead and claim in my intro that this is one of the most impressive black metal releases of the year easily (only surpassed by the avant and experimental juggernauts Imperial Triumphant and Bríi), and I’m positive basking in its resplendent burn for any extended period of time will horrify and amaze any of you reading.

By virtue of fantastic instrumental performance, a keen ear for songwriting, and an impressively natural sense of how an album ought to flow, Boreal Despair simultaneously oozes terror and sublimity in that special way only the best black metal truly can. Hailing from Tennessee, SkyThala are fairly esoteric, sharing members with experimental music collective Moonlight Cypress Archetypes. The overall shell of Boreal Despair is late-era Emperor through a modernist lens and with the songwriting sensibilities of Dordeduh–in that the band often cuts back to just Stravinsky inspired orchestra with similarly-lengthed miniature epics. For minutes at a time drums relentlessly blast while the guitars make my head spin with their swirling, nonsensical riffs atop sexy bass counterpoint, and, of course, the most unique thing about Boreal Despair is the orchestrations, subtle mixes of trombone, oboe, and bassoon which occasionally burst outward in a startling fashion. This is the band’s maximalism shining through as somehow everything happens at once at points so as to completely overwhelm the senses: It is present in the profound juxtaposition between “high art” and black metal as well as in the contrasts between each swirling riff.

The most impressive part of a work like this is that SkyThala know just as well when to pull back and leave just a layer or two like the strikingly memorable dissonant main riff of “Variegated Stances of Self Mockery,” which is isolated with only those insanely unceasing drums. The riff strips away so much while remaining at such a high level that I’ll do the same and simply say it’s a must-listen-to moment and absolutely bonkers. This is black metal at its most frenetic and unwieldy… until it isn’t as mere minutes later dissonant winds and horns collide in a well-timed respite from the shocking black metal in a total Aquilus or Dordeduh move–but also the symphonies are more ominous than those bands, the section forewarning what’s to come. 

What’s to come is the highlight track “Boreal Phrenological Despair,” which despite featuring an all too familiar solo guitar intro (listen to Ad Nauseam – “Coincidentia Oppositorium” if you need a hint to where I believe it borrows from), bursts at the seams with maximalist blackened goodness à la Imperial Triumphant. The main theme elevates the song and album to a higher plane, though, while it employs an auditory illusion to make the main melody appear to keep ascending in pitch. That, along with more choral synths, feels like approaching heaven from a more distorted angle, and I imagine this is what Elijah Tamu (Panegyrist) has in mind when he speaks of black metal helping to find some divine light through darkness. Genuinely pushing the envelope for what can be done in black metal, the track is a perfect expansion of some of the genre’s ingrained ideologies in my mind. Even the blast beats give rise to a feeling of levity. Oh, and I didn’t even mention the organ at 6:27 which is one of my favorite uses of the instrument since “Close to the Edge” fifty years ago, and then a more muted version of the illusionary riff comes back after our organ intermission, this time with background woodwinds taking the bulk of the melody underneath a completely insane cacophony.

Now I could talk about more individual, heartstopping moments for paragraphs more like the solo of the year contender at 5:15 in “Rotted Wooden Castles,” but I think baptizing yourself in the sound, letting the music really wash over you, while listening will make my excitement more understandable. Instead I’ll end the review by briefly talking about the end of Boreal Despair which actually feels like Wilderun’s “When the Fire and the Rose Were One”: “Yielding Quivers of Revolution” ends the album in an appropriate way, slightly altering expectations while still providing my dissonant fix I’d want from great avant-garde black metal, but the end also brings to light the album’s largest flaw. Often, the sound is utterly bewildering and unique, but occasionally, moments where other acts’ influence take over SkyThala’s own individuality do pop up. I am certainly not accusing them of plagiarism since it seems to be more of a “great minds think alike” type deal, and even the moments SkyThala don’t sound like SkyThala are still godly, but it’s one of the only aspects of Boreal Despair I can knock down at all. Every spin has revealed the album to be more and more perfect, a debut far more impressive than any avant-garde black metal album has a right to be. Go forth and listen to this; you’ll be impressed.

Recommended tracks: Variegated Stances of Self Mockery, Boreal Phrenological Despair, Yielding Quivers of Revolution
You may also like: Ad Nauseam, Dordeduh, Scarcity, Imperial Triumphant, Panegyrist, Krallice
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: I, Voidhanger – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

SkyThala is:
– R (bass, guitar, orchestration, vocals)
– S (drums)
– E (keyboards, orchestrations)

The post Review: SkyThala – Boreal Despair appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Melodic Black Metal/Death Metal/Doom Metal (mixed vocals)
Review by: Sabrina
Country: US-TN
Release date: 27 August, 2021

Coming up on their 3rd release, Summoner’s Circle makes another concept album about the eldritch and the mysterious. This time Chaos Vector revolves around Cthulhu, the ancient one himself, as one can see by the bleak and foggy album art. The album title refers to the slow trajectory of his presence, looming ever closer to our realm, causing darkness and havoc to erupt. This theme pairs well with the overall sonic choices that the band utilizes.

Chaos Vector has a mixed abrasive sound, combining flavors of melodic black metal, death metal, and traditional doom metal. On top of that, their musical choices reflect some progressive metal values. A few of the songs are a bit lengthy, showcasing various tempo shifts and different musical sequences as the songs progress. The band emphasizes plenty of synth/piano melodies that color the background with spooky, epic atmospheres. There are obvious influences from other bands like Dimmu Borgir and Behemoth, however, Summoner’s Circle writes their compositions a bit more on the progressive side than their blackened counterparts. They showcase riffs and guitar tones that some believe sound similar to Candlelight Years Opeth, and they mix in the occasional percussive, high-gain chugs that Gojira is known for.

In researching Chaos Vector‘s critical reception I’m conflicted to see that the album has gotten a fairly lukewarm, even negative response. Diabolus in Muzaka from Angry Metal Guy in particular said this album is “progressive” by name only, and does not really do anything super creative or technical to justify its label. I see where he has gripes about the lack of impact that a lot of the instrumental snippets have. However, this is still certainly a progressive piece of music, compositionally speaking. Essentially, the band writes their songs to be listened to and judged in their entirety, as opposed to listening in-depth to shorter durations of music. This is something that can be fulfilling if the band writes their compositions densely as you can pick through the layers of instrumentation. However, doing this with Summoner’s Circle can leave one underwhelmed because of the relative simplicity that they write with.

And yes, there are many sections that are “meat and potatoes” when listened to under a magnifying glass, but these can be considered small parts arranged in larger, more complicated songs. Summoner’s Circle utilizes these moments of simplicity both to display their strong sense of melody, and also to compound them into dynamic and unconventional song structures. For this band, seeing the bigger picture is key.

Songs like “Vessel” combine many smaller movements that may be very straightforward when listened to in isolation, but are used to contrast one another to form a dynamic end product. The climax of this song is a satisfying release of black metal tremolo picking, blastbeats, thick, textured growls, slow ominous riffs, and eerie guitar solos which are very satisfying in unison. And they pull this all off without dropping the ball when it comes to the song’s cohesion. Essentially, this intense, doom-flavored track succeeds because it emphasizes the strong elements in the smaller components to become greater than the sum of its parts. Both “Vessel” and the previous track, “Of Black Horizons” work well to establish the album’s evil, ritualistic sound.

Their riffs fall all over the extreme metal spectrum and are often on the more technical side which makes them relatively creative and progressive. Additionally, the band does well in harmonizing most of their band members around a certain rhythm or melody, especially in the drumming, riffs, and synthesizers. A good example of this would be five minutes into “The Beyond”, where everything comes together wonderfully. There are even the occasional syncopated, down-tuned, progressive, almost-groove-metal riffs that Gojira fans are used to. A couple of examples are in the title track “Chaos Vector”, or “Apostasy” which also has a juicy breakdown in the middle of the track.

Towards the back end of the album is where the band saves their most epic material, especially in the song “Terminus Egress”. This song showcases operatic female vocal chorus on top of distant male clean vocals, contrasting with more energetic drum fills, and gothic guitar chords. This song builds up to a violin section and a guitar solo. This would have been a good way to finish off the album, but it lingers on for another two songs, which are not at all bad in and of themselves, rather it is their placement that feels off. And as cool as “Terminus Egress” is on paper, to me, it didn’t feel as epic as it should have been. Perhaps because of its placement, or that its performances needed another take or two. Or maybe it is because the instrumentals in most sections on this song, like with much of the album, are tame and somewhat underwhelming, which is shameful for the climax of the album.

This seems like a better time than ever to transition into the downfalls of this album. When one decides to listen to Chaos Vector‘s instrumental density in-depth, one can be easily underwhelmed by its simplicity. Prog fans may be especially disappointed with the lack of technicality. Admittedly, I might be saying this from an unconscious bias against doom metal, but I find a lot of the band’s riffs to be generic, even if they are good riffs. Also, when I said earlier that the band harmonizes most of their band members well, I was explicitly excluding the bass performance which I forgot even existed until that point.

But for what it’s worth, this is a pretty good album. Summoner’s Circle delivers a spooky, somewhat gritty atmosphere, the album is aesthetically unified and focused on its goal, and they do a solid job at establishing their own sound. They write a lot of memorable riffs and harmonize their melodies well with the harsh vocals and synths. And the drumming is very admirable. Perhaps it is meant for people with an appreciation for progressive music, but also have the patience for doom metal stuff.

Recommended tracks: Chaos Vector, Vessel, Apostasy
Recommended for fans of: Dimmu Borgir, Behemoth, Tribulation, Children of Bodom, Gojira
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Metal-Archives page

Label: Blood Blast Dist. – Website | Facebook

Summoner’s Circle is:
– Blind (vocals)
– Gog (lead guitar)
– Azra (rhythm guitar)
– Y’takt (bass)
– Invictus (drums)
– Hex (keyboard)

The post Review: Summoner’s Circle – Chaos Vector appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: djent/core (instrumental)
Review by: Dylan
Country: US-TN
Release date: 27 August, 2021

Woah, it’s been a while readers! It seems that my engines are running a bit more motivated to find music thanks to my WIP “The Story of Argentinian Prog” post, so I thought I’d hit up our album catalogue and see if I could find myself something neat to tidy over my writing moments on said post. What I got was this fusion of djent, space-y vibes and atmosphere that Sham Shaman offered.

And it sure as hell makes up for an interesting listen, though perhaps not the most polished one. Anagnorisis (I seriously have to look up the title every time I try to spell it) embraces complexity in its instrumentation, usually with guitar driven hooks/riffs where the rest of your usual instruments take a back seat to let you digest the main course with no distractions. This means two things; that the guitars have been given extra love and care, but because of it, the rhythm section is almost non-existent in its qualities. Thanks to that, and it being a really djenty album with an abundance of downtuned riffage, makes it clear to me that the target audience is rather niche. Particularly a type of guy you probably know, who listens to hundreds of bands like these and is in one himself, the shy prog guitarist who owns a 7-string and writes music in his bedroom, aspiring to become the next Plini. Thankfully, it finds success in its guitar work being so well constructed that it manages to be enjoyable even to those not into this very particular type of scene. I myself can’t play a power chord to save my life but found myself easily engaged in the melodies presented by this abrasive wall of sound with just a touch of atmosphere.

It also justifies its abrasiveness in the intense moments with (mostly) well paced interludes that function not only as a proper rest to your ears but a Segway into whatever the song is going towards. A variety of soundscapes, synths, acoustic guitars and more allow for a variety in the execution of said interludes that make them not feel repetitive and at times the highlight of the track. Now, I say it mostly works because the one time that it didn’t, it nearly ruined a track. I’m talking about “Shadows Cast”, ironically the longest track in this short affair, where there is an usage of glitch-out/crashing-down effect to transition us from main-verse to interlude and backwards… not a bad idea per-se, but the effects are so abrasive that you genuinely believe something is up with your device and also, makes you instinctively cover your ears. While I’m all in for utilizing music for more things than pure melody, this is a case of taking it too far.

All in all, Sham Shaman manages to achieve a successful attempt into a genre that is currently way overblown with releases, making solid footing with great knowledge of guitar-oriented songwriting. It’s only big flaw can nearly ruin its longest track, but I’m willing to look past that thanks to the other 35 or so minutes of satisfying music.

Recommended tracks: Image of Swarms, For the Fleeting Dove
Recommended for fans of: dj0nt
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Label: Independent

Sham Shaman is:
– Evan Kubick (all instruments)

The post Review: Sham Shaman – Anagnorisis appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Traditional (Clean vocals)
Review by: Dylan
Country: US-TN
Release date: 25 September, 2020

Were you ever listening to Dream Theater in your room thinking ”Man, it’d be cool as hell if I had a band that celebrates what prog metal is all about”? If you did, you can find ReFrame‘s motivations as a band to be relatable (and so do I). This is how hundreds of thousands of prog metal bands are born, yet only a select few seem to come out with a project that’s 100% successful, either because it’s a very well made recreation of what’s known, or a twist to the genre.

ReFrame‘s music shows a lot of love and passion for the genre, it really does sound like a couple guys (and one gal) having a go at the genre they know and love. And while the motivation may be, by all means and purposes fine, it’s certainly not an easy type of music to just ”create because you love”. And unfortunately, that is the very first problem with Reaching Revery, attempting to fly when a band has yet to perfect running.

But what do I mean by saying they have yet to perfect running? Well, music production and writing is not a simple job. There’s close to billions of artists out there trying to make a splash in their particular scene, and fewer do the further our form of art progresses. Which is why it’s absolutely essential to at least have some basic ideas of structure, production, flow, and songwriting before even attempting to compose a prog album. One look at this album’s length (103 minutes) will tell you that flow may be an issue in this album, and it is. Opening with a 31 minute track called ”F.E.A.R”, entirely sung by a guest vocalist, is an extremely bold move for a band’s prog debut. However, after the first 10 minutes I came to the conclusion that it was rather unnecessary. Even albums from genre giants like The Flower Kings suffer from an overwhelmingly long opener, so ReFrame suffering from it is no surprise. While it’s hard to pin-point the moment where it goes wrong, there are many small failures throughout it (such as an overly long piano intro, a lack of concrete hooks/riffs, weird transitions, etc.) that add up and make the track rather unpleasant to listen to.

Lucky for me, that was ‘only’ the first 31 minutes of the album, so I was weirdly optimistic about the rest of it. Opening the rest of the album is ”The Unbegun” a track that shows far more focus than the actual first track of the album. While you can tell the band hasn’t quite found their sound, there’s good number of things to be excited about: the bass playing is very interesting and engaging, hooks are finally making an appearance and they’re rather exciting. As we continue with the album we reach the ballad ”all yours” featuring female singer Kayla Tuttle. And her two features on the album are a genuine pleasure; the way her vocals overlap with the main singer’s and her solo moments are very pleasant to the ears.

As you further progress into the album, you start to get the feel you did while powering through the opener. Its issues start to translate into the rest of the album, and it makes it decline in a similar way. There’s 72 minutes of way too much music, with so little of it remaining memorable. Sometimes it gets too ballad-y, sometimes there seems to be no hook to grasp yourself on-to, sometimes everything lacks a little punch… and just like that, the general experience while listening to Reaching Revery becomes below average.

By having to suggest skipping the opener, this was already not going to get a great score (no album in which you should skip 31 minutes of it will), but the rest of the album, while promising in some aspects, generally falls flat. I’d say that ReFrame should get back to the drawing board, take the positives from what’s been accomplished, improve production value, trim the fat in some tracks (and scrap a few more tracks in general), and the general outcome of their sophomore album will be much more pleasing.

Recommended tracks: The Unbegun, All Yours
Recommended for fans of: The Flower Kings, Universe Effects
Final verdict: 4.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Label: Independent

ReFrame is:
– Drew McFarlane: Keys
– Ed Johnson: Bass
– Matt Sweatt Drums
– David L.J. George: Vocals
– Phil Berger: Guitars

The post Review: ReFrame – Reaching Revery appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Stoner Doom (clean vocals)
Review by: Jonah
Country: Tennessee, United States / United Kingdom
Release date: 07-08-2020

Boy howdy I hope you like thick riffs. If you don’t, I’d suggest you pick yourself up and turn right on out of this review. Go find yourself a review of some fancy new band with that “djent” and those “arpeggios” that the kids are into these days. But if you’re like me, and nothing tickles your pickle quite like some absolutely bone-crushing riffage, then this is the album for you. Turned to Stone Volume II is a split between stoner metal greats Howling Giant and equally excellent stoner doom band Sergeant Thunderhoof, and each band has written an epic 20 minute song to really display their individual strengths.

Howling Giant are the less heavy of the two, but that in no way means less good. Their song “Masamune” is a sonic adventure full of gorgeous clean guitar leads, stoner riffs, and spacey vocals. It flows between more complex guitar passages, atmospheric ambient moments, and some really excellent riff and bass guitar work. The drums serve as a driving layer underneath all of it, not necessarily the most complex but providing a really excellent rhythmic base for the sound. Sergeant Thunderhoof turn the intensity up to 11 with their track “Muramasa” which eschews some of the progressive and melodic elements from the first track and instead punches you in the mouth with some absolutely massive riffs, and equally massive vocals reminiscent of Khemmis or Spirit Adrift.

While this is a bit of an odd album to review, as it’s really just two songs and each is from a different band, I can’t recommend this one to fans of the genre enough. Each band is in top form, and this might just be my favorite thing I’ve heard from each of them. This is some of the best stoner doom I’ve heard this year, hell it’s just some of the best doom I’ve heard this year, and I heartily recommend giving it many, many listens. It’ll reward you. So sit back, grab a beer and a totally legal naturally grown herbal remedy (if that’s your thing), and let the music take you on a beautiful journey.

Recommended tracks: Masamune, Muramasa
Recommended for fans of: Khemmis, Mastodon, Sleep
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook (Howling Giant) | Facebook (Sergeant Thunderhoof) | Metal-Archives page (Howling Giant) | Metal-Archives page (Sergeant Thunderhoof)

Howling Giant is:
Sebastian Baltes – Bass and Vocals
Tom Polzine – Guitars and Vocals
Zach Wheeler – Drums and Vocals

Sergeant Thunderhoof is:
Dan Flitcroft – Vocals
Mark Sayer – Guitar
Jim Camp – Bass
Darren Ashman – Drums

The post Review: Howling Giant/Sergeant Thunderhoof- Turned to Stone: Volume II Masamune and Muramasa appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: jazz, progressive metal, Native Construct (clean vocals)
Review by: Dylan
Recommended for fans of: Native Construct, Thank You Scientist, Haken
Country: Tennessee, United States
Release date: 31 May 2019

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the May 2019 issue of The Progressive Subway.]

In the year 2015, prog metal changed. This is because of Native Construct‘s only album, Quiet World. This album presented a very frantic style of metal, filled to the brim with polyrhythms, changes of pace, multiple styles of vocals and moods, all done around the idea that it all should feel like a metal musical. Not an opera, but a musical. What they’ve achieved is nothing short of amazing and got a shit ton of praise, but they sadly parted ways as a band so all we have left of them is this singular album. 

Why do I spend so much time talking about Native Construct? Because this band is trying to pick up the torch and carry it, but not at a 100% worshipping style. Yes, every element I mentioned about NC is here, but that doesn’t mean this band is creatively bankrupt like the many blatant DT worship bands Sam has reviewed over the years. In fact, In Static‘s problem is that it is actually, maybe, TOO creative. 

Look, I love Quiet World as much as the next guy, but that thing is hard to listen to. There’s so many things going on and so many abrupt changes that by the time the album reaches its conclusion I feel a little lost. Now imagine, if I felt a little lost at a 47 minute album, how do I feel about a 73 minute album that follows the same structure? 

Absolutely confused. If you’re gonna write a concept album that’s 73 minutes long, it can’t be constantly bringing new things to the table without a reprise, a chorus I can hang on too, a pretty melody that’s repeated more than once. It’s like they’re missing the moments that you remember in a Thank You Scientist album (“HOW I’VE ANTICIPATED YOUR RETUUUUUUURN, TO PLANET EAAAAARTH”). Some choruses are there, and when they are they’re wonderful such as in the track puzzle man, but they’re very few and far between. It just hurts so much because there really is a lot of potential. So let’s dive into it.

First of all, the vocals are fantastic. It’s like if you mixed Salvatore Marrano’s mid range with Ross Jenning’s high range. He knocks his performance out of the park. There is also very interesting usages of synths, the narrative is light hearted but relatively well done, some comedy is thrown in there and it actually works, the production value is exquisite… If there was a stronger sense of cohesion, we’d be talking about an AOTY contender. But sadly, this release just misses the mark. 

I recommend you check it out if you don’t struggle with loosely tied albums, and wanna be challenged. Maybe you’ll find something in this album I didn’t and it may click just fine with you! It just didn’t strike that chord with me, unfortunately.

Recommended tracks: Puzzle Man, Lovestruck
You may also like: Nova Collective, Artificial Silence
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page

Label: Independent

Edge of Reality is:
– Joey Frevola (guitar)
– Jesse Brock (vocals)
– Jesse Peck (guitar)
– Nick Mills (bass)
– Brandon Center (drums)

The post Review: Edge of Reality – In Static appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: rock, cheese (clean vocals)
Review by: Daniel
Country: US-TN
Release date: 01-01-2019

NOTE: This album was originally included in the January 2019 issue of The Progressive Subway

If you enjoy musicals, then I would say that you probably have the greatest chance of like Joey Frevola’s Gone just because of the cheese factor in his music. Cheese isn’t always bad, it can be great sometimes, but bad music is bad, and I think even the most ardent lovers of musicals and progressive rock will be hard pressed to like all of Gone.

Altogether, Joey Frevola has done some ok things in this album, but his accomplishments are diminished by messy songwriting and blatant stealing from other artists.
I’m going to take a minute to catalogue everything I’ve heard him take:

1. The main theme in Empty is pretty much directly taken from Dancing Queen.
2. A sax chimes in Find Him with the theme of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
3. The main theme in Elise’s Song sounds ripped off from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky (guy who composed Night on Bald Mountain, which is featured in Fantasia).
4. I swear I’ve heard the main theme in Lonely somewhere else before…
5. Same thing for Lonely as for the final theme in “Friends”/main theme in Someone Like You. It sounds like it’s from a Disney movie, and I can’t really tell which one.
6. I’m sure I’m missing more just because I don’t know where all he takes all of his “inspirations” from.

But the blatant stealing in this record isn’t the only sin. His music often feels chunky and awkward, with poor transitions. For example, Rooftops is a song with clear Dream Theater influences. The beginning has this random polyrhythm thing that never rears its ugly head again in the song. Other than showing that polyrhythms are a thing I don’t really know what the point of this intro is. It makes no musical sense. After this, the song gets off the ground and gets pretty ok but is then ruined by a couple of weird transitions in the end. It just feels like the music is at least a couple iterations away from being a finished product.

But it’s not just Rooftops that feels like this. Just like the music, the album feels all over the place and lacks much cohesion. But it’s not all bad for Mr. Frevola. I definitely see some sparks of genius in his music. In my opinion Lonely stands out as the best track on this album. As I mentioned previously, I swear I’ve heard the main theme in Lonely before, but that doesn’t take away from the quality of the song. It’s undeniably beautiful, and I believe that Joey Frevola has his best vocal performance on the album in it.

I’m intrigued to see what output Joey Frevola will have in the future. If he cleans up his act, I think he’s capable of making something good. For now, I would only recommend Lonely to the casual reader.

Recommended tracks: Lonely
Recommended for fans of: musicals, Disney
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page

Label: Independent

Joey Frevola is:
– Joey Frevola (all instruments)

The post Review: Joey Frevola – Gone appeared first on The Progressive Subway.