Style: progressive rock, neo-prog, soft rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Transatlantic, Genesis, Yes, Neal Morse, Spock’s Beard
Country: Sweden
Release date: 2 May 2025

In the contexts of politics, education, the visual arts, and various other disciplines, the term “progressive” has a similar connotation to terms like “forward-thinking” or “experimental”. In this tradition, and in the context of rock music, the mid-1960s saw the term “progressive” being attached to compositions with more complex structure, new and unusual instrumentation¹, and virtuosic instrumental performances. The term “progressive rock” was coined in 1968 and the label was applied to some of the biggest rock bands of the next decade.

But the very act of defining a new genre of music solidifies it. Today, “progressive rock” and “experimental rock” evoke two quite different styles. Even at the end of the 1970s, when the heyday of progressive rock was nearing its end, the genre had become a caricature of itself. But as any street fair or amusement park will attest to, some people eat that shit up. Self-proclaimed “progressive” rockers The Flower Kings’ latest album, LOVE, seems—superficially, at least—to fall into those well-worn ruts of 1960s-style prog rock. But is there anything under that veneer? Was this caricature painted by Paulie, down on the Atlantic City boardwalk? Or Picasso?

LOVE ticks many of the boxes on the progressive rock checklist…

synths heavily featured on basically every song
multiple seven-plus-minute-long pieces
unusual percussion (wood blocks, marimba, glockenspiel)
instrumental and lyrical reprises across multiple tracks

…and at times is quite reminiscent of classic prog acts; “World Spinning” is like a lower-energy version of ELP’s “Hoedown”; the outro of “Burning Both Edges” could be a reference to the intro of Rush’s “Xanadu”, but without Neil Peart’s varied percussion; around 7:15 in “Kaiser Razor”, there’s a riff that sounds almost identical to the one at 3:55 in Genesis’ “Firth of Fifth”.

While The Flower Kings (consciously or otherwise) pay homage to their forebears on LOVE, they lack the compositional prowess which propelled those acts into the prog rock pantheon in the first place. On “We Claim the Moon”, a four-phrase melody is introduced early on, played in sync by guitar, bass, synth, and percussion. That exact musical idea is repeated as-is three times in the first ninety seconds of this six-and-a-half-minute track, and then abandoned wholesale—it is never repeated again. Just after this, a shorter, eight-note phrase is introduced, and that phrase is repeated twenty times throughout the remainder of the song. Neither of these two extremes is ideal. Despite the proverb which states otherwise, familiarity breeds appreciation: listeners want hooks, callbacks, and reprises. At the same time, we need a bit of variation to maintain interest. This is something that the aforementioned “Firth of Fifth” does so well: a primary melody is repeated multiple times throughout the song, but at different tempos and with different timbres as it’s played on different instruments. This keeps the listener engaged without boring them. Safe to say, The Flower Kings are no Genesis.

The dynamic range of LOVE leaves something to be desired, as well. For comparison, consider a piece like Yes‘s “Close to the Edge”: the first minute is almost entirely birdsong and chimes; then absolutely frenetic synths, driving bass, and frantic guitars; then a vocal break into a mellower, airy section; another break into an almost reggae-inspired verse, and so on. This wide variety of moods is nowhere to be found on LOVE, let alone in quick succession in a single song. Consider the introductions of a few tracks on this album: “The Elder” has a tempo of 112 bpm and begins slowly with vocals, bells, and piano; “The Phoenix” has a tempo of 120 bpm and begins slowly with strings, acoustic guitar, and vocals; “The Promise” has a tempo of 127 bpm and begins slowly with acoustic guitar and vocals. Some people might say they’ve written the same song eleven times for this album, but they’d be lying, it’s actually the same song twelve times.

Now, dear reader, you may think that it is unfair of me to compare The Flower Kings to prog rock legends like Yes, Genesis, and Rush, as I’ve done above. Let me tell you why it’s not: The Flower Kings call themselves “prog-rock legends” in their own Spotify bio. If that’s not an invitation to compare them to the greats, then I do not know what is.

All of that being said, there are a few small highlights on LOVE, but they come with caveats. The two instrumental tracks, “World Spinning” and “Kaiser Razor” are good examples. These are the two fastest tracks on the album (both exceeding 230 bpm), bringing a breath of fresh air to the otherwise steady trudge through seventy-one minutes of low-energy prog rock. “World Spinning” is a vibrant synth solo that pulls you in and then stops far too abruptly—an obvious missed opportunity. “Kaiser Razor” is also infectious: the main riff is a climb up a scale, repeated over and over, building up to… again, nothing. The song just kind of disintegrates after about two minutes. Both of these tracks feel like they are incredible seeds of ideas, which hadn’t yet been fully fleshed out before they were recorded as-is for LOVE.

The Flower Kings’ LOVE is a surface-level tribute to a nearly sixty-year-old genre of music. It lacks both the dynamism and the compositional acuity of the prior art which inspired it. LOVE is like the generic version of your favourite brand-name prog rock acts—it may contain the same ingredients, but it doesn’t have quite the same flavour. After LOVE, you’ll soon find yourself reaching for “real” progressive rock to get that imitation taste out of your mouth.

Recommended Tracks: Kaiser Razor, We Claim the Moon
You may also like: Neal Morse Band, Pattern-Seeking Animals, Jacob Roberge, Cosmic Cathedral
Final verdict: 4.5/10

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

Label: InsideOutMusic – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

The Flower Kings is

• Mirko DeMaio (Drums, Percussion)
• Lalle Larson (Grand Piano, Rhodes Piano, Hammond B3 & Synthesizers)
• Hans Fröberg (Vocals)
• Michael Stolt (Bass, Moogbass, Vocals)
• Roine Stolt (Vocals, Electric & Acoustic 6 & 12-string Guitars, Ukulele)

LOVE also features

• Hasse Bruniusson (Percussion)
• Jannica Lund (Vocals)
• Aliaksandr Yasinski (Accordion)

1. The Moog synthesizer, a staple of 1970s progressive rock, only began to be mass-produced in 1967, and was therefore genuinely cutting-edge at the time. The Doors’ “Strange Days” (1967) is an early example of its usage. ︎

The post Review: The Flower Kings – LOVE appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Artwork by: Ingrid Kao

Style: Video Game Music, Progressive Rock, Jazz Rock (mostly instrumental, clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Koji Kondo, Danimal Cannon, Powerglove, Mitch Murder, Kavinsky, Timecop 1983
Country: New Jersey, United States
Release date: 7 April 2025

In James Cameron’s 1994 blockbuster True Lies, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays mild-mannered computer salesman Harry Tasker who, unbeknownst to his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) and teenage daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku), is actually a highly-trained spy for the US government. While the movie plays its deceptions for largely comedic value, I always thought discovering such a secret about a loved one would be anything but funny. Well, in 2025 thought became reality for me.

That’s right. My father, who for the past three decades I believed to be a similarly mild-mannered branch manager, has been lying to my family. Imagine my shock—nay, my horror as I was innocently perusing the tunnels of The Progressive Subway in search of review-worthy material and discovered CRT Dreams by none other than… Chuck Salamone. I confronted him that very evening, demanding to know how he could have lied to us for so long.

The audacity.

All jokes aside, the artist behind CRT Dreams bears no actual familial relations to our particular clan. Besides, I’ve never written my dad’s name in bold, and don’t plan to start. Chuck Salamone (Amigos, Amigos!), the man, hails from New Jersey; a multi-instrumentalist and co-owner of His & Hers Music, where he teaches private music education alongside his wife, Diane Aragona. As Chuck Salamone, the artist, he has produced two LPs. In Plain Sight, released in 2024, was a prog rock-focused platter of original tunes featuring nearly 20 different musicians combining elements of jazz, hip-hop, and flecks of metal. Imagine “royalty-free prog-rock,” and you’re close to understanding the listening experience. Competent musicians, toothless production, saccharine vocals. Honestly, some of it would have fit perfectly on a mid-00s Sonic the Hedgehog game.

Fitting, then, that for this year’s CRT Dreams, Salamone has turned his sights toward video game compositions—specifically, with the goal of creating new interpretations and arrangements. From classics like HyperZone, Sonic 2, Final Fantasy VII, and Yoshi’s Island, to more current entries like Final Fantasy XV and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, there’s a healthy reach to the selections. And I can’t lie, making a funk medley out of a bunch of Sonic 2 tracks (“Off the Hilltop”)—with a Hammond organ, too—is kinda sick.

However, there’s a central problem that undoes almost every composition on CRT Dreams, whether that’s the latin jazz intermezzo smashup of “Yo, Fungo Kass,” “Fifteenth Sunset’s” classical introspection, or the Koji Kondo worship of lofi-jazzhop medley “Koji Gets Lost for Awhile.” Part of what makes video game music click is its context; how it connects to and informs the player of the characters, story, world, etc. It’s not to say video game compositions can’t stand on their own (I own several of Michiru Yamane’s Castlevania soundtracks, not to mention Doom 2016’s), but more often than not most video game OSTs feel diminished when separated from their host medium. Couple that with a similarly tepid production job as In Plain Sight (individual instruments come through clear but there’s no real dynamics), and CRT Dreams quickly begins to fade into the background like so much disposable muzak. It’s clearly designed to be a celebration of video game music, but this lack of aural force leaves the album with an impact akin to listening to retail radio.

There’s also a novelty factor to consider, too. While listening, I was reminded of similar video game or soundtrack-focused acts like Danimal Cannon and Powerglove, or even “joke” bands like Austrian Death Machine or Dethklok. They’re fun for a time, but eventually the novelty runs out and I’m veering back towards more “serious”¹ music. And even if video game music is your jam, the languid tempos and soft production make it easy to suggest sticking to the originals.

I hate to pen such a harsh review of Chuck Salamone’s latest work, because he’s my dad well-intentioned and promotes the positivity of music. Wafer-thin production aside, I think the compositions are (mostly) fun across the board: just listen to the electronic bop of “HyperGround.” Or “Off the Hilltop’s” smooth vibes and sultry saxophone. The truest misstep is closer “Pollyambria”—a mashup of “Pollyanna” and Coheed & Cambria that’s so saccharine-sweet as to be artificial, with thin vocals and milquetoast prog riffage.

Video game music absolutely deserves to be celebrated, and I’ll always applaud those spreading the love. But, the worst thing music can do to me is feel disposable, and sadly that’s the overriding sensation I’ve had while listening to CRT Dreams. Maybe if the production was more lively, less tucked into the recesses, then perhaps I’d be keen on some New Game Plus runs. But considering how quickly it all fades from memory even while listening, I just don’t think this is a game I’m going to spend more quarters on.

Recommended tracks: Off the Hilltop, HyperGround
You may also like: Ian Cowell, Ro Panuganti / Game Raga, RRGEMS15, Feras Arrabi, Lost in Lavender Town
Final verdict: 4.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram | RateYourMusic

Label: Independent

Chuck Salamone is:
– Chuck Salamone (all instruments/arrangements, vocals)

1. I like Battle Beast and Sabaton, okay? It’s not that serious. ︎

The post Review: Chuck Salamone – CRT Dreams appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Melodic death metal, metalcore, progressive metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dark Tranquillity, Orbit Culture, In Flames, Arch Enemy, Lamb of God
Country: Finland
Release date: 25 April 2025

One of the biggest draws to metal as a genre is the fact that, at this point, it’s hardly a genre in any meaningful sense. If you choose carefully, you can pick about a hundred different bands from different corners of the metal universe, and not a single one will sound anything like another—their only commonality being the overarching genre tag they hold haphazardly. No matter your taste or mood, there’s something for you within metal’s vast expanse: fast and riffy, dissonant and crushing, introspective and atmospheric, technical, accessible, melancholic, heady, visceral, you get the point. The more my taste matures, the wilder it gets, and the more time I spend wandering the genre’s outer reaches. But sometimes the monkey part of my brain pulls me back toward the center. Give me some groovy riffs and shiny melodic leads, and I’ll forget all about that eighteen-minute, dissonant, avant-black track in the queue.

Enter Echoes of the Extinct with their debut LP Era of Darkness. I don’t mean to paint the album as overly simple—it has some progressive leanings and blistering chops—but primarily, these Finns center their sound on big, chugging guitars augmented by melodic death metal flairs. Clocking in at an even thirty minutes, Era of Darkness promises a quick, satisfying fix of head-bashing music; something to knock those primal cravings into submission so I can get back to whatever pretentious subgenre of a subgenre I was exploring. So, how does this jaunt toward the center of the metal universe fare? 

Drawing inspiration from their Nordic neighbors, Echoes of the Extinct’s guitars fill Era of Darkness with Gothenburg-style riffing and leads, and the vocal delivery often resembles the likes of Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. The straightforward melodeath influence shines brightest during choruses, those in “Empathy” and “Virus” sounding like they were plucked right from the late ‘90s Gothenburg scene: riffy, melodic, catchy, and energized without being overly technical. Although generic, the band does the style justice. But these melodeath features lie atop and decorate a metalcore-tinged foundation of heavy, rolling chugs reminiscent of Orbit Culture. In theory, these styles should coalesce in an extremely digestible mix of groovin’ low-string riffs balanced by faster melodic ones, shimmering leads, and big hooks—something to get the blood pumping and the head bobbing. In practice, though, that’s not how Era of Darkness plays out. 

For an album reliant on groove, Era of Darkness never lets you settle into a rhythm for long. Right when a nod-inducing pattern begins to take hold, Echoes of the Extinct take you somewhere else—they either speed you up and abruptly send you back to Gothenburg, or move you over to a different set of chugs that don’t quite complement the ones before. The experience is one of whiplash, stylistically and physically. “Last Page,” for example, is composed almost entirely on top of chugs, yet locking onto the underlying rhythm is like playing a game of whack-a-mole. The middle of “Virus” similarly bounces the listener around aimlessly, which is unfortunate because the track is bookended by some of the album’s catchiest melodeath material. The guitar and drum parts in “Virus” were evidently written independently and then put together, and it shows—in fact, the drum-guitar connection feels out of sync throughout the entire album. Still, it’s the penultimate track “Conflict” that’s the hardest to follow, as an all too fraught combination of styles, passages, and rhythms is packed almost randomly into less than a four-minute runtime. The band manufactures complexity when flow is what’s sorely needed.

To be sure, Echoes of the Extinct display potential. Although far from innovative, the interplay between the guitars is mature beyond what you’d expect from a debut, and the most enjoyable aspect of Era of Darkness is how well the lead melodies play off the foundational riffs. The vocalist also turns in a solid performance, with his strong choruses and sense of timing bringing some focus to an uncentered album. Perhaps a forgivable sign of youthful exuberance, Echoes of the Extinct simply stuff too much into a thirty-minute release. As a result, no one part stands out. Providing the numerous ideas room to breathe, and giving deeper thought to how and why one passage leads to the next, would have helped untangle the album into a more coherent experience for the listener. Opening tracks “Remedy” and “Empathy” are the most comprehensible and come closest to that impactful, squarely “metal” sound the album was poised to deliver, but on the whole, Era of Darkness misses the mark.

Alas, my trip back toward the center of the metal universe was an unsuccessful one. The should-be-satisfying groove and Gothenburg elements of Era of Darkness are marred by disjointed songwriting, and without flowing more naturally, the tracks’ component pieces aren’t compelling enough to stand on their own. But, while I’m here near the center, I may as well indulge—Dark Tranquillity’s Character should do. Then it’s back to those outer reaches, to answer important questions like whether an experimental drone and doom metal track justifies its thirty-five-minute runtime.

Recommended tracks: Remedy, Empathy
You may also like: Aversed, Allegaeon, Burial in the Sky
Final verdict: 4.5/10

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

Label: Inverse Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Echoes of the Extinct is:
– Kalle Hautalampi (bass)
– Jarmo Jääskeläinen (drums)
– Juuso Lehtonen (guitars)
– Tero Ollilainen (vocals)

The post Review: Echoes of the Extinct – Era of Darkness appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Progressive metal, post-metal, alternative metal (instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Tool, Pelican, Russian Circles
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 14 March 2015

It’s instrumental, but it sure ain’t late-night jazz—Obelisks is a three-track EP by UK-based progressive metal band Midnight Jazz Club. Whatever the time of day, this release comes punctually: the early months of 2025 have filled my ears disproportionately with releases leaning into the more extreme ends of progressive music, and a melodic instrumental album is quite welcome. Whether Obelisks satisfies that craving, however, is another matter.

Midnight Jazz Club play a brand of instrumental prog with a style straddling the line between post- and alternative metal. The sonic landscapes they create are airy and broad, but there’s also an ever-present, energetic drive and groove—it’s all quite accessible and well-produced, reminiscent of a floatier Tool. Indeed, each of Obelisks’ three tracks reminds me of something gleaned right from Lateralus’s legendary title track. But even if the music sounds slightly derivative, it’s done well enough, and the band has a knack for writing tuneful riffs and melodies. The hook in “Refraction,” for example, sets an infectious, soaring guitar melody on top of a groovy underlying riff with an all-too-catchy chord progression. The band pulls the same trick out of the bag in “The Obelisk,” etching another enjoyable—though quite similar—hook. The verse riffs and bridges, too, have an entrancing pulse to them.

But the issue for me is that Obelisks sits in the odd spot of not having the technical wizardry that makes instrumental prog the spectacle that it can be, while also not having large dynamic sweeps or sufficiently detailed soundscapes to fill the space in the way an effective post-metal album might. Rather, the tracks are each a collection of progressive metal-by-numbers riffs and Tool-inspired bridges. There are no solos to be found, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but also no deep explorations in sound or composition. The songs all have the same feel and even the same set of limited dynamics.

To be sure, the components in each track evolve slightly as they’re repeated, offering rhythmic shifts and marginally differing arrangements. And the instruments are played well, with an active bass carrying along in a big Lateralus-like tone and a powerhouse drum performance—the last couple of minutes in “Crystalline” are particularly thunderous. The guitars, meanwhile, are tight and layered well. Yet the band never leaves the comfortable territory of “conventional riff here, pulsing bridge there.” The album proceeds along a relatively straight line, not taking the compelling detours one might hope for in a progressive instrumental work.  

And therein lies a problem: listening to Obelisks reminds less of the works by today’s renowned instrumental prog artists (take your pick) and more of a generic progressive metal album’s vocal-free reissue. The tracks’ sound and structures are stylized in such a way that would seem to accommodate a vocalist, and the instruments and compositions aren’t doing enough to add intrigue to that open musical space. Something needs to lead Obelisks. Vocals often fill such a role, but more instrumental detail and varied songwriting would do perfectly fine as well.

The upshot here is that Midnight Jazz Club deliver music that glides into the brain and stays there with zero friction. This makes for a pleasant albeit unnoticeable listen, ultimately at odds with the “progressive” label that the band identifies with. As Obelisks’ tracks carry along, I’m left waiting for a meaningful shift in feel, intensity, or compositional structure that never comes. Fortunately, the band is relatively new—Obelisks being their second proper release, both EPs—and I would bet they’re capable of pushing their style into more interesting and ambitious dimensions without sacrificing much of the catchiness that makes it accessible. Until then, my search for a satisfying melodic counterweight to this year’s extreme string of releases continues.

Recommended track: The Obelisk
You may also like: A Burial At Sea; Shy, Low
Final verdict: 4.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Midnight Jazz Club is:
– Chris Bowe (guitars)
– Chris Southern (guitars)
– Craig Rootham (bass)
– Tom Unwin (drums)

The post Review: Midnight Jazz Club – Obelisks appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Industrial Metal, Breakcore, Black Metal, Doom Metal (mostly harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Bongripper, Om, Author & Punisher, Igorrr
Country: Netherlands
Release date: 21 February 2025

I’ve only been writing for The Progressive Subway for about two months now, but I fear it has already irreparably altered my taste in music in some ways. For example, when an artist describes their own work as “dissonant”, I have PTSD flashbacks to a few weeks ago, when Andy asked me to check out Gorguts‘ Obscura for the first time. Bong-Ra‘s latest LP, Black Noise, is downright pleasant in comparison.

Bong-Ra is one of many projects from the mind of Jason Köhnen (Celestial Season, The Answer Lies in the Black Void, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, etc.). If you’re interested in exploring the territory where metal and electronic music overlap, a stroll through Bong-Ra‘s back catalog is an excellent introduction. Black Noise is not the first metal-electronic fusion album from Bong-Ra, but it is the best example of where that balance is shifted in favour of fans of black or industrial metal, as opposed to breakcore and raggacore (Warrior Sound, Monolith) or drone metal (Antediluvian, Meditations).

Black Noise is largely a work of industrial metal with a tasteful infusion of electronic instrumentation. On the opening track “Dystopic”, trudging guitars occasionally glitch, and you’re reminded every so often that the drums are programmed as the track flows into and out of breakcore sections. At times, Köhnen hearkens back to his earlier, more atmospheric oeuvre, like on “Bloodclot”, a sparse track with a throbbing bassline reminiscent of a pulse. “Parasites”, another memorable work, is notable primarily for its prominent sampling of wet, writhing, wriggling creatures; partway through “Parasites”, those squidgy, slimy samples are timed to align with the bass drum, making it sound like a band trying to play their way out of a pit full of worms and leeches.

But Black Noise is not a particularly memorable album on the whole. When I introduce someone to a new band, I can tell they’re not really open to giving it a chance when the main criticism they have is “all of the songs sound the same”. I think that’s usually a cop-out, and what they really mean is “I listened to the album and didn’t pay attention because I didn’t care all that much, so I don’t remember the differences between the tracks”. But friends, I have listened to Black Noise upward of a dozen times now and I can tell you with certainty: most of the songs on this album sound the same.

The first three tracks – “Dystopic”, “Death#2”, and “Nothing Virus” – are nearly identical sonically. The same monotone growling vocals, the same distorted guitar tone, the same mechanical ambiance. Sure, the lyrics are different track to track, but on individual tracks they’re so repetitive as to be almost mantric. Each of these songs has a choppy delivery: short one-to-three word phrases repeated over and over. The entirety of the lyrics¹ for “Dystopic”, for example, are

• “Echoes void.”
• “Shattered dreams fade.”
• “Cold eyes.”
• “Lifeless.”
• “Dystopic.”
• “Endless decay.”
• “Silent machine hums.”

Take those seven phrases and repeat them a handful of times (with interspersed grunts and yells for flavour) in whatever order you like and you’ve got yourself a song. You can do the same for “Death#2”² with

• “Static fills my…”
• “…numb, cold skin.”
• “Pulse fades.”
• “Heavy, slow breath.”
• “Death in silence.”
• “Shadows take hold.”
• “Life fades away.”

“Nothing Virus” is a bit more varied lyrically, but it still maintains this two-to-three word phrasing in the vocals. If someone heard these three songs from Bong-Ra, they would be more than justified in thinking that “all their songs sound the same”. The fourth track, “Useless Eaters”, finally breaks this pattern by containing no lyrics whatsoever – just many samples of Charles Manson rants. (Never did I think I would be so thankful for Charles Manson.) Not until the seventh track of the album, “Ruins”, do we finally get some variety in the vocals; this and the unsettling “Parasites” both feature some clean vocals in addition to the harsh ones. But don’t worry, the choppy phrasing is present in the clean vocals, as well. “Dystopic” is a great track, but I don’t need that same track slightly reworked in five different ways on the same album—give me some variety, man.

Jason Köhnen’s Bong-Ra has evolved significantly over the past three decades, and Black Noise is a step in a new direction: heavier than his previous fusion work and more digestible than his previous metal work. But Black Noise is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. Cutting out the forgettable “Death#2”, “Nothing Virus”, “Black Rainbow”, and “…Blissful Ignorance”, Black Noise could have been a decent five-track EP; but as-is, there’s too much filler, not enough killer. With his jump from avant-drone metal to industrial, Köhnen seems to have not yet found his niche in the metal world. To develop a more consistent fanbase, Bong-Ra need to deliver more consistently, both in terms of style and quality.

Recommended tracks: Parasites, Bloodclot, Dystopic
You may also like: DJ Skull Vomit, Intensive Care, Celestial Season
Final verdict: 4.5/10

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

Label: Debemur Morti Productions – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Bong-Ra is:
– Jason Köhnen (everything)
– Attila Kovacs (touring guitarist)
– Botond Fogl (touring guitarist)

1. Transcribed by the author and therefore possibly incorrect. ︎
2. Unintelligible lyrics at 2:36 and 3:38. ︎

The post Review: Bong-Ra – Black Noise appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

No one’s credited for the artwork, but I can only assume The Loot Experiment did it.

Style: Progressive metal (instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Plini, Animals as Leaders, Dream Theater, Native Construct
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 26 December, 2024

For about six months last year, something strange happened. I didn’t listen to even the slightest bit of metal, and instead, turned my attention to rap. After watching Kendrick Lamar’s brutal murder of the artist formerly known as Drake, I couldn’t help but be astounded at the innovation on what I consider to be the weakest link of the entire genre: the diss track. Instrumental prog is a lot like a diss track in the way I feel both serve absolutely no purpose—until they do. For every ‘Meet the Grahams’, there’s a thousand manufactured beefs for publicity’s sake. For every Conquering Dystopia, there’s a million other bands who really, really want to be Intervals.

Even in my days of thinking that r/progmetal gave good recommendations, I never understood the obsession with Sithu Aye and Scale the Summit. Talented as they are, it all amounts to a whole lot of showing off without the songwriting to back it up. “But Zach, you idiot!” I hear you shout, “You like tech-death! What about that?” Well, for every Archspire, there are many more Brain Drills. What separates the two examples above is allowing the melodic instrumentals to shine above a sea of blast-beats and rapid-fire growls, and to give the songs room to breathe despite a blazing fast tempo. Keith Merrow and Jeff Loomis of Conquering Dystopia err more on the side of death metal stylings, making their instrumentals stand out without a screaming vocalist to back them up. There’s only so many scales that can be innovated on before all you’re doing is playing a Plini song in a different order.

The Loot Experiment is neither Sithu Aye nor Plini, where he’s built up enough of a following to sustain himself: TLE is a guy, a guitar, and a dream. Andy reviewed his last EP, Into the Ether, early last year, which was a showcase of someone with a lot of raw talent and none of the songwriting chops to back it up. Couple that with an amateurish, self-made production job, and you’ve got yourself a record that nobody but Andy and his infinite spreadsheet remembered much of anything about. But now, TLE is back with a vengeance, ready to show the world what he and his incredible shredding skills are capable of.

Without a well-known master-er (Jamie King of Between the Buried and Me fame), there’d basically be nothing on Fractured Realty to talk about. This is paint by numbers prog metal, right down to the very first riff. Chug-diggy-diggy-chug-chug. You have heard this in a million different variations, and even if the record started with generic, space-y synths, I’d have preferred it to this. ‘Terraformer’ sets the tone of this album all too well, and when TLE is done tearing up that riff, he goes into a lead section that’s about as interesting as watching glaciers move.

In the entire twenty-minute runtime, not a single interesting section or riff appears. TLE defaults to the standard chugga-chugga with your standard minor scale runs and shreds in between. 

On repeat. 

Forever. 

With ‘Terraformer’ basically being the same two sections twice over, I didn’t have high hopes for ‘Maadi’. And what do you know? More of the same. It’s almost as if TLE is afraid to innovate on an already beaten formula, and I’m not quite sure why. Every song’s lead section feels like TLE is holding back when he should be shredding, and shredding when he should be letting the rest of the programmed band speak for themselves.

Jamie King’s spit-shine and polish can only add so much to Fractured Reality. And yet, I certainly can’t call TLE a bad musician—because he’s not. Like his debut, there’s a shit-ton of raw talent here that needs other ideas in the pot to balance it all out. Not every song needs ten-thousand guitar effects to be interesting, nor does every riff need to be mind-numbingly rhythmic. Not every one-man band is Dessiderium, and another person to help beef up the songwriting is maybe just what this project needs for success.

The Loot Experiment, my hat goes off to you. Finding yourself amidst a sea of artists all doing the same thing, and attempting to charge forth and carve your name must be terrifying. As a musician who’s far too nervous to upload anything of his own, I commend the effort you put into crafting this album. However, stop trying to innovate on the diss track of prog-metal. Instru-prog can and only will be pushed so far by the titans of the genre, and you have to take a step back and ask yourself where it’s going wrong. You can’t stand out when everyone’s doing much of the same.

Recommended tracks: Fractured Reality
You may also like: The Dark Atom, Regressor
Final verdict: 4.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify

Label: Unsigned

The Loot Experiment is:
– Mark Harding (everything)

The post Review: The Loot Experiment – Fractured Reality appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Genres: Progressive death metal, melodic death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Wintersun, Aether Realm
Country: Germany
Release date: 12 February 2024

There should be a word in English for that feeling of deflation when met with intense disappointment. A dream I remember vividly was going to the premiere of Dune Part One only to find it was children’s drawings and Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack was replaced by a kazoo. What I remember more than the false memory was the feeling associated with it, going from immense hype to pure disbelief in what was before my eyes in a manner of seconds.

Far Beyond’s 2016 album, A Frozen Flame of Ice, had all the jank of a one-man project but also the ambition of a Wintersun. The “band,” manned by one Eugene Dodenhoeft, left out most blackened influences from his debut and turned his sound into melodic death metal with a heavy synth-lead influence and just a dash of power metal. What struck me about Frozen Flame was the insane production value and songwriting prowess for one guy, especially how well-programmed the drums were. Then, not an ounce of news until eight whole years later.

I was hyped for The End of My Road. Clearly, Eugene had taken his time to make sure this was the best album he could’ve possibly created. Eight years in development means it was going to be incredible, right? Surely my first paragraph will have no bearing on my review whatsoever, right??

My first impression upon listening to The End of My Road was asking myself what happened to the production. The natural sounding guitar tone of Frozen Flame has been replaced with a tinny mess that gets completely overshadowed by the symphonics. The vocals sound like they’ve been recorded in a separate room from the rest of the instruments, and somehow have massively downgraded since the last one. But I can forgive bad production, I have plenty of times in other reviews. What I cannot forgive is how poor the songwriting is on this. Like Yngwie once said, “how can less be more?” Frozen Flame had incredibly focused songwriting, even with the average prog song lengths and nearly an hour run time. Plenty of moments stuck with me upon first listen because there weren’t six-thousand layers in each song. I love layered songwriting, but there’s a huge difference between layers and padding, and this album has a ridiculous amount of padding.

See, a good melodeath band plays with their dynamics and knows when to back off with the epic feeling, just to make those sweeping symphonics hit so much harder. Practically this entire album is constantly at an eleven in terms of intensity, leaving no breathing room for any one moment to shine. Sure, everything bar the production is competently performed, but there’s no room for any of the songs to breathe. Take the aptly named ‘A Symphony of Light’. A nearly eleven-minute orchestral onslaught sounds awesome in theory but just becomes tiring when the only quiet point is at the very end.

‘Tempus Fugit’ is the only song that does this right on the whole album, and became my favorite upon first listen. It’s a song that shows Eugene hasn’t lost his way in terms of songwriting, though has undoubtedly gotten lost in the symphonic sauce. The build towards the end of this song with his lovely clean vocals giving way to a Maiden-esque gallop and lead shows there’s still genius in there buried deep within a million layers of bloated orchestration.

Overall, I’d mark Road a deep, deep disappointment. Not a bad album, but a medium rare one that required a lot more time to cook, despite eight whole years in the skillet. Eugene’s still a great songwriter, but has been dabbling in his Wintersun influence a bit too much for my taste. However, hopefully this means he’s found that songwriting spark again, and we can expect a much better outcome next time. Sorry, Eugene, you missed the mark on this one.

Recommended tracks: Tempus Fugit
You may also like: Atavistia
Final verdict: 4.5/10

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

Label: Prosthetic Records – Bandcamp | Facebook

Far Beyond is:
– Eugene Dodenhoeft (Everything)

The post Review: Far Beyond – The End of My Road appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Progressive Metalcore, Groove Metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Trivium, Intronaut, Periphery, TOOL
Review by: Cooper
Country: Germany
Release date: 27 October, 2023

Of the various paths that lead to the land of progressive metal, the one through metalcore is one of the most often traveled. Weatherworn signposts of pilgrims long since past mark the long and familiar way, beginning with bands like Killswitch Engage and Bullet For My Valentine, designated halfway by bands like Trivium and Avenged Sevenfold, and ending squarely in the realm of Between the Buried and Me and ERRA. And while for some these “gateway” bands are merely reminders of their teenage years (I say at the lofty age of nineteen), there is something to be said for the power of nostalgia. So when I heard of the promises made by Nascent Echoes’s newest release Zeitgeist to deliver progressive metal substance in the tradition of 2000’s era metalcore, I was excited. Unfortunately, though, instead of combining these elements to great effect, Zeitgeist squanders its potential with choppy song structures and an air of shoddiness that reminds not of why I previously loved the genre but of why I ended up moving away from it.

Formed in late 2021 as a collaboration between multi-instrumentalist Robert Graefe and lyricist Jepotastic, Nascent Echoes deals in a style of metalcore undoubtedly familiar to anyone with an iota of genre savviness. There are classic “Unholy Confessions” style single string skipping riffs galore accompanied by the occasional mid-tempo blast beat and contrapuntal guitar duet; all fairly standard stuff, but Nascent Echoes adds to this familiar recipe elements of groove and progressive metal which under normal circumstances would elevate this genre but, for reasons we shall discuss leave the final mixture feeling like a watered down version of everything it was trying to be, as though Graefe wanted to simply make a metalcore record but felt obligated to supplement it with “progressive” elements.

The most heinous example of this is undoubtedly the album’s use of spoken word, supplied by Jepotastic, which in the first song, while seemingly arbitrary, wasn’t offensive enough to warrant any major criticism. After all, many a band have put some questionable spoken word elements into their album’s first song in the pursuit of “setting the scene,” but the later uses of it during midway point “The Vortex” and closer “The Simulacrum” are more than worthy of criticism. The substance of the spoken word, while not exactly ground-breaking, is not the issue here. It is the manner in which it is applied to which I take offense. In fact, if I wanted to create a parody of progressive metal, taking every cliche and tired trope of the genre and condensing it into one musical moment, I wouldn’t be able to create something as simultaneously pedantic yet blind to its own lackluster as the middle third of “The Vortex.” And then to prove that spoken word can in fact be applied even more poorly, “The Simulacrum” sees the entire album’s emotional climax drowned out by even more blown-out, melodramatic croning. It’s as though the moments of spoken word were chosen specifically to cover up the most musically interesting things you’ve heard the past several songs. Perhaps I am not the target audience for these moments; after all, only a third of the track list contains any spoken word elements, meaning there is much more for me to potentially enjoy, but much will need to be done to make up for these egregious moments.

That, however, does not happen; the six remaining songs range from simply good to downright laborious, and the majority tip the scale well towards the latter. Never before has the term “riff salad” been more applicable; tempo changes occur seemingly at random, breakneck transitions rending any momentum the songs had going for them to pulp. The worst part is that when a riff locks in that may actually be worth a damn, it’s usually the shortest lasting, blown apart in the wake of some incomprehensible tempo change masked by post-production studio magic. I could nitpick every element of this album till the cows came home, but my point already stands. Very little of this album seems to have been made with enough care to weed out the bad ideas from the good, and in the end it’s the bad ideas that hold more sway. Which is truly a shame because there are actually a few solid ideas interspersed throughout this thing. “Parasomnia” delivers the melodic guitar goodness that I was hoping for from music labelled as progressive metalcore, and “Pitch Black” had a strong sense of attitude that was sorely lacking from other tracks like “Fragments Of,” perhaps the worst track on this thing despite featuring zero spoken word; it simply does nothing for about six minutes, and when it finally musters up the courage to climax, it ends before it even can (there’s a euphemism in there somewhere).

If after all that you still want to check out Zeitgeist, begin with “Parasomnia.” It’s undoubtedly the best song with its melodic guitar duets, but be warned beyond that and perhaps the groovy “Pitch Black,” this album is uncharted territory, maybe for those wanting to cringe at their middle school metalcore era.

Recommended tracks: Parasomnia, Pitch Black
You may also like: Neck of the Woods, Chaosbay, Below A Silent Sky,
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp

Label: Independent

Nascent Echoes is:
– Robert Graefe (all instruments, vocals)
– Jepotastic (spoken word, lyrics)

The post Review: Nascent Echoes – Zeitgeist appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Deathcore, Metalcore, Prog Metal (Harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Erra, Monuments, Structures
Review by: Mathis
Country: Bulgaria
Release date: 30 September, 2022

From Bulgaria, Enezothe make their debut with Consensus Reality, an album evocative of progressive metalcore and deathcore acts from the 2010’s era. As one of the few self-appointed -core listeners in the Progressive Subway, I get quite a thrill from bands like this! It’s always a treat to return to the style that got me into progressive metal, and soak in the sweet, sweet nostalgia.

My first impressions of Consensus Reality were skewed because I was multitasking, but this follows my standard listening process. I like to get a rough idea of the album while working, choring, or playing games; then I  revisit the album, paying closer attention to all of its intricacies. During my first listen through I felt a bit underwhelmed, but I thought it was because I was too focused on something else. To my misfortune, Consensus Reality sounded even more jaded when I gave it my full attention.

Enezothe is composed of some talented musicians, and I have no issues with their performance, the problems are the songwriting and production. Most songs feel stale and dry, and the nostalgia isn’t even there to carry the weight. Consensus Reality emulates releases like Impulse by Erra; heavy and djenty, but lacking innovation and intrigue. “Time Thief” for example has too much going on, the weedly mid-high range riffs are too repetitive and messy in the mix, while on the other hand, the chuggy djent riffs are too djeneric. The djent could create a nice groove if not for the background noise, or Enezothe could drop the djent to focus on the technical riffing. It’s possible to walk the fine line and keep both the chuggy and technical elements, but the song structure would need to change allowing both a time in the spotlight. Stargazer did this really well in 2013 with their track “Desideratum”.

“Time Thief” isn’t alone in its lackluster, in fact the majority of Consensus Reality is mundane. “Adamant”, “Veiled Hex”, and “Archaic Rebirth” feel like filler songs lacking purpose; they are mindlessly heavy with no captivation at all. Without providing something for the brain to latch on to like an iconic riff or a stunning chorus, most of the album is forgettable. The unique tracks are only unique when compared to the rest of the album, “Evil Doer” is a gimmicky track that has middle eastern influences, and sounds similar to Shokran, but falls flat because it still doesn’t have any of its own allure.

There are a handful of stronger tracks in Consensus Reality despite the tangled mess of clashing riffs and overall generic sound. “Jeusan” does a good job of keeping the groove laden riffs clean, while adding some points of interest like a relaxed guitar solo, a twinkly ethereal outro, and a devastating blast beat breakdown. The technical deathcore vibes are what Enezothe do best, Danail Georgiev has some deliciously chaotic vocals that pair perfectly with blast beats and technical riffs. One of my favorite parts of the whole album is the twenty second intro to “Order Fish To Fly” due to its precise execution of relentless aggression. Another track worth mentioning is “Pagliacci”. It has a slower start that is somewhat boring, but makes up for it with Sound Struggle-esque jazz fusion in the second half.

Unfortunately, Consensus Reality is a relatively weak album despite some small strengths here and there. The riffing is too jumbled, the grooves are too generic, and the overall sound is dated. Some listeners may find Enezothe nostalgic, but ultimately, while not an awful attempt, this album would have been a better fit in 2010. Moving forward, I think there is a lot of potential to establish a unique sound while appealing to the legacy of old school progressive metalcore

Recommended tracks: Jeusan, Order Fish to Fly, Pagliacci
You may also like: Day Three, Dusk; Stargazer; Oceans Over Earth
Final verdict: 4.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Enezothe is:
– Danail Georgiev (vocals)
– Venelin Pavlov (guitar, production)
– Vazken Hadavyen (guitar)
– Peter Drenski (bass)
– Victor Sotirov (drums, mix, production)

The post Review: Enezothe – Consensus Reality appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Heavy Metal, Prog Metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Iron Maiden, Queensryche
Review by: Sabrina
Country: Germany
Release date: 3 July, 2022

Looking through Metal Archives for underground metal albums is a fun pastime in its own right. Sometimes you find rare gems buried amongst the rubble, other times the decomposing remains of last decade’s trash. Taking shelter in the valley of these two extremes is the new self-titled debut album, Into Denial, which I stumbled upon during said pastime. I picked this album up to review after a few initial impressions: they have a cool album cover, classic heavy metal elements with progressive leanings, a simple approach to compositional writing, clean mix and production, and solid, melodic riffs. Unfortunately, this album is burdened with two unredeemable flaws: firstly, making music in this style of heavy metal in 2022 is like beating a prehistoric horse fossil, secondly, the vocalist for Into Denialreally sucks at lyrical writing and is also not the best singer.

Once I had organized my thoughts about the strengths and flaws of Into Denial, I learned unanticipated about this band… well, that they are not even a band at all! This album is completely the work of some German guy named Sotirios Rammos. I cannot find any information about him other than the fact that he might have made a Final Fantasy XIV guitar cover six years ago. This means that this poor soul took on the responsibility that five people should have, and while I still applaud him for attempting to do it all, I cannot overlook the album’s glaring weaknesses.

Into Denial owes a great deal to Iron Maiden and other classic heavy metal bands that lean on progressive compositions, melodic guitar leads, and occasional power metal vocal tendencies, as they are this project’s greatest influences. The first four tracks on the album are structured like your typical metal tracks, but starting at track five, “Illusion of Truth”, we get more experimentation that follows through to the end of the album with more modern riffing and drum techniques, a ballad, a ten-minute track, an instrumental track, and tracks with organ synths. Vocal hymns and epic power metal choruses are sprinkled in tracks like “The Astral Key”, “Dance of Zalongo”, and “Illusion of Truth,” which serve to spice up the album more.

While these upsides are fine and dandy, I must now shine light on the aspect that probably should have remained in darkness: the lyrics. I have no qualms with the social/political themes on this album; in fact, I’m pretty much in agreement with all of its stances. But Rammos’ lyrical delivery is so blunt, so on-the-nose, it’s a bit cringy (See “Unity” for example). Some bands illustrate their themes with complex metaphors and colorful imagery; in contrast, the majority of the lyrics in Into Denial feel like the writer took 10 minutes to brainstorm everything he hated about society, typed his complaints up in a word document, ran it through autocorrect, then slapped them into his vocal melodies without second thought. It doesn’t matter how many syllables one of his sentences have, the writer manages to fit basically anything into a chorus, whether or not it flows or is consistent with previous verses; It’s like bad improv singing.

The vocals don’t aid the poor lyrics either as they are sung at a fairly tepid, mid-range level with some layerings in the album’s choruses. From the limited vocal range presented front-and-center in this album, it seems as though that Rammos is not the most experienced vocalist given. Additionally, this flaw stands out a whole lot more because of the vocals’ prominent placement in the mix, giving them a spotlight amongst the sharp, but minimal and transparent, instrumental section. The sound of the overall album is helped a lot by the quality production job which gives room for a skeptical listener to empathize more with what the artist was aiming to achieve. Depending on your mood, you will either think the vocal performance is flawed in an endearing or annoying way–I’ve certainly gone through both.  

And drawing a conclusion from all the information given thus far, Into Denial fits nicely into the cliché of a true, archetypal one-man band; a guitar “virtuoso” who would be far better off in a band with people who specialize in vocals and drumming. In consequence, the best song on the album is the instrumental track, “Approaching Collapse”, having all the benefits of solid instrumental techniques without the amateurish vocals. Additionally, the few tracks with the highest incorporation of progressive elements in the keyboards and melodic riffs (“Ashes and Regret”), technical drumming (“Illusion of Truth”), and of course, extended song structures (“Fragments”) are the songs that also stood out.

I don’t hate this album, but despite being a good riff writer and a decent composer, Rammos’ shoddy lyrics and vocals result in an end product that sounds a bit awkward and absurd. I love to see Rammos’ enthusiasm, but doing lackluster work in multiple jobs he’s not proficient at, sells his abilities short of one job he could have excelled in.

Recommended tracks: Approaching Collapse, Ashes and Regret, Fragments, Dance of Zalongo, Illusion of Truth
You may also like: Pentral, Mamorlis, Tanagra
Final verdict: 4.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Metal-Archives page

Label: Independent

Into Denial is:
– Sotirios Rammos (vocals, guitars, bass, drums)

The post Review: Into Denial – Into Denial appeared first on The Progressive Subway.