Style: progressive metal, jazz fusion (instrumental, mostly instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Jacob Collier, Liquid Tension Experiment, Animals as Leaders, Car Bomb, Meshuggah
Country: Germany
Release date: 25 April 2025

Why cover a song? Be it artistic appreciation, a business decision to gain exposure, or out of obligation to the tradition, the cover track is a mainstay for many artists, yet one often relegated to being an album’s bonus track. Bringing cover tracks to the forefront of an album, however, is risky; that comes with the pressure of living up to several of your musical and creative idols. Panzerballett try it—do they match the originals? 

German jazz fusion/prog metal group Panzerballett cover plenty of legendary songs from progressive metal and classical music alike on Übercode Œuvre, putting their signature twist (a whole lot of rhythmic and melodic absurdity) on classics like Meshuggah’s “Bleed,” Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” Planet X’s “Alien Hip Hop,” and Vivaldi’s “Summer.” That is to say, the songs—some of which are already extremely difficult pieces—become unfathomably complicated to the non-music theorizer. I’m sure the guys in Panzerballett would talk about their music in the same way Jacob Collier talks about his, but in a German accent instead of Collier’s whimsical British one—twattishly pretentious while blissfully unaware that theoretical mastery doesn’t translate to being good.

As I see it, there is one main way to critically assess a cover: how does this add to the song’s canon? Panzerballett’s takes on the classics are certainly novel (barring the Planet X one), but they screw up what makes the original songs successful and are, accordingly, entirely terrible. No metal artist needs to cover Vivaldi, it’s been done ad nauseam (sorry, Angel, that includes you, too). One cannot possibly pull off two covers of “Ode to Joy” because they will always be a waste of time; why on God’s green earth would I listen to a prog metal version of one of the most celebrated pieces of music of all time that defeats its elegant simplicity by making it polyphonic, polyrhythmic masturbation? Other choices, such as the “Alien Hip Hop” cover, are even more baffling. Panzerballett take what is undeniably one of the most rhythmically and harmonically complicated progressive metal songs ever and try to make it more challenging to play. At what point does art become an exercise in onanism? That moment is long gone in Panzerballett’s rearview mirror. And I’m afraid the Planet X cover is the clear highlight of Übercode Œuvre because the original song was already good and they don’t change it all that much—a pointless recreation but not bad.

The covers of “Bleed” and “Ode to Joy” (both versions) are among the worst progressive metal tracks I’ve ever heard from capable musicians, a pair of blazing guitar solos from Rafael Trujillo (ex-Obscura, Obsidious) in “Bleed” aside. The Meshuggah cover utilizes annoying horns to create a melody that simply wasn’t in the original song, while the rhythm section plays something in a time signature I couldn’t dream of figuring out—the result sounds as if it were recorded drunkenly despite the instrumental wizardry. Moreover, Panzerballett add atmospheric guitar parts in dissonant chords, ringing out like out of tune bells above the din, heralding the end of good music. Again, I’m sure the harmonic polyphony is genius technically, but it’s more masturabatory than even Jordan Ruddess at his worst.

“What could adding in the motif from William Tell’s ‘Overture’ possibly add to ‘Bleed’?” one might ask. And they’d be justified because it’s eclecticism for eclecticism’s sake. “Ode to Joy (Vocal)” starts promisingly with a warped vision for the track, Andromeda Anarchia’s (Folterkammer, La Suspendida) vocals operatic and eerie, but the track almost instantly devolves into Guantanamo Bay-level torture. While assuredly not actually out of tune and out of time, it sure sounds like it. Between the added phone hold-music jazz, drum solos, and “poorly harmonized,” warbling sopranos, I cannot think of a worse way to sodomize one of the most celebrated pieces of music in history—and that’s before Panzerballett start djenting all over the place.

The original compositions on Übercode Œuvre (yes, it’s not completely a cover album) are ok, fairly run of the mill for this style of fusion prog metal. “Seven Steps to Hell” and “Andromeda” are easily identified strong moments on the album: convoluted and with irritating saxophone and djent parts, but stronger than their surroundings nonetheless. The Ballett are a better ensemble as jazz composers than metal ones (despite the obvious metal pedigree). Their style doesn’t translate to djent and distortion well.
We all like some wank in the prog metal world. I can throw down to freaky microtonality, and I think cover tracks can be fun. But I cannot think of a worse attempt at any of those three things at once than Übercode Œuvre, an offensively terrible listening experience so far up its own ass Jacob Collier might blush.

Recommended tracks: Seven Steps To Hell, Alien Hip Hop, Andromeda
You may also like: La Suspendida, Sarmat, Ckraft, Planet X, Exivious
Final verdict: 2/10

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

Label: independent

Panzerballett is:
Jan Zehrfeld: guitars, vocals
With:
Virgil Donati: drums
Marco Minnemann: drums
Morgan Ågren: drums
Anika Nilles: drums
Florian Fennes: sax
Anton Davidyants: bass
Jen Majura: guitars
Andromeda Anarchia: vocals
Rafael Trujillo: guitars
Sebastian Lanser: drums
Joe Doblhofer: guitar
Chris Clark: vocals
Conny Kreitmeier: vocals
(taken from ProgArchives, I cannot find an official declaration of lineup)

The post Review: Panzerballett – Übercode Œuvre appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Post-metal, post-rock, post-black metal (harsh vocals, German lyrics)
Recommended for fans of: Harakiri for the Sky, Ellende, Svalbard, Alcest
Country: Austria
Release date: 18 April 2025

I’m a big Harakiri for the Sky fan, but even as an apologist I’ll admit their last four albums have been virtually the same. Without a drastic change in sound, it’s hard to imagine how they’ll grow their current audience—and honestly, that’s fine. The formula works for me, and if that’s all they continue to do, I’ll keep showing up. After releasing Scorched Earth earlier this year and touring North America to support it (I’m currently wearing the shirt I got at their stop in Salt Lake City), I didn’t expect a new album from Karg—another post act fronted by Harakiri’s Michael Kogler (aka J.J.). The two bands are currently touring together in Europe, so Kogler is pulling double duty at each stop. The man is a machine.

Though Karg became a fully staffed band in 2014, it began as Kogler’s one-man melodic black metal project in 2006, releasing debut Von den Winden der Sehnsucht in 2008. With each release, the grip on a core black metal sound loosened, as Karg began monkey-branching toward post-metal—and on Marodeur, their tenth full-length, they might just be reaching for a post-rock branch. That’s not to say the black metal roots are gone; Marodeur still offers plenty of double-kick intensity and fiery tremolo-picked passages. The monkey’s tail, so to speak, is still gripping that particular vine for balance. But post-rock has taken firm hold—clean intros frequently give way to distorted walls of sound, vibes and feels from violins and pianos texture the soundscape with a heavy sorrow, and when repetitions occur, they are done with some variation.

My favorite track on Marodeur is undoubtedly the opener, “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister,” beginning with a spacious ambient gaze, soon joined by a delicate guitar motif that floats just above the mix. As low, distorted power chords and bass-heavy drums crash in, the soft lead line continues threading through the noise, underscored by Kogler’s raw, anguished shouts. A bridge follows, almost nu-metal in its stripped-down power chord structure, and it’s punctuated by flashes of natural harmonics. From there, the song returns to the main motif—now reimagined in a higher octave, inverted, and layered with distortion—before it folds into a lower register and variation while the clean lead line rejoins. The track closes with a gentle dolce piano outro, softly setting down the weight of all the emotion that came befo–… Wait a minute. Doesn’t that description sound vaguely familiar?

For all the introspection and atmosphere Marodeur conjures, I kept circling back to one distracting and unavoidable thought: this sounds so much like Harakiri for the Sky. Kogler’s signature, angst-drenched caterwaul, emotional melodies charged by arpeggiated guitar passages, all pushed along by an intense rhythm section—it’s all here. Which raises the question: Why does this album exist separately at all? If the soundscape, voice, and even the emotional register are nearly identical, what is Marodeur really trying to say that hasn’t already been screamed into the void?

After several playthroughs of Marodeur, I’ve started to think the question isn’t what this album is trying to say, but why it needs to say it. Maybe it’s not about novelty, but necessity. Kogler is still processing the same emotional terrain, but with a different cast of collaborators. Beyond the full Karg lineup, the album features guests like Firtan’s Klara Bachmair, whose mournful violin appears on half the tracks. Svntarer’s Marko Kolac and Perchta’s Julia-Christin Casdorf also lend subtle vocal contributions to “Kimm” and “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister,” respectively. These voices and textures don’t rewrite the book, but they do help shape its sonic prose a bit differently.

With each listen, the Harakiri déjà vu still lingers—but so do new details that draw me in. The post-rock and alternative elements become more pronounced on repeat spins. “Anemoia” opens with a drum-and-bass groove and high, strummed guitar chords that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early ‘00s alt-rock tune. “Reminiszenzen einer Jugend” is similar to the opener’s dynamic arc, slipping from a quiet bridge into chunky, drop-tuned riffs that pass through nu-metal territory. And “Kimm” features a screechy lead guitar in the opening verse that feels almost like a heavy, mournful echo of Catherine Wheel or Failure. Marodeur rewards revisiting—not because it transforms, but because its layers slowly reveal themselves.

In yet another way that mirrors Harakiri for the Sky (I promise I will commit harakiri for myself if I make this comparison again), Marodeur occasionally stretches its songs beyond what their ideas, hooks, and variety (or lack thereof) can sustain. Even though I enjoy each track, I can’t escape the feeling that the longer ones could say the same things in less time. “Annapurna” delivers all its emotional weight in five minutes, so eight and a half feels bloated. The same goes for “Yūgen,” and even the opener “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister”—my favorite track. The emotional core here is powerful, but sometimes the songs linger long after they’ve made their point.

Marodeur redefines Karg in some minor ways compared to their recent releases, but it doesn’t carve out a wholly distinct identity from Harakiri for the Sky. Yet it doesn’t feel redundant either. The album aches with sincerity, draws from a wider musical palette than it first appears, and—despite its length and familiar voice—keeps pulling me back in. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe Marodeur isn’t about saying something new, but about the need to keep saying it.

Recommended tracks: ”Schnee ist das Blut der Geister,” “Reminiszenzen einer Jugend,” “Anemoia,” “Verbrannte Brücken”
You may also like: Zéro Absolu, Avast, Artificial Solitude
Final verdict: 6.5/10

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

Label: AOP Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Karg is:
Michael J.J. Kogler – Vocals
Paul Färber – Drums
Daniel Lang – Guitars
Georg Traschwandtner – Guitars
Christopher Pucher – Guitars

With guests:
Klara Bachmair  – Violin
Julia-Christin Casdorf (Perchta) – Guest Vocals on “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister”
Marko Kolac – Guest Vocals on “Kimm”
Michael Eder – Piano on “Schnee ist das Blut der Geister”

The post Review: Karg – Marodeur appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Progressive Metal, Folk Metal, Symphonic Metal, Black Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Enslaved, Moonsorrow, Borknagar, Wilderun
Review by: Christopher
Country: Germany
Release date: 8 September, 2023

Early in life I was exposed to classical pieces like Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”, Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 (“From the New World”), and Holst’s The Planets, and ever since I entered the world of progressive metal, I’ve gravitated towards the bands that capture a similar sense of the symphonic sublime. Hailing from Germany and singing in their native tongue, Finsterforst have been a force in symphonic blackened folk metal since 2004. Jenseits is one enormous track divided into a four part suite running to forty minutes (Finsterforst are classing this as an EP despite its length, but when you consider their albums usually exceed seventy minutes you can see the logic). 

Finsterforst’s sound is mountainous; when Oliver Berlin opens “Kapitel I – Freiheit” a cappella with his resonant, gravelly baritone, his bandmates joining in for that enormous choir work, you soon realise that this is a level of grandeur beyond. When the full band kicks in and the rapturous brass accompaniment hits your ears, one can’t help but imagine a viking longboat amid turbid seas, the spume bubbling away as it sprays the determined crew rowing stoically to some distant Valhalla. When the glistening accordion rips through with its lyrical melody and the enormous chorus extolling the virtues of a mythic Utopia resounds, you start to understand that the now overused term “epic” was created entirely to describe Finsterforst.

Jenseits sees Finsterforst perfect the balance of the various elements that define their sound—their particular take on folky black metal clearly influenced by Moonsorrow—the high production quality and care of the mix recall groups like Enslaved, of course, as well as Slavic groups like Negură Bunget whose more naturalistic style of folk metal can also be heard throughout Finsterforst’s work; particularly in the opening of “Kapitel III – Reflexionen” where flute and acoustic guitar cavort with subtle strings in the background, to accompany a more restrained Berlin who sings with a certain sombreness. With each release, the core black metal influence has become more fully integrated into the symphonic and folk sensibilities to create a unique sound. 

Each member is vital, from the varied stomp and pulsation of Cornelius Heck’s drumming to Simon Schillinger and David Schuldis’ enormous guitar tone which should be the envy of axemen and plank spankers everywhere, frequently putting me in mind of David Gilmour’s juggernaut sound on “Sorrow” (which Gilmour achieved by recording on a sound system in a sports arena for that truly massive natural echo). Tobias Weinreich’s bass is clearer than ever here, laying down some very groovy bass, particularly on “Kapitel II – Dualität” where he really gets to shine. Sebastian Sherrer’s keyboard work is a vital source of nuance and intricacy, contributing gorgeous atmospheres and subtle synth additions.

Meanwhile Finsterforst’s compositional skies are occasionally flown by flute and duduk (you know those flutes that are, like, double flutes?), as well as the aforementioned accordion solos. I’ve already rhapsodised about Berlin’s cleans once but I’d remiss not to mention some of his best moments such as the elegiac belting at 4:42 in “Kapitel II – Dualität”, and the enormous vocal climax on “Kapitel IV – Katharsis” from 10:51 to the song’s close. His harshes are extraordinarily versatile, too, from gnashing blackened screams, to gruffer growls, and the consistent contribution of his bandmates, their frequent harmonising and defiant “HEY’s” never seeming tacky, rather conferring a sense of a united collective. 

There are few issues, but I think “Kapitel I – Freiheit” is the clear standout within the suite, the other parts a little paler by comparison particularly “Kapitel IV – Katharsis” which, despite closing with a gorgeous reprise of the suite’s a cappella intro (this time with band accompaniment), feels somewhat unwieldy otherwise; sixteen minutes is long for any song—ironic when it’s the final segment of a forty minute suite—and the track climaxes a few times, to the point that the band seem a little lost by the midsection. Finsterforst are no strangers to mammoth runtimes—their previous album Zerfall ended with the thirty-six minute epic “Ecce Homo” while “Flammenrausch” from Rastlos ran for a relatively brisk twenty-two minutes—but I do think their best work is to be found in the shorter self-contained tracks, such as “Wut”, “Fluch des Seins” or, as mentioned, “Kapitel I – Freiheit” if taken as a lone track. 

There aren’t many bands who can sound as evocatively enormous, as imbued with the awe and inherent drama of nature, as Finsterforst and they sound as good as ever on Jenseits. While they can be victims of their own epicness and the record teeters a little precariously in its latter stretches, the portent and Homeric hugeness nevertheless add up to one of the best and most grandiose things you’ll hear in 2023. 

Recommended tracks: It’s technically one enormous track, but I guess you could just do Kapitel I – Freiheit by itself (but you should really do the whole “EP”) 
You may also like: Dordeduh, Negură Bunget, Vanaheim
Final verdict: 8.5/10

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

Label: AOP Records – Bandcamp | Facebook

Finsterforst is:
– Oliver Berlin (lead vocals)
– Cornelius Heck (drums, backing vocals)
– Sebastian Scherrer (keyboards, backing vocals)
– Simon Schillinger (guitars, keyboards, orchestrations, programming, backing vocals)
– David Schuldis (guitars, backing vocals)
– Tobias Weinreich (bass)

The post Missed Album Review: Finsterforst – Jenseits appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Symphonic Black Metal, Avant-Garde Metal (mixed vocals, German lyrics)
Recommended for fans of: Arcturus, Borknagar, Emperor, Enslaved Ne Obliviscaris
Review by: Sam
Country: Germany
Release date: 2 June, 2023

The German black metal scene is a strange one. It is extremely prolific, yet few bands seem to market towards an international audience. The majority of them sing and/or growl in German, and their touring seems limited to mostly the German-speaking countries (and maybe a few surrounding ones like The Netherlands or Poland). Fjoergyn is a band in this scene I’ve known for quite a while. A couple of my friends are into the scene, and they all swear by this band, so it was a bit of a whiplash to find out that Fjoergyn barely exists outside of my Discord bubble and the German internet. But now that they have a new album out, it’s time to amend that problem.

Fjoergyn is not an easy band to get into. They started as an eclectic pagan/folk black metal band, but over time transitioned into a bombastic brand of symphonic black metal with increasingly progressive and avant-garde tendencies. Their compositions typically involve sprawling song structures built on a foundation of second wave black metal and crunchy industrial riffs with drastic mood switches and unconventional instruments that build up to a huge (sometimes multiple) bombastic climax. Paired with a language barrier from the German lyrics, it’s safe to say that hooks are hard to come by. While not particularly progressive in the sense of very technical playing and odd-time signature wizardry, their modern compositional style puts their appeal closer to that of Ne Obliviscaris and Enslaved than, say, Emperor. They are an ever-evolving band, and Judasmesse is another unique addition to their catalog.

What’s interesting about Judasmesse is that it actually takes a step back compared to their previous outing Lvcifer Es. The bombast of their core symphonic black metal sound remains as a driving force, but they reincorporated a lot of their pagan/folk metal beginnings. There seems to be a major influence from Negura Bunget in particular as eerie atmospheric riffs, ominous synths, and even cow bell (not the instrument!) samples can be heard on multiple songs. We also see a frequent inclusion of emotive, laid back sections amidst the bombast. Opener “Sturz” – while otherwise the most straightforward song on the album – breaks tension with ethereal orchestration before the crescendo, and during the “Prometheus” suite we find Pink Floyd-esque crying guitar solos, ethereal parts, and full on krautrock. And of course there is the instrumental track “Komm Abel” with more Floydian guitar galore and a heartfelt saxophone solo. Almost every song has something interesting going on in that regard.

But of course, what really matters in the end is whether the band delivers on the songwriting. I would say it’s mixed, but mostly they do. They’re masters at building and releasing tension, and they know how to make a climax sound huge (see: “Sturz”, “Prometheus III”). I never would have guessed all orchestration is synthesized because it’s so well done. The technical performance is stellar in general, with the drummer especially standing out for his varied playing. Where the record can fall short is that the direction can be a little wanting at times. The “Prometheus” suite is exemplary in that regard, housing both the album’s best moments, but also feeling a little disjointed. The closer “Warfarin” suffered similarly from a lack of a clear direction, ebbing and flowing a little too much. What also irked me was how the ethereal avant-garde parts of the middle section of the album didn’t permeate nearly as much throughout the rest of it, making the album feel uneven. 

I’m feeling similar as I did for The Anchoret a month ago. At its best, Judasmesse is world class, but it often ends up too dense for its own good, although maybe that’s just my current Adele-infested brain being unable to comprehend more complicated structures. I hope this review can help a little bit with bringing the band’s music to the English web. They’re a unique band that deserves to be heard.

Recommended tracks: Prometheus, Non Serviam
You may also like: Maladie, Dordeduh, Agrypnie (bandcamp) / Nocte Obducta (bandcamp)
Final verdict: 8/10

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

Label: Trollzorn Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Fjoergyn is:
– Stephan L. (vocals, guitars, keyboards, songwriting, lyrics)
– Marcelus W. (lead guitar, vocals)
– Philipp T. (guitars)
– Sven G. (bass)
– Martin L. (drums)

The post Review: Fjoergyn – Judasmesse appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Atmospheric black metal, progressive metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Harakiri for the Sky, Naglfar, Ellende
Review by: Francesco
Country: Germany
Release date: 14 October, 2022

Firtan released their third full-length at the end of September – their longest output yet,  Marter clocks in at just shy of an hour of haunting, progressive, moody black metal. “Marter” is the German word for “torture” and truly a misnomer, for this album was anything but torture to listen to – in fact, it was probably the most enjoyment I’ve had from a black metal release since Austrians Harakiri for the Sky came out with Aokigahara in 2014. Firtar are honing their craft, and this album showcases some really coherent songwriting that will surely garner them more popularity in the European circuit.

The nature of Marter draws from its namesake and resonates with despair, anguish, agony. With songs inspired by dark German-language poetry from the turn of the 20th century, the atmosphere is bleak, oppressive, and the riffs are harsh and screaming, punctuated with restrained melodic passages of acoustic and clean guitars and soft violins that only last long enough to let you put your guard down before introducing further black metal brutality. The songs progress in creative ways; a slow build of momentum here, a calming effect there; a halt of percussion before the abrupt introduction of soloed palm-muted, tremolo-picked passages leading into a sudden flurry of double-kick. Firtan doesn’t discriminate with their placement of new elements; even 5 minutes into a 6-and-a-half-minute track, a dim clean guitar is introduced, arpeggiating over a roaring black metal verse that slowly fades out the song.

There were some really compelling sections on this album, like in the track “Menetekel”, where a haunting acoustic guitar passage is accompanied with a harrowing tormented vocal backed by speedy double-kick drumming and a melancholic reverberant clean guitar melody; it creates a dissonant, jarring impression. On another track, “Amor Fati”, they begin with echoing acoustic guitars backed by melodic ambient pad sounds over up-beat rock drumming, giving almost a post-rock feel that transitions into the melodic black metal sound that the album is mostly composed of. 

The production is clear and the dynamics balanced well; the contrast between the black metal arrangements and the somber acoustic or more atmospheric parts was sharp and evocative, and the expression of such moods by the guitarists Phillip and Chris, and keyboardist (Phillip again) are difficult to find fault in. With that said, however, there were some of the more “visionary” sequences I took issue with. Of the eight tracks on Marter, four end with a dropping of the black metal instrumentals into a more atmospheric sound that incorporates synth, before eventually fading out. I noticed the latter half of the release is replete with these moments, and it felt a bit tired. The way Firtan pushed genre boundaries and innovated in the songwriting has certainly made Marter a captivating album, but if lengthy runtime are to be the norm, they should take more care in future to avoid potentially coming across as formulaic.

Recommended tracks: Menetekel, Fadir, Parhelia
You may also like: Ante-Inferno, Thormesis, Horn
Final verdict: 7/10

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

Label: AOP Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

Firtan is:
– Phillip Thienger (vocals. guitars, keyboards)
– Chris S. (guitars)
– Oliver König (bass)
– David Kempf (drums)

The post Review: Firtan – Marter appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: traditional progressive metal (clean vocals, German lyrics)
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Pagan’s Mind, Vanden Plas
Review by: Sam
Country: Germany
Release date: 9 February, 2018

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the February 2018 edition of The Progressive Subway.[

You know how in almost every prog metal review ever, there’s at least one sentence which goes along the lines of: “Fortunately this band is not another bad Dream Theater clone”, to then proceed to say how said band –unlike Dream Theater– does not wank (= soloing/showing off) endlessly for the sake of it, and that the music is coherent, original and emotional? Well, I’m about to shatter your hopes and dreams and do the contrary, because this is exactly one of those bad Dream Theater clones (well, they sound more like Pagan’s Mind, but those bands are similar anyway).

Now I’m sure most of you have already lost interest in Kaisers Bart and have either moved on to the next album review or you’re just reading this out of obligation to read the entire thing. But hold your horses, Kaisers Bart is not as bad as my opening paragraph made it sound. On the contrary actually, Meister5tück is not bad at all and shows a lot of potential for a debut album, albeit its flaws.

What immediately stands out when spinning Meister5tück is the dream-like guitar and synth tones that is heavily reminiscent of Pagan’s Mind. And the PM comparisons don’t stop there: the riffs bear a lot of similarities to the prog power giants as well, both in tone and in style. The production is also very much 2000s prog power with very heavy, crunchy guitar riffs. Lastly the vocals are every bit as operatic and bombastic as you expect them to given the genre.

The production is very uneven. The guitar and synths tones are incredible, however the drums sound quite muffled and the bass is often confined to the background. The lead guitar sometimes also inexplicably move to the background behind the drums and the rhythm guitar, causing the sonic pallet to sound off. Also while the individual tones are good, it has a tendency to sound like loose compartments put together instead of sounding a whole.

The songwriting here is excellent. For prog power it’s very emotional and heart felt music and Mischa Mang’s vocals are every bit as bombastically emotional as you expect from good prog power vocalists. He’s no Tom Englund (Evergrey singer), but he certainly holds his own compared to other famous singers in the genre. There are kickass riffs, but also softer piano and/or acoustic sections to make the music varied enough to keep you captivated. It can be cheesy at times, but that’s to be expected.

The solos generally have excellent structuring and melodic phrasing. However, I find myself often wanting more from Kaisers Bart than I get. I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but they should shred more. if you’re gonna imitate Dream Theater, you should be able to (warning: NSFW) wank so hard you have hentai levels of ejaculation. I find myself wishing they’d just go a little more over the top with their solos. Show off all your techniques and just how good you can play. Tell those guitar wannabees in their face just how much their skills suck and how much better you are at shredding than they are. If you want to stand out in this particular style of prog, you better show just how much of a guitar god you are. Good isn’t enough. Like Mike Portnoy once said: “My style is basically: ‘more is more’”.

So TLDR: Meister5tück is a very promising debut from the German progressive power metallers. However the production can be quite uneven, and for Pagan’s Mind/Dream Theater worship they should wank more. I’ll definitely be looking out to their sophomore effort.

Recommended tracks: Verwirrung, Entstehung, Erlösung
You may also like: Hephystus, Lost in Thought, Lanfear
Final verdict: 7.5/10

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

Label: 7hard – Facebook | Official Website

Kaiser’s Bart is:
– Mischa Mang (vocals)
– Uli Riedinger (guitars)
– Steffen Pflügner (keyboards)
– Minz Meyer (bass)
– Danilo Batdorf (drums)

The post Review: Kaisers Bart – Meister5tück appeared first on The Progressive Subway.