June closes with a fifth release week, offering 51 new records and 10 highlights

Ringing in the last release week of the first half of 2023 is an excellent debut release: “Quadrivium”, a 30 minute suite by US prog metal act Vordøna. On offer: five movements plus pre- and postlude of dark, emotional progressive metal with some gorgeous melodies and vocal harmonies, written and performed on the album by Tony Ricci, best on display during the heart-wrenching lead single ‘II. Deliverance’. It remains to be seen what new vocalist Ali Abu Ali will make out of them and how this vocalist change will affect the sound of Vordøna, but since main composer and instrumentalist Pavlo Mysak seems to remain at the heart of the operation, I’m pretty sure we’ll see a continuation of the sound established on “Quadrivium”. Pain of Salvation, Caligula’s Horse and TesseracT might serve as reference points, but with “Quadrivium”, Vordøna already leave a strong scent mark of their own, sparking hope to hear more of wherever that came from soon. Dario

Quickly rising towards a status that puts them squarely on the prog map as prime ambassadors of Mexican modern prog metal, Anima Tempo’s second album “Chaos Paradox” is finally out, seven years after their debut album “Caged in Memories”. Spicing up their djenty progressive death metal with lots of eastern elements sounds refreshing and fun and I so wish I was able to catch them on tour in the UK with their friends from Exist Immortal. A perfect match not only musically, and I do hope their exchange tour (ExIm toured Mexico with Anima Tempo before the Mexicans joined the Brits on a little UK trek now) proved to be beneficial for both parties. A very wholesome transatlantic prog metal friendship, more of that, please. And more of that awesome modern progressive death metal. Playing death metal and being wholesome is no paradox, on the contrary. And Anima Tempo’s music is not chaotic either, it’s very densely composed as far as the songwriting goes and the clear yet powerful sound works its charm to convey both all the musical ideas but also the high energy. Go see them live if you have the chance, what are you waiting for? Dario

Continuing with some more modern progressive death metal, The Haas Effect is a one man project based in Houston, Texas, and its sound on the debut album is distinctly more leaning towards a more traditional djent/core sound than the one from their southern Mexican neighbors of Anima Tempo. With drums provided by Framing Skeletons’ Bryan Holub, Nick Haas doesn’t reinvent the wheel with “And I let it consume me”, but he also certainly doesn’t need to shy away from standing among the genre’s leaders. Solid stuff front to back, even though the runtime of just a second shy of 25 minutes leaves the question whether it’s an album (as indicated on Spotify) or an EP open. So, the categorization is thus debatable, the quality is not. (Edit: the artist considers it rightfully an EP, so it’s just Spotify one more time in the wrong…) Dario

“A Neutral Second” is neither a sophomore effort nor does it sound particularly neutral (nor does it only last a single second). It is the sixth album from New Jersey based quintet East of the Wall. Chaotic and diverse, I’m struggling to find the right sound references, as it seems a bit all over the place, while maintaining a certain East of the Wall sound right from the start, if that makes sense. Karnivool might come to mind at times. But then again, there’s a certain roughness present that somehow reminds me of a more melodic version of Voivod here and there… So while “A Neutral Second” still leaves me a bit confused somehow to be honest, it still has got me hooked and intrigued every time I listen to it. Very interesting stuff. Dario

Established in 2013 by multi-instrumentalist Kyle Schaefer (who’s also the vocalist of Fallujah now), Archaeologist is either a band, a solo project, or something in between, and has already featured a variety of different collaborators over the years. The current album is called “Elements”, consisting of 20 instrumental, mostly guitar-centered songs with an overall playing time of 41 minutes, which might be a bit unusual for a prog release. But as the title says, these are “Elements”, and most of the rather short tracks were written and recorded within a single day as an exercise of unrestrained spontaneity. The creative spectrum is highly impressive, as they take us through mesmerizing melodies, funky moments, heavy shredding, and groovy rock parts. Thanks to the well-balanced mixing and their smooth, lighthearted, yet skillful playing, the music is a real listening pleasure. The only weakness is actually part of the conceptual idea behind “Elements”, as some of the songs just end too sudden, sparking the wish to hear more, and how they might have evolved if Archaeologist would have gone further… Katha

​​Alright, after all this modern prog metal onslaught, it’s time for a change of pace, don’t you think? Ready for some Canterbury jazz prog? Well, ready or not, Soft Machine’s “Other Doors” will send you off drifting and flying in daydreams, with Theo Travis’ saxophones and flutes as well as Fred Thelonious Baker’s fretless bass dominating a chill sound that continues the legacy of this legendary band effortlessly. Purists might beg to differ, but even with no original member left, I think it’s kind of cool to have a band that started out in 1966(!) still releasing new music. Take a seat, relax, and let your mind wander through “Other Doors”. Dario

With “Ingenious Devices”, prog legends Big Big Train share something special: The album brings together three songs which were originally conceived as a trilogy about how mankind has used its ingenuity to extend its reach by the development and deployment of technology, but were never released together: ‘East Coast Racer’, ‘Brooklands’ and ‘Voyager’. They started to re-record in 2020 with an elite 17-piece string section at Abbey Road Studios to evolve them with a new sound and some re-arrangements. The tragic death of David Longdon (RIP) in November 2021 lead to the decision to use his original vocal takes, but everything else appears in a new dress now. The result is wonderful progrock in the classical sense, with beautiful compositions, huge harmonies, and mesmerizing instrumental parts, inviting the listener to dive in and drift away for a moment. Track No 5 is a great live recording of ‘Atlantic Cable’ from 2022, which also features their new singer Alberto Bravin, so with this release, Big Big Train somehow manage to unite their past, present and future in an amazing way. Enjoy! Katha

After their signing with Theogonia Records, AmongRuins are now set to take their listeners to the “Land of the Black Sun”, which will be out on July 14th physically, but is already available digitally. The journey takes 38 minutes and consists of eight rather dark, full-sounding tracks, and even though they’re from Greece, the music might appeal to fans of melodic deathmetal in Gothenburg style. There are some brighter snippets in between, showing up in form of a melodious guitar part here or some symphonic elements there, but most of the songs come along in vigorous mid-tempo with pounding rhythms as well as heavy guitar and bass work. The powerful, growled vocals move mostly in the same height, but the instruments deliver enough melody.

My favorites are ‘Shattered Times’ and ‘Our Destructive Tide’ due to their great dynamic and the higher pace, as well as the amazing title track, which also features the touching clean vocals of George Prokopiou (Poem, Mother of Millions) and an acoustic guitar part by Tuomas Saukkonen (Wolfheart). AmongRuins’ trip to the “Land of the Black Sun” is a gloomy one, and it works well over the rather short playing time. Sometimes I’d wish them to break out of the too foreseeable song structures, but maybe that’s just my proggy heart speaking 😉 All-together a strong, third album. Katha

Hot on the heels of their brand new album “Beyond Drama”, which was just released back in April, Chilean proggers Aisles return with a surprise EP called “BAHAMUT”. It’s ‘only’ a little 12 minute instrumental suite, and not only the absence of vocals make it sound quite different from the overall vibe on “Beyond Drama”. Where the album’s sound was quite diverse, “BAHAMUT” sounds coherent and slightly post cinematic. Inspired by a sci-fi novel of the same name, it works quite well to pique my interest about the story behind it. Dario

After dropping their first 3 albums in a 4-year timespan, Virginia’s screamo trio Ostraca come back bigger than ever 5 years later with their newest offering, “Disaster”. These lads are known for fusing elements of emoviolence, post-rock/metal, and mathcore to their sound. This new album sees them throw in some atmospheric sludge metal tinges as well, on top of what they already do, so the final product comes off as versatile, immersive, and a pound in the face. I might be biased as a drummer myself, but John Crogan’s playing here is so energetic and creative, it pulled me in even more to what these guys have to offer. I remember feeling like they had potential to click with me when I checked them out a couple years back, so when I saw this was coming, I got pretty excited. Easy to say, not only is this their best album to date, but it’s now also one of my favourites of 2023. If you love to dig in further to the world of extreme punk music with boundary pushing ideas, don’t skip this one! Absolute essential. Colin