Perhaps our most brutal week yet: October started with 4 extreme prog gems and more

Right back from this year’s wonderful ProgPower Europe weekend, we got accompanied on the drive by Mother of Millions’ newest opus, who also had played a marvelous show pretty exactly two years ago in Baarlo. While their previous work was already magnificent, the Greek Post / Prog band managed to slightly change without losing their unique sound, with “Magna Mater” turning out heavier – musically and emotionally. Everything seems to be a bit more now, from the fat, dark riffs that alternate with mesmerizing piano / synth parts, over the hard-hitting bass and great, versatile percussion, to some well-placed, cinematic orchestration. On these dense soundscapes, singer George Prokopiou lays his outstanding vocal lines, again incredibly expressive in his performance, and responsible for several goosebump moments. According to the band, “it’s a record in which all emotions become unexplored lands, become rituals before we accept them as our own. Magna Mater is an album about loss, but it is ultimately about life,” and I can totally relate to that while diving into their music. Not an easy listen (emotionally at least), but really touching, and absolutely brilliant. Katha

From an emotionally heavy to a doom-heavy album: Lowen’s “Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran”. Sometimes I find myself endlessly searching promotional texts for some hints on what (sub-)genre I might find once I decide to put on the music and give it a spin. When I read something about “Middle Eastern progressive doom” in the first promo email that I received about this album, I immediately knew that I had to listen to it right away. And just as fast as I hit play, I fell in love with the music of the London based trio. Certainly on the faster side of doom, the riffs from Shem Lucas are just endlessly crushing without missing that epic doom feel and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Nina Saeidi’s powerful Middle Eastern timbre breathes the quintessential doom spirit with every line. Thematically oscillating between the present day struggle for women’s rights in Iran and deep ancient Persian lore, as well as adding traditional instruments like Daf or Sanottr, Saeidi’s confrontation with her displaced identity and her relationship with her own ancestral home forms the central theme of Lowen and add a deeply personal touch. I know there is no Hammer of Doom Festival taking place this year, but if they ever return (which would be awesome of course), Lowen should be one of the first bands they book! Dario

Rising progressive death metal stars Blood Incantation are finally back with their long-awaited third full-length album, “Absolute Elsewhere“. Since formation, their sound has grown increasingly more prog through the years, and one thing that has made them stand apart is their current influence in space ambient and progressive electronic. This album consists of two 20-minute songs, both of which shift between different styles and ideas throughout. The first one features Thorsten Quaeschning, who’s been doing synths and keys with Tangerine Dream since 2005, and the entire piece was done as a short film/music video. Talk about dedication! With old school death metal riffs, tech death drumming, Berlin School and space rock passages; it’s bound to be a standout for the year. Not to mention it got the seal of approval from Mike Portnoy, these lads are on to bigger places in no time! And if you’re new to them, I recommend to those familiar with Death, Between the Buried and Me, Pink Floyd, Cryptic Shift, and Timeghoul. Colin

The first few seconds of “Blessing of Despair”, the second album of Finnish progressive death metal purveyors Devenial Verdict, is an absolute perfect enactment of that one seagull meme. You know the one where the seagull inhales deeply and then screams at the top of its lungs. No? Anyway, the rest of the album is by far not only screaming and shouting. On the ten tracks on “Blessing of Despair” (or rather nine plus one delicate interlude), the Finnish quartet weaves unexpected gorgeous harmonies into their otherwise quite dissonant concoction. Some sludgy and doomy slower parts make for an excellent enhancement of the eerie element, glowing through every pore of the all around exquisite sound. The ominously titled closing track ‘A Curse Made Flesh’ dives fully into this atmosphere, and what more could an Extreme Prog fan want during this spooky season? Dario

One of many projects from Italian musician Gabriele Gramaglia is here with another album titled “Emerald Fires Atop the Farewell Mountains“. Cosmic Putrefaction have been growing in attention over the last few years, and this new release will only push the name even further. This project is known to be a pretty grimy death metal band with proggy tech influences, and the new album approaches a sort of progressive post-metal sound towards the latter half, which isn’t too out of the ordinary, if you know his other project The Clearing Path (which he names one of the songs after. Coincidence?) With Gabriele doing all of the guitars, production, and harsh vocals, it’s a very impressive feat. Clean vocals are provided by Giorgio Trombino and drums by Giulio Galati of Nero di Marte, so you know it’s going to be exceptional. I would say that this is his best yet, and if you dig it, do check his other albums for a full conceptual experience! Colin

Closing this week’s Extreme Prog quadruple of various manifestations with easily the fastest and nastiest of all: North Carolina’s Krosis and their new EP “Infinite Circuitry” (even though I would say that with a runtime of over 31 minutes, many other bands in these waters would have called it an album). The opening track ‘The Confronted Archetype’ already shows the ferocity with which Krosis are blasting through their songs in exemplary fashion – as well as the occasional gorgeous melodic, sometimes jazzy, interlude lead not entirely unlike The Zenith Passage for example. A perfect equilibrium Krosis explore with unwavering quality throughout the entire half hour. Dario

Tickling my itch for some dissonant avantgarde stuff this week is “Synthetic Outcomes”, the debut from new US based project Chain Code. This is a “non-stop barrage of syncopation and dissonant tension”, as the press release aptly stated, spearheaded by the enigmatic vocalist/multiinstrumentalist MurPhry, and these nine tracks should present themselves as some welcome grubs for the Voivod/King Crimson/Sleepytime Gorilla Museum/Gargoyl//Shamblemaths crowd. Dario

Staying in rather weird waters, I feel like we can’t get around highlighting “The New Sound” as well, the debut album by black midi frontman Geordie Greep. Now I have to admit, I’m probably one of the last proggers not infected by the black midi fever, but after hearing this ambitious Belew/Zappa/Cohen/Cave/Sinatra/Waits extravaganza, I seriously wonder: why didn’t the fever infect me long ago? This is shit is insane! Granted, not for every mood and situation, but once you’re in the groove, it won’t let go. The ingredients (see above and probably numerous more) feel familiar, but the way it all is puzzled together is so fresh and uncompromising. Geordie Greep is without a doubt a one-of-a-kind talent in contemporary music! Dario

Finishing off this first release week of October 2024 with a little instrumental EP from UK’s Somne that clocks in at just short of 10 minutes, but with its two titular main songs “Subject & Object” (plus the atmospheric interlude ‘Distraction’), it does feel like more than a single. Sonically, this is probably as djent as djent goes. So if Animals As Leaders and the likes are your jam, this should go on your menu as well. Dario