January 2026 starts the year slowly with 16 Highlights

With “Der Brauch” (The Custom), The Hirsch Effekt continues to create emotional, but still heavy experiences. Sound wise, the release is quite close to the previous album, “Urian” (2023), but it feels even more emotional and personal, with melancholy feeling throughout. I appreciate the band singing in German – I feel like lyrics in native language are always richer and more meaningful, and more bands should do that. I have not heard the band’s earlier releases before, but I familiarised myself with the “Holon” trilogy, and in “Der Brauch”, the sound for sure evolved. There is a strong focus on memorable (quite “proggy”) guitar passages, and both clean and screamy vocals, and they are in perfect balance, highlighting the emotional highs and lows. I definitely liked this album, it’s very expressive, with a lot of memorable melodies and great vocals. The band has their own sound and they grow within it, and I am looking forward to hearing more. Alex

An 80-minute Instrumental Jazzcore trip by an Italian Baritone Sax/Bass/Drums trio to start the year with? Hell yes, don’t mind if I do. Zu’s “Ferrum Sidereum” feels like Ckraft by way of un-quantized Meshuggah that’s actually not in 4/4 for a change that meets the weirdness of the French RIO/Zeuhl tradition. Heavy and brutal despite the lack of guitars, atmospherically elevated by subtle electronics and synth, sometimes spiralling into psychedelic trance, only to be crushed again by the heaviest of guitar-less odd-meter riffs and breakdowns. To blast out such a monster of an album in the 29th year of the band existing is a statement of intent as much as of perseverance and accomplishment. Completely awe-inspiring to say the least. Dario

French proggers HamaSaari are back with their second album, “Pictures”, exploring  myths, dreams, fears, and the quiet questions we carry inside. Musically, they skillfully play with a variety of Post and Prog, Rock and Metal ingredients, wrapped in an organic production and reverb-soaked atmospheres driven by polyrhythmic motion. The result is a captivating piece that demands a deep listen, mesmerizing, cinematic and emotional. For me it’s also great to hear how they developed their very own sound since their already amazing debut “Ineffable” from 2023, moving it into richer, more conceptual territory. Cleary a band to keep an ear and eye on.

Btw: You can catch them live in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK up from March – Maybe also in a city near you? Find out more here: Live dates Hamasaari Katha

The Danish progressive scene keeps evolving, and the new Cold Nights for Alligators album, “With All That’s Left” is definitely another proof of that. When I think of one word to describe this album, and the Cold Night For Alligators music in general, “fun” comes to mind. The songs have great hooks (especially choruses, check out ‘Dance for You’), heavy guitar passages and vocal parts (‘These Blind Spots’ has a whole spoken word section, which is emotionally loaded and the vocals on top add an extra layer to that), and “prog” song structures. There is definitely a lot going on, which can sometimes feel a bit confusing, but also intriguing. Vocalist Johan Pedersen is one of the highlights here, with very rich and melodic cleans and emotional, raw screams. His clean vocals reminded me of Fredrik Klemp (TEMIC, Maraton) and Marko Saaresto (Poets of the Fall), both fantastic performers. The album has what it takes to be considered progressive (song structure) but also pop, with a lot of hooks and “dancey” melodies. The band delivers it well enough not to sound too confusing or disjointed. Another win for the Danes! Alex

Back in 2016, when Dutch Extreme Prog Innovators Textures released what was to be their last album for nearly a decade with “Phenotype”, I was just on the brink of getting into more and brutal stuff, so we just missed each other by a hair I would say. Now, with their comeback album “Genotype”, I was surprised to find the music by far not as extreme as I remembered it from their first successful run. Was my memory playing tricks on me? Or did they simply become more melodic with age? Maybe a little bit of both? After revisiting their classic albums I can definitely state that, given my current taste and listening habits, I didn’t find them as heavy or extreme as I remembered them. Yet “Genotype” still presents itself as their most accessible and at the same time most mature effort. Killer grooves and powerful melodies abound! Welcome back! You can still catch them with Unprocessed and Jinjer on tour in Europe, check out the remaining dates here: https://www.texturesband.com/tour Dario

If it wasn’t for the involvement of Jari Lindholm (ex-Atoma) here, I might not have checked out “Elevation” right away, the third full length album from Swedish/French Melodic Death/Doom project Enshine. And I am very happy to report that all those instant expectations that went along as soon as I read the name Atoma (seriously, check out their 2013 masterpiece “Skylight” if you don’t know it yet), they were all met and then some. No, it’s not a new “Skylight”, but of course it doesn’t have to be. The vast, ethereal atmospheres permeate all of “Elevation” and create, well, an elevating effect that seems to glow from within. Enshine if you will. Absolutely beautiful and dreamlike. Dario

The enigmatic “avant-garde metal band from canada” Frore 5 Four is back with a new album almost exactly one year after “Molmolti Volti”. Their instagram account now has 8 followers, but still no posts. Their music is still quirky, whimsical, full of stomping accordion polka weirdness juxtaposed to neoclassical harmonies. Somehow raw and refined at the same time, the music on “Thou Verus” could be likened to that of their Australian siblings in spirit BaK, just without vocals and the whole deity thing. And with a whole lot more accordion sounds. If that is the sound you’re craving, jump right in! Dario

Continuing our instrumental January journey with some Instrumental bass driven Djent and Prog Metal. Berlin based project Yoni the Bassist features drums by Anup Sastry and synths by RO1 and The Algorithm, with a crisp mix and master from Adam Bentley on the new EP “Positivity in Silence”. All great references of course, that don’t distract from the killer bass and guitar performances from the mainman Yoni himself I’m guessing. High octane stuff despite the rather introspective title. Dario

Treading distinctively more calm and pensive waters musically is French composer and guitarist Sloen with the music he presents on his new album “For All The Days Gone”. Meticulously crafted dreamlike Post Rock atmospheres guide you through four extensively reworked songs that were previously available as singles already, with the addition of the exclusive, brand new titular album track (plus intro). Beautiful guest vocals by Swan Porter on ‘If We Meet Again Somehow’ completes a nostalgic picture of quiet yearning. Dario

band Widek. His sixth album “Entrance Into Eternity” once again has some cool guest guitar spots, this time from the likes of Sithu Aye, Morgan Thomaso, Gru, Per Nilsson, Marco Sfogli or Paul Wardingham. The particularly lush feel of his riffs remind me a bit of the short-lived Prog Metal supergroup of sorts, Audioplastik. A perfect balance between a focus on atmosphere and blistering (guest) solos. Dario

More instrumental stuff? Well, the sound of Danish trio Karambolage couldn’t be further from the highly polished Djent sounds above. Adventurous Avantgarde Rock would be more fitting as a rough descriptor here. Many different influences collide in a Karambolage on their second album, “SKÆLMSK”. Dynamic and diverse, the beautifully heartfelt ‘Lydhør’ works as a marvelous contrast full of heartache after the adrenaline-fueled opener ‘Høvl’. Recorded live in studio over two days, the depth of the arrangements with just three musicians and no safety net whatsoever is absolutely astounding. Dario

Continuing seamlessly where we left off further up with the new Textures album sonically, maybe with that added extra brutal punch I was surprised not to find there: Ascend the Helix from California blast through ten high energy Modern Prog Metal/Djent tracks once again on their new album, “To The Surface”, one and a half years after “Anamnensis”. The commanding and diverse vocal performance by Mike Semesky sits front and center, while Adam Smiarowski’s chugs and slaps in lock with Joshua Carro’s drums somehow are holding down the fort while simultaneously being a powerful driving force. You want some cleans in your Meshuggah but TesseracT is too soft for you? Ascend the Helix got you covered! Dario

Sludgy, Posty Prog Metal with blackened tinges: “Tékmés” is the fourth album by  Lithuanian trio Juodvarnis. It packs quite the energetic punch right from the beginning, before riding on more melodic Post Metal tangents not shortly after. The dynamic shifts in tempo and different levels of brutality and heaviness don’t mean there’s any fluctuation of intensity. On the contrary, the level is kept high throughout which makes for a demanding, yet intriguing listen. Dario

Ever since their inception over ten years ago, Alkaloid have been a musical entity that never cared about the self-conceived boundaries of the Progressive Death Metal and Tech Death scenes. With probably their most ambitious work to date after three studio albums with original compositions, they now tried their capable hands at a very special live album, one that combines some of their own songs with re-arrangements of classical pieces by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. A risky experiment to say the least, and while it sometimes seems like the complicated counter-points might break into chaos from their fragile and delicate order, they never do so completely. And that in itself is already an accomplishment not to be underestimated. “Bach Out of Bounds” can be filed under successful experiment then, however I’d love to hear a sequel, as this concept has the potential of evolving from experiment to an established thing of its own. Dario

It was back in 2021 when I first heard of Greek guitarist and composer Kostas Sampanis, who quickly caught my attention with his mesmerizing EP “Autumne”. Last year he performed four of them – plus two new tracks – with a band at the Guitar Experience Festival in Athens, which was recorded and now released as a live-album with an accompanying video. Being fully instrumental, the guitar tells Kostas’ stories in a melodic and captivating way. His warm tone resonates very well with me, also in combination with the beautiful piano background and solo parts. The songs are all different, but with an amazing flow, wandering between slow acoustic parts and faster, more progressive pieces. Music that invites the listener to drift away for a moment – Dive in! Katha

It seems like a curious decision to release a live album after two studio albums, with only one song from the second album in the setlist. Another curious decision might be to release the opening track of said live album as a first single – complete with three minute ambient intro. Be that as it may, “Waves over Copenhell” captures IOTUNN’s mighty mysticism perfectly, and with so many epic songs in their repertoire, it is totally understandable that the struggle to decide which ones to play in a shorter set is real. During their upcoming first European headliner show starting in about a month, chances are high that some more songs will be able to sneak into the setlist. Check out the dates right here and listen to “Waves over Copenhell” and the two excellent studio albums in the meantime to tide you over. You can even watch the live videos from Copenhell on Metal Blade Records’ YouTube channel, how cool is that? Dario