Devil’s Reef – The Droste Observer
This album is all over the place in terms of technicality, complexity, genre mashups and weird song structures but despite that, it is quite engaging.
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Lycania – My Kingdom Come
If you too want to get rid of all that cheap supermarket symphonic metal and nourish your ears with some healthy organic goodies, then I strongly recommend Lycania’s debut record.
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Temic – Terror Management Theory
Albums that impress me this much are rare but not unknown. This debut by Temic is outstanding and I have felt honoured to have had the chance to express my views on it. My appetite is well and truly whetted, and I am now hungry for more, so I hope that won’t be too long coming.
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Sangdragon – Hierophant
There is a huge amount of diversity across this brace of albums and that makes for an interesting and enjoyable experience.
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Earthside – Let the Truth Speak
With “Let the Truth Speak”, US progressive rockers Earthside set a new bar in the production and composition, creating a very diverse and unique record.
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Pattern-Seeking Animals – Spooky Action at a Distance
Prog-Rock has been around for an exceedingly long time, but Pattern-Seeking Animals are doing something different with it. Some of the material on this album might be classed as modern Prog-Rock, but whatever, it is splendid anyway.
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Stortregn – Finitude
I was expecting an exciting competition for tech-death supremacy to emerge towards the end of the year, as the release date to “Finitude” grew closer. What I didn’t expect, however, was that this album was going to shatter the bar and go play in a league of its own.
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TesseracT – War of Being
This is not only their best album yet, but certainly one of the best releases of 2023, and any fan of progressive music ought to check it out!
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Blackbriar – A Dark Euphony
As a prog fan, I always like to hear new things and get some surprise factor, but in Blackbriar’s case, the formula hasn’t yet become redundant and I’m perfectly fine with another album following this recipe.
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Hypomanic Daydream – Image
I’m sure that Hypomanic Daydream is destined not to be very famous in the near future, but I wholeheartedly wish they get an underground reputation as they deserve it.
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Alkaloid – Numen
On top of the fact that it is excellently put together as a modern death metal album, “Numen” might also be one of the most diverse and multi-faceted extreme metal releases I’ve come across!
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Tegmentum – Evolvement
Despite having sat through a bunch of technical death metal albums since the beginning of this year, I can easily say that Tegmentum dropped the most brutal album of 2023 so far. And it will be a very difficult one to top.
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Obsidian Tide – The Grand Crescendo
Dive into a spectacular work of cinematic progressive metal, highly recommended for listeners with an appreciation for strong dynamics and a sufficient attention span.
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Of Virtue – Omen
Even if you are not a fan of metalcore you might find yourself warming to this band. The aggression that inevitably comes with the genre is tempered by the melodic elements running through the album.
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Psygnosis – Mercury
This is an album to listen to when you are relaxed, preferably with your favourite tipple and with the lights dimmed. Just let the soundscape wash over you and take you to the far reaches of the Solar System
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The Zenith Passage – Datalysium
As soon as I had sat through my first audition of the album, I knew it was gonna become a tech-death favourite.
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Kallias – First Ascent
“First Ascent” is an extraordinary display of clever composition, diverse technical abilities and ingenious combinations that stands as a unique voice in the progressive death metal scene!
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Distention – Nothing Comes From Death
Distention does a great job of bringing together the old and the new, and I can totally see it as a gateway for the older generations of metalheads to familiarize themselves with the new wave of tech-death, or vice-versa.
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The Cartographer – The Cold Black EP
“The Cold Black” EP is only a taste of what is yet to come from The Cartographer. Exciting news indeed and I cannot wait to see what they come up with next.
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The Flower Kings – Look At You Now
Is The Flower Kings genre-defining now? In terms of reinvention, I’d say most likely not. But was it genre-defining then? Ab-so-prog-rock-lutely would be my answer! And while “Look At You Now” was released now instead of then, I strongly believe it is very much worth (at least) a listen.
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Deadsoul Tribe – A Murder of Crows (20th Anniversary)
Deadsoul Tribe became one of those bands going against the stream of the prog culture, trying to play something actually original. It seems like time has been pleasant with their sophomore album “A Murder of Crows” as you can find several contemporary reviews praising it as a masterpiece.
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Lyrre – Not All Who Dream Are Asleep
With such an accessible surface aesthetic as well as so much substance in the artistic content, I wouldn’t be surprised if more people soon dove into the world of Lyrre!
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Mystfall – Celestial Vision
Mystfall are another jewel in the crown for Scarlett Records and go on my ever-growing list of acts to watch out for. I hope this isn’t the last we hear from them.
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TB Project – Hourglass of Exile
“Hourglass of Exile” is Taylor Batory’s crowning achievement, because prog albums that are this perfectly crafted are incredibly hard to come by. I really can’t recommend this one enough.
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Voyager – Fearless in Love
“Fearless in Love” is a skillfully well-balanced album, especially at this specific point in Voyager’s evolution. It is neither a departure from what their loyal fans know and love (especially using their more recent work as baseline), nor is it restrictive for newer fans who don’t necessarily stem from a metal background. It is listenable, explorable, palatable, but in no way does it take away from what the band stands for. Not an easy balance to strike, in my opinion. If music could be seen in colors, this album—and I’d say Voyager in general—would span the whole rainbow. And I think prog needs that in the mix.
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Omnibeing – Recurrence
Omnibeing, a one-man project by Vital Shemetavets, has released a semaphore album, Recurrence, which might not be groundbreaking or having many hooks, but can be enjoyed by the fans of technical instrumental music, and saxophone lovers
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Atomic Symphony – Nemesis
Despite only 5 tracks summing less than 40 minutes of run-time, “Nemesis” comes across as a convincing progressive metal effort that takes the listener on a complex emotional journey.
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Cynic – ReFocus
Cynic’s 1993 debut “Focus” was nothing short of tantamount to the collective development of modern progressive metal. In celebration of its 30th anniversary, mastermind Paul Masvidal revisited his own history book to give the cherished album a rejuvenation, with the self-released “ReFocus”.
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Structural – Decrowned
Structural’s sophomore effort wastes no time and takes no prisoners. It is a relentless display of punchy and creative death metal with just enough variety to turn their craft into a maelstrom of sophisticated badassery!
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Arkona – Kob’
Arkona remain unmatched in their craft of the dark arts, and their latest offering is a true feast of misanthropic majesty.
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