45 releases, 5 highlights: January 2023 waves goodbye with a strong Release Week

The French post rock rebels of BRUIT ≤ are back with a surprise EP called “Apologie du Temps Perdu, Vol. 1.”. After their first and I daresay only venture into Spotify territory with the subversive single “Parasite (The Boycott Manifesto)”, the quartet is back to its tried and tested exclusive distribution channels of Bandcamp and Vinyl through Pelagic Records. Starting out in a vastly ambient fashion, solely relying on their bowed strings courtesy of Clément Libes (violin, viola) and Luc Blanchot (cello), I can’t help but think of their great fellow frenchman Claude Debussy and his “Cathedrale Engloutie”, or the string works of contemporary classical composers like Arvo Pärt or Markus Stockhausen. The seamless morphing into their signature post-rock sound with lots of tape ambience and driving drums around the halfway point of the EP is masterfully executed and their vast soundscapes will continue to keep you mesmerized long after the last note has faded. Truly remarkable and unique! Dario

Persefone and Two Steps From Hell collaborator, Norwegian songwriter and session vocalis Merethe Soltveldt has teamed up with Persefone’s Moe Espinosa for this wonderful little epic EP called “Life Is a Dream”. Having expected only soundtrack-like orchestral sounds from this team, the rocking energy of ‘Stronger Together’ was certainly a surprise. The powerful, uplifting resolve of ‘I An Enough’ surely is a bit pathos-laden, but sometimes that’s just what I need. For more quirky, weird, extreme and brutal stuff, just continue reading below. Dario

Since I’m not familiar with the founding days of the The World Is Quiet Here and their 2018 debut album “Prologue”, I’m just gonna go ahead and assume there might be some connection to the seminal modern prog metal one-album wonder “Quiet World” by Native Construct. Especially with Native Construct’s guitar player Kee Poh Hock now making a guest appearance on “Zon”, the brand new seminal offer from The World Is Quiet Here. Even though leaning more into extreme territories for most of 1 hour and 5 minutes duration, the music at hand is of similar eclecticism and the five piece is operating on a similarly high level of excellence. The expressive, versatile vocals from Lou Kelly do touch on theatrical avant garde stylings here and there, making an already wild ride even wilder. Absolutely sick stuff, there’s no other way to put it! Dario

A black metal album featured on The Progspace? Well, hear me out. Bizarrekult’s second album “Den Tapte Kriegen” features some absolutely sublime post metal parts, elevated to almost transcendental levels by second vocalist D. (Dina). The bleak, melancholy atmosphere is strong throughout the whole album as is befitting such a post black metal outing. Not our usual fare around here, I have to admit, but quality stuff nonetheless. Dario

Back to more familiar prog meadows with a, what else could it be, British band. Rain (absolutely ungoogleable bandname if you don’t have an album or song title to go with it btw) around the veteran rhythm group John Jowitt (bass, ex-IQ, ex-Arena) and Andy Edwards (drums, ex-IQ, ex-Frost*) present their second album “Radio Silence” and it’s a fun one I tell you. I actually expected some more run-of-the-mill Neo Prog with these players involved to be honest, but this turned out to be some fresh, fun stuff with a couple of odd, unexpected twists and turns without losing it’s hookiness and straight up hard rock factor. And lots of tasty bass lines of course. Dario

Breaking with the “second album” theme here (see three mini-reviews above), “Fragile” is apparently the fifth full length by post rock/metal band Artificial Waves. I have not heard their previous efforts and I’m still not too well versed in this particular subgenre I gotta admit, but simply put: this is how I imagine an exemplary instrumental post metal album. A crystal clear production to discover all the subtleties, but also washing over you like an ambient sonic shower of moods, feelings and deep thoughts put to music. Dario