Definitely no April Fools: just 36 brand new prog releases!

Cartoon Theory’s new album “Feel” is a kind of ‘best of both worlds’ affair: 4 songs, 4 remixes. Ok, truth be told, also the four ‘original’ songs contain quite a bit of electronics to be fair, but that’s nothing new in the Cartoon Theory world. Morgan Thomaso is responsible for the shredding while Maxime Lathière takes care of the programming, the samples and all that stuff. It’s a fun little release with feel good vibes galore and if you’re not afraid of electronic beats, dive into the second half with the remixes as well. Or else you’ll miss out on half the fun… Dario

From the ‘false start’ with the bluesy sounds at the very beginning until the very last sounds of ‘Farewell’, Aquae Furtivae tells the extraordinary and emotional story of a family confronted with the Alzheimer’s diagnosis of their father. It is the story of founder and mastermind Iago Franco Gonzalez’ father and his family. Told from the perspective of various family members (including the mother, the father and of course Iago himself), “Road to Square One” paints a picture of a family faced with an unbelievably difficult situation. Musically, the international, Berlin based collective tells these stories with the sounds of djent, modern prog metal, symphonic flourishes and Muse-y alternative vibes. In just under 45 minutes, Aquae Furtivae conjure up a diverse cocktail of musical ideas, sometimes going from a musical box / merry-go-round accordion melody to the nastiest djent breakdown in a matter of seconds without ever losing the sense of coherence from a compositorial as well as storytelling perspective. Most crucial to the sound in addition to Iago is French producer/vocalist Lucas de la Rosa (Archætype, Delsey Hill, Soledad) with delicate, fragile, beautiful vocal lines, juxtaposed by Anaïs Lefebvre’s brutal growls. “Road to Square One” is a bold, cathartic artistic statement from Iago and his co-conspirators and in addition to purchasing amazing music, you’ll also support Alzheimer’s research by buying it or some Aquae Furtivae merch by the way, so what are you waiting for? Go and get it! (Oh and once you’ve listened to the album, check out our Progtalks episode with Iago and Lucas right here.) Dario

Flummox. Verb: to perplex (someone) greatly; bewilder. “Rephlummoxed”. Album: a collection of completely reworked early Flummox songs that sound wildly different from their original trio versions, now with arrangements for an absolutely rabid sextet of musicians and with a massively updated production. More genrefluid than ever, more heavy than ever, more crazy than ever, more diverse than ever: “…it accidentally ended up being the best thing we have.” (Flummox’ Max Mobarry). To think what they might be capable of when they start to work on an album in this constellation with the intention of making it their very best to date. “The Mothers of Re-Invention” (The Progspace’s Dario Albrecht) strike again at their fiercest and craziest and they are here to perplex and bewilder you all. You have been warned! (Watch out for the next episode of the Progtalks with Max and Alyson Blake Dellinger, dropping next Wednesday, April 6.) Dario

“Ouh La La”! WTF! OMG! What is happening? How? Why? Where? French weirdo prog metal quartet Tranzat hails from Brest in the Bretagne, is signed to Klonosphere and presents its third album already! How in the world has this band been hidden from the prog world until now? Or was it just me who has been oblivious and blind so far? Were the previous two albums rubbish? (Truth be told, I haven’t had the time to check them out yet.) Be that as it may though, “Ouh La La” is weirdo prog metal entertainment of the absolute highest caliber, a french version of Devin Townsend’s music maybe, but also so much more. If you’re not bewildered enough with “Rephlummoxed”, you can continue right away with this gorgeous smorgasbord of freak prog. Oh and have I mentioned how awesome this album is? No? Well then, here we go: it’s freaking awesome! Dario

It has been very quiet in the Spock’s Beard camp since the release of “Noise Floor” in 2018. But luckily for all fans of the musicians involved with the legendary progressive rock band, the Pattern-Seeking Animals seamlessly carried on the torch with their self-titled debut album in 2019 and followed up suit with the “Prehensile Tales” a year later. “Only Passing Through” is already the third album in just about 4 years and easily continues on the quality level they started off with. No wonder though, as main songwriter John Boeghold has been an honorary member of the Beards since the nineties and is the author of many a classic SB song. Add to that the legendary gnarly bass grooves of Dave Meros, Ted Leonard’s distinctive voice and the contagiously happy drumming of Jimmy Keegan: prog rock satisfaction guaranteed. Dario