Mid-May Mayhem: 7 more highlights out of 64 Releases in total!

Amensalism: “A form of symbiosis in which one species is harmed or impeded and the other is unaffected.” (Wikipedia). Omnerod’s fresh, third album “The Amensal Rise” is finally out now in its full 1 hour and 9 minutes glory, after the three singles ‘Magnets’, ‘Towards the Core’ and ‘Satellites’ fired up the hype train for real these past weeks. But while the first single ‘Magnets’ was at least partly dabbling in familiar Devin Townsend-like bombast, you’ll soon find out that it was only giving a small glimpse of the chaotic, dangerous, over the top levels of acoustic insanity the journey of the whole album will take you on, culminating in a burst of utter madness with the final minutes of ‘The Commensal Fall’. (Don’t let yourself get fooled by the mellow breather in the first half of ‘Towards the Core’, sitting comfortably between ‘The Amensal Rise’ and ‘The Commensal Fall’.) It almost feels like the 2019-2021 material (from their sophomore effort “Arteries” and stand-alone single “Company Accepted”) that they presented in their fantastic contribution to our third The Progspace Online Festival 2021 was beautiful, soul-caressing easy listening compared to the extremes they dared to explore on their brand new material.

“The Amensal Rise” feels like a gargantuan cosmic horror journey. Conjuring up vast voids while feeling oppressive and claustrophobic at the same time. A massive force to be reckoned with. Omnerod easily deliver one of the most awe-inspiring takes on extreme prog in 2023 with “The Amensal Rise”. Let’s just hope no species is harmed or impeded by the rise of Omnerod. Dario

Ever since I stumbled across the awesome music video for ‘First Sun’, the first single leading up to their 2021 debut album “A Book About Itself”, I’ve been a big fan of Stockholm based quartet Karmanjakah and their dreamy modern prog metal/djent sound. Now they are back with a new EP featuring four songs, amounting to just short of 21 minutes of great music that manages to combine the catchy with the atmospheric, the melancholy with the hopeful and uplifting, the complex with the . “Ancient Skills” sees the four Swedes honing their skills of expertly crafted songs on the shorter side (for prog standards) and in combination with excellent performances and a great production, it makes a great addition to the already crammed top ten best EPs of 2023. With a little bonus Saz solo by guitarist Viggo Örsan on the final song ‘Listening’ as the cherry on the cake, “Ancient Skills” is sure to whet our appetites for Karmanjakah’s sophomore full length effort and I really hope we won’t have to wait too long. Dario

More djent you say? Of the instrumental variety this time? Ok, Austrian brother duo Leonard and Denis Roth aka Their Dogs Were Astronauts got you covered with their new album “Momentum”. Successfully incorporating electronic elements, flamenco guitars, and most importantly, some really smooth synth solos, I do believe that they really set themselves apart from the generic masses of the djent (non-)genre with their unique approach and exciting creativity. Clocking in at exactly 55 minutes and 55 seconds, there’s plenty to discover in the 11 songs of “Momentum” and while they are approaching the ten year anniversary of their debut album, it is really high time for some well deserved and earned wider recognition with their sixth full length album within the prog world. This slaps! Dario

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Heir to Madness is the solo project of Jason Wiscarson, and with “Nightflyer”, he’s serving over an hour full of melancholy vibes in a heavy prog rock sound bordering on metal. Now checking his Bandcamp and Spotify profiles soon reveals another album called “The Citadel” from 2008, which suggests, that he took 15 years to complete this sophomore effort, and I have no idea what he’s been up to all this time, neither did I have the chance to check out this debut album so I can’t tell you how it compares to this sophomore effort. Regardless, what I can say is that I’m really digging what “Nightflyer” has to offer. There’s definitely some Porcupine Tree and LizZard vibes in there as far as alternative prog influences go, presented with a metal ferocity and a song like ‘Gottfried All Night’ even touching Opeth ground at times. All things considered, this has the potential to go down really well with the prog crowd, so I’d really wish for this to become a full fledged band, playing live and all, and most importantly, hopefully not taking 15 more years to complete another album. Dario

“Limitless, Shapeshifting boiling liquid metal from India.” Says the bandcamp bio. “Bubble Pop Music for Nerds” says the description text for “Automorphed”, the newest EP from Amogh Symphony. Now the burning question of course is: which one is it? Well, I’d argue that it’s both. And neither. “Automorphed” is a visceral foray into instrumental electronic modern progressive metal. It is limitless and shapeshifting. It’s got a boiling and liquid feel to it. It most certainly is for nerds. Now if the “Bubble Pop” part of the description simply references the electronic parts, I’m not sure to be honest. But with sax and horns contributions from Daisuke Ekiguchi on ‘Ares’ and some stunning keys and lead synth work by 9-years old (!) prodigy Vian Bora, Amogh Symphony mainman Vishal J. Singh has put together an intriguing little EP that just leaves you craving for more after its much too short playtime. Dario

There are some keywords that will quickly spark my interest, and a description like “instrumental neo-classical guitar art” clearly belongs to them. In this case, we have Swiss guitar wizard Roger Staffelbach (Artension, Artlantica, Angel Of Eden) presenting his first solo album, “The Quest”, also having drummer John Macaluso (Michael Romeo, Ark, TNT, Y. Malmsteen…), bassist Steve DiGiorgio (Testament, Artension, Sadus…), and keyboarder Ariel Perchuk (Kenziner, Liliumdust) aboard. Music-wise, they keep exactly to the earlier mentioned description, with most of the songs coming along melodically stirring and virtuously played, yet with a good heaviness. The mighty ‘Road to Sarvar’ riff gives me strong Michael Romeo vibes, and together with the marvelous solos became one of my favorites here. Another highlight would be ‘Sea of Mirrors’ with its mesmerizing harpischord and bass runs. Due to the technically sophisticated yet soulful performances in combination with amazing, vivid compositions, “The Quest” clicks all boxes for me. While this is clearly a guitar focused record, the other instruments support the overall sound in a great way, but also get their moments into the spot-light. Roger Staffelbach’s first solo album is a wonderful listen if you’re into neoclassical, instrumental prog, and highly recommended to dive in 🙂 Katha