Starting the new month with two kinds of heavy!

What if I told you that Ragnar Ólafsson, one of the three golden voices in Icelandic indie/folk/prog/pop sensation Árstíðir had a crazy over the top progressive rock/metal band all along where he’s going really crazy with his voice? Well, there is, and with “Good Things Bad People”, Ask the Slave are returning after several years of quiet with their first internationally released album. Ragnar’s voice is also not the only thing running wild here, Ask the Slave is a band where anything goes, from early Pink Floyd psychedelic pop, 90s King Crimson riffing, jazz, avant-garde prog metal, Tom Waits meets anything Mike Patton has ever done – a hotpot of craziness condensed into one single album for the eclectic listener to enjoy. Far away from any trodden and outworn prog paths, this is as fresh as it gets! Welcome to the international prog stage guys, I really can’t wait to check out your previous two albums as well that just dropped on the streaming services for the first time. This is top notch stuff, absolutely dope and positively insane! Dario

German drummer extraordinaire Hannes Grossmann released his fourth full-length solo album on Tuesday, and it is a blast! “To Where the Light Retreats” continues down the traditional prog/tech death metal path that he’s paved with his previous efforts, and features every member from his project Alkaloid, helping to bring his writing to life. So if you’re impatiently waiting on that new Alkaloid record, this release won’t disappoint. Along the usual style you would expect from this album, they throw some tracks in that have a notable melodic death metal feel as well, which makes it more varied among the already versatile pieces you’ll find here. There’s honestly no weak tracks on this thing! Just banger after banger with lots of cool drum ideas and V. Santura’s unique vocals on top is the icing to the cake. With only 8 tracks running under 50 minutes in total, you can’t possibly waste your time here! Colin