How about some mesmerizing, Scandinavian Prog during Midsummer?

Finally! The sensational Norwegian Spa Metal band is back with a bang! Five long years of waiting are over, and now it’s time to dive into eight brand new smoking hot modern prog bangers with fingerlicking good hooks, off-kilter riffs that groove like there’s no tomorrow and gorgeous synths to bathe in. “Dream Chaser” is the logical follow up to 2019’s “Universal Chaos”. A Rendezvous Point for ‘The Tormented’ at the ‘Still Water’ where the ‘Presence’ of the ‘Wildflower’ and ‘Fireflies’ indicate a ‘Utopia’. But ‘Don’t Look Up’, you might contract the ‘Oslo Syndrome’. In all seriousness though, if there was an award for best string arrangement of the year, the grand finale of this masterpiece might have won it with flying colors. To say I’d be in love with it could be one word for it. One could also say obsessed. Either way: I can’t get enough of it and that should be reason enough for you to expose your ears, mind, body and soul to this aural bliss as well. Enjoy! Dario

From mesmerizing Norwegian ‘Still Water’, we move to Sweden and into ‘The Great Unknown’, which is the opening track for Seventh Dimension’s fifth album, “Of Hopes & Ordeals”. The quintet appeared on my proggy radar back in 2021 with their amazing record “Black Sky”, so I was really curious about their new piece, and I’m happy to report that they further evolved on all levels without getting too extreme towards the one or other side, offering their most mature and exciting release to date. Stylistically best described as Progmetal in the veins of Pyramid Theorem and Symphony X, they throw in all ingredients that I love about the genre: well-produced and skillfully performed compositions with marvelous melodies, versatile rhythm patterns, and huge harmonic layers to dive into, coming along soulful and atmospheric. Everything flows dynamically and naturally without getting repetitive or losing tension, revealing more and more of its magic with every spin. Highly recommended to take a seat and enjoy the ride… Katha

“Solace” and “Burden”, two central, eternal themes in doom metal, two parts of a fantastic conceptually linked piece by Chicago-based quartet Rezn. The epitome of everything I love about doom metal.  Hauntingly beautiful. Soul-crushingly heavy. Sounds that provide at least temporary solace from our burdens. The soul-crushing happens at a slow tempo. So does the solace-providing. Pure doom love. Dario

With the new release, “Oath”, the Japanese post-rock legends MONO continued their impressive discography, making it their 11th album. Beautiful, atmospheric, emotional – all this can describe the band’s music, and the new album is no exception. The Japanese quartet are masters of building up the emotion, atmosphere and, how cool kids say these days, vibe.

“Oath” features a lot of string and brass elements, which adds a lot to the soundscape. Not many instrumental bands can create such deep, cinematic emotion without saying a word, which is also highligthed by the poetry of the song names.

MONO are masters of long build ups and loud, explosive climaxes, and most of the album tracks follow this path, walked by many bands before. However not a lot can do it as masterfully and emotionally as MONO – it puts you in the zone and keeps you in until the last note. I can recommend this album to absolutely anyone who loves emotional instrumental music – it’s one of the post-rock releases of the year for me, and, if you get a chance – go see them live – the magic of the sound hits even harder if you close your eyes and let yourself be lost in the music, surrounded by hundreds of people. Alex

One of the most respected and rising stars in the extreme metal scene are back once again with another absolute gem of an album. New Zealand’s dissonant death metal icons Ulcerate dropped their much anticipated release “Cutting the Throat of God”, and it quickly got massive praise among metal and general music circles. The love for this band and album is much deserved, as these lads have been some of the most consistent writers in their craft. Each record proves to stick to their identity, without growing stale in any way. What is so appealing about this release in particular? Well, aside from the always mind-blowing drum performance by Jamie Saint Merat, the writing department threw in some really impressive tech death flourishes from part to part, adding a bit more brutality to their atmospheric tonality. There is a good chunk of darker black metal tinges throughout as well, so there’s more influences from the likes of Celeste and Downfall of Gaia to be found. Honestly, this could be considered a great place to start for getting into Ulcerate, as they touch on soundscapes to be found from every era of their career, while maintaining such top-notch quality from track to track. Easily some of their best material yet, and that is saying a lot with how strong already their catalog is. I will say that this may not appeal to everyone, but if you’re into the heavier side of things and also appreciate captivating atmospheres, this is not an album to skip on! Colin

It has been 7 years in the making: Boston’s Replacire (which happens the be guitarist and band leader Eric Alper’s name backwards) are back with their latest full length release “The Center that Cannot Hold”. Tech death tastebuds are tingled immediately, along the lines of The Faceless’s classic ‘Planetary Duality’, with a noteable influx of 90s nu-metal drumming (alongside the obligatory piccolo snare that comes with it). The archetypical death growl is rather sparse, with a more high pitched core-like screaming giving the work a modern and more unique vibe. Stay away from this one if you’ve criticized albums for being unfocussed or lacking solid grooves & riffing – but be sure to give it a spin if sheer technical prowess strikes you as impressive. Bas

It’s a good thing to wake up with a nice melody in mind, isn’t it? And when talking about new music, this is normally also a sign for me to pay more attention to the respective piece. In case of Marco Glühmann’s solo debut, who is best known for being the singer of German proggers Sylvan, it was the powerful chorus of ‘Hear Our Voice’ and the beautiful ‘Reach Out’ that stuck with me that way first, followed by the emotional ‘My Eyes Are Wide Open’. The record is called “A Fragile Present” and contains 12 rather melancholic songs, most of them written in a short time period, reflecting on the transient gift of life, whether in a personal or global context. For the recordings, he got support by several well-known musicians out of the Artrock scene, yet I wouldn’t call this a Prog album, as it leans more into the Pop / Rock direction stylistically, which works well for me in this case thanks to the wonderful, expressive vocals that carry the listener through the different stories. Because of the songs’ thoughtful, mostly calm characteristics, this is not an album for hectic days, but worth to give it a spin during a quiet moment. Katha

Progressive stoner/sludge is a subgenre of music that strikes a certain chord with me, and I’m constantly looking for new albums to fill that niche hole. “Voice of Storms” is the 4th studio album by West Virginia’s Horseburner, and is the latest album to fill that sludgy craving. Upon pressing play, you’re greeted with a short intro, which sets the stage for ‘The Gift’, and if this doesn’t hook you then I don’t know what will. The Gift follows a psychedelic Middle Eastern style riffs that become the centrepiece for all the hard hitting fuzzy proggy riffs and vocals. The raw aggression can be felt throughout the whole album, although they do branch out to implement folk and stadium rock in tracks like ‘The Fawn’ and ‘Hidden Bridges’. Whilst they may be rooted in sludge, Horseburner are never afraid to showcase their progressive abilities. Progression is at the forefront in tracks like ‘Diana’, with its huge atmospheric Pink Floyd-esque solos, and the 9 minute finale ‘Widow’ which features immaculate storytelling and pacing. That is a testament that can be applied to the whole album. 47 minutes of creative progressive sludge. Sam