16 even more eclectic highlights from the first half of July 2025!

Two EPs leading the Highlights pack for the first half of July this year? No wonder if they’re as strong as the following two! Starting off with Norway’s Leonov and their Pelagic Records debut release “Shape of Ash”, it’s their first EP after 3 albums and more than a decade as a band. In any case, these haunting Celestial Doom sounds should be trending right now, at least as much as their Italian peers of Messa. It truly is that good. Or maybe even better. Decide for yourself and listen to “Shape of Ash” immediately! (And if you need more of that, just continue with “Procession”.) Dario

From the utmost atmospheric bliss to ecstatic, exuberant high speed instrumental Jazz Metal/Fusion guitar acrobatics courtesy of Californian shredder Wes Thrailkill. There’s at least two things to be said about his newest EP “Slowly, Then All At Once”: it’s gonna cause jaws to drop –  and it definitely doesn’t start out slowly. And it doesn’t let up. There’s even guest Saxaphone (Ben Luria) and Vocals (Adam Benjamin) in ‘Primer’. Everything else is played and programmed by Wes himself. Absolute Madman. Have mercy. This is nuts. But I love it. The Modern Prog/Jazz Metal benchmark for 2025. Period. Dario

Bob’s Corner #1: “I’m not sure I’ve come across a band quite like Impureza before, sometimes it’s like listening to two different bands. The straightforward death metal parts sound much like many other bands. The flamenco sections are delightful, but the best bits come when they merge the two styles in what can only be described as Death Flamenco. They prefer to call it Hispanic Metal, and if that’s not progressive enough, I don’t know what is.” He’s talking about Impureza’s new album “Alcázares” of course. Check out his full review here: https://theprogspace.com/impureza-alcazares/ Bob

Bob’s Corner #2: Three years after their self-titled debut album, the international Progressive Metal quintet Philosophobia is back with a powerful second serving in the form of “King of Fools”. Bob has high praise for it as well, as you can read here: https://theprogspace.com/philosophobia-the-constant-void/ Bob

Usually when I see the words Post and Punk together, I flee, mostly because I expect an abysmal production and off key vocals. Put them together with Death Metal, and you’ll get one of the most original and fun albums in the more extreme heavy music realm this year. I’m talking about Floating’s “Hesitating Lights” of course, and what the Swedish duo lacks in real drums, it more than makes up for with delicious bass lines. No need to hesitate. Go get this album. The hype around this band is fully warranted. Dario

What to expect from a UK based band whose members come from Venezuela, France and New Zealand? And even more so, a band whose Bandcamp genre tags are simply ‘rock’, ‘alternative’ and ‘electronica’, but recent articles about them reveal a shocking amount of ‘deathcore’-mentions? I wouldn’t know either, but upon checking out “Edge of the Abyss”, the new album from Calva Louise, it all makes sense. Raw hyper pop deathcore with the occasional surprise neo-classical chord progression popping in, crazy energy and even a DIY science-fiction movie to accompany it (and a lot of other self-made music videos). One of the most creative and refreshing outings in recent times. Dario

With quite favorable reviews from our local Tech Death Expert Andrei Dan for their 2021 debut album “Vicissitude” and the subsequent EP “Predacious”, I was sure to check out “Vehemence” as well, the newest EP from New York based Extreme Metal force Monochromatic Black. And well, if they didn’t pick that EP title on purpose, I really don’t know either. Unrelenting vehemence throughout in terms of brutality and technicality. Their more melodic (dare I say softer?) side, comes out more in the last two songs, but this whole EP is still absolutely sick, stankface inducing stuff. Dario

It seems like keyboardist/composer Andreas Hack likes to keep himself busy since German Art Rockers Frequency Drift disbanded. His exquisite collaboration with British vocalist Paul Sadler (Spires), Haven of Echoes, already yielded two mesmerizing albums, and now he teamed up with Norwegian vocalist Trude Eidtang (ex-White Willow) for Whispers of Granite. With their collaborative debut album, “Liquid Stone”, they don’t quite reach the class of Haven of Echoes yet, at least as far as my particular tastes are concerned, but show a lot of promise, so I’ll definitely keep my ears and eyes open for more Whispers of Granite. Dario

Quirky, but in an introspective way: the music of YouTube personality, music instructor and ex-Bent Knee guitarist Ben Levin could be best described as Alternative Art Rock or something like that. For his new live-in-studio EP “Havdalah to the Blank Without” he assembled an ensemble of excellent musicians to perform five songs in Big Nice Studio. Big nice. Dario

Oceanica is one of several musical outlets of British composer and multi-instrumentalist Benedict Harris-Hayes after the disbanding of his Progressive Metal trio Enochian Theory. “Try Not To Dwell On It” is his newest EP under this moniker, containing one single, floating piece of music, perfectly capturing the slightly optimistic reassurance of the subject matter in open chords somewhere between New Age Devin Townsend and less depressed Porcupine Tree. Dario

Definitely worth a celebration among Post Rock fans: a new album by Sydney based sextet We Lost the Sea! “A Single Flower” follows six years after “Triumph & Disaster” and celebrates 70 minutes of cinematic, ambient Post Rock with occasional crescendos. Nothing for the Prog crowd I’d guess, but any lover of atmospheric instrumental music should be able to enjoy these tranquil, soothing sounds. Dario

If you thought the 70 minutes of We Lost The Sea’s “A Single Flower” was long for an instrumental release, you most certainly haven’t encountered “The Trial of Socrates” yet. This newest release by the enigmatic US-based quartet Thumos clocks in at an intimidating 109 minutes playing time, but fear not, the instrumental Post/Prog Doom presented here is captivating, impactful and diverse. One might almost think they had some powerful, ancient source material to fuel their creativity. Oh wait… Dario

“Promise of a Better World”, a fascinating, mesmerizing sound meditation by prolific Berlin based Touch guitarist Markus Reuter (Anchor & Burden, Stick Men) and Swiss composer Stephan Thelen (Fractal Sextet) is the last minute addition to this edition of our Releases of the Weeks that I almost overlooked. You shouldn’t though, if you are even in the slightest interested in proggy ambient sounds. Dario

Who needs real instruments like guitars or drums (let alone basses) to play Djent live? Well, certainly not Nular, the Prog Metal Cyborg from Budapest (Hungary). But wait, how can it be LIVE then? To answer this question, it might help to watch the entire “Live in Berlin” performance as well as this video: Nularseq 0.9 explained. You’re welcome. Dario

Ten extensive live albums in thirteen years. Legendary British guitarist Steve Hackett got to be one of the most prolific musicians in that regard. Each one with a special focus from his large back catalogue with or without Genesis. Each of them masterclasses in Progressive Rock. And his newest, “The Lamb Stands Up Live at the Royal Albert Hall” is no different. I couldn’t choose which part I like most though, the first with excellent picks from his solo career or the latter half with a lot of “Lamb” stuff and choice Genesis cuts to finish it off. And ‘Firth of Fifth’ will never not be one of the greatest songs of all time. Flawless. Dario

Not as refined as their expansive 2021 double live album, “Phanerozoic Live”, The Ocean’s “Audiotree From Nothing” serves as a final little momentum of this latest incarnation of the Berlin based Post Prog Metal collective. Especially drummer Paul Seidel and vocalist Loic Rossetti have left their indelible marks on this era, but I’m sure mastermind Robin Staps will return and steer that ship into this new epoch. Dario