16 more highlights for the second half of August!

After the success of their 2019 debut “Union”, Ihlo have returned with their sophomore album “Legacy“. While the previous record was diving into more personal experiences lyrically, their current release touches on more global scale issues. It depicts and explores a dystopian future and its philosophical challenges. The Scotts have managed to mix technicality and emotion very well, creating an engaging album from the first to last song. Andy Robison‘s distinctive high vocals compliment the djenty riffs and complex drumming patterns really well. Ihlo’s previous album was great already and was giving a sense of who they are, but now we can safely speak of a distinct Ihlo sound forming. And that sound is great, because it feels accessible even for people who are not into prog (yet), without sacrificing any creativity and complexity. So, do not hesitate to bring your non-prog friends to the next Ihlo gig near you! Evelina

Or as Van concluded in her deep dive review: ““Legacy” is not just an album, it’s an emotional journey that forces us to look inside of us, and what we’re doing to our planet, to our society and to ourselves. A dramatic and powerful statement by a band that has already proven themselves among the most exciting in modern progressive metal.” 10/10 no notes Dario

What happens when you take the proggiest bits of the Symphony X masterpiece “V – The New Mythology Suite”, process it through Haken’s “Aquarius” blender, forget your vocalist at home and compose a single 20 minute piece of instrumental prog metal with Nietzsche and Stravinsky in mind instead of ‘normal’ bite-sized songs? Dialectical Materialism’s – “Übermensch Pt. 1” might happen eventually. Or even inevitably. When’s Pt. 2 coming? This is so addictive if you’re missing those eras of the two aforementioned bands like me. Dario

Let’s head over to Brazil next and listen to modern Progmetal band Jack the Joker, who just released their third album “The Devil to Pay in the Backlands“. Drawing inspiration from the eponymous renowned Brazilian novel, they take us to the metaphysical backlands, where human will prevails against the hostility of nature. For the instrumental arrangements they fuse regional musical styles such as maracatu, baião and frevo into powerful metal compositions with a strong djenty touch. The focus is often on the expressive, diverse vocal performance, as well as on the hard hitting bass lines, yet drums and guitar get their well deserved time in the spotlight, too. All-together a fantastic album full of exciting rhythms, great melodies, and   wonderful playfulness. Katha 

A completely unexpected return 12 years after their Sci-Fi Prog Metal masterpiece “Psykerion”: Thought Chamber! Somewhere along the way, they must have lost the distinctive voice of Ted Leonard (Spock’s Beard, Pattern-Seeking Animals) whose unique timbre carried the vocal parts of “Psykerion”. In his stead, three other seasoned Prog Metal vocalists stepped in with Crimson Glory’s Travis Willis, the great John Jaycee Cuijpers (Ayreon) and Devon Graves (Psychotic Waltz, Deadsoul Tribe). Mastermind Michael Harris (guitars/vocals) and his troupe of excellent players have put together 10 excellent tracks with finger-lickingly good playing from everyone involved, especially some of the guitar/keys/bass trade-offs are great fun. However the production sounds a bit thin overall somehow, almost like a demo. “Psykerion” sounded like it packed a bit more of a punch. “Myst of Lyriad” sometimes sounds a bit like Acoustic Prog Metal, just with a lot less riffing (and more fusion lead licks from guitar and keys) compared to A Kew’s Tag, which could be a stylistical choice of course. But with the quality of the composition and performances at hand here (including some sweet callbacks to “Psykerion” themes), “Myst of Lyriad” is still a great follow up to one of my favorite concept albums ever. Dario

From US Prog Metal with the occasional fusion lick to the complete Norwegian Prog Fusion package. Only six years after its predecessor, the Oslo based quintet Panzerpappa brings us “Landsbysladder”, and totally befitting an album that is literally called “Village gossip”, is it as whimsical as it is full of wonder and filled with lots and lots of musical fun. So much fun that I’m seriously asking myself why I had not taken the time earlier to listen to their stuff even though I was familiar with the name for quite some time already. Anyways, I’m very happy that I rectified that mistake now and very glad to report that I’ve found a new favorite Norwegian Instrumental Avantgarde Jazz/Prog alongside the amazing Shamblemaths. Dario

What happens when two Italian brothers decide to start a jazz-fusion project? You have to hear “A Memory and What Came After” to find out. To sum it up in two words – pure magic. Asymmetric Universe‘s debut album is fantastic – blending djent elements with flowy, energetic jazz, some classical bits and more. With each listen you discover more neat details in the diverse soundscape. Some familiar names have taken part in this project as well – Richard Henshall (Haken) and Jared Yee (Sungazer). With guest musicians and production quality of that level, it’s hard to believe that the duo has been around for an objectively short time. For fans of: Arch Echo & Plini. Evelina

Finishing off our little Fusion trio: UK based guitarist Nicolas Meier and his Infinity Group with the new album “Last Sunset”. The songs offer a great variety but overall I’d call the style something like ‘chamber fusion’. The name was unbeknownst to me until now, but apparently Swiss-born Nicolas Meier has been touring with Jeff Beck for a while now and names like Gary Husband or Vinnie Colaiuta in connection with the drum duties or Jimmy Haslip and Arran McSporran as featured bassists peeked my interest – and I was not disappointed. Gorgeous fusion melodies all around. Just wonderful! Dario

Ever since I discovered Melodic Death Metal as another metal subgenre I’d potentially enjoy (probably with the “Queen of Time” by Finland’s finest Amorphis), it seemed a bit hit and miss with standout albums for me personally. Too often, the constant focus on the melodies in the lead guitar runs the risk of becoming bland and boring after some time. With “The Immortal”, the seventh full length by Sweden’s In Mourning, I never had this feeling for a single second. And when they spice up already interesting songwriting with a proggy solo break like in the gorgeously titled ‘As Long as the Twilight Stays’, they’re preaching to the choir obviously. The upcoming Europe tour with Omnium Gatherum and Fallujah in February/March is gonna be great! See you there!? Dario

Taking the cake of best Extreme Prog album of the second half of August, at least as far as I’m concerned, is “Rubidium”, the debut full length by Florida quartet Visitant. Their very own brand of Black Metal is as Ethereal and Atmospheric as it’s Proggy and the production is luckily a lot more powerful and heavy compared to your usual Atmospheric Black Metal style. All ingredients that already hinted towards a great likelihood of me really taking a liking to the album after getting familiar with the singles published beforehand leading up to the release of “Rubidium”. Whether it could hold up to that promise was of course still up for debate until the full album was digested, but it turned out to be a gemstone of consistent high quality to my absolute delight. Those Visitants are surely welcome to stay a while longer, especially with that Cynic goes Black Metal vibe. Give me more of that! Dario

Staying in rather Ethereal waters, but crossing the US from Florida all the way to Chicago, and from Proggy Black Metal to Cosmic Doom Metal. Farseer are opening “Portals to Cosmic Womb” and I’ll happily be the first one to step through if there’s a need for volunteers. A weighty, balanced mix of Post, Sludge and Doom vibes floating in endless cosmic wombs, and another Ryan T. Hancock cover artwork that captures that vibe perfectly. Good stuff. Dario

A cosmic extreme metal debut starting off with a four minute synth intro to the opening 12 minute epic? With another daring eight and a half minutes of ambient synth soundscapes placed firmly in the very middle of it? Lovecraftian tales of Leviathans and ancient gods from the depths of the ocean of time and space? “The Cycles of Extinction” by this new Portland, Oregon based entity Old Machines checks so many boxes of nerdy awesomeness – but most of all the music is intriguing and convincing, no matter if it’s proggy extreme metal goodness or moody synth work in between. A highly dangerous development that should be monitored closely. Dario

If it hadn’t been for the involvement of bassist Siebe Sol Sijpkens (Destiny Potato/Sordid Pink) and keyboardist Ruben Wijga (Dark Horse | White Horse), I might’ve dismissed Dutch shooting stars Blackbriar as ‘just another Symphonic Metal band’ quickly before giving them a proper listen at all, since many new (and old) bands in that genre tend to bore and/or annoy me very quickly these days. There’s something uniquely enchanting though to the gothic tales Zora Cock and the band are telling on all of their albums so far, including their newest, third full length presentation, “A Thousand Little Deaths”. Lyrically as well as musically. So I’m happy to report that there’s at least one band of that particular subgenre that manages to continually hold up my interest. And even though I might not be able to catch them on their first European headline tour, you should definitely do so! Dario

There’s definitely also a symphonic and cinematic aspect to the music of UK based quintet Vanitas as well, yet their “Journey to the Sun” is cut from a fairly djentier and more extreme cloth compared to their Dutch peers of Blackbriar. The energy is kept high over the course of the seven tracks and 23 minutes (except for the narrative/interlude-ish title track) and with three EPs under their belt now I think they’re ready to go for the album format. Dario

August Tech Death, Part 1: Kallias hail from the East Coast of the United States, and with “Digital Plague”, the quartet presents a strong follow up to their 2023 debut “First Ascent”, about which our very own Andrei Dan said, that it “an extraordinary display of clever composition, diverse technical abilities and ingenious combinations that stands as a unique voice in the progressive death metal scene!” Sick guest leads from Soreption’s Ian Waye scattered across the whole album add an additional flavor to an already delicious tech-y Prog Death dish. Dig in there! Dario

August Tech Death, Part 1: Brutal music influenced by brutal video games. Spire of Lazarus hail from Austria and their fourth album “Those Who Live in Death” includes some (un-)healthy doses of Deathcore and Blackened Death Metal in their already relentlessly brutal and blisteringly fast Tech Death. A pummeling listen front to back that simply doesn’t let up neither in brutality nor in speed. If all those things (including the earlier mentioned video games), then “Those Who Live in Death” might just be your new favorite album to deadlift and benchpress to. Dario

Finnish Prog Metal talent Rioghan has shown great promise already with her 2022 debut “Different Kinds of Losses” and this year’s strong sophomore effort, “Kept”. Three songs from that album, performed “Live from Alimus” for a special pre-release streaming show she did with her band, can now be heard on this little live EP, and while her harsh shrieks might be an acquired taste still (no Leprous pun intended), the overall take away from this seems to be: this is not a solo project anymore, but a fully fledged band capable of putting on a compelling live show. I certainly hope I’ll be able to catch it soon. Dario