Release week of Oct. 24: 9 diverse highlights out of 65 releases

I first heard the London Post-Rock outfit Dawnwalker with their 2022 album, “House of Sand”, which along with “Ages” (2020), completely blew me away with their unique mix of progressive, post atmospheric gothic folk metal. Little to say, I was incredibly excited for the release of “The Unknowing”.

Conceptually, The Unknowing explores themes proposed by famous scientists and philosophers, and centres around unlocking knowledge of the universe. Whilst the lyrics behind the concept are deep reflective, they’re also ambiguous enough to be interpreted in an open ended way, similar to the lyrical structure of The Ocean, which works perfectly for the vibe of the album.

“The Unknowing” is much more minimalistic than Dawnwalker’s previous work, with more focus on progressive elements, that subsequently tone down the heavier side, and give way to an album centred around atmosphere, and some of the best vocal melodies I’ve honestly ever heard. Every track is addictively catchy, and every cathartic moments hits perfectly. Dawnwalker have seriously created something special here. “The Unknowing” is an album that continues to surprise me which each listen with just how well crafted it is, and is an album that will resonate with me for a long time to come. Sam

It’s been 11 months that I called DGM’s “Life” their most mature release to date, so I was all the more surprised to see a new album appear on the scene now! “Endless” is not only impressive regarding the short time span since the last one, but also regarding the high quality they deliver again, and the fun fact that their 12th record is their first real concept album (it’s such a proggy thing, isn’t it? ;-). Story-wise, the Italian quintet follows one man’s imaginative journey trying to understand the choices that shaped his life. Leaning more towards classic prog with additional instruments like beautiful flute, violin, and epic Hammond organ while staying modern in their detailed, yet full production, the music comes along a bit less heavy than on the predecessor, but wonderfully diverse in their song-writing, offering a captivating piece from the first to the last second. Even though they slighty changed in style, somewhere around Ayreon and Odd Dimension, they keep their unmistakable DGM sound thanks to Marco Basile’s expressive vocal performance and the mesmerizing guitar and keyboard playing of maestro Simone Mularoni. Growing to a hot Top10 contender right now. Katha

Next up we go with a debut album, but not debutants in the scene. Aries Descendant is the brainchild of Nicklas Sonne (Defecto, Theory, Evil Masquerade…) and Jonah Weingarten (Pyramaze, Catalyst Crime…), who joined forces to bring a Symphonic opus to life, seamlessly fusing the evocative allure of film music with the raw energy of Heavy Metal. Jonah’s orchestral arrangements are huge, but also offer more quiet, playful moments and a good variety in the compositions, building the stage for Nicklas’ expressive vocals, whose melody lines lift the songs to new heights. Along with his marvelous guitar playing, he brings the powerful Metal part to the cinematic sounding endeavour. Clearly a fitting addition to the ProgPower USA line-up next year. Katha

On his sixth solo album “Theory of Mind”, the first since 2020’s “Open Source”, Brazilian guitar master Kiko Loureiro (ex-Megadeth, ex-Angra) is giving yet another masterclass in how to write compelling, intriguing, entertaining and succinctly to the point instrumental guitar songs that neither lack a vocal melody on top nor resort to an all-out shred-fest with no sense of coherent songwriting. With his former Angra bandmates Felipe Andreoli and Bruno Valverde on bass and drums respectively, this crystal clear and powerfully punchy (mix & master: Jacob Hansen) assembly of fun instrumental song should even appeal to the staunchest vocalist advocates while simultaneously providing enough of pure skills and shreds to keep the musicians on their toes. Most excellent. Dario

Following closely the work of legendary drummer John Macaluso already brought great discoveries to my proggy table, and Rod Rodrigues’ new album makes no exception here. In best instrumental prog fusion manner, he tells the “Tales of a Changing Life” with the focus on his virtuoso guitar playing, carried by challenging yet groovy rhythm patterns, cool bass lines, and some beautiful keyboard interplays. All-together a wonderful listen if you’re into instrumental wizardry. Katha

In the face of the apocalypse, a new star on the djent firmament rises – or is it a shooting star ushering in that very “Apocalypse”? Italian trio The Giant Baba tell immersive, cinematic stories on their debut full length release, despite being an all-instrumental band. With a line-up similar to genre-inventors Animals As Leaders (two 8-string guitars and drums), it is the powerful melodic sensibility that elevates “Apocalypse” from a mere shred fest to a compelling, memorable listen though that draws you in and demands repeated spins to relive all the spacious, glorious, delicious moments on it. Dario

Sometimes, all you need in life is to drown yourself in some good, old-fashioned gothic doom metal. On its second album “Blackshift”, Ghostheart Nebula is here to deliver just that. The Italian band offers the classic beauty & the beast concept, with the male vocals offering a good variation of growls and the female ones being lovely and soothing. Obviously, there is some spoken word too, to add the romantic, gothic atmosphere. Musically speaking, there are also no surprises here: heavy riffs go hand in hand with howling leads, atmospheric keyboards and slow rhythms.

Now haven’t we heard this a thousand times before? We may have, and it’s clear that Ghostheart Nebula has been heavily influenced by bands like Draconian and Swallow the Sun. I don’t see this as a bad thing though, because this kind of music is not that popular anymore, and quality releases are few and far between. So, light some candles, pour yourself a good glass of red wine, and indulge into the sheer gothic beauty that “Blackshift” has to offer. You will not be disappointed! Lykle

Need to vent some pent-up rage and anger? The Swedish death metal tornado Carnosus is back for you with their third album “Wormtales” which marks their label debut for the prolific Willowtip Records. Unaffected by any modern trends, yet never sounding dusted or stale, this unrelenting 40 minute slap of old school death metal refined with superb more melodic, epic prog moments as well as some thrash and black metal flourishes is a riff feast galore and I just can’t get enough of it after initially fearing it might come out too ‘raw’ for my tastes after checking out the first singles. No no, this is not too raw at all. It’s just perfect. Dario

The very unexpected surprise in both immediacy (like ‘ok it’s gonna drop in two days’) as well as the actual sounds contained therein: A full blown analogue-synth release straight out of the archives of long standing Anubis Gate guitarist Kim Olesen in the form of “Geographic Music” was certainly not on my bingo card for 2024. Yet here we are. And I am very happy things turned out that way. Most of it recorded on an 8 track reel to reel machine “using a hybrid system of pre-midi synths, arpegiators and early computer based sequencing, beefed up with newer Roland flagship synths” towards the end of the 90s, the iconic sound of late 70s, early 80s pioneers like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Kitaro is ever present although with a delicate guitar twist here and there or the occasional (pseudo) fretless bass not entirely unlike on the recent solo stuff from Evergrey’s Johan Niemann. The ultimate ‘Tundra’ spices up things even further with a proggy circular full band motif spinning round and round, and I wouldn’t mind in the slightest if Kim Olesen decided to explore this sonic territory again, as he clearly had mastered it a quarter of a century ago already. Dario