The last Releases of the Week of 2021!

“Dessiderium is the musical diary of Alex Haddad, founded in Southern California, and remaining active in the Sonoran Desert.” states the press release for “Aria”. Hard on the heels of second album “Shadow Burn” last year, “Aria” will mark the project’s label debut with the tech-death specialists of The Artisan Era, which is overall a fitting musical home, although I have to say Dessiderium’s music leans more to the melodic side of technical/progressive death metal, as far as I can tell since “Aria” is my first encounter with the project. Only one of the five tracks on “Aria” clocks in at (slightly) less than 10 minutes, the other four are veritable longtracks with enough twists and turns to keep the listener engaged and with a nice balance between melody and aggression. Apparently, the plan is to expand Dessiderium from a one-man project to a fully fledged (live-)band, enough quality material for a proper set is existing, so here’s to hoping the live scene will be back for good in the next year. Dario

When I saw the finnish band Atlas, first and foremost purveyors of the self-coined “Northcore”, opening for the mind-blowing touring package of Monuments, VOLA and Kadinja back in 2018, I saw little more than ‘just some other whatever-core’ band that seemed to sprout from everywhere in these days. Hard to tell in retrospect if it was me not being able to grasp the uniqueness of their Northcore, or if they just evolved and progressed into this accomplished band with a hugely epic atmosphere permeating their every chug and breakdown. Propped up with similarly epic visuals in the videos for their singles (I bet it helps having two music video professionals in the band who have made quite a name in the scene for themselves with Riivata Visuals, with a lot of high value productions under their belt already for names such as Fear Factory, VOLA and Humanity’s Last Breath), their infusion of the finnish language and folk themes into their crushing djent/deathcore/metalcore gives them indeed that need little twist to make them stand out from the crowd. A mandatory listen for all fans of the genre(s). Dario

Fancy some chill psychedelic grooves to carry you smoothly into the new year? Norwegian duo Kosmodome got you covered with their self-titled debut album. Brothers Sturle and Severin Sandvik, on guitars/vocals and drums respectively, are exploring some relaxing stoner and (lighter) sludge vibes with some proggy and jazzy undertones here and there in the 8 songs/45 minutes of music here. The duo will be supported by an additional guitarist and a bassist for live performances, which should be very cool once that’s possible again. And with the quality at hand here, it’s only logical that they have been picked up by Karisma Records for the release of their debut album already. Cool stuff! Dario

Two of the five songs on British multi-instrumentalist Grace Hayhurst‘s awesome debut EP “Existences is Temporary” got The Progspace Online Festival live in studio treatment. With a bunch of equally cool guest musicians (including Robin Johnson from Kyros on the drums), she brought the first two songs on it, ‘Where Am I?’ and ‘Negative Incline’ to life and opened our second day this year (which you can still watch here) with her very unique take on instrumental proggy post sounds. Shelby Logan Warne from Kyros recorded the whole thing in London’s Old Street Studios and now the audio is also available digitally from Grace’s Bandcamp and on all of the streaming services. A perfect little nugget to tide you over until whatever Grace will come up next with. I for one am hoping for a full length album full of deep thought provoking instrumentals to ponder on the temporality of existence a bit more… Dario

Prog’s coolest world music trio? World music’s coolest prog trio? Consider the Source is certainly one of the most eclectic bands around when it comes to influences from musical traditions from around the world, incorporating their styles, even their instruments and making it their own for a super cool and unique “Hybrid” listening experience. Appearing on my radar several years ago as support band for a US-Tour of Munich-based Jazz Metal legends of Panzerballett, these three gentlemen are certainly masters of their respective crafts, with Jeff Mann handling everything percussive besides the traditional rock drum-kit, John Ferrara providing all kinds of bassy sounds and Gabriel Marin giving it that distinct CTS sound with a myriad of fretted and fretless guitar-like instruments. Their brand of ‘Sci-Fi Middle Eastern Prog Fusion’, as they call it themselves can be everything from folky, to rocky, to jammy, with all tracks having their own identity be it in a more acoustic, melodic fashion, or riff-based and rocking out. I’m pretty sure, Vol. 2 will present us just as many new facets in Consider the Source’s sound, but until then, we’ll have “Hybrid Vol. 1 | Such As A Mule” to digest and enjoy. Dario

Belgians of Omnerod (Only Men Nice Enough Recycle Organic Debris!) are following up their acclaimed 2019 album “Arteries” with this neat little transitory EP that compiles all of the singles of the “Construction” project. Each of them had a different approach, recording process and also different personnel handling mixing and mastering. ‘Lines (Vocal Version)’ was, as the title suggests, a vocal rework of an instrumental track from “Arteries”. ‘Company Accepted’ is a song about bandleader Romain Jeuniaux’s cat. ‘Sandglass’, the first Omnerod track primarily conceived by new member Anthony Deneyer (guitars/vocals), taking an overall mellower approach, but only in terms of heaviness, the vocal arrangements and guitar licks are as delicate and emotionally engaging as ever. And finally that massive cover of Archive’s ‘You Make Me Feel’, one of the best sounding productions of this year to my ears (with a stellar master from Lucas de la Rosa and some crazy guest sax courtesy of Mr. Blackjazz Jørgen Munkeby). On top of that, you’ll get three bonus songs in the form of the audio tracks of Omnerod’s performance for The Progspace Online Festival! What’s not to like? Well, the waiting time for their next album is gonna feel awfully long if this is any indication of the staggering quality level they will operate on from now on. Might as well hit that repeat button a couple of times until then… (Check out our Progtalks interview with Romain for more in depth insights!) Dario

Is there a more fitting way to conclude 2021 with some 35 minutes of bass heavy instrumental sci-fi prog? I guess not. For me at least, “Maia! The Daughter of the Great Atl-Atl of the West”, Volume 1 of the Titan Agronomist Project, is hitting home as it combines my love for Science-Fiction, bass, prog, and all things (or sounds) cinematic. The brainchild of munich based bassist, composer and filmmaker Randy M. Salo (This Is Not An Elephant/Tanertill), you might remember him as my partner in crime for the Progcast podcast and/or the mastermind behind FreqsTV and AutoCappella, the Titan Agronomist Project, is a sort of conceptual continuation of the documentary film “The Dragons of Jim Green” about his grandfather. What is it about exactly you’re asking? Well, why don’t you find out for yourself? There’s a three-part podcast coming with the digital album download which is exclusively available on Bandcamp by the way so how about you head right over and get yourself a christmas treat by pre-ordering this underground gem? It even comes with two bonus tracks and some more goodies! Dropping on December 20th! Go get it! Happy Holidays, my faithful Releases of the Week and The Progspace readers! Dario