DEMONSPELL'S SONGS TO WATCH
The Great Lost Playlist pt. 1
Greetings, devoted readers. What follows is a temporary change in format designed to make up for lost time. In the album section, "selections from" means that I have not heard the album in its entirety yet.
Opeth - selections from Deliverance
Highlights: A Fair Judgement is their most complex clean vocals-only composition since To Bid You Farewell. In Master's Apprentices, some of their most beautiful and brutal material to date literally collide. The title track is a typically dense composition. All three are closer to the sound and spirit of the first two albums than Blackwater Park, and find Mikael working on arrangements and moods altogether new to Opeth, even using vocal harmonies on Master's middle section.
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Highlights: Trains, Sound Of Muzak, and Prodigal are archetypical Steven Wilson compositions. This album hits a wider range of territory than the last two, with the electronic textures of Gravity Eyelids, the foreboding Strip The Soul, the deceptive lullaby Heartattack In A Layby, lone instrumental Wedding Nails, and their heaviest material to date in Blackest Eyes and The Creator Has A Master Tape.
The Flower Kings - selections from Unfold The Future
Highlights: The 14-minute Silent Inferno is one of their best songs to date, featuring some astounding instrumental sections, and the half-hour composition that opens the album is all over the map. A jazz fusion influence shows up on instrumentals Black & white and Devil's Danceschool. Second disc opens with a relatively straightforward but quirky rocker Genie In A Bottle.
Threshold - Critical Mass
Highlights: Besides those mentioned already, Phenomenon and Choices are solid prog-metal pieces, especially the former. Avalon is one of their best ballads to date, and Fragmentation resembles The Ravages Of Time in that it is heavy, dense, and varied. Bonus track New Beginning can hold its own with the rest of the album.
Enchant - Blink Of An Eye
Highlights: Opener Under Fire is an instant attention-getter, with its insistent riff (deftly echoed by Ed Platt in the opening verse), thoughtful lyrics, and soaring vocals. Import-only Prognosis is a great instrumental showcase. Despicable, besides being catch as hell, is this year's musical answer to the question "What would the Police sound like if they played progressive metal?" Last year it was Ark's Feed The Fire.
Glass Hammer - Lex Rex
Highlights: The highly acclaimed prog revivalist duo returns with another conceptual piece. Nearly all the tracks achieve an epic feel, particularly Tales Of The Great Wars. Great analog keyboards all over the place, especially on A Cup Of Trembling. 15-minute track Further Up & Further In contains tons of intriguing instrumental passages.
Everon - selections from Flesh
Highlights: Second album this year from these German prog stalwarts. The sweeping epic title track may be their most accomplished composition to date. Opener And Still It Bleeds epitomizes the band's strength at writing thoughtful compositions. Female vocals are employed in The River and the brief but affecting Already Dead.
Heaven's Cry - Primal Power Addiction
Highlights: Successfully avoiding a lawsuit from Dimmu Borgir over the album title...just kidding. The band seems equally at home with acoustic-based material (A New Paradigm, Remembrance, The Inner Stream Remains) as highly energetic prog-metal (Masterdom's Profit, Komma, One Of Twenty-Four).
Symphony X - The Odyssey (track by track)
1. Inferno (Unleash The Fire) - Opening with a nicely syncopated riff, the song soon introduces the new order: Romeo's heaviest riffery to date and unexpectedly aggressive but wholly confident vocals.
2. Wicked - About the only time I agree with the Dio comparisons, and here strictly because of the lyrics. Contains an addictive rhythm and a chorus that garbs you right away.
3. Incantations Of The Apprentice - The chaotic opening gives way to a great stop-start verse. Although Pinella and Rullo are less upfront than on earlier albums, they make their presence known.
4. Accolade II - Themes from the original are interwoven throughout this stirring sequel, which actually reminds me more of Through The Looking Glass at times. Romeo delivers with a great solo, and the chorus and elegant arrangement approach the power of the original.
5. King Of Terrors - The first "single" you've undoubtedly heard...as with the opening track they go in a heavier direction while maintaining their identity.
6. The Turning - This is a standard SX track, but shred freaks will go nuts over the simultaneous guitar/keyboard solo!
7. Awakenings - The fifth in a long line of transcendent compositions that the word "ballad" does injustice to. This contains more heavy parts than its immediate predecessors, but is just as emotional, especially the opening. Pinella contributes an outstanding solo that captures the full range of his talents.
8. The Odyssey - Despite a lame symphonic intro, this 24-minute cinematic epic centerpiece of the album rivals DWOT, which it does resemble structurally, i.e. the bombastic intro, heavy parts in the middle, instrumental section before the finale. The acoustics in the second section, which is reprised in the breathtaking finale, are a welcome addition, and as expected Romeo and Pinella, the band's Scylla and Charybdis, are all over the place.
The Great Lost Playlist: Every one of my columns begins with a playlist, to which the descriptions are later added. Because of the extremely high backlog and longer than anticipated delay, here only genres are given. But then again, this column began as a way of sharing my chance discoveries.
Differentially Extreme Metal And The Outer Limits:
And Oceans - Voyage, Opaque: Satanic rave music for open-minded extreme metal fans
Beseech - A Last Farewell, Souls Highway: You may have heard the Abba cover, which carries the aura of their own material.
Callenish Circle - Broken, When The Lady Smiles
Dark Tranquillity - I Deception: Excellent bonus track, your copy of Damage Done is incomplete without it
Daylight Dies - I Wait, Everything That Belongs - band featuring Katatonia's webmaster displays many of its strengths, especially from the BMD days
Fall Of The Leafe - I Feathe To The Juniper, Fermination (Smooth And Fine): interesting synthesis of doom and melodic death with a postmodern twist
Forest Stream - Legend & Rakoth: Tiny Deaths: included together because they are two Elitist releases and both are available on mp3, and both are from underrated bands in the avant-garde extreme field.
Kalmah - Using The Word, Swamphell: beating Children Of Bodom at their own game
Lacuna Coil - Ghost Woman & The Hunter, Unspoken: Christina goes solo on the former, nice textures on the latter
Limbonic Art - From Shades Of Hatred, Suicide Commando - Cosmic black metallers find the Ultimate Death Worship, and it sounds nothing like Death.
Meshuggah - Sickening, Spasm: guaranteed to cause one of the two reactions hinted at in the song titles
Moonsorrow: Kylan Paasa, Sankaritina: epic Viking death from fucking Finland
Nile: I Whisper In The Ears Of The Dead, Ruins: Pure crypt-levelling evil
Satyricon: Fuel For Hatred, Mental Mercury: Latter is a suprisngly catchy offering from their latest Volcano, latter is a more typical eruption
Thine: Last Better Day, Homewrecker Extraordinaire: Doesn't really fit either category, but this is good crossover doom or whatever Anathema is being called these days
All Things Loosely Progressive:
A.C.T. - Abandoned World, Waltz With Mother Nature - The quirks in this Swedish prog rock act overshadow their capable instrumental skills
All That I Bleed - I Stand Alone, Promise Of Life: Outstanding debut contains riff-heavy progressive metal craft beyond their years, especially on latter 18-minute epic
Anglagard - Valdringar I Vilsenhet, Il Klarhet Til Klarhet - Excellent Swedish prog act responsible for one of the genre's most highly acclaimed 90s albums (Hybris) recently announced its reformation.
Bozzio & Sheehan: One More Winter, Water & Blood: A rare Mgana Carta collaboration that avoids being a total wankfest
Claifornia Guitar Trio - What I Am, Heart Of The Sunrise - Fripp students interpret Yes and show a mastery of their own on their new album.
Comma - Testimony Within, Solid Trance - Yet another promising prog metal band from an out of the way locale
Djam Karet - Lost But Not Forgotten, The River Of No Return - Frequently brilliant and always experimental instrumental prog act
Freak Kitchen - Propaganda Pie, Hateful Little People: although I dispute their progressiveness, more akin to pop-punk with an extremely talented guitarist, catchy as hell
Genius - All Of Your Acts, I'm Afraid - Rock opera featuring Daniel Gildenlow, Midnight, John Wetton, more
Infinity Minus One - Architectural Martyr, Independence Day: promising unsigned progressive metal act
Katagory V - Dark Night: a demo to watch presented by my partners in crime at Appopriate Apocalypse
Manticora Reversed, Keeper Of The Eternal Champion: Unintentionally parodic title masks better than average aggressive power metal
Nightingale - Shadowman: Swano comes Alive Again with another superb track
Power Of Omens My Best To Be , In The End: No amount of label interference can obscure the quality of the latter twenty-minute epic, featuring some insane instrumental sections and a chilling vocal cameo by Brave's Michelle Loose.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Sleep Is Wrong, Powerless - Bizarre prog performance art set to shock next year's Nearfest
Sylvan - Those Defiant Ways, A Fairytale Ending - German progressive metal with an epic bent and many unexpected turns
Thinking Plague - I Do Not Live, This Weird Wind: the latter track says it all
Xen - Red Letter Day, Middle Ground - More or less Enchant in disguise
The Great Lost Playlist pt. 1
Greetings, devoted readers. What follows is a temporary change in format designed to make up for lost time. In the album section, "selections from" means that I have not heard the album in its entirety yet.
Opeth - selections from Deliverance
Highlights: A Fair Judgement is their most complex clean vocals-only composition since To Bid You Farewell. In Master's Apprentices, some of their most beautiful and brutal material to date literally collide. The title track is a typically dense composition. All three are closer to the sound and spirit of the first two albums than Blackwater Park, and find Mikael working on arrangements and moods altogether new to Opeth, even using vocal harmonies on Master's middle section.
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Highlights: Trains, Sound Of Muzak, and Prodigal are archetypical Steven Wilson compositions. This album hits a wider range of territory than the last two, with the electronic textures of Gravity Eyelids, the foreboding Strip The Soul, the deceptive lullaby Heartattack In A Layby, lone instrumental Wedding Nails, and their heaviest material to date in Blackest Eyes and The Creator Has A Master Tape.
The Flower Kings - selections from Unfold The Future
Highlights: The 14-minute Silent Inferno is one of their best songs to date, featuring some astounding instrumental sections, and the half-hour composition that opens the album is all over the map. A jazz fusion influence shows up on instrumentals Black & white and Devil's Danceschool. Second disc opens with a relatively straightforward but quirky rocker Genie In A Bottle.
Threshold - Critical Mass
Highlights: Besides those mentioned already, Phenomenon and Choices are solid prog-metal pieces, especially the former. Avalon is one of their best ballads to date, and Fragmentation resembles The Ravages Of Time in that it is heavy, dense, and varied. Bonus track New Beginning can hold its own with the rest of the album.
Enchant - Blink Of An Eye
Highlights: Opener Under Fire is an instant attention-getter, with its insistent riff (deftly echoed by Ed Platt in the opening verse), thoughtful lyrics, and soaring vocals. Import-only Prognosis is a great instrumental showcase. Despicable, besides being catch as hell, is this year's musical answer to the question "What would the Police sound like if they played progressive metal?" Last year it was Ark's Feed The Fire.
Glass Hammer - Lex Rex
Highlights: The highly acclaimed prog revivalist duo returns with another conceptual piece. Nearly all the tracks achieve an epic feel, particularly Tales Of The Great Wars. Great analog keyboards all over the place, especially on A Cup Of Trembling. 15-minute track Further Up & Further In contains tons of intriguing instrumental passages.
Everon - selections from Flesh
Highlights: Second album this year from these German prog stalwarts. The sweeping epic title track may be their most accomplished composition to date. Opener And Still It Bleeds epitomizes the band's strength at writing thoughtful compositions. Female vocals are employed in The River and the brief but affecting Already Dead.
Heaven's Cry - Primal Power Addiction
Highlights: Successfully avoiding a lawsuit from Dimmu Borgir over the album title...just kidding. The band seems equally at home with acoustic-based material (A New Paradigm, Remembrance, The Inner Stream Remains) as highly energetic prog-metal (Masterdom's Profit, Komma, One Of Twenty-Four).
Symphony X - The Odyssey (track by track)
1. Inferno (Unleash The Fire) - Opening with a nicely syncopated riff, the song soon introduces the new order: Romeo's heaviest riffery to date and unexpectedly aggressive but wholly confident vocals.
2. Wicked - About the only time I agree with the Dio comparisons, and here strictly because of the lyrics. Contains an addictive rhythm and a chorus that garbs you right away.
3. Incantations Of The Apprentice - The chaotic opening gives way to a great stop-start verse. Although Pinella and Rullo are less upfront than on earlier albums, they make their presence known.
4. Accolade II - Themes from the original are interwoven throughout this stirring sequel, which actually reminds me more of Through The Looking Glass at times. Romeo delivers with a great solo, and the chorus and elegant arrangement approach the power of the original.
5. King Of Terrors - The first "single" you've undoubtedly heard...as with the opening track they go in a heavier direction while maintaining their identity.
6. The Turning - This is a standard SX track, but shred freaks will go nuts over the simultaneous guitar/keyboard solo!
7. Awakenings - The fifth in a long line of transcendent compositions that the word "ballad" does injustice to. This contains more heavy parts than its immediate predecessors, but is just as emotional, especially the opening. Pinella contributes an outstanding solo that captures the full range of his talents.
8. The Odyssey - Despite a lame symphonic intro, this 24-minute cinematic epic centerpiece of the album rivals DWOT, which it does resemble structurally, i.e. the bombastic intro, heavy parts in the middle, instrumental section before the finale. The acoustics in the second section, which is reprised in the breathtaking finale, are a welcome addition, and as expected Romeo and Pinella, the band's Scylla and Charybdis, are all over the place.
The Great Lost Playlist: Every one of my columns begins with a playlist, to which the descriptions are later added. Because of the extremely high backlog and longer than anticipated delay, here only genres are given. But then again, this column began as a way of sharing my chance discoveries.
Differentially Extreme Metal And The Outer Limits:
And Oceans - Voyage, Opaque: Satanic rave music for open-minded extreme metal fans
Beseech - A Last Farewell, Souls Highway: You may have heard the Abba cover, which carries the aura of their own material.
Callenish Circle - Broken, When The Lady Smiles
Dark Tranquillity - I Deception: Excellent bonus track, your copy of Damage Done is incomplete without it
Daylight Dies - I Wait, Everything That Belongs - band featuring Katatonia's webmaster displays many of its strengths, especially from the BMD days
Fall Of The Leafe - I Feathe To The Juniper, Fermination (Smooth And Fine): interesting synthesis of doom and melodic death with a postmodern twist
Forest Stream - Legend & Rakoth: Tiny Deaths: included together because they are two Elitist releases and both are available on mp3, and both are from underrated bands in the avant-garde extreme field.
Kalmah - Using The Word, Swamphell: beating Children Of Bodom at their own game
Lacuna Coil - Ghost Woman & The Hunter, Unspoken: Christina goes solo on the former, nice textures on the latter
Limbonic Art - From Shades Of Hatred, Suicide Commando - Cosmic black metallers find the Ultimate Death Worship, and it sounds nothing like Death.
Meshuggah - Sickening, Spasm: guaranteed to cause one of the two reactions hinted at in the song titles
Moonsorrow: Kylan Paasa, Sankaritina: epic Viking death from fucking Finland
Nile: I Whisper In The Ears Of The Dead, Ruins: Pure crypt-levelling evil
Satyricon: Fuel For Hatred, Mental Mercury: Latter is a suprisngly catchy offering from their latest Volcano, latter is a more typical eruption
Thine: Last Better Day, Homewrecker Extraordinaire: Doesn't really fit either category, but this is good crossover doom or whatever Anathema is being called these days
All Things Loosely Progressive:
A.C.T. - Abandoned World, Waltz With Mother Nature - The quirks in this Swedish prog rock act overshadow their capable instrumental skills
All That I Bleed - I Stand Alone, Promise Of Life: Outstanding debut contains riff-heavy progressive metal craft beyond their years, especially on latter 18-minute epic
Anglagard - Valdringar I Vilsenhet, Il Klarhet Til Klarhet - Excellent Swedish prog act responsible for one of the genre's most highly acclaimed 90s albums (Hybris) recently announced its reformation.
Bozzio & Sheehan: One More Winter, Water & Blood: A rare Mgana Carta collaboration that avoids being a total wankfest
Claifornia Guitar Trio - What I Am, Heart Of The Sunrise - Fripp students interpret Yes and show a mastery of their own on their new album.
Comma - Testimony Within, Solid Trance - Yet another promising prog metal band from an out of the way locale
Djam Karet - Lost But Not Forgotten, The River Of No Return - Frequently brilliant and always experimental instrumental prog act
Freak Kitchen - Propaganda Pie, Hateful Little People: although I dispute their progressiveness, more akin to pop-punk with an extremely talented guitarist, catchy as hell
Genius - All Of Your Acts, I'm Afraid - Rock opera featuring Daniel Gildenlow, Midnight, John Wetton, more
Infinity Minus One - Architectural Martyr, Independence Day: promising unsigned progressive metal act
Katagory V - Dark Night: a demo to watch presented by my partners in crime at Appopriate Apocalypse
Manticora Reversed, Keeper Of The Eternal Champion: Unintentionally parodic title masks better than average aggressive power metal
Nightingale - Shadowman: Swano comes Alive Again with another superb track
Power Of Omens My Best To Be , In The End: No amount of label interference can obscure the quality of the latter twenty-minute epic, featuring some insane instrumental sections and a chilling vocal cameo by Brave's Michelle Loose.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Sleep Is Wrong, Powerless - Bizarre prog performance art set to shock next year's Nearfest
Sylvan - Those Defiant Ways, A Fairytale Ending - German progressive metal with an epic bent and many unexpected turns
Thinking Plague - I Do Not Live, This Weird Wind: the latter track says it all
Xen - Red Letter Day, Middle Ground - More or less Enchant in disguise
