DEMONSPELLS SONGS TO WATCH
Scratching the surface to find the best new music
(When Im not disenchanted about writing shit nobody reads)
In the deafness of my world, the silence broke
Issue 84? July 2005
Without further explanation, the songs
Acid Mothers Temple Bon Voyage Au LSD, The Glorious Om Riff: One of the leading lights of the new wave of Japanese psychedelic rock, noted for massive mushroom addled jamming (check out the shows on archive.org, the latter track is a driving cover of an obscure track by space rock legends Gong taken from a very recent one) and insane three albums plus per year productivity.
Russell Allen The Distance, Blackout: The difference between his background and the rest of Symphony X can be summed up by their recent solo output: while Michael Pinella (who appears on Atomic Soul, along with Romeo) was testing keyboard patches and composing piano concertos, their frontman was mining bluesy hard rock and singing about late-night booty calls. The latter track, which opens the album, is a ferocious rocker sung in the evil Russell voice familiar to SX fans.
Bardo Pond Sunrise, Despite The Roar: This Philadelphia band has forged ahybrid between indie rock, stoner riffage, and an all-encompassing psychedelic aura over the course of six releases, these tracks are from their second most-recent Dilate. Both of these songs feature prominent acoustic guitar offset by the acid-drenechjed guitar tone favored by the band, and understated vocals that add to the retro-psych atmosphere here.
Biomechanical Regenerated, Existenz: Their second album Empires of The Worlds, first under a four-album contract with Elitist, both perfects the modern thrash with industrial overtones explored on their debut and pushes those elements further, as on the extremely dense latter track, the band often going for a SYL-ish manic pounding. The former track is built around similarly technical riffing but is distinguished by a more melodic chorus with John K.s best Halford imitation.
Circus Maximus Sin, Glory Of The Empire: Rising to fame on the basis of gaining a Progpower slot after being contacted by Glenn within hours of hearing their demo, the imaginatively titled 1st Chapter has been highly anticipated by progressive metal fans. As those who share my cynicism could tell you, its nothing you havent heard before, the latter epic being professional but boring power/prog descended largely from (who else?) Dream Theater.
Bruce Dickinson A Tyranny Of Souls, Navigate The Seas Of The Sun: While Maiden have joined Paul in exploiting their early material (consider this a cheap shot at the guy whose career floundered after being fired, if they werent on Ozzfest Id see an Early Days show without question.), Bruce has also put out a no-nonsense (Devil On A Hog excepted) solo album. The latter track is another in a long line of passionate and cliché-free ballads from Bruce with Roy Z on acoustic guitars and some of the best lyrics on the album, while the latter ends the album in grand fashion, Bruce in superb voice, and it contains some of his heaviest material to date in the middle section.
Dark Suns The Euphoric Sense, Patterns Of Oblivion: Their debut Swanlike gained raves as an Opeth inspired disc with heavy goth and progressive leanings, on the follow-up Existence they wisely ditch hints of melodic death and go in a more progressive direction, enough to earn them a spot opening for Pain of Salvation on their European tour. The latter track, available at www.progachives.com (metal-archives more civil & user-friendly cousin), reaches epic length but stays morose in its emotions, sort of like Katatonia gone prog.
Dead Meadow Babbling Flower, Everythings Going On: Either the most melodic example of sludge youve ever heard (it doesnt sound like an oxymoron once you get used to the song), or the most authentic of the many bands doing the retro-stoner thing, the bands patented formula of drowned vocals and droning Sabbath-inspired riffage is at its peak on its third album Shivering King and Others. Latter track available at www.mysapce.com
Do Make Say Think Reitschule, White Light Of: The only post-rock band in Canada with no Godspeed connections most recent album Winter Hymn received ecstatic reviews from just about everyone, but their previous two also were warmly received. These two come from 2002s & Yet & Yet, which is simultaneously the warmest and most minimalist of their albums. The latter track illustrates how their dual-drum setup can colpletely navigate a song, while the former shows subtlety and restraint in building its crescendo, after which it immediately switches into an equally compelling jazzy section. Repeat three times.
Dungen Panda, Gjort Bort Sig: Swedish band whose retro-psychedelic stylings have made them an unlikely favorite in indie circles, while they havent caught on in such fashion with us proggers just yet. Maybe we really are suspended in time. Anyway, the songs here are equal parts folk-derived melodies (which dominate the latter track, sung in Swedish like everything else here), and ballsy psychedelic rock, the former track has the guitars all over the place and gets Ta Det Lugnt off to a great start.
Eluvium Everything To Come, Taken: Although this is on the Temporary Residence label, which has released many great post-rock albums and this one-man project is often labeled as such, what Talk Amongst The Trees really is is an ambient record, pure and simple. And a damned good one. The former is one of several built from repetitive but enchanting piano and background soundscapes, perfect for late night relaxation. The latter takes one guitar phrase and surrounds it with electronic backing for 17 minutes, and miraculously avoids drifting off into dullness.
Ephemeral Sun Winter Has No Mercy, A Song For Twilight: Female-fronted act whose first demo attracted a fair amount of attention (the former is one of the songs from it) and whose sound in a dark progressive vein with heavy orchestration (especially on the multipart latter track which closes their debut Broken Door) and strong gothic elements. The latter track doesnt hold together as a continuous flowing epic, but switches between moods frequently to varying results.
Fantomas excerpts from Suspended Animation (April 1-7): Mike Patton once again reaches total fucking madness. Is the true measure of progressiveness not how much you can accomplish in an epic or how advanced your compositional skills are, but how much ground you can cover in a limited amount of time? They make a case for the latter, having explored the former with its single-track predecessor, with thirty tiny pieces full of avant-garde cartoon noises and scorching metal. Listen at your own risk.
Fly Pan Am Brulez Suivant, Suivante; Pas a Pas Step Until: Godspeed-related band #17 whose first release wasnt too far outside the post-rock norm, but have become more experimental on subsequent recordings, with a strong deconstructionist theme. The latter track is a more aggressive track built around a propulsive rhythm and vocal chanting, and the former track that opens NEcoutez Pas is similarly active and contains some odd electronic sounds in its dense arrangement.
Frameshift Miseducation, Just One More: Henning Paulys first release under this name (featuring James LaBrie) was an interesting hybrid of progressive rock with heavy electronic elements, and on his second An Absence Of Empathy he ups the heaviness both musically and on the subject matter, dealing with criminal psychology and acts of violence. The vocalist? Sebastian Bach. Yes, that Sebastian Bach. On a prog album. And it somehow works on tracks like the energetic latter offering, but the traces of cock-rock are still present, and contrast badly with the symphonics in the former track.
Freak Kitchen Guilt Trip, Independent Way Of Life: Mattias Eklundh and company are back with their sixth album, offering up another mixture of amusing lyrical matter, gigantic hooks, and guitar pyrotechnics that characterize all their albums. The former is a hard rocking track that works both penile surgery and Osama into its lyrics, while the latter track is on the poppier side and mocks self-important hipsters, if theyre among your big annoyances youll get a laugh out of this one.
Frogg Café Abyss Of Dissension, Eternal Optimist: Long Island-based prog band who has been cultivating a Genesis-meets-Zappa (the band grew out of an FZ tribute) sound over the course of three albums, the recently released Fortunate Observer Of Time continues their upward growth. The latter track opens the album with some skillful playing and an immediately memorable vocal melody, while the latter touches on numerous influences during its fourteen minutes and allows the band to stretch out instrumentally and add some elaborate vocal arrangements.
Green Carnation The Everlasting Moment, A Place For Me: Following on the heels of the under-appreciated Blessing In Disguise (screw you, I liked that album), The Quiet Offspring has taken another beating among some fans. This time, Ill be the first to admit that its very inconsistent. The latter track is indicative of its flaws, there are some genuinely emotional parts here but the bands pseudo-goth leanings make the arrangement fall short of its potential. The former is much better, a simple but powerful rocker with an excellent guitar solo and is as resonant as the high points on Light Of Day.
Guapo Black Oni (part 3 mostly): The forest photo on the cover of this often brilliant extended avant-prog instrumental suite says it all: this, the second in a trilogy following last years excellent Five Suns, is as relentlessly dark and grim as any black metal album. Musically, it consists of intense and heavy progressive rock similar to Crimson at their most menacing with some long minimalistic stretches with a horror movie atmosphere, the second and third movements are the most likely to rip your head off here.
Jimmy Chamberlin Complex Streetcrawler, Loki Cat: Some of you may recognize that name immediately as the drummer for Smashing Pumpkins, and might be wondering why this project is being written about here. Well, for one thing he was and still is a skilled musician, and the former track goes in a heavy prog-fusion direction, with lots of fuzzed-out guitars, frantic drumming, and a great organ solo. The more melodic latter track includes a cameo by the esteemed (yeah right) Billy Corgan, whose voice somehow doesnt crack once during the whole song. Speaking of, did you read about that I want my songs and dreams back publicity stunt? Pathetic, wouldnt you say?
James Labrie Invisible, Pretender: From Elements Of Persuasion, the album notorious for being accidentally downloaded by hundreds of people looking to get their hands on Octavarium well in advance. When judged on its own, it has received mixed reviews, many of the negative ones claiming that he caught the same nu-metal bug accused of DT and countless others. While that is far from the truth (the scratching on Alone excepted), the attempt at a heavier sound does backfire at times, the latter track has an okay chorus but the verses dont work. The former one is much more successful and stronger melodically, and shows off his gifted backing band very well.
Labyrinth Deserter, Freeman: Since releasing one of the best Italian metal albums (laugh if you want, perfectly understood) in Return To Heaven Denied, this band has seen their career sink into confusion with the critically mauled Sons of Thunder and the largely ignored self-titled album, a well-intentioned but ultimately mediocre release. On their latest Freeman, they continue attempts at modernizing their sound but fall short much of the time, although the playing often resembles the precision of their best work. Another opportunity wasted.
Little Atlas The Prisoner, Weariness Rides: The first band signed to the ever-expanding Progrock label returns with Wanderlust, which does exactly what youd expect a prog band to do after getting some minor exposure: up the complexity. The strong pop/prog elements of 2003s Surface Serene are still the foundation for the latter track, but here theyre stretched to ten minutes and the arrangements are more involved. The latter track is built around a piano figure and continually builds up until being interrupted by an intricate vocal harmony.
Ludicra In The Greenest Maze, Tomorrow Held In Scorn: San Francisco based black metal band featuring John Cobbett of Hammers of Misfortune and Slough Feg renown. Their songs tend to be more on the melodic side of the genre while retaining a primitive edge, as evidenced in the slower paced former track, which adds some doom elements. The latter track is more furious, and both can be heard at their page on www.myspace.com
Man On Fire The Block, Majestic: Atlanta based progressive rock band whose third release Habitat is aconcept album with a unique theme: each song represents a different character inhabiting a single city block. The former track, as you can guess by the title, acts as an introduction to the albums storyline. Musically, it balances prog composition, pop hooks, and electronic layering to a satisfying effect. Adrian Belew appears as a guest on this track, available at their official site, and several others. The latter track repeats its chorus a few times too many but is otherwise a highly resonant song.
Miasma & The Carousel Of Headless Horses Perilous Fathoms, Asmodius Arise: Now I hate band names over five words as much as the next guy, but at least this one sounds more poetic than any of those supposedly profound hardcore phrases. Seriously, this is a side project of Guapo (read above) on Mimicry, home of such beautifully bizarre acts as Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Estradasphere. The music here is dark classically-influenced instrumental prog, the Crimson-derived chaos of Five Suns is mostly absent here but the music is just as ominous and compelling.
Pelican March Into The Sea: Only one track here, but theres a full-length album on the way and this preview track will undoubtedly be among the best things Ill hear all year. Following where the excellent Australasia left off, this is twenty minutes of instrumental bliss where waves of stone riffage and languid but majestic post rock coexist perfectly, and the latter half of the track successfully integrates acoustic guitars into their sound. Bad news: the version on the album is only half as long. Good news: More reason to get this EP, which Tower is selling for five bucks. The other track is a remix of an Australasia track, for those who enjoy that sort of tampering.
Presto Ballet Peace Among The Ruins, Bringin It On: Judging by the titles, which of these songs would you expect to be an irrepressible rock track and which one do you think would be a brooding midtempo ballad? Guess what, youre wrong. This band is Metal Church (RIP David Wayne) leaders attempt at creating a faithful progressive rock album, complete with vintage keyboards and analog recording. The former title track is indeed a highly energetic Deep Purple-ish rocker with a great keyboard break in the middle. And the latter, along with the highly emotional Find The Time, one of two slowly building prog tracks.
Red Sparowes Alone And Unaware , Our Happiest Days Slowly Began To Turn Into Dust: Both Neurosis and Isis have been inspired heavily by post-rock on their latest albums, so when it was announced members of both bands would be collaborating on a project in that genre, it caused lots of anticipation. And the resultant At The Soundless Dawn doesnt disappoint, anyone who was enthralled by the soundscapes on Panopticon will find much to explore here, and theres enough traces of metal left to keep from discouraging anyone bemoaning an absence of heaviness. Both tracks available at www.neurotrecordings.com
Shadow Gallery The Andromeda Strain, Vow: Liberated from Magna Carta at last, their first album in four years is the second chapter of Tyranny, an album Ive always felt was overrated by progressive metal fans. One of the reasons would be that it suffered from one too many overly dramatic ballads syndrome, which has been passed on to Room V in the form of overlong tracks designed to tug at your emotions like the latter they even have the gall to open with one. But these guys are still largely unmatched at creating quality progressive metal (emphasis on metal), the former stands up to anything in their catalog.
The Shipping News Axons And Dendrites, (Morays Or) Demons: Indie-rock band who has worked sporadically over the last decade, this album Flies The Fields is only their third full-length. Most of the songs here are slow-paced and melancholic rock, but the latter stands as a major exception, a seething rocker built around a military drum pattern that sounds a bit like the nu-garage bands adored by the mainstream press, but with far greater power. The former track is basically a spare instrumental with a spoken word part in its second half, hear it at www.quarterstick.com
Silver Mt. Zion etc. God Bless Our Dead Marines, Teddy Roosevelts Guns: They of the incredibly long and ever changing name are back with Horses In The Sky, another album thats as fascinating as it is confounding. The dividing point here is of course the vocal arrangements. While Efrims awkward phrasings have become tolerable for me and the former track does gain much of its power from the vocal melodies, the group choruses can sound painful and affect the music detrimentally. The latter would-be protest anthem suffers from this: musically its as urgent and insistent as anything they have done, but the Canada, oh Canada yells and the endless repetition of the title towards the end are a bit too much
Slough Feg Hiberno-Latin Invasion, Starport Blues: Atavism is the fifth album from the cult metallers from san Francisco, and the last for John Cobbett, presumably so he can concentrate on Hammers of Misfortune full time. Speaking of, I command you to get your ass to their Myspace page and listen to the title track of their upcoming The Locust Years over and over. Its pure genius. Back to the songs featured here: The former is one of their incredibly addictive Celtic-riffed tunes missing from the previous Traveler, while the latter is also missing from it because its an outtake from that record, an equally enjoyable bluesy (!) rocker with some great soloing.
Subterranean Masquerade No Place Like Home, Six Strings To Cover Fear: The highly anticipated debut from The Ends co-owner Tomer Pink Suspended Animation Dreams sees release this month. The former track is an excellent hybrid of progressive rock, metal, and Middle Eastern music, the closing section reminds me heavily of Orphaned Land, doubtlessly due to Kobi Farhi being a guest on the track. Another collaborator put to great use is Paul Kuhr of Novembers Doom, who does most of the vocals. The latter track isnt quite as stunning, but still proof that Tomer may soon rival his labels most renowned findings. Both tracks available at www.purevolume.com
Tarentel Hello! We Move Through Weather, A Cloud No Bigger Than A Mans Hand: Post-rock act who has recorded for both Neurot and Temporary Residence and has been highly productive, releasing four full-lengths and about twice as many EPs and splits in five years. The former track contrasts its spare guitar lines and looming piano with rattling percussion, while the latter is one of many experiments in creating atmosphere without altering the pace of the song. Former track available at official site.
Scratching the surface to find the best new music
(When Im not disenchanted about writing shit nobody reads)
In the deafness of my world, the silence broke
Issue 84? July 2005
Without further explanation, the songs
Acid Mothers Temple Bon Voyage Au LSD, The Glorious Om Riff: One of the leading lights of the new wave of Japanese psychedelic rock, noted for massive mushroom addled jamming (check out the shows on archive.org, the latter track is a driving cover of an obscure track by space rock legends Gong taken from a very recent one) and insane three albums plus per year productivity.
Russell Allen The Distance, Blackout: The difference between his background and the rest of Symphony X can be summed up by their recent solo output: while Michael Pinella (who appears on Atomic Soul, along with Romeo) was testing keyboard patches and composing piano concertos, their frontman was mining bluesy hard rock and singing about late-night booty calls. The latter track, which opens the album, is a ferocious rocker sung in the evil Russell voice familiar to SX fans.
Bardo Pond Sunrise, Despite The Roar: This Philadelphia band has forged ahybrid between indie rock, stoner riffage, and an all-encompassing psychedelic aura over the course of six releases, these tracks are from their second most-recent Dilate. Both of these songs feature prominent acoustic guitar offset by the acid-drenechjed guitar tone favored by the band, and understated vocals that add to the retro-psych atmosphere here.
Biomechanical Regenerated, Existenz: Their second album Empires of The Worlds, first under a four-album contract with Elitist, both perfects the modern thrash with industrial overtones explored on their debut and pushes those elements further, as on the extremely dense latter track, the band often going for a SYL-ish manic pounding. The former track is built around similarly technical riffing but is distinguished by a more melodic chorus with John K.s best Halford imitation.
Circus Maximus Sin, Glory Of The Empire: Rising to fame on the basis of gaining a Progpower slot after being contacted by Glenn within hours of hearing their demo, the imaginatively titled 1st Chapter has been highly anticipated by progressive metal fans. As those who share my cynicism could tell you, its nothing you havent heard before, the latter epic being professional but boring power/prog descended largely from (who else?) Dream Theater.
Bruce Dickinson A Tyranny Of Souls, Navigate The Seas Of The Sun: While Maiden have joined Paul in exploiting their early material (consider this a cheap shot at the guy whose career floundered after being fired, if they werent on Ozzfest Id see an Early Days show without question.), Bruce has also put out a no-nonsense (Devil On A Hog excepted) solo album. The latter track is another in a long line of passionate and cliché-free ballads from Bruce with Roy Z on acoustic guitars and some of the best lyrics on the album, while the latter ends the album in grand fashion, Bruce in superb voice, and it contains some of his heaviest material to date in the middle section.
Dark Suns The Euphoric Sense, Patterns Of Oblivion: Their debut Swanlike gained raves as an Opeth inspired disc with heavy goth and progressive leanings, on the follow-up Existence they wisely ditch hints of melodic death and go in a more progressive direction, enough to earn them a spot opening for Pain of Salvation on their European tour. The latter track, available at www.progachives.com (metal-archives more civil & user-friendly cousin), reaches epic length but stays morose in its emotions, sort of like Katatonia gone prog.
Dead Meadow Babbling Flower, Everythings Going On: Either the most melodic example of sludge youve ever heard (it doesnt sound like an oxymoron once you get used to the song), or the most authentic of the many bands doing the retro-stoner thing, the bands patented formula of drowned vocals and droning Sabbath-inspired riffage is at its peak on its third album Shivering King and Others. Latter track available at www.mysapce.com
Do Make Say Think Reitschule, White Light Of: The only post-rock band in Canada with no Godspeed connections most recent album Winter Hymn received ecstatic reviews from just about everyone, but their previous two also were warmly received. These two come from 2002s & Yet & Yet, which is simultaneously the warmest and most minimalist of their albums. The latter track illustrates how their dual-drum setup can colpletely navigate a song, while the former shows subtlety and restraint in building its crescendo, after which it immediately switches into an equally compelling jazzy section. Repeat three times.
Dungen Panda, Gjort Bort Sig: Swedish band whose retro-psychedelic stylings have made them an unlikely favorite in indie circles, while they havent caught on in such fashion with us proggers just yet. Maybe we really are suspended in time. Anyway, the songs here are equal parts folk-derived melodies (which dominate the latter track, sung in Swedish like everything else here), and ballsy psychedelic rock, the former track has the guitars all over the place and gets Ta Det Lugnt off to a great start.
Eluvium Everything To Come, Taken: Although this is on the Temporary Residence label, which has released many great post-rock albums and this one-man project is often labeled as such, what Talk Amongst The Trees really is is an ambient record, pure and simple. And a damned good one. The former is one of several built from repetitive but enchanting piano and background soundscapes, perfect for late night relaxation. The latter takes one guitar phrase and surrounds it with electronic backing for 17 minutes, and miraculously avoids drifting off into dullness.
Ephemeral Sun Winter Has No Mercy, A Song For Twilight: Female-fronted act whose first demo attracted a fair amount of attention (the former is one of the songs from it) and whose sound in a dark progressive vein with heavy orchestration (especially on the multipart latter track which closes their debut Broken Door) and strong gothic elements. The latter track doesnt hold together as a continuous flowing epic, but switches between moods frequently to varying results.
Fantomas excerpts from Suspended Animation (April 1-7): Mike Patton once again reaches total fucking madness. Is the true measure of progressiveness not how much you can accomplish in an epic or how advanced your compositional skills are, but how much ground you can cover in a limited amount of time? They make a case for the latter, having explored the former with its single-track predecessor, with thirty tiny pieces full of avant-garde cartoon noises and scorching metal. Listen at your own risk.
Fly Pan Am Brulez Suivant, Suivante; Pas a Pas Step Until: Godspeed-related band #17 whose first release wasnt too far outside the post-rock norm, but have become more experimental on subsequent recordings, with a strong deconstructionist theme. The latter track is a more aggressive track built around a propulsive rhythm and vocal chanting, and the former track that opens NEcoutez Pas is similarly active and contains some odd electronic sounds in its dense arrangement.
Frameshift Miseducation, Just One More: Henning Paulys first release under this name (featuring James LaBrie) was an interesting hybrid of progressive rock with heavy electronic elements, and on his second An Absence Of Empathy he ups the heaviness both musically and on the subject matter, dealing with criminal psychology and acts of violence. The vocalist? Sebastian Bach. Yes, that Sebastian Bach. On a prog album. And it somehow works on tracks like the energetic latter offering, but the traces of cock-rock are still present, and contrast badly with the symphonics in the former track.
Freak Kitchen Guilt Trip, Independent Way Of Life: Mattias Eklundh and company are back with their sixth album, offering up another mixture of amusing lyrical matter, gigantic hooks, and guitar pyrotechnics that characterize all their albums. The former is a hard rocking track that works both penile surgery and Osama into its lyrics, while the latter track is on the poppier side and mocks self-important hipsters, if theyre among your big annoyances youll get a laugh out of this one.
Frogg Café Abyss Of Dissension, Eternal Optimist: Long Island-based prog band who has been cultivating a Genesis-meets-Zappa (the band grew out of an FZ tribute) sound over the course of three albums, the recently released Fortunate Observer Of Time continues their upward growth. The latter track opens the album with some skillful playing and an immediately memorable vocal melody, while the latter touches on numerous influences during its fourteen minutes and allows the band to stretch out instrumentally and add some elaborate vocal arrangements.
Green Carnation The Everlasting Moment, A Place For Me: Following on the heels of the under-appreciated Blessing In Disguise (screw you, I liked that album), The Quiet Offspring has taken another beating among some fans. This time, Ill be the first to admit that its very inconsistent. The latter track is indicative of its flaws, there are some genuinely emotional parts here but the bands pseudo-goth leanings make the arrangement fall short of its potential. The former is much better, a simple but powerful rocker with an excellent guitar solo and is as resonant as the high points on Light Of Day.
Guapo Black Oni (part 3 mostly): The forest photo on the cover of this often brilliant extended avant-prog instrumental suite says it all: this, the second in a trilogy following last years excellent Five Suns, is as relentlessly dark and grim as any black metal album. Musically, it consists of intense and heavy progressive rock similar to Crimson at their most menacing with some long minimalistic stretches with a horror movie atmosphere, the second and third movements are the most likely to rip your head off here.
Jimmy Chamberlin Complex Streetcrawler, Loki Cat: Some of you may recognize that name immediately as the drummer for Smashing Pumpkins, and might be wondering why this project is being written about here. Well, for one thing he was and still is a skilled musician, and the former track goes in a heavy prog-fusion direction, with lots of fuzzed-out guitars, frantic drumming, and a great organ solo. The more melodic latter track includes a cameo by the esteemed (yeah right) Billy Corgan, whose voice somehow doesnt crack once during the whole song. Speaking of, did you read about that I want my songs and dreams back publicity stunt? Pathetic, wouldnt you say?
James Labrie Invisible, Pretender: From Elements Of Persuasion, the album notorious for being accidentally downloaded by hundreds of people looking to get their hands on Octavarium well in advance. When judged on its own, it has received mixed reviews, many of the negative ones claiming that he caught the same nu-metal bug accused of DT and countless others. While that is far from the truth (the scratching on Alone excepted), the attempt at a heavier sound does backfire at times, the latter track has an okay chorus but the verses dont work. The former one is much more successful and stronger melodically, and shows off his gifted backing band very well.
Labyrinth Deserter, Freeman: Since releasing one of the best Italian metal albums (laugh if you want, perfectly understood) in Return To Heaven Denied, this band has seen their career sink into confusion with the critically mauled Sons of Thunder and the largely ignored self-titled album, a well-intentioned but ultimately mediocre release. On their latest Freeman, they continue attempts at modernizing their sound but fall short much of the time, although the playing often resembles the precision of their best work. Another opportunity wasted.
Little Atlas The Prisoner, Weariness Rides: The first band signed to the ever-expanding Progrock label returns with Wanderlust, which does exactly what youd expect a prog band to do after getting some minor exposure: up the complexity. The strong pop/prog elements of 2003s Surface Serene are still the foundation for the latter track, but here theyre stretched to ten minutes and the arrangements are more involved. The latter track is built around a piano figure and continually builds up until being interrupted by an intricate vocal harmony.
Ludicra In The Greenest Maze, Tomorrow Held In Scorn: San Francisco based black metal band featuring John Cobbett of Hammers of Misfortune and Slough Feg renown. Their songs tend to be more on the melodic side of the genre while retaining a primitive edge, as evidenced in the slower paced former track, which adds some doom elements. The latter track is more furious, and both can be heard at their page on www.myspace.com
Man On Fire The Block, Majestic: Atlanta based progressive rock band whose third release Habitat is aconcept album with a unique theme: each song represents a different character inhabiting a single city block. The former track, as you can guess by the title, acts as an introduction to the albums storyline. Musically, it balances prog composition, pop hooks, and electronic layering to a satisfying effect. Adrian Belew appears as a guest on this track, available at their official site, and several others. The latter track repeats its chorus a few times too many but is otherwise a highly resonant song.
Miasma & The Carousel Of Headless Horses Perilous Fathoms, Asmodius Arise: Now I hate band names over five words as much as the next guy, but at least this one sounds more poetic than any of those supposedly profound hardcore phrases. Seriously, this is a side project of Guapo (read above) on Mimicry, home of such beautifully bizarre acts as Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Estradasphere. The music here is dark classically-influenced instrumental prog, the Crimson-derived chaos of Five Suns is mostly absent here but the music is just as ominous and compelling.
Pelican March Into The Sea: Only one track here, but theres a full-length album on the way and this preview track will undoubtedly be among the best things Ill hear all year. Following where the excellent Australasia left off, this is twenty minutes of instrumental bliss where waves of stone riffage and languid but majestic post rock coexist perfectly, and the latter half of the track successfully integrates acoustic guitars into their sound. Bad news: the version on the album is only half as long. Good news: More reason to get this EP, which Tower is selling for five bucks. The other track is a remix of an Australasia track, for those who enjoy that sort of tampering.
Presto Ballet Peace Among The Ruins, Bringin It On: Judging by the titles, which of these songs would you expect to be an irrepressible rock track and which one do you think would be a brooding midtempo ballad? Guess what, youre wrong. This band is Metal Church (RIP David Wayne) leaders attempt at creating a faithful progressive rock album, complete with vintage keyboards and analog recording. The former title track is indeed a highly energetic Deep Purple-ish rocker with a great keyboard break in the middle. And the latter, along with the highly emotional Find The Time, one of two slowly building prog tracks.
Red Sparowes Alone And Unaware , Our Happiest Days Slowly Began To Turn Into Dust: Both Neurosis and Isis have been inspired heavily by post-rock on their latest albums, so when it was announced members of both bands would be collaborating on a project in that genre, it caused lots of anticipation. And the resultant At The Soundless Dawn doesnt disappoint, anyone who was enthralled by the soundscapes on Panopticon will find much to explore here, and theres enough traces of metal left to keep from discouraging anyone bemoaning an absence of heaviness. Both tracks available at www.neurotrecordings.com
Shadow Gallery The Andromeda Strain, Vow: Liberated from Magna Carta at last, their first album in four years is the second chapter of Tyranny, an album Ive always felt was overrated by progressive metal fans. One of the reasons would be that it suffered from one too many overly dramatic ballads syndrome, which has been passed on to Room V in the form of overlong tracks designed to tug at your emotions like the latter they even have the gall to open with one. But these guys are still largely unmatched at creating quality progressive metal (emphasis on metal), the former stands up to anything in their catalog.
The Shipping News Axons And Dendrites, (Morays Or) Demons: Indie-rock band who has worked sporadically over the last decade, this album Flies The Fields is only their third full-length. Most of the songs here are slow-paced and melancholic rock, but the latter stands as a major exception, a seething rocker built around a military drum pattern that sounds a bit like the nu-garage bands adored by the mainstream press, but with far greater power. The former track is basically a spare instrumental with a spoken word part in its second half, hear it at www.quarterstick.com
Silver Mt. Zion etc. God Bless Our Dead Marines, Teddy Roosevelts Guns: They of the incredibly long and ever changing name are back with Horses In The Sky, another album thats as fascinating as it is confounding. The dividing point here is of course the vocal arrangements. While Efrims awkward phrasings have become tolerable for me and the former track does gain much of its power from the vocal melodies, the group choruses can sound painful and affect the music detrimentally. The latter would-be protest anthem suffers from this: musically its as urgent and insistent as anything they have done, but the Canada, oh Canada yells and the endless repetition of the title towards the end are a bit too much
Slough Feg Hiberno-Latin Invasion, Starport Blues: Atavism is the fifth album from the cult metallers from san Francisco, and the last for John Cobbett, presumably so he can concentrate on Hammers of Misfortune full time. Speaking of, I command you to get your ass to their Myspace page and listen to the title track of their upcoming The Locust Years over and over. Its pure genius. Back to the songs featured here: The former is one of their incredibly addictive Celtic-riffed tunes missing from the previous Traveler, while the latter is also missing from it because its an outtake from that record, an equally enjoyable bluesy (!) rocker with some great soloing.
Subterranean Masquerade No Place Like Home, Six Strings To Cover Fear: The highly anticipated debut from The Ends co-owner Tomer Pink Suspended Animation Dreams sees release this month. The former track is an excellent hybrid of progressive rock, metal, and Middle Eastern music, the closing section reminds me heavily of Orphaned Land, doubtlessly due to Kobi Farhi being a guest on the track. Another collaborator put to great use is Paul Kuhr of Novembers Doom, who does most of the vocals. The latter track isnt quite as stunning, but still proof that Tomer may soon rival his labels most renowned findings. Both tracks available at www.purevolume.com
Tarentel Hello! We Move Through Weather, A Cloud No Bigger Than A Mans Hand: Post-rock act who has recorded for both Neurot and Temporary Residence and has been highly productive, releasing four full-lengths and about twice as many EPs and splits in five years. The former track contrasts its spare guitar lines and looming piano with rattling percussion, while the latter is one of many experiments in creating atmosphere without altering the pace of the song. Former track available at official site.
