Progfreak.com Progressive Music Ratings & Reviews

The second installment in a triptych, Praying for the Be(a)st continues the story of the character introduced on Mother Superior and Her Fields of Migraine and tells the narrative of the character's struggle to find a cure to the plague that his mind has become after visiting Mother Superior.

As weird as that may sound, Praying for the Be(a)st is a interesting release which takes the listener on a journey through mostly instrumental compositions (some of the tracks feature vocals, spoken word and samples of dialogue), many of which are of a more ambient nature. Blending post-rock and ambient electronica, Radio for the Daydreamers have put together compositions which are, for the most part, mellow, but at the same time incredibly dark.

The very first track 'We Are Only Safe Before Sunrise' pretty much sets the tone with its combination of atmospheric synths, electronic drumbeats and chanted female vocals. Most of the other tracks on the album explore the same darkness through various means of expression. For instance, 'Wasted Faces In Secret ...
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Intergalactic prog rockers Earthling Society are known for their ability to create modern psychedelic space rock, and with Stations of the Ghost , they have committed another fine work of spaced out, epic rock music.

Ambiance is the keyword of this release. While we are dealing with "music proper" rather than ambient soundscapes, Earthling Society the textures of the music itself, the use of atmospheric synths and echo-ladden vocals generate are very ambient feel that is pretty much ubiquitous on the album. I find it especially interesting that, although a totally different type of music, Earthling Society, through use of echo-ladden vocals, achieve the exact same ambient effect as artists operating within atmospheric black metal and funeral doom metal do.

The album is actually pretty consistent, yet varied, as Earthling Society draw on a vast repertoire of musical expression, taking the listener from otherworldly gardens of lush arrangements, into the sci-fi word of spacey effects, across tundras of cold and dark atmospheres, through funky town, across exotic deserts to the misty mountains of psychedelia. While the songs are generally quite long and there can be no doubt that this release qualifies as progressive rock, the music is mostly straightforward and lacks the technical and complex aspects associated with many other progressive rock acts.

Ambient and easy to lose oneself in, this is not music that fits any occasion, but if you are in the mood for a psychedelic journey through space, you should not hesitate to give Stations of the Ghosts several spins.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

One of the interesting things about instrumental rock is that there is room for a lot of interesting experimentation with texture, melody, structure and so on. I must say that the Australian progressive band Serious Beak take full advantage of the lack of of any restrictions having a vocalist might impose on music.

A work of true eclecticism, Huxwhukw takes the listener through a lot of different musical expressions from the mellow gentleness of clean guitar sections (slightly akin to early Yes' softer works) over the oppressiveness of heavy sludge riff to the fury of all out chaotic grindcore blastbeating. The opener 'Baxwbakwalanuksiwé' is soft and pleasing to the ear, and the following track 'Han' seems to follow the same patter but suddenly shifts into a heavy chaotic sludge metal song and, after an atmospheric, but noise-infused, passage, an uptempo odd metered frantic riff kicks in and challenged the listener for the remainder of the song (with the exception of a coda that reprises the sludgy parts). In 'Swagger', Serious Beak further explore the darker aspects of music, as they incorporate grindcore blasting, death metal riffing, and even a bit of hardcore punk into their sound. After the more atmospheric 'Gödel !Xun', which is ...
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Although the female-fronted German band Effloresce released this EP back in 2009, "Shades of Fate" is currently being promoted, probably in connection with the upcoming release of their debut album "Coma Ghosts" which will hit the streets in February this year.

And I am actually sympathetic towards this strategy, because this EP does not deserve to be cast into oblivion. Taking their starting point in the type of progressive metal for which Dream Theater and Fates Warning paved the way two decades ago, Effloresce delivers progressive metal with a Gothic touch. Sacrificing some of the technicality of performance that characterize many acts in the progressive metal universe in the name of mood and emotional expressivity, Effloresce have produced a fairly original piece of work in "Shades of Fate".

Now, the complexity is there. I mean the average song length is around ten minutes, and every song is complex in structure and full of moves and passages, some of which are aggressive, some of which are darkly psychedelic, some of which are mellow, some of which are lush, some of which are minimalist, and some of which are more in the vein of alternative metal. Thus, the three tracks are quite dynamic and rich in expression, and there are complex time signatures other advanced elements plus non-metal element such as the use of the flute, which appears in 'Sunset in the Snowdome'. So, there is ...
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I've listened to this album a couple of times in a row... and now I have a big headache.

By looking a the last Trey Gunn albums, I was expecting a spacey release with a lot of melodic moments... well, this is completely the opposite. Frenzy drumming, saturated guitar solos, long instrumental improvisations. This is more in the vein of King Crimson's Thrak/Thrakattack albums. Sometimes the three musicians play like they were performing three different tracks... Not really bad, some moments are even quite enjoyable, but in the end it feels repetitive... and literally heavy.

Dark, raw, bleak, oppressive and yet strangely epic, "Declarations of the Great Artificer" contains a mere three songs, which in turn have an average length of around 10 minutes. We are dealing with dark black metal here with a touch of creepy psychedelia, and an album which is both introspectively shoegazing and at the same time extremely expressive.

The three tracks observe many of the defining genres of black metal, such as blastbeats and tremolo picking, emphasis on repetition, harsh screamed vocals and bleakness galore and so on. But with tracks that are as long as the three compositions on this album, there is room for variation, and Chasma make good use of that by inserting heavy doom-ladden passages and more atmospheric sections into the black metal mayhem, which works very well in generating darkness and creepiness.

One thing that is interesting is that the bass is quite audible in the mix, which means that there is quite a lot of bottom to the production, which I like - it sounds less thin (but no less bleak) than a lot of other black metal releases.

This album is definitely one of the must-haves of the 2011 corpus of black metal releases.

(release originally posted at mtalmusicarchives.com)

Declarations of the Great Artificer

Opera IX is probably one of the more accessible black metal bands because of their specific melodic and, at times, epic and varied approach to the genre and their emphasis on clear and well-defined production. But, make no mistake, this is still bleak and oppressive, and creepy, too (some of which owes to the ceremonial intermezzos that pop up on the album).

Heaviness is really the keyword of this album. While there are plenty of more typical blastbeat-based sections throughout the album, heaviness is actually the primary elements, and virtually all tracks have long passages of heavy drumming and doomy riffage - I'd actually go so far as classifying this album as a blend of black metal and doom metal along the lines of Candlemass and the like (just check out tracks like 'Ecat', 'Nemus Tempora Maleficarum', and 'Historia Nocturna') with a touch of Both Thrower-style heavy death metal, and I think it works quite well.

Moreover, Opera IX make use of epic and symphonic sounding keyboard effects, which might not appeal to all black metal fans, but they this aspect of Opera IX's sound suits the heavy and doom-ladden passages very well.

Dark, heavy and rich in black metal bleakness, this release should appeal to fans of both doom metal and more melodic black metal.

(reivew originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)

Black metal is one of those interesting expressive genres that cover a lot of ground in terms of musical aesthetics, but one thing that many black metal bands have in common is the generation of a sense of bleakness.

And Omega Centauri's "Universum Infinitum" is definitely incredibly bleak and cold, and it has all the features that characterize black metal, such as harsh atmospheric vocals drowned in reverb, tremolo picking, tense harmonies, blastbeats, dissonance etc. So, I am sure that most fans of black metal will agree that "Universum Infinitum" is a true black metal release with focus on blasting, tremolo-picking, raw production and utilization of the power of repetition.

But it is also different. There is a slight avant-garde touch to the compositions on this album. First off, the lead guitars have a very melodic feel to them, and not just melodic but also a certain fluidity, which at times is more reminiscent of some guitar work in more experimental jazz fusion. Moreover, some of the tracks are quite dynamic, changing from archetypical black metal blasting to heavier, softer, or even more ambient parts.

"Universum Infinitum" is definitely an interesting black metal release, which manages to both observe the conventions of black metal to military precision and yet be different and quite original. This release should appeal to both fans of traditional black metal and more adventurous black-metallers who like avant-garde stuff.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)

Hey, this stuff is pretty good! Drawing a lot on AOR and commercial melodic hard rock, this album is still heavy enough in terms of riffage that I would consider it a metal album.

True, there are melodic keyboards, and many of the figures delivered via the keyboards have a certain 80s pop-rock feel to them. And, yes, there are catchy melodic choruses with commercial mass appeal. And, yup, there are romantic power ballads perfect to heal broken hearts.

But this is neatly counterbalanced by heavy metal guitars and chucking powerful metal riffage, twin guitars and uptempo drumming. Just check out a track like the uptempo Maiden-inspired 'I Will Follow', which is a perfect ass-kicking album opener or the groovy 'Misery'. And, perhaps surprisingly to some, this combination of melodic AOR-elements and heavy metal riffage works impeccably (of course this owes to the massive talent involved in Human Temple - not everyone can achieve this sort of balance).

So, fans of hard rock and classic metal should find this release enjoyable - it's melodic AND it rocks hard!

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)

European power metal has had the somewhat unfortunate reputation of being cheesy and poppy-happy, but that seems to be changing now with the emergence of European power metal acts that draw on heavier types of metal. One of these bands is the Copenhagen-based band Iron Fire (well, these guys are actually power metal veterans with several demos and albums under their belt), who, with "Voyage of the Damned", remind us that of the "power" that the term "power metal" includes.

The genre framework is unambiguously that of the aesthetics of power metal the big, epic overall sound of the album and the use of huge melodic choruses as well as the larger than life sci-fi-based subject matter of the lyrics. And, yes, there are keyboards and ballads on this album (just check the epic ballad 'The Final Odyssey' or the massively epic and symphonic title track). And these power metal elements themselves are not a problem at all. The problem to me is the way that many European power metal bands have cheesed up the genre. Fortunately, this is not something to worry about here, because there are hardly any cheesy moments on the album. Rather than ...
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"Maria Magdalena? Ain't that a pop song?". Why yes, it is, it is a pop song from the 80s by the German singer, Sandra, and, yes, it is that exact song that this Visions of Atlantis EP is named after. And, as you have guessed, the reason is that there is a cover version of the song on the EP. Needless to say, it has been seriously metallized and now has crunchy guitars, heavy riffage and powerful drums as well as Vision of Atlantis' trademark symphonic effects. Actually, Visions of Atlantis prove that 'Maria Magdalena' sounds just as good as a 2011 symphonic metal song as it does as a 1985 pop song. One of the strengths of the pop song, which Visions of Atlantis have thankfully retained is its memorable and very catchy chorus.

The other tracks are original Vision of Atlantis compositions. The style is basically midtempo modern power metal with symphonic effects. The focus is, however, on the guitar riffage and the vocal melodies, and the symphonic effects are kept in the background, which also keeps the cheese-o-meter comfortably out of the red. 'Melancholia' and 'Change of Tides' are quite solid and catchy symphonic power metal tracks, and ...
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Crossover thrash fans have something to look forward to in this album. Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death , The Kandidate's sophomore album and follow-up to Until We Are Outnumbered from 2010, has all the attitude and energy that makes good crossover.

With the opener, "Death", being the odd man out with its dissonant chords and more sludgy tempos, the listener is lead to believe that Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death is a regular sludge metal affair only to be taken by surprise as 'Beyond the Mind, Sleep You'll Find' bursts directly into an explosion of hardcore punk meets groove metal. And this pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album. Thus you can expect thrashy and hardcore riffage side-by-side with heavier and groovier passages combined with the crushing brutality of sound of the downtuned guitars of modern death metal (there is a bit of death metal riffage every now and then, too).

So, the album definitely has a very appealing, but brutal, modern sound, which is definitely an asset, but, at the same time, it captures the energy of both old school thrash metal and, perhaps more importantly in this case, the energy and attitude of hardcore punk – in part generated by the Discharged-inspired drumbeats that appear an many of the tunes on the album.

A very solid example of modern crossover, Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death remind us of the great constribution elements of hardcore punk can make to metal music – even modern metal. Recommended to fans of Discharge, Pro-Pain, early Suicidal Tendencies and Agnostic Front, among others.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

Ed Warby is back with another slab of gloomy doom metal in the form of "Lacrima Mortis" - the second album from his The 11th Hour project – and he does not disappoint.

The seven tracks on the album capture the essence of good doom metal: the sense of despair, the heavy atmosphere and the feel of liberating depression. The music is heavy and melancholic, but rather than going completely slow and relying on droning notes, Warby incorporates a lot of heavy riffage into the song on this album, which adds a touch of crushing brutality to the album (bolstered by the supplmental death growls, provided by Pim Blankenstein), and there are even some midtempo parts in 'Tears of the Bereaved', which also features a heart-breaking sample of a woman crying on top of a heavy and melancholic breakdown.

So, this is a heavy and oppressive release, to be ...
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Taking the path of traditional death metal, Lvcifyre take the best from the death metal scene of the mid 90s and inject a dose of black metal evil and a dose of grindcore chaos into it, and serve it to you on a black plate in ter form of "The Calling Depths".

And with guitars that are at you like a swarm of Africanized killer bees and a deliberate old school sound, "The Calling Depths" should definitely appeal to those who like traditional death metal. Each track is built around a flurry of aggressive and brutal frenzied guitar riffs, and the drums feature numerous fills, high-speed double bass drum work and blastbeat upon blast beat. At times Lvcifyre go in a more thrashy direction, while other elements are more black metal-inspired, but the base sound is at all time good old death metal. Especially the guitar solos have a very retro sound and feel to them (slightly reminiscent of the sound of the guitar solos on Invocator's "Excursion Demise") and come across as raw and chaotic.

The overall impression is one of ordered chaos, and it is obviously very clear that this is exactly the intention of the musicians behind Lvcifyre. Connaisseurs of death metal will immediately recognize that we are in fact dealing with extremely skilled and focused musicians whose mission is to create aggressive, brutal old school death metal along the lines of early Morbid Angel, early Pestilence, early Bolt Thrower, Immolation and so on.

Mission accomplished!

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

You will be forgiven for expecting some sort of progressive metal or other type of melodic rock release after the beautiful acoustic intro that os 'Deep Scars', but, as you will realize as soon as the title track kicks in, Hate Squad's "Katharsis" is an exploding bomb of all out hate- and anger-filled thrash metal.

There is plenty of thrashy riffage and crunchy guitars accompanied by uptempo drumbeats, intermingled with heavy passages and the same sort of groove associated with Pro-Pain. Adding to the energy and attitude of the album Hate Squad draw on hardcore punk, making good use of the simpler but energetic riffage of hardcore punk. And this crossover style goes perfectly well together with Hate Squad's overall image and lyrical universe, which focuses on hate, anger, and aggression.

Yes, this is an all out metal attack, and the harsh extreme metal-oriented vocals along with the downtuned guitars and occasional death metal riffage only adds to the sense of brutality and aggression. But "Katharsis" is not totally without melody. First off, there are more melodic intermezzos along the lines of 'Deep Scars', and there are also melodic lead guitars along with melodeath-styled choruses.

Fans of thrash metal, crossover thrash, hardcore punk, and melodeath should definitely check out this groovy slab of pure hatred.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

After some delays, Maldivian metallers Nothnegal's debut album "Decadence" is finally here, and I would say that it has been worth waiting for.

Embracing a modern melodeath sound, with elements of metalcore, Nothnegal make use of both groove and melody, and there are also atmospheric keyboards and samples to be heard on the album, which further help generate the melodic and modern feel, but which also give some of the tracks a slightly spacey character (just check the title track). I actually quite like the lushness that the keyboards and electronic effects contribute to the overall sound.

Most of the tracks are build around either groovy or thrashy midtempo riffs - although there are some uptempo passages in a track like 'Armageddon' - and thus many of the songs on the album come across as being quite heavy (just check tracks like 'R.A.D.A.R.' or 'Sins of Our Creations'), and some tracks are even quite progressively inclined, such as 'Sins of Our Creations', 'Janus' and 'Singularity' - the keyboards also add a progressive feel, as do the often jazz-inspired solos.

The musicianship is impeccable, although Fufu's harsh vocals is probably a required taste (I must admit I prefer the clean vocals on 'Singularity'), but overall the performance is extremely tight, and I also like the big overall production of the album.

Fans of modern melodic metal should definitely check this album out.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)

Kells are normally categorized as a symphonic metal band, and perhaps their earlier releases are symphonic (I dont know because this is the first Kells album I've heard), but this one is not symhponic at at all. The style on "Anachromie" falls somewhere between alternative metalb and metalcore with groove and melody being the key components.

And, I think it is a quite good release, fronted by Virginie Goncalves' powerful and expressive vocals, ranging from soft singing over rock belting to harsh screaming - I especially like it when she goes off into oriental territory as in the introduction of 'Illusion D'Une Aire'. The sound is slightly minimalist at times, and also quite unpolished, which I actually think is a plus.

As mentioned above, there is a lot of emphasis on groove, and these guys are very good at coming up with groovy and hard rocking riffs - which go well together with Goncalves vocal lines; the choruses are typically quite melodic, so there is some potential for commercial appeal, too. I also quite like the way that the rhythm section works in terms of groove and dynamics (there really is a tight chemistry between the drums and the bass).

There's lots of groove on this album, and fans of both groovy metal and melodic metal should check it out.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)

Like melody? Well, here's Beneath for ya.

Falling somewhere between melodic death/thrash and melodic metalcore, Beneath's sponymous EP belongs to that branch of modern metal that I quite enjoy because of the combination of thrashy aggression, metalcore breakdowns and the melodic classic metal-inspired elements of melodeath.

The four tracks on this EP are very strong, and all of them are characterized by both a strong sense of melody and an appealing drive. I especially enjoy extensive use of imbedded melody in the guitar riffs, as wells as the use of melodic guitar harmonies - which is something the Beneath excel at. These melodic elements go well together with the more aggressive elements from thrash metal and metalcore, resulting in some fairly well balanced songs. Strength of the EP is the use of more rock and old school metal oriented riffage, which Beneath have managed to blend seamlessly in with the metalcore and thrash elements.

The production is crisp and very professional and manages to bring all the interesting musical details out into the open, thus showcasing the admirable musicianship of the band.

Fans of the likes of Killswitch Engage and Nothing Divine should check out this fine melodic metalcore release.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)

When virtuoso guitarists release instrumental solo albums, my experience is that these albums fall under two categories. The first one is the category of pointless self-indulgent, solo-fixated shredding and the second one that of is well-integrated solid music where all aspects of guitar playing are featured and given attention. Paul Wardingham's brilliant debut album Assimilate Regenerate fortunately falls under the latter category.

Assimilate Regenerate is not only a shred-fest. No, Wardingham shows that he takes songwriting and rhythm guitar playing just as seriously as he does the lead guitar work and the shredding. Thus, all tracks on the album a built around very strong and solid riffs, many of which have a certain sense of groove to them, and all of which are performed with mechanical precision - and by mechanical precision I mean that Wardingham does not miss a note (so, yes, it's a complement). I do not mean to say, that Assimilate Regenerate is void of emotional appeal, because it isn't. In fact the many guitar lid melodies have a lot of feel to them, and they are generally very catchy and memorable - you can hum along to them, and the goes to show that Paul Wardingham is about much more than just mindless shredding.

Now, Wardingham is a guitar virtuoso, and he is capable of some very impressive soloing and blazing shredding, and he does perform a lot of ...
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Very happy that Yes endures, but truthfully, the epic track feels routine and uninspired to me, the shorter songs are forgettable, save Steve Howe's wonderful "Hour of Need".