Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, Ghost Sound Media Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Kira Levine Returning with their fourth full-length In Turbulence, Morrigu are a Swiss metal band founded in 1999 by Mirko and Severin Bunder (ex-Eluveitie). Starting out as a doom/death metal outfit, they have forged a more melodic and progressive…
progressive metal
Blue Hour Ghosts – Due
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, Rockshot Records Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes Due is the sophomore offering from Italian band Blue Hour Ghosts, its arrival delayed (as with so much else) by the impact of Covid-19, but it’s here now, and the end result is a pretty solid if somewhat…
Souls of Diotima – Janas
Reviewed: February 2021 Released: 2021, Diotima Records/ Rockshots Records Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Rossy Maguire SOULS OF DIOTIMA is a band with a unique style, featuring recognizable elements of traditional, progressive, and symphonic metal, as well as unconventional elements, woven together musically in a powerfully expressive new way. Their style recalls…
Octavision – Coexist
Reviewed: February, 2021 Released: 2020, Octavision Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Erich Octavision is a band that began to form in 2016, but the idea of the band and its debut album started about a decade ago. Hovak Alaverdyan is an Armenian guitarist that had a vision of creating a progressive metal…
Best of 2020: Kieron Hayes
01. Igorrr – Spirituality and Distortion (SAMPLE) Spirituality and Distortion is a truly strange album, and it plays into that as its strength just perfectly. It’s one of those avant-garde metal albums that throws in a ton of different sounds, either one after another or at the same time. You’ll…
Fractal Sun – Turmoil
Review Date: January 2021 Released: 2020, Independent Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: RC2000 When I think of Costa Rica I think of bananas and rainforest. Who knew it is also the land of some fine progressive metal? TURMOIL is the latest from Fractal Sun, released independently by the band. Bonus points right…
Immortal Guardian – Psychosomatic
Reviewed: December, 2020 Released: 2021, M-Theory Audio Rating: 4.5 of 5 Reviewer: Cristóbal Torres Immortal Guardian is a band created by Gabriel Guardiola, an incredible composer with the amazing ability to play the keyboard and guitar at the same time. Fortunately, his technical talent is also accompanied by an enormous…
Fates Warning – Long Day Good Night
Reviewed: November, 2020 Released: 2020, Metal Blade Records Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Erich This year, 2020, has been a miserable year. Musicians and bands are suffering as much or more than everyone else, as tours and concert halls remain shuttered in much of the world. When Fates Warning feels the call…
Pyramaze – Epitaph
Reviewed: November, 2020 Released: 2020, AFM Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Erich Pyramaze recently signed with AFM Records and will release their new album, EPITAPH on November 13. Most reading this probably know about the band, but briefly this Danish outfit released their debut album in 2004, sporting a power metal…
Anthea – Illusion
Reviewed: October 2020 Released: 2020, Rockshots Records Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter If you have even a passing interest in rock or metal, it’s quite likely you will have heard some form of either that weaves in symphonic/orchestral elements. Done well, the grand aural spectacle that unfolds can pack the…
Vanishing Point, Chris Porcianko (vocals) interview
Interviewed by Cristóbal Torres Chris Porcianko is a very open and straightforward musician which is something good when it comes not only to create music but also give an interview. From the current curfew back in Melbourne, Australia, this vocalist answered the questions from Metal-Rules.com telling us about the latest…
Okyr – Premorbid Intelligence
Reviewed: September, 2020 Released: 2020, Self-Produced Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Erich Okyr is a new progressive metal band from Brazil that has just released their debut album PREMORBID INTELLIGENCE. The band name is a word from the Kaingang indigenous people from Brazil, and it means “The Sound of History.” Thus, Okyr…
Manticora – To Live To Kill To Live
September 2020 August 28th, 2020 / ViciSolum Productions Rating: 4.5 / 5.0 Reviewer: John Haseltine The mighty Manticora are back with their second conceptual installment of Lars F. Larsen’s horror novel to which is the title of the band’s last effort, TO KILL TO LIVE TO KILL. I do believe…
The Progressive Souls Collective – Sonic Birth
Reviewed: September, 2020 Released: 2020, Metalville Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Erich The Progressive Souls Collective’s release SONIC BIRTH is an interesting project and album. “Not a band, but a very exciting adventure dedicated to the love of heavy progressive music!” claims the not-a-band’s website biography. This release is the brainchild of…
Pain of Salvation – Panther
Reviewed: September 2020 Released: 2020, InsideOut Music Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes Pain of Salvation are rightly considered consummate heavyweights in the world of progressive music, and Panther aptly demonstrates just why. As always with any album that is inspired by more than a simple desire to keep making enjoyable…