Reviewed: October 2021 Released: 2021, Metal Blade Records Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter Well, this has been coming and, after eight years, the cycle is finally complete: RIVERS OF NIHIL’s seasonal tetralogy has reached its end. Debuting with the spring-influenced ‘The Conscious Seed Of Light’, the band have seen their star…
progressive metal
Quick Jabs for October 2021
Welcome to another installment of “Quick Jabs.” This is the section where we post an assortment of shorter reviews for albums that we have checked out or may have missed out on in previous months. As you will see below, a few of these are from earlier this year. It…
Malevolence – Antithetical
Reviewed: September 2021 Released: 2021, Firecum Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter It’s an old argument, but we revisit it here: is there much point in reviewing re-releases? On the one hand, you have the potential scenarios of having the easiest writing session of your life (“Review: see comments from [DATE]”).…
In the Company of Serpents – Lux
Reviewed: September 2021 Released: 2021, Petrichor (original release: 2020) Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes In the Company of Serpents’ fourth full-length was initially a self-release last year, but is now seeing a fresh issue by Petrichor. Listening to it now, you can easily hear how it caught the label’s attention;…
Circle of Sighs – Narci
Reviewed: August 2021 Released: 2021, Metal Assault Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes Circle of Sighs are described in their bio as an “occult-themed synth-doom collective”, but honestly, that doesn’t some anywhere close to doing justice to the eclectic, at times downright bizarre sound this band is putting out. Over the…
Devin Townsend – Devolution Series #2: Galactic Quarantine
Reviewed: August 2021 Released: 2021, InsideOut Music Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter There are two types of people in this world when the going gets tough: those that wilt under pressure, and those that seemingly increase their workload. For the latter, please meet DEVIN TOWNSEND. With the pandemic having set…
Epica-We Will Take You With Us (DVD Review)
Reviewed: July, 2021 Released: 2004, Transmission Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP I’m on a bit of an Epica kick since the new album came out earlier this year. This was a nice little find I came across in a pawn-shop of all places. I had seen the European version of…
Interview with Don Dewulf of The Wring
Interview by EvilG Don Dewulf is the creative mind behind The Wring, a musical adventure chock full of proggy riffs, angry lyrics, and a heavy dose of melody. He is releasing a second album this year, “The Wring² Project Cipher” that boasts the work of several seasoned, professional musicians, making…
Vokonis – Odyssey
Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2021, The Sign Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter There’s somewhat of an expectation with modern progressive metal music that it needs to sound somewhat introspective. Whether that is in harder, heavier subgenres such as death metal, or lighter examples, there’s a certain level of brood that…
Morrigu – In Turbulence
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…
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…