Progressive Metal/Rock Thread Genre • Page 6

Another new Opeth track. I have faith this will great.

 

Crossposting from the Metal thread:


Metal adjacent but Kalandra’s follow up to their stunning 2020 debut is out today. They still play a blend of art pop/rock, prog and nordic folk but this time, the folk undertones are toned down a bit whereas the prog ones are increased. The second half also features some of their most ethereal work, building on the cinematic soundscape explored on their 2022 soundtrack album.

RIYL: Eivor, Katatonia, Leprous…

 

That RIYL is definitely up my alley, I’ll check it.

 

Easily my favorite of the pre-release tracks. That rules.

 

Not the biggest Dream Theater fan, but their first album back with Portnoy has me interested on if they're a little reinvigorated. Listening to the song now. Sounds pretty good.

 

Just randomly came in this thread and both this and Caligula's Horse are hitting the spot for me.

 

Awesome! CHorse is still my AOTY, and Wheel is probably top 5.

 

I don't know if many people around here are familiar with Frost* but they've got a double album called Life in the Wires releasing tomorrow. They're squarely progressive rock, surprisingly poppy at times (the singer/main songwriter was a successful songwriter and producer in the UK pop scene), and wrap their music up in tasteful keys, strings, and impressive playing without being too ridiculous.

 

I'm really digging this. I've seen the name around the progmetal subreddit, but never listened. Thanks for mentioning it!

 

This band popped up out of nowhere on my Facebook feed. I probably liked their page a long time ago then forgot about it. Curiosity got the best of me and I checked them out...

... and surprise, it's guitar less, piano centric prog! I knew I had to share their music here:

 

Yeah I've heard of them, Jim, the singer from Caligula's Horse, is a huge fan and usually shares their stuff on his page. I think he might even feature on one or more of their songs?

 

Haven't listened to Caligula yet but I found out Exploring Birdsong's singer is one of Sleep Token's live backup vocalists so that's how I must've first heard of the band!

 

New VOLA out today! This and Opeth were the two big prog releases I was waiting on to finish out the year.

 

First impressions are that it's quite good. I can see where people are saying it's 'Witness b-sides' but I don't feel that's being particularly fair. Their first three albums all had very different sounding production, and the production here certainly is like Witness 2.0, but the songs are quite different. Unlike Witness, where the ballad was obviously the weak point of the album, Phantom's strongest songs are the slow ones of Glass Mannequin and I Don't Know How We Got Here. There's also a lot more electronics going on all over this thing. Looking forward to spending more time with it.

 

Yeah I think people are being too quick to judge here. I'm finishing up my first listen and I'm loving how varied it is. Witness fell into a pretty safe pocket from beginning to end, and though I liked it, I feel like "safe" applies more to that album than this one. There's more djent-y riffs, some harsh vocals, and Bleed Out feels like it has some hip-hop influence.

 

I think I've listened to the VOLA album 4 times already today. I really like it, and I think Hollow Kid is the one here. The way he matches the guitar lead with the melody he's singing is really cool. Haken did something similar on Elephants Never Forget, and I loved it there too.

I'll probably have to stay away from the discourse on this one though, because I think I'm in the minority.

 

Went on a huge VOLA kick all weekend. Reminded me their "Live At The Pool" live album is so good:

 

FRAKTIONS - Don't Mess With Grandma

Slightly weird piano-centric jazz-prog/prog-jazz

 

Happy new Opeth day to all who celebrate. Just now clicking play, but there's a lot of rumblings about this being their best album in years.

 

Yeah the Opeth album is wild. It's basically a mash of the BWP/Ghost Reveries era and the prog era. Makes for a pretty varied and interesting album, but there's... a lot going on. Makes it hard to digest. Initial returns are good though.

 

It's definitely one where individual tracks don't stand out as much, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Rather, it works so well as a cohesive single piece. As someone who hasn't been crazy about most of their post-Watershed output, I'm really enjoying how this fuses both eras into something that is fresh.

 

IDK why I'm in hyper contrarian mode today but I found the album concept overbearing. I think I like my concept albums a little looser / more interpretive ha, the theatrical feel adds a campy dimension to their sound that doesn't seem to work for me. I wonder if the return of the growls has people extra excitable.

 

I definitely appreciate the growls, but I also like how theatrical it is. To me it feels like a nice mix of all the different elements they've used over the years, but the theatric element keeps it fresher for me. That's just my opinion, though, so ymmv.