Best of 2024: Top Prog EPs

Welcome back to The Elite Extremophile’s Best of 2024 week. Today, I’ll be presenting my Top EPs of 2024. The criteria for this list is always kind of squishy. The number of entries varies year-to-year, and I take an “I’ll know it when I see it” attitude when it comes to differentiating EPs and LPs. This year, I’ve got six strong short releases to highlight. (And as a reminder, these year-end lists cover music released between December 2023 and November 2024.)

Now, let’s get to it!

#6: Magic Fig – Magic Fig | Psychedelic rock | Bandcamp

Magic Fig’s debut EP is a fun and sunny slice of psychedelia. These San Franciscans draw upon their hometown’s psychedelic legacy and blend it with elements of traditional prog and Canterbury. The music is both bouncy and dreamy, and I really like the aggressive fuzzy bass throughout this release. Bass is often more of a lead instrument than guitar here, and that’s a fun inversion.

#5: Rope Trick – Red Tide | Math rock, Krautrock | Bandcamp

Rope Trick’s two-track Red Tide EP is a wiry, jittery, tangled mass of minimal and stripped-back krautrock. Rhythms are often syncopated and hypnotic, and the band uses repetition as a powerful tool to build tension. Influences from stoner metal appear in the verses, and that is a strong complement for the ritualistic feel of the music.

#4: That Which Sleeps – Two | Progressive metal | Bandcamp

Have you been craving a sequel to THRAK or The Power to Believe? Then this 19-minute, four-song release is for you! Guitars twist and tangle around one another, and to call the drumming deft would be an immense understatement. The band skillfully alternates between solos and full-band compositional moments. The band often plays with time and meter, resulting in some great and disorienting moments.

#3: End of Age – Narcoleptic Hallucinations | Progressive rock | Bandcamp

The three songs on this EP all display unique and creative characteristics. The opening “Spring of Nothing” is tumbling and hypnagogic, drawing from classic heavy psych. “Shoved Through the Window of Consumption” is more propulsive and incorporates infectious punk rock energy. The nine-minute title-track slows things down, and it’s like a marriage between late ‘60s Pink Floyd and early ‘70s Black Sabbath. It’s doomy, spacey, and morose as it gradually builds across its runtime.

#2: amalakamala – LaaMaKaMaaL | Progressive rock, Jazz-fusion | Bandcamp

The debut EP from this Japanese band features lots of flashy instrumental passages mixed in alongside melodic verses and unexpected twists. Jazz elements are prominent across the three songs here, and the mood can quickly shift from sunny to foreboding and tense.

#1: Pharm – The Tower | Progressive metal | Bandcamp

This terse, three-song release is a striking and pummeling EP. The band draws from sludge metal, math rock, and stoner metal to weave together wobbly and knotted guitar lines. The tonal choices are different, but the underlying construction of these cuts reminds me of early prog-death and prog-thrash acts like Atheist and Coroner. Rhythms are herky-jerky, and even in spacier moments, the music remains constantly unsettled and bubbling. The 14 minutes of music here are unrelenting and unique, and I cannot wait to hear more from this band.