It’s time for The Elite Extremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2024! This is the first half of the list, and you can find the second half here.
As a reminder, the music on this list covers December 2023 to November 2024. I spend much of December compiling and editing this list, so I push releases from that month into the following year’s list.
This is also a one-man operation, in regard to reviewing. (Many thanks to my proofreaders/editors, Kelci and Dan.) I’m sure there’s plenty of great music out there I simply didn’t get to. I’ve also got my own biases against certain styles and trends.
2024 wound up being an alright year for the sort of stuff I cover here. It felt like it started off somewhat slow, but in the end, it wasn’t too challenging for me to find 50 records worthy of being highlighted.
Now, onto the list!
#50: The Chronicles of Father Robin – The Songs & Tales of Airoea – Book II | Progressive rock | Bandcamp
This record grew on me. I was kind of underwhelmed by it when it was first released, but upon repeated listens, I’ve come to enjoy it more. The aquatic-themed entry in the Airoea trilogy is a slow build. From the record’s folky opening, to the mellow synths and jazz tones of the album’s midsection, to its charging, Jethro Tull-inspired climax, it’s a satisfying journey.
#49: Chafouin – In C | Minimalism, Krautrock | Bandcamp
Chafouin plays minimalist composer Terry Riley’s 1968 work In C, and it fits their spare math rock stylings wonderfully. The building repetition and interlocking guitar lines make for an atmosphere that is both slightly tense and kinda whimsical. This release also features a much stranger interpretation of In C, titled “C In”. It’s lurching and full of ominous drones. It’s like a Bizarro world counterpart to the first half of this album.
#48: Gosseyn – Eldorado | Avant-prog, Jazz-fusion | Bandcamp
The Breton band plays a brand of music that is really hard to classify. It’s a diverse blend of klezmer, Middle Eastern, avant-garde jazz, rock, psychedelia, and more. Twangy strings, honking bass clarinet, and irregular, thumping drums drive Gosseyn along. It’s odd, it’s spooky, and it’s a pretty neat listen.
#47: Avneya – Road to I | Progressive death metal | Bandcamp
Avneya plays an Opeth-y variety of metal and expertly blends harsh moments and soaring melodic passages. The riffs are complex and exciting, and the individual songs are smartly crafted.
#46: Geordie Greep – The New Sound | Progressive rock | Bandcamp
The solo debut from black midi’s frontman is a massive, sprawling album full of jazzy licks and self-loathing lyrics. Greep and the musicians he worked with lay down smooth and often speedy jazz-saturated prog rock. Much of this record was recorded in Brazil, and many local flavors seeped into this work, especially in the piano and percussion tracks.
#45: Lowen – Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran | Progressive doom metal | Bandcamp
Lowen’s new record is a lurching, crushing experience. The guitars are incredibly weighty, and the percussion is muscular. In contrast, powerful vocals soar, and the vocals are one of the most defining features of this band. Middle Eastern themes are woven in naturally, and it helps Lowen stand out from their doom metal peers. The songs are long and made up of multiple musical ideas, which taken together lends a sense of drama and momentum to a genre that is often happy to just meditate on a few slowed-down riffs.
#44: Azure – Fym | Progressive metal, Progressive rock | Bandcamp
Azure’s brand of metal is a throwback to the earliest days of prog metal, and that’s actually something of a refreshing change of pace. I’ve heard a ton of knock-offs of mid-career Dream Theater, Opeth, and Tool, but this is rooted more in Fates Warning and Queensrÿche. There’s also a bit of the glimmer of early ‘90s progressive rock bands like Spock’s Beard, which is a feat that can be hard to pull off well. The playing on this record is fast and nimble, and each of the individual cuts are strong. It’s a tad long when taken as a whole, but it’s still a ton of fun.
#43: Eunuchs – Harbour Century | Avant-prog | Bandcamp
Harbour Century is a dense record full of forward-thinking and passionate music. String, wind, and reed instruments create lush, enveloping atmospheres, and the compositions never quite let you know which way they’re going. Even with the slog that is the closing epic “Heroin King”, Eunuchs have crafted an exciting and innovative record.
#42: Diskord/Atvm – Bipolarities | Progressive death metal | Bandcamp
Diskord and Atvm play two divergent styles of progressive death metal. Diskord’s stuff is to the point with an astounding density of riffs per minute. The musical ideas come at the listener thick and fast, but they all manage to somehow tie together. Atvm, meanwhile, take their time in developing ideas. They draw in classic prog and jazz elements that build to big, impactful climaxes. The two sides of this record are quite different, but they’re both strong and complementary.
#41: Vidres a la Sang – Virtut del Desencís | Progressive metal | Bandcamp
The newest album from this Catalan metal act is a visceral experience. The band expertly blends black, death, and prog elements into captivating compositions. I don’t speak Catalan, but the emotion in the vocals is gut-wrenching.
#40: Cloud People – Simulacra | Jazz-fusion | Bandcamp
This conspiratorial-themed jazz-fusion record is fantastic. It’s full of lush, otherworldly synths (alien technology?), hypnotic grooves (government mind-control mechanisms?), and structures inventive enough to turn any frog gay! Cloud People’s music is fun and intelligent, and they’re able to expertly balance atmosphere and technicality. It’s artful yet incredibly digestible.
#39: Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks – True | Progressive rock | Buy
This is better than any of Yes’s 21st Century releases without Jon Anderson. This record demonstrates that Anderson still has plenty of gas in his songwriting tank, and The Band Geeks do an incredible job at playing Yes’s distinctive style of music. Not every cut on True is a winner, but the highs are high enough to carry the record.
#38: Thy Catafalque – XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek | Progressive metal | Bandcamp
Thy Catafalque is nothing if not consistent. This is the fourth record of theirs I’ve covered, and I’ve enjoyed every one. Tamás Kátai’s songwriting is unique and fantastically diverse. Folk, avant-garde, classical, and electronic elements are naturally mixed into a black(-ish) metal backing, and it all feels cohesive. I also appreciate how little excess is on Thy Catafalque records. Kátai is able to avoid the bloat that plagues so many other prog acts.
#37: Plantoid – Terrapath | Psychedelic rock, Progressive rock | Bandcamp
Plantoid’s debut full-length is a hazy and dreamy experience. The music is fairly light overall, with ample flourishes of jazz mixed in throughout. The feeling of this record is often otherworldly and indistinct, matching the cover art wonderfully. Occasional stabs of acidic guitar cut through the fog of its usual atmosphere, and those moments of contrast are some of the best on the record.
#36: Everything Oscillating – The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are | Progressive rock | Bandcamp
Everything Oscillating’s debut LP is a fun and peppy experience full of finger-twisting shredding. This instrumental album blends classic prog, jazz fusion, heavy metal, and improvisation. The music here is jumpy and constantly on the move. There’s not much room to breathe, but it’s overblown in a fun way.
#35: Абстрактор – Мать | Progressive folk | Bandcamp
Abstraktor’s sophomore LP draws from a wide range of influences. Jazz, classical, rock, Slavic folk, and avant-garde flavors all get their time in the spotlight. Tempos are often upbeat and peppy, which lends this record a lightness lacking in many other experimental folk releases.
#34: Ærkenbrand – Hedenfarne Æventyr | Avant-prog, Noise rock | Bandcamp
Hazy atmospheres, jazzy looseness, and an overall-strange air dominate this record. Things are often vague and indistinct, while simultaneously being tight and precise. The playing on this record is masterful, and the balance of exciting prog experimentalism and noisy abstraction makes this a truly engrossing listen. Elements of metal, post-rock, and folk are woven in, and the closing epic is a perfect encapsulation of this album’s mission.
#33: Hizbut Jámm – Hizbut Jámm | Psychedelic Folk | Bandcamp
This multinational act plays a unique twist on folk music that has stuck with me over repeated listens. The two West African musicians in this band leave their unmistakable mark; lyrics are in a mix of French and Wolof, many non-European scales are used, and kora (a West African lute) is a primary element of the music. There are still some European elements to this record, though. The rhythm is often not far from rock–I’m confident entire books can be (and have been) written on the topic of West African influence on rock music–and the psychedelic flourishes are a good way to ease folks with a musical background like my own into this fusion of genres.
#32: Chief Bromden – In/tense Logic | Art rock, Post-punk | Bandcamp
Chief Bromden is a Czech act that plays an angular and artsy variety of post-punk. Guitar lines are often twisted and technical, and occasional synth flourishes help to keep the listening experience dynamic. The vocals, while occasionally rough, are always impassioned, and those imperfections often add to the overall experience.
#31: Ceiling Spirits – The Bloodwren | Post-rock | Bandcamp
The cinematic, classical-influenced post-rock present on The Bloodwren is dramatic and enthralling. Strings mingle naturally with traditional rock instrumentation, and the compositions ebb and swell in dramatic and organic ways.
#30: Å – Åtråvärld | Progressive folk rock | Bandcamp
The new album from Å is a fantastic blend of Swedish folk motifs, lightly-fuzzy psych, and prog. The melodies call to mind scenes from folklore, and the grooves the band plays are entrancing, occasionally bordering on krautrock. Flute and acoustic guitar are key elements of this record, and they help to keep the sound palette both diverse and balanced.
#29: Present – This Is NOT the End | RIO, Avant-prog | Bandcamp
The final record from one of the longest-running RIO acts is an unrelenting march through some of the best of what avant-prog can offer. Sinister textures, jagged syncopation, and indefatigable momentum make this a fitting end to Present’s career. This Is NOT the End is a dark and blustery release that serves as an emphatic bit of punctuation.
#28: Gender Studies – Далекий Лиман | Progressive rock | Bandcamp
The debut album from this Ukrainian act is a wonderful mix of prog, psych, garage, and Slavic folk influences. The songs range from relatively straightforward rockers to wandering psych-folk excursions. This is a lovely stylistic smattering of songs, and I always love highlighting smaller acts like this one. Plus, it’s got some of my favorite album art of the year.
#27: Shadow Limb – Reclaim | Progressive metal, Post-metal | Bandcamp
Shadow Limb’s sophomore release is a brooding and powerful record. Sludgy guitar lines crash in this album’s loudest moments, but the band is equally capable of complex and subdued passages. There’s a constant sense of dread, with both specific riffs and more abstract atmospheres playing important roles.
#26: Yo – 희망열차를 타고 우주로 가요 (Hopetrain to Universe) | Psychedelic rock | Bandcamp
Beatlesesque psychedelia, glam rock, and modern art-pop elements flow together into a warm, floating, swirling album. Mild shoegaze influence is evident during this record’s fuzzier passages, and despite this album’s overall amorphous soundscapes, there’s always a sense of forward movement and purpose.
The Elite Extremophile 
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