Band: Danefae | Album: Trøst | Genre: Progressive rock, Post-rock | Bandcamp
Danefae plays a delicate, intricate variety of prog that weaves in folk influences from the band’s native Denmark. There are also frequent heavy counterpoints to their usual sound. The vocals are strong, and the overall atmosphere is often rather dreamy and otherworldly. There is a lot to like about this album, but it often veers a bit too close to certain strains of post-rock for my taste. I could definitely see this appealing to a lot of people, but there’s just something intangible that prevents it from truly clicking with me.
Score: 74/100
Band: Don Bolo | Album: Umma | Genre: Progressive rock, Avant-garde rock | Bandcamp
The latest release from this Ecuadorian outfit is a lurching, ominous release inspired by the Dune series of books; and it’s an interesting contrast to their punk-influenced 2022 album, Bahamut. This instrumental album cultivates a hypnotic, trancelike mood, befitting of Dune’s mystic themes. The band blends harsh, noisy elements, Western psychedelia and experimentalism, and Middle Eastern motifs, resulting in an uneasy and unsettling work. Thick guitar tones contrast with airier keyboard and saxophone passages, and the rhythm ranges from thundering to skittering.
Score: 84/100
Band: Ikitan | Album: Shaping the Chaos | Genre: Progressive rock, Post-rock | Bandcamp
Genoese trio Ikitan present their first full length album here. Following their stellar 20-minute “Twenty-Twenty” debut and another single (that I liked but didn’t get around to covering), Shaping the Chaos sees the band explore nine anomalous locations and occurrences through the medium of heavy instrumental music. I love how a thick and crunchy bassline underpins so many of the songs here, and there’s a diversity of moods from song to song. Things range from the groovy and lightly stoner-y “Darvaza”, to the propulsive “Sailing Stones”, to the contrast-laden “Brinicle”. The meditative build-up of the 10-minute “Natron” serves as a strong centerpiece to the album.
Score: 83/100
Band: Lost Crowns | Album: The Heart Is in the Body | Genre: Avant-prog | Bandcamp
The sophomore album from this Cardiacs-adjacent act is a dense, weird, and jumpy record. It is brimming with instruments like harp, clarinet, flue, bassoon, theremin, and more; and the atmosphere is wonky and often askew. No chord seems to sit quite right, but in a way that’s clearly deliberate and carefully considered. Each song on its own is brilliant and inventive. However, when taken as a whole, I do find the album a little tiring. I’m not sure if this is still lingering burnout from that avant-prog kick I went on last summer, or maybe the songs really are a little too alike in their quirky oddness.
Score: 79/100
Band: Nuova Era | Album: 20.000 leghe sotto i mari | Genre: Italian progressive rock | Bandcamp
Nuova Era is a band that was first active from the mid 1980s through the mid 1990s. Their sound was definitely retro, but it was more exciting and inventive than a lot of their contemporaries in the Anglo-prog world. Following their 1995 album, they took a 21 year hiatus before releasing a pretty solid return. Nine more years have passed, and they’re back with their sixth LP. Consisting of just two huge songs (clocking in at 36 and 16 minutes), these suites cover a lot of ground. The immense title track is dramatic and emotive, and the many parts flow together fluidly. That said, I don’t think it needs to be one huge song. It simply feels like a gapless album released as one track. The 16-minute instrumental “Nautilus”, meanwhile, feels shorter than its runtime and is a great listen.
Score: 82/100
Band: Sarmat | Album: Upgrade | Genre: Progressive metal, Jazz-fusion | Bandcamp
The latest release from this New York-based ensemble is a mind-melting 21 minutes of completely insane jazz-metal. The two tracks presented here feature scouring, abrasive avant-garde death metal, noisy moments where structure threatens to fully dissolve, and trumpet-forward moments of jazz. The two extreme sides of this act often blend together, and it is a refreshing and exciting experience.
Score: 92/100
The Elite Extremophile 