Band: Agabas | Album: Hard Anger | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp
The title of Agabas’s latest record is quite fitting. This record is heavy, hard-hitting, and angry as hell. The riffs are punishing, lashing the listener’s ears. There’s a neverending sense of forward momentum, with almost no breathing room. Everything here is maximal, with shouted vocals, pummeling guitars, and squalling saxophone filling up every available inch of auditory space.
Score: 76/100
Band: Ahles | Album: Between Dreams and the Waking World | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp
The debut album (well, sorta; they previously released a record in 2010 under the moniker Born from the Ashes) from this Australian quartet showed a lot of promise. The opening few songs featured a lot of strong melodies, exciting playing, and intelligent structuring. Unfortunately, the second half of the album is quite a bit wobblier, and it’s only hampered by some less-than-amazing lyrics that even I couldn’t zone out. However, they show a lot of ambition and promise, so I’m optimistic they can refine things more on their next release in 2040.
Score: 67/100
Band: END! Begin | Album: END! Begin | Genre: Progressive folk, Neofolk | Bandcamp
END! Begin is an ensemble that plays lush, rich, emotive folk music. They focus on long buildups to powerful climaxes. The compositions are intricate and envelop you in their soundscapes. The instrumental tracks on this album are the ones I like the most, but the pieces with lyrics are strong, too (especially the title track). Certain songs can feel a bit longer than they need to, but it’s an overall-minor issue here.
Score: 77/100
Band: Hadal Sherpa | Album: Void Weaver | Genre: Space rock | Bandcamp
This Finnish instrumental act plays an exciting, high-energy variety of space rock that draws a lot of sounds from Indian music. Sitars and tablas proliferate among Hawkwind-inspired riffage. They do a good job at throwing in some slower, more contemplative passages to break things up. This record is an overall-fun listen, but it can get a bit samey at points.
Score: 72/100
Band: Harpo Jarvi | Album: Toadstradamus | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp
Harpo Jarvi’s new LP sees the St. Louisian trio continue to build upon their jammy, jazzy sound. This 41-minute song cycle has the mood shift from dreamy to bouncy to tense. Hints of zeuhl show up, alongside their more-usual jam band tendencies. The keyboard tones are lush and fluid, and the ebb and flow of the music feels so natural.
Score: 81/100
Band: NevBorn | Album: Alkaios · Part II · The Peacock | Genre: Post-metal | Bandcamp
The Peacock is the second entry in a planned trilogy of albums focusing on the Twelve Labors of Herakles. This album consists of four long songs, each focused on one labor. Each song features some great build-up, and the structuring is, for the most part, pretty strong. I’m not nuts about their post-hardcore influences (primarily in the vocals), but that’s simply a taste thing. Dashes of jazz show up here and there, and the band does a solid job of balancing contrasts. There is some bloat here, but it’s nothing terrible.
Score: 77/100
The Elite Extremophile 