Album Review: Dominic Sanderson – Impermanence

Artist: Dominic Sanderson | Album: Impermanence | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2023

From: Wakefield, UK | Label: Independent

For fans of: Porcupine Tree, Van der Graaf Generator, King Crimson

For the last three years, my album of the year has been a debut record (Moura’s self-titled in 2020, Papangu’s Holoceno in 2021, and The Mighty Orchid King’s Mycelium Music Vol. 1 in 2022). It’s a bit of a strange coincidence. So far this year, I’ve found some good debut records, but none are quite in that top echelon to vie for the top spot on my year-end list.

Dominic Sanderson’s new album, Impermanence, isn’t technically a debut, but it is his first full-length release. (Prior to this, he released an EP in 2020.) This record is an impressive collection of some of the darker sounds of classic prog, synthesized into something modern and exciting.

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Album Review: Lars Fredrik Frøislie – Fire Fortellinger

Artist: Lars Fredrik Frøislie | Album: Fire Fortellinger | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2023

From: Oslo, Norway | Label: Karisma Records

For fans of: Yes, Wobbler

Bandcamp

Lars Fredrik Frøislie is the keyboardist and a backing vocalist of Wobbler, and Fire Fortellinger (Four Stories) is his first solo album. I had a few people reach out, independent of one another, to tell me about this album, and they all had a line to the effect of, “I know you’re not really a fan of Wobbler, but…” I would like to clarify something: I don’t dislike Wobbler. I think they’re over-praised in modern progressive rock discourse, but I don’t think they’re bad. Dwellers of the Deep was a mixed bag of a record, yes; but From Silence to Somewhere, Rites at Dawn, and Hinterland are all pretty solid. They’re not doing anything groundbreakingly original, but they’re putting out good, classic-style, Mellotron-and-organ-powered prog.

So, I went into Fire Fortellinger less skeptical than many people probably expected me to be. This guy’s the keyboard player for a very keyboard-forward band, so I knew about what to expect. And sure enough, this album is pretty decent, classic-style prog.

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Album Review: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse

Band: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard | Album: PetroDragonic Apocalypse | Genre: Progressive metal, Thrash metal | Year: 2023

From: Melbourne, Australia | Label: KGLW

For fans of: Coroner, Dark Angel, Vektor

Bandcamp

The 24th album from these prolific Aussies sees them dipping their toes back into thrash metal. 2019’s Infest the Rats’ Nest is a modern thrash masterpiece, and the band’s eco-apocalyptic lyrics suit the grim nature of that music. PetroDragonic Apocalypse is in a similar vein, but the songs are more progressive and ambitious. The riffs are fast, impactful, and complex, and Stu Mackenzie’s hoarse vocals are distinctive throughout.

(It should be noted that the album’s full title is actually PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, but that’s a bit clunky, and PDADENAPEBMD isn’t the catchiest initialism. The album title is also long enough to have caused issues when transferring the folder to my phone’s internal storage, putting it in the same club as such prolix album titles as Dr. Colossus’s I’m a Stupid Moron With an Ugly Face and A Big Butt and my Butt Smells and I Like to Kiss My Own Butt and Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum’s debut album, the title of which is nearly 500 characters long.)

PetroDragonic Apocalypse was recorded in a manner similar to that of their 2022 album with a long-winded title, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava. Where that album was recorded one song per day from scratch, with songs evolving from jam sessions, Mackenzie explained that he wrote the general concept for this album first and then worked backward from there. However, there is much less bloat here than on IDPLML. The songs are often long, but they’re bursting with ideas and frequently take surprising, unexpected turns.

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Album Review: Monika Roscher Bigband – Witchy Activities and the Maple Death

Band: Monika Roscher Bigband | Album: Witchy Activities and the Maple Death | Genre: Progressive rock, Avant-pop | Year: 2023

From: Munich, Germany | Label: Zenna Records

For fans of: black midi, Frank Zappa, UK, Van der Graaf Generator, iamthemorning

Bandcamp

When I first had this album recommended to me, I was a bit skeptical. When I think of mixing big-band jazz with rock music, my mind immediately goes to Diablo Swing Orchestra, and I hate Diablo Swing Orchestra. However, the person who recommended this to me is a reader who has given me a number of other good suggestions, including Daniel Rossen’s You Belong Here, so I decided to give this a shot.

I’m glad I did. The massive ensemble assembled by bandleader, guitarist, and vocalist Monika Roscher manages to form amazingly coherent songs from disparate musical ideas. Aside from rock and jazz, electronica, blues, and avant-garde music all get their moments across this sprawling record.

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Album Review: Seven Impale – Summit

Band: Seven Impale | Album: Summit | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2023

From: Bergen, Norway | Label: Karisma Records

For fans of: Van der Graaf Generator, Beardfish, Leprous’s good stuff, King Crimson

Bandcamp

Seven Impale is a Norwegian sextet that plays a fairly dark, heavy, jazz-inspired version of progressive rock. In many ways, they bear a lot of similarity to Van der Graaf Generator, albeit with more maximal arrangements. It’s been seven years since their last release, so when they announced this, I was very excited to hear what they had been working on.

City of the Sun, their 2014 debut, is a stellar record and one of my favorite albums from that year. 2016’s Contrapasso, though, never quite landed with me. It isn’t bad, by any means, but it just lacked that certain something that would have allowed it to click. I think a lot of it had to do with the sheer length of that release. At 67 minutes, that’s a lot of jazzy, sax-forward prog to listen to, and it became a bit exhausting. Compare that to their debut, which clocks in at 45 minutes. Summit, their new release, sees them staying in their usual vein, but consists of just four songs. So I went into this hopeful I’d like it.

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Album Review: Yes – Mirror to the Sky

Band: Yes | Album: Mirror to the Sky | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2023

From: London, UK | Label: InsideOut Music

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About a year-and-a-half after their dull-as-dirt twenty-second studio album, The Quest, Yes has returned with a new release. At times, I question whether or not this band really is “Yes,” though. They’re a bit like the Ship of Theseus at this point. Jon Anderson was booted from the band in 2008, following a severe asthma attack. Chris Squire was the last remaining of the original members in the band, and he passed away in 2015. Then last year, Alan White, the band’s drummer since 1973, also passed away. Steve Howe’s still with the band, though he did have a 16-year absence from the band from 1981-1997. Keyboardist Geoff Downes was briefly in Yes in the early ‘80s before returning in 2011. And Bassist Billy Sherwood was a longtime friend of Squire’s who has collaborated with the band since the mid-90s. My distaste for vocalist Jon Davison should be evident from my last Yes review.

Philosophical conundrums aside, I haven’t been shy about dragging big-name acts through the mud when they put out a bad record. The Quest was terrible, and I mentioned that I liked Heaven and Earth even less in that review. I’m not a fan of The Zealot Gene, and I gave RökFlöte a lukewarm rating. (And that RökFlöte review prompted someone to send me a downright apoplectic email full of typos and shoddy reasoning. It really was funny how bent out of shape that person got.) I’m both looking forward to and dreading my eventual Dream Theater Deep Dive; if you think I went hard on The Wall’s sophomoric storytelling, just wait ‘til I talk about The Astonishing!

I went into this record with low expectations. The members of Yes seem to have simply gotten kinda lame in their old age. I was not particularly impressed with the first single, and the fact that this is another of those stupid disc-and-a-half money-grab releases also didn’t do much to give me hope. Despite all that, I wound up being pleasantly surprised. Mirror to the Sky is Yes’s best album since Magnification, and I’m willing to unambiguously call this album good. Not great, but good.

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Album Review: K’mono – Mind Out of Mind

Band: K’mono | Album: Mind Out of Mind | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2023

From: Minneapolis, USA | Label: Ephemerol Night Terrors

For fans of: Yes, Genesis, Wobbler

Bandcamp

When I posted my Best of 2022 list, I noted that the central US had an especially strong showing on it, with five of the top 25 hailing from either St. Louis or Minneapolis. One doesn’t normally think of the Midwest as one of the major hotbeds of prog, alongside southern England, Northern Italy, and (more recently) Scandinavia. But the band Kansas (from Topeka) was a major success in the mid-to-late ‘70s, and smaller bands like Zerfas (Indianapolis) and Yezda Urfa (Portage, IN) have since received cult acclaim. Even in the two years I lived in Kansas I found a couple of great local prog bands: Flight/Dirigible Squared and The Last Glacier (both long defunct or disbanded, sadly). So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that a group from Minneapolis has put out another great progressive rock record.

Coming two years after Return to the ‘E’, Mind Out of Mind is this trio’s second full-length album. The eerie, Sergeant Pepper’s-meets-They Live album art is an excellent complement to the music here. It’s flashy and attention-grabbing, but there is a lot of subtle weirdness that gradually unveils itself, too.

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Album Review: Missing Jack & The Kameleons

Band: Missing Jack & The Kameleons | Album: Human Cycle | Genre: Psychedelic rock | Year: 2023

From: Toulouse, France | Label: Six Tonnes de Chair

For fans of: Slift, Hawkwind, Neu!

Bandcamp

Six Tonnes de Chair is a small French record label that specializes in garage rock, often with psychedelic and kraut-y flairs. I’ve covered acts from this label before (Perilymph, WEEED, Slift), and Missing Jack & The Kameleons fit into this general mold quite neatly. Their style draws a lot from late ‘60s garage rock, albeit often sounding a bit cleaner. Krautrock and surf influences are commonplace here, and they’ve got an overall fun feel.

“You Don’t Think” opens up with a buzzy, jumpy, krautrock-tinged riff. Flavors of surf rock are evident, too, especially in the airy backing vocals. There’s a bit too much going on with the drums for this to have a truly motorik beat, but the spirit is there. The rhythm is insistent and infectious, and it really complements the hazy atmosphere.

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Album Review: Jethro Tull – RökFlöte

Band: Jethro Tull | Album: RökFlöte | Genre: Progressive rock, Hard rock | Year: 2023

From: Luton, UK | Label: InsideOut Music

Bandcamp

A little over a year after their unimpressive return on The Zealot Gene, Jethro Tull is back with another record, RökFlöte. For this record, Ian Anderson stated he drew inspiration from Norse mythology, and the word “Ragnarök” is where he got the idea for this album’s title. Each of the twelve songs on this album is based off a character or concept from Norse mythology.

Going into this, I did my best to keep an open mind. Yes, I’d found The Zealot Gene unnecessary, disappointing, and soulless; but Tull has bounced back from bad records before! Minstrel in the Gallery followed the unfocused hodgepodge of WarChild, and Roots to Branches came after the tepid blues rock of Catfish Rising (and their middling ‘80s hard rock). Martin Barre continues to be absent from the band, so I tried to calibrate my expectations for the guitarwork accordingly.

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Album Review: Caratucay – Nocturnes of the Incarcerated

Band: Caratucay | Album: Nocturnes of the Incarcerated | Genre: Death metal, Progressive metal | Year: 2023

From: Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany | Label: Independent

For fans of: Between the Buried and Me, Opeth

Bandcamp

Caratucay is a German prog-death metal quintet, and Nocturnes of the Incarcerated is their second full-length album. I will admit that I was entirely unfamiliar with this band before running across Nocturnes while perusing Bandcamp, but this album made enough of an impression on me, I felt it’d make a solid spotlight for this site.

After the brief subdued intro “Captivi te Salutant”, the album starts in earnest with “Paralysis”. It’s an immediate punch in the face, full of pummeling yet melodic riffs. The vocals have more in common with black metal than death metal for the most part, but that’s something I like. In general, I prefer black metal shrieking over death metal Cookie Monster vocals. Those low guttural vocals feature prominently, too, but they strike a nice balance. “Paralysis” is a tight, anxious song, where the riffs bounce all over the place. Despite the many shifts, the song holds together well.

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