Changeling is a quartet made up of people with deep experience in the death metal world. Bandleader Tom Geldschläger has played with Obscura and Belphegor, among others, and the other three members have ties to acts such as Fear Factory, Virvum, and Dark Fortress. Backing up this supergroup is a slew of guest musicians, including a choir and small orchestra.
Liquid Pennies is a Floridian psych-rock trio that dabbles in many genres. Their sound incorporates elements of progressive rock, electronica, post-punk, and more. This multifaceted approach lends their records a varied, exciting quality where the listener is never quite certain what’s coming next. Fore, their latest album, sees them expand upon their sound in inventive ways.
Power metal and classic heavy metal are styles of music that show up on my site every now and then, but never with a ton of frequency. Fer de Lance is a Chicagoan quartet that uses those genres as the basis for some very big, very epic-sounding metal. They pull in influences from farther afield, too, including various veins of folk music and black metal.
I’ve been pretty open about my general distaste for subgenres that end in “-core.” And that goes double for most things classifiable as djent. So, had I not had this album specifically recommended to me, I probably would have skipped it had I found it on my own on Bandcamp. “Mathcore” and “djent” are usually good signs I’ll find a record tedious and repetitious. There are outliers, of course, but I do do some prioritization of stuff to listen to in looking for records for this site.
I am very happy I had this album recommended to me. Snooze is a Chicago-based quartet that plays a pretty heavy variety of math rock. I Know How You Will Die is their third full-length release and their first in six years. It’s also their heaviest by a significant margin. The band’s roots in math rock and Midwest emo are evident, especially in the vocal lines, but everything comes together in an incredibly satisfying way.
Wobbler’s keyboard player is back with his second solo album. Lars Fredrik Frøislie’s solo debut, 2023’s Fire Fortellinger, was a pretty solid release. It didn’t break any new ground, but I enjoyed it a fair bit. I do like Wobbler, and Frøislie’s solo stuff is very much in the same vein. Gamle Mester (Eng.: Old Master) continues in the same general style, but it demonstrates some continued growth and development in his songwriting, which I like a lot.
Custard Flux is an act I’ve covered a number of times. Begun as an all-acoustic psych-rock act, the band has evolved their sound over the years. Oxygen saw them take a decidedly more progressive turn, and last year’s Einsteinium Delirium had them ditch their all-acoustic gimmick. Enter Xenon, in addition to continuing with their elemental album names, keeps with Einsteinium’s electric sound. The songs are punchy and energetic with a great blend of psychedelic whimsy and forward-thinking grit.
Three years after their last release, 2022’s excellent Thank You from the Future, Moon Letters have returned with their third full-length album. I’ve mentioned a few times that they’re one of my favorite local acts, and if you follow me on Facebook, you will occasionally see photos of their rather theatrical live shows. If you get a chance to see them perform, I highly recommend it.
My first experience hearing this album was at one of those performances. It was their album release show, and they played This Dark Earth in its entirety. That performance was part of a larger musical festival called Cascadence, formerly Seaprog. Occurring most Junes (there have been a few years it did not occur), it’s a fantastic highlight of mostly-local progressive music acts.
Chercán is a Chilean quintet that plays a lush, complex, and engaging variety of progressive rock. Things are densely layered and smartly composed, and the band incorporates jazz and sounds from their homeland. Everything about this record really impresses me.
I don’t claim to like everything. I know there are just certain styles of music which don’t resonate with me for one reason or another. I can articulate why I don’t like some genres (for example, most singer-songwriter stuff), while I struggle to find the words to describe my distaste for other genres (like reggae or ska or calypso; the Caribbean is just not my musical realm). Metalcore and post-hardcore are two styles of music that fall somewhere in between for me. I don’t really like the vocals common to them (and many other “-core” genres), but there’s also something else I can’t quite put my finger on. Despite this, every now and then I find a band that I like that incorporates these elements into their music.
Firmament is an Ohio-based duo that plays an energetic and emotive brand of post-hardcore-influenced progressive metal. Yes, there are elements on this record which don’t tickle me, but there’s still plenty here that I like. And when you handicap this album for my built-in biases, A New World If You Can Take It is quite strong. This review is going to sound more negative than I intend it, but rest assured, I strongly recommend this release.
Edensong is not a band I was familiar with before writing this review. They play a brand of semi-metallic progressive rock with significant folk influences. The band also has a dedicated flutist, so the comparisons to Jethro Tull are pretty easy. Those comparisons are also pretty apt, as Tull’s influence can be heard throughout this record.
The Elite Extremophile 