Fleshvessel’s 2023 debut was an incredible statement in modern progressive metal. This Chicagoan act wove together black metal, jazz, modern classical, and experimental music to create a striking, singular record. This ambition (and tendency toward prolix album titles) continues on their sophomore release, Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded.
Welcome to The Elite Extremophile’s Top Prog Albums of 2025! As usual, this is a two-part list of 50 total entries. Part two is here.
As a reminder, the music on this list spans December 2024 through November 2025. Music from December 2025 will be on the 2026 list. I’m sure there is plenty of good music I missed, but when it comes to the reviewing, this is a one-man operation. (My proofreaders/editors, Kelci and Dan, have been very helpful, as always.) There are also certain trends and styles I simply don’t like very much.
2025 was a fantastic year for progressive rock and related genres. I was spoiled for choice with this list, and this may be the overall-strongest batch of recommendations I’ve given to date.
This instrumental release heavily incorporates jazz and classical elements into its compositions. Reed and wind instruments can be found among the many slinking themes present here. Things swell and retreat fluidly, and there are a lot of great tonal and textural choices. While I enjoy it overall, this isn’t the most distinctive record. It’s solid, jazzy instrumental prog, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Score: 74/100
Band: An Abstract Illusion | Album:The Sleeping City | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp
An Abstract Illusion’s latest record is a noticeable step down from their last release, 2022’s excellent Woe. The Sleeping City isn’t a bad record, by any means, but it’s unimpressive. The biggest problem for me on this record is the production. Everything is very clean and clear in a way that robs the band’s death metal of its impact. The clean parts of this record also come off as overly glossy and sterile, with many of the synth tones sounding out of place. There are still good ideas in the compositions, but the sound of the album itself is lacking.
Four years after Colors II, Between the Buried and Me has returned with their twelfth studio album, The Blue Nowhere. The band’s Bandcamp claims that this is the band’s “most […] eclectic record yet”. Now, BTBAM has a very distinct sound they normally hew pretty close to. Every album also has its own distinct foibles.
I like to go into BTBAM records blind, but after listening to this album a few times now, I can say they definitely oversold the eclecticism. This might even be their most eclectic record, if you were to crunch the numbers and see how many minutes were death metal and how many minutes were any number of other things, but this is still a BTBAM record. If you know the band, you know the sound you’re getting.
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.
Band: Ancient Death | Album:Ego Dissolution | Genre: Progressive metal, Death metal | Bandcamp
Ego Dissolution is an exciting record that deftly weaves progressive and cosmic elements into a solid death metal base. This album is somewhat comparable to Blood Incantation’s recent work, minus the overt Floydianisms. There are pummeling, stormy riffs and gut-rattling bass and drums, but the occasional pared-back moment (like on “Breathe”) really helps this album shine.
Score: 83/100
Band: Cosmic Cathedral | Album:Deep Water | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp
The latest Neal Morse project certainly sounds like a Neal Morse project. And as usual, where Neal is the creative lead on a project, he has one question for you: “Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior: Jesus Christ?”
The music is fine. Do you like early Spock’s Beard? Do you like Transatlantic? Do you have enough lactase in your system to handle the staggering amount of cheese here? Then you’re probably going to enjoy this, especially if you like (or at least don’t mind) the overt religiosity. There are some genuinely fun passages, and for all my quibbles, Morse is a very talented arranger. He’s got his signature sound, and he’s good at varying it enough between releases to (mostly) stay interesting on a musical level.
That said, this does suffer from some ills endemic to his other works. First and foremost is the album’s length. Deep Water is 71 minutes long, and it is absolutely not deserving of that length. The most obvious culprits here are the 13-minute opener and the 9-part, 38-minute title track. There’s simply an immense amount of bloat and music that doesn’t really lead to or add anything.
Secondly, it’s Jesus. Like, I get it, Neal. You found God. Now find something else to write about. Or at least be less obvious about it. If I, an avowed lyric-zone-outer, am noticing how thoroughly you’re beating a dead horse, try shifting topics. Or at least pick some obscure Bible stories. There’s a lot of material there.
I covered Frogg’s debut EP, A Reptilian Dystopia, back in 2020, and I really liked it. It was one of my favorite short releases of that year. In the intervening years, they’ve put out a handful of songs (all of which show up here), but now they’re finally back with their first LP.
Frogg’s brand of music is fast, dense, and powerful. I often have somewhat mixed feelings on tech-death bands, as it’s easy for such acts to get lost in their own intricate guitar lines. Frogg, though, demonstrates both a keen ear for melody and a certain compositional ambition often lacking elsewhere in this micro-genre.
Plus, just look at that album cover. 10/10, no notes.
Welcome back to The Elite Extremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2024. Today covers the top 25, and you can read about the first half in Part 1.
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.
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.
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