Best of 2024: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 1: 50-26

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.

Now, onto the list!

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Odds & Ends: December 30, 2024

Band: Anarchÿ | Album: Xenötech and the Cosmic Anarchÿ | Genre: Progressive thrash metal | Bandcamp

Anarchÿ’s third full-length release sees this St. Louis-based thrash duo both stay in their usual niche and also push some sonic boundaries. Verbose sci-fi storytelling, blazing guitar lines, and more umlauts than any reasonable person would ever use all abound here. Synth pads do a great job at adding richness and lushness to the music, and the occasional acoustic interlude helps to keep this record varied and interesting. There is even a splash of sitar for some truly unexpected sonic variance.

Score: 83/100

Band: Avneya | Album: Road to I | Genre: Progressive death metal | Bandcamp

Avneya’s debut record is a great example of progressive death metal. There’s a strong focus on contrasts between delicate, melodic passages and moments of crushing heaviness. Dashes of strings here and there add some nice contrast, and folk motifs from the band’s native Israel also add to this record’s distinctiveness.

Score: 79/100

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Odds & Ends: December 18, 2023

Band: Hashshashin | Album: Śaraṇaṃ | Genre: Post-rock, Afghan folk | Bandcamp

The latest release from this Australian act draws upon the Central Asian folk-meets-progressive metal flavors of their last release and hones them even more. Here, much of the focus is on an Afghan instrument, the rubab. It lends a distinct folky and esoteric character to these three songs. This EP is both meditative and impactful, drawing from Afghan folk traditions and modern progressive and post-rock scenes.

Score: 74/100

Band: Mellow Beast | Album: Reactor | Genre: Space rock, Progressive rock | Bandcamp

Mellow Beast’s third release of the year is their strongest of the bunch. Many of this band’s releases are interconnected and tell the story of the land of Hyperion. As such, this release focuses on the story of a gnome trying to save Hyperion after a great cataclysm. The music is psychedelic and awash in effects-laden guitar lines. There’s a fine line being tread here between tight, focused, melodic passages and a desire to stretch things out and jam. It all works together excellently, and I love the way musical themes are occasionally repeated to give everything a sense of continuity.

Score: 83/100

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Odds & Ends – September 23, 2019

Band: Chaos Over Cosmos | Album: The Unknown Voyage | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp

Chaos Over Cosmos’s debut album draws heavily from acts like Fates Warning and Symphony X. The music is fleshed out with lush synths. There’s no shortage of power metal cheese, both vocally and instrumentally. The songs themselves tend to be pretty long, but they do a good job of keeping the momentum up and not overstaying their welcome.

Score: 73/100

Artist: Richard Henshall | Album: The Cocoon | Genre: Progressive metal, Progressive rock | Bandcamp

The latest album from Haken’s guitarist/keyboardist is exactly what you’d expect. There are tons of speedy, intricate riffs, and smart contrasts of metallic heaviness with moments of jazzy and poppy levity. The soloing is restrained, avoiding the common pitfall of virtuosic masturbation that you often find in this corner of prog. My one real complaint here is that Henshal’s vocals are pretty weak. His chops as a guitarist are solid, but his voice is often weak or strained.

Score: 80/100 Continue reading “Odds & Ends – September 23, 2019” →