Tag: italian progressive rock

Best of 2025: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 1: 50-26

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.

Continue reading “Best of 2025: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 1: 50-26” →

Odds & Ends: May 5, 2025

Band: Danefae | Album: Trøst | Genre: Progressive rock, Post-rock | Bandcamp

Danefae plays a delicate, intricate variety of prog that weaves in folk influences from the band’s native Denmark. There are also frequent heavy counterpoints to their usual sound. The vocals are strong, and the overall atmosphere is often rather dreamy and otherworldly. There is a lot to like about this album, but it often veers a bit too close to  certain strains of post-rock for my taste. I could definitely see this appealing to a lot of people, but there’s just something intangible that prevents it from truly clicking with me.

Score: 74/100

Band: Don Bolo | Album: Umma | Genre: Progressive rock, Avant-garde rock | Bandcamp

The latest release from this Ecuadorian outfit is a lurching, ominous release inspired by the Dune series of books; and it’s an interesting contrast to their punk-influenced 2022 album, Bahamut. This instrumental album cultivates a hypnotic, trancelike mood, befitting of Dune’s mystic themes. The band blends harsh, noisy elements, Western psychedelia and experimentalism, and Middle Eastern motifs, resulting in an uneasy and unsettling work. Thick guitar tones contrast with airier keyboard and saxophone passages, and the rhythm ranges from thundering to skittering.

Score: 84/100

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Odds & Ends: May 6, 2024

Band: Caverns Measureless | Album: Caverns Measureless | Genre: Progressive folk | Bandcamp

Scottish one-man experimental act Caverns Measureless plays a creepy, unsettling, and adventurous variety of folk-rock on their self-titled sophomore album. Acoustic guitar and mandolin plink alongside violin and flutes, while the occasional brash stab of electric guitar sends the atmosphere careening in another direction. The compositions are wiry and fluid, often changing path suddenly. All the songs here are complex, creative, and moody.

Score: 76/100

Band: Hizbut Jámm | Album: Hizbut Jámm | Genre: Psychedelic folk | Bandcamp

Hizbut Jámm is an interesting quartet. It consists of two Poles on guitar and drums, a Senegalese musician on guitar and vocals, and a Burkinabe musician playing the kora–a type of lute from West Africa. The lyrics are sung in Wolof and French, and West African melodies and scales are woven into the music. But this fusion also draws heavily from the tradition of Euro-American psychedelia. Textures are lush and dreamy, and the overall mood is hypnotic. Hizbut Jámm is an entrancing listen, and it’s a rewarding experience both as passive background music and as the subject of more active listening.

Score: 83/100

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Odds & Ends – October 12, 2020

Band: Days Between Stations | Album: Giants | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

Though technically not a member of the band, ex-Yes multi-instrumentalist Billy Sherwood produced and contributed heavily to this album. This band is extremely Yes-y, almost to the point of distraction. It’s a skillful aping of Yes’s sound, but it does leave me wanting a bit more originality at moments. I’m also not wild about Sherwood’s production; this album sounds thin and washed-out. However, if you’re craving something in the vein of (good) ‘90s Yes, these guys are a decent way to scratch that itch.

Score: 70/100

Band: Enslaved | Album: Utgard | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp

This is certainly an Enslaved album. It’s melodic black-ish metal with frequent intrusions of harmonized clean vocals and prominent keyboards. Enslaved’s albums tend to grow on me over time, but they’re also often structured significantly differently. This record feels like Enslaved are trying to be more accessible. The songs are shorter than usual, and the band’s black metal background is played down. When RIITIIR (my favorite release from this band) came out, it didn’t click with me at first, but I felt the itch to revisit it. I don’t think I’ll be having much urge to put this album on repeat.

Score: 72/100

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