Odds & Ends: December 15, 2025

Artist: Gianni Carlin | Album: In nessun luogo | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

In nessun luogo features a mildly-lo-fi sound, but it works well. Flute is always prominent, providing some great, breathy contrast to the fat and rubbery bass that underpins much of the music. The songwriting is overall solid, though the 21-minute album opener is a bit unfocused at moments. There are some surprisingly catchy passages mixed in, and with the occasional dash of jazz and blues, it makes for a well-balanced record.

Score: 73/100

Band: Hesse Kassel | Album: La Brea | Genre: Post-rock | Bandcamp

The debut record from this Chilean ensemble features intricately structured epics that unfold slowly. Delicate moments contrast heavier passages. Post-punk and art rock influences abound, and there is also clearly a deep debt to Windmill scene bands like black midi and Squid. While I overall like this record, it does have one glaring flaw, and that it is way too damn long. 78 minutes across eight songs leaves a lot of fat to trim, even when taking into account the fact that this is a post-rock record. This band is at their best during their heavier moments, like on “A. Latur”.

Score: 75/100

Continue reading →

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

Continue reading →

Odds & Ends: December 9, 2024

Band: Celeste | Album: Echi di un Futuro Passato | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

Celeste is an Italian band that put out one album in 1976, disbanded, and then reunited in the late 2010s. Despite hailing from Italy, their style of prog has never felt particularly Italian. The music here (and throughout their discography) is light, breezy, and laid-back. Jazz flourishes are ample, and I really like the keyboard tones. This is a nice, relaxing bit of music to have on in the background, but it doesn’t really have enough to grab onto for active listening.

Score: 64/100

Band: Five the Hierophant | Album: Apeiron | Genre: Post-metal, Progressive metal | Bandcamp

Instrumental post-metal band Five the Hierophant blends biting, buzzy saxophone with sludgy guitars and plodding rhythms. In many ways, this band reminds me of a metallic, instrumental version of Van der Graaf Generator. They draw heavily from dark, jazz-influenced classic prog, like King Crimson and the aforementioned VdGG. Little bits of Middle Eastern music crop up on “Moon Over Ziggurat”, and the two-part “Tower of Silence” features unsettling drone and electronic elements. Though the songs are long, their length feels appropriate. The music is clearly carefully constructed, and no notes are wasted.

Score: 85/100

Continue reading →

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

Continue reading →

Odds & Ends: March 4, 2024

Band: Caligula’s Horse | Album: Charcoal Grace | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp

My view of what is actually popular and successful is probably skewed by where I spend my time online. A lot of that time is on Reddit, and a not-insignificant portion of that time in turn is spent perusing r/progmetal. One of the most beloved bands on that subreddit is Caligula’s Horse, and if you’ve paid attention to my comments on other darlings of that subreddit (Nospūn, recent Leprous, and recent Haken) or compared my year-end list to theirs, it should come as little surprise that this is a band that’s never really clicked with me.

Their brand of prog metal is melodic and in the same general vein as Dream Theater. The vocals are clean, and there’s a strong emphasis on majestic climaxes. Everything is well-played, and the songs are smartly-structured, so I’m struggling to articulate why this record isn’t resonating with me. It’s not particularly derivative of any one act, but I suppose there’s not much that really stands out about it either. The production is a bit soupy, as the guitars bleed together into an indistinct distorted mush, and the vocals get swallowed up by the backing. That lack of definition can make it tough for individual elements to stand out.

Score: 66/100

Band: Ellesmere | Album: Stranger Skies | Genre: Neo-prog | Bandcamp

Ellesmere is an Italian band whose music draws heavily from neo-prog and ‘80s arena rock. It’s big, loud, complex, and showy, and if you like acts like Marillion, IQ, or Asia, you’re probably going to like Ellesmere. The production isn’t great, and the vocals are fairly rough, but nevertheless it’s clear the music has some strong bones. The 12-minute title track is especially good, featuring smart structuring choices and dynamic musicianship.

Score: 71/100

Continue reading →

Best of 2023: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 1: 50-26

Welcome to the first half of The Elite Extremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2023. This article covers spots 50-26, and the top 25 will follow soon!

As a reminder: the label of “2023” is not entirely accurate. The music featured here covers December 2022 through November 2023. Trying to find new music in the month of December is a fool’s errand, as much of my time during that month is occupied with writing and editing this list.

As I always say, I’m sure there are some excellent albums not included on my list. This site is a one-man operation (in relation to reviewing, that is; my editors, Kelci and Dan, have been tremendously helpful), and I simply cannot listen to everything that gets released. I also have my personal biases against some rather popular trends in prog. (*cough* djent *cough*)

2023 wound up being an excellent year for the type of music I enjoy. While it wasn’t necessarily difficult to whittle the list down to fifty entries, some of the albums that failed to make the cut for this year’s list probably could place as high as the low thirties in weaker years. (Such acts include Loma Baja, The Ocean, Legendry, and Lil Yachty.) I contemplated expanding the list, but this already takes up a ton of my time as it is. So, let’s get to it!

Continue reading →

Best of 2023: Top Prog EPs

Welcome to The Elite Extremophile’s Top Prog EPs of 2023. The two-part Top 50 Albums list will be posted in the coming days.

As I stated last year, due to the variable number of short releases I run across year-to-year, this list is not limited to a firm number. This year, there were eight EPs I felt worth highlighting.

And where last year had all releases clocking in at under 30 minutes, this year’s collection is a bit more vibes-based. Some EPs fall within last year’s parameters, but others are noticeably longer. I’ve always taken an “I’ll know it when I see it” approach to categorizing EPs and LPs.

Continue reading →

Best of 2023: Cool Songs

Welcome to the fifth annual installment of The Elite Extremophile’s Top Prog Releases. 2023 was an exceptional year for prog and prog-adjacent genres, and I was left with a glut of good music that wasn’t going to make my year-end lists. Even in less-stellar years, there are often records that I’m overall unimpressed with, which just so happen to have a great song or two on them. Thus, from a desire to not give such releases the short shrift, I’ve decided to highlight ten Cool Songs from this year.

This segment is meant to show off great tracks that otherwise do not appear on my year-end lists. If a release makes my best EPs or best albums list, it is disqualified from appearing in this particular segment.

Without further ado, let’s get to it!

Continue reading →

Album Review: Bekor Qilish – The Flesh of a New God

Band: Bekor Qilish | Album: The Flesh of a New God | Genre: Black metal, Progressive metal | Year: 2023

From: Milan, Italy | Label: I, Voidhanger Records

For fans of: Cynic, Enslaved, Spectral Lore, Mare Cognitum

Bandcamp

I do my best to avoid falling into ruts on this site. I’m purposely vague about what constitutes “progressive rock,” “progressive metal,” or any other “weird and/or experimental” music I cover on this site. This approach also extends to my attempts to highlight a lot of different record labels. At times, I feel like this site can border on being a showcase for Spinda, Karisma, or InsideOut. One of those labels I frequently feature–and possibly my favorite metal-focused label at the moment–is I, Voidhanger. This Italy-based label focuses on experimental and extreme metal, and their page always makes up a significant portion of my Bandcamp wishlist. I’ve covered multiple acts of theirs in the past, including Creature, Neptunian Maximalism, and Fleshvessel.

Bekor Qilish is another of I, Voidhanger’s acts that I’ve covered before. Their release from last year, Throes of Death from the Dreamed Nihilism, was one of my favorite short releases of 2022. The Flesh of a New God continues in a similar sonic vein, featuring scourging black metal and rich keyboard tones.

Continue reading →

Odds & Ends: November 13, 2023

Band: Agusa | Album: Prima Materia | Genre: Progressive rock, Psychedelic rock | Bandcamp

The newest release from this (mostly) instrumental Swedish act sees them push in a more overtly psychedelic direction. In the opening track, blues flavors are prominent alongside jazzy flourishes. “Under bar himmel” has a dreamier feel to it; it strongly channels Camel’s gentlest moments. This cut features a great slow build, and it’s probably my favorite on the album. “Ur askan” is bouncy and organ-forward, and the closing “Så ock på jorden” has some fun, funky wah-wahed guitar that complements the band’s usual Camel-isms quite well. Parts of this album can run a bit long, but it’s overall another solid release from this band. If you like Camel or some of the jazzier classic prog acts, you’ll probably like this one a lot.

Score: 75/100

Band: Bear Ghost | Album: jiminy | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

Bands like Bear Ghost always split my opinion. On the one hand, there is no denying that they’re fantastic musicians who write unique, creative music full of twists and surprises. On the other hand, there’s an overwhelming atmosphere of camp, corniness, and self-aware goofiness. I don’t need my prog to be as dour as King Crimson, but I’m not looking for something with its tongue always and invariably in-cheek. In that way, they remind me a lot of Devin Townsend, an artist for whom I have similarly mixed feelings. Despite their technical prowess, a lot of this material comes off as purposelessly weird-for-weirdness’s-sake. (The vocals are also just way too over-enunciated, and that gets under my skin. It reminds me of children’s music at times.) So, I would say, if you like the overt silliness of acts like Cheeto’s Magazine, or Devin Townsend’s cartoonier music (such as Z2), you’ll probably like this a lot. But if you’re like me, and you tend to be more annoyed than enthused by kitchen-sink weirdness, you might want to skip it.

Score: 63/100

Continue reading →