Brighton’s Plaintoid are black with their sophomore album, Flare, two years after their debut. The band maintained their lush, jazzy air while also imbuing their sound with a bit more muscle. On repeated listens of Terrapath, at times I do wish the band had a bit more contrast in their sound. Here, they’ve successfully added a bit more while also maintaining their unique character.
Holotropic is a Slovak extreme metal five-piece that skillfully weaves a base of technical death metal with elements from further afield, ranging from classic prog to ambient to Middle Eastern folk. Individual is their second release, and this short-but-mighty album demonstrates impressive breadth and depth of skill.
Has it really been ten years since the last time Corima released a record? Not quite, actually, but close enough; nine years and three months is a massive gap for any band that isn’t Tool. Their fourth release overall and their third on Soleil Zeuhl, Hunab Ku, continues with the naming conventions of their previous two releases.
Hunab Ku is a Yucatec Maya term meaning “The One God.” Corima’s previous album, 2016’s Amaterasu, was named after the chief deity in the Shinto pantheon, and their 2012 album, Quetzalcoatl, took its name from a prominent Aztec deity. It should be noted that “Hunab Ku” is a colonial-era term used primarily to refer to the Christian God, and it later found use in New Age beliefs. Some have tried to use this term to assert the existence of a precolonial Maya monotheism, but as far as I can tell, this is not a well-supported historical position. I recommend reading the Wikipedia article I linked. (I’m hardly an expert on the Maya, but I’d love to learn more. Should there be any Mayanists in my audience, drop your book recommendations in the comments!)
Thank you for indulging me in the anthropological aside; I did study to be an archaeologist, so I love stuff like this.
The music on Hunab Ku is an exhilarating brand of zeuhl. The band’s Magmatic influences are plainly worn on their sleeves, but they infuse a lot more crunch and grit into their music. Violins and saxophones bring some tonal distinctiveness, and everything here flows together smoothly as one continuous composition.
I don’t know what keeps drawing progressive and technical thrash metal bands to outer space, but it seems to be working. Vektor, Droid, Voivod, Obliveon, and plenty of others have plumbed the depths of the night sky for inspiration, and Cryptic Shift continues in this proud tradition. Their 2020 debut, Visitations from Enceladus, is a phenomenal work, with the 25-minute “Moonbelt Immolator” being one of the greatest metal epics of this century.
Their newest release, Overspace & Supertime, is a monumental work, clocking in at nearly 80 minutes over just five songs. Their brand of cosmic, death-tinged thrash is a powerful canvas for their sci-fi storytelling.
Mirkwood Spiders is a Swiss band that continues in the proud tradition of bands like King Gizzard and (sometimes) Stoned Jesus. Fuzz-drenched, occasionally-bluesy psychedelia swirls and storms as this four-piece weaves their magic.
Artist: Unda Alunda | Album:Dark Wonderful World | Genre: Progressive metal, Djent | Bandcamp
This is one of the better djent records I’ve heard in a while. Djent still isn’t my favorite style of metal, but this album has a lot to offer. There are fun, jazzy riffs, exciting builds, and dazzling solos. The soullessness common to djent is minimized here, as these feel like actual compositions and not just instrumental wank-fests. Certain songs run a bit long, but aside from that, the record is a success overall.
Score: 76/100
Band: Cervello | Album:Chaire | Genre: Italian progressive rock | Links
Two things first: Firstly, I had a hard time finding this album. I don’t know who is in charge of marketing for Cervello, but they’re doing an awful job. Secondly, this was released with a live album, which I will not be reviewing.
Cervello is one of many Italian prog bands who put out one album in the 1970s before vanishing. Cervello’s sole release prior to this was the 1972 album Melos, and it’s one of my favorites from the era. I didn’t have high hopes going into this, especially considering other dull reunion records I’ve covered recently, but I was pleasantly surprised by Chaire. That may also be because almost the whole original band returned for this. Everyone except their original drummer appears on this album. (Compare that to Semiramis’s recent “reunion” where the drummer was the only original member to return.)
The music here is surprisingly vital, energetic, and original. That classic Italian prog flair is omnipresent, and the compositions are mostly engaging. Some cuts are better than others, and the record sags a bit in its second half.Synth tones can sound a bit dated, or the production can be too glossy, but this is a solid record on the whole. I especially love the more energetic tracks, where the connections with their first record can really be heard.
Zeuhl has always been a weird, insular pico-genre. Browsing through RateYourMusic’s timeline of all releases tagged as zeuhl, the first one that was unambiguously unassociated with Magma was not until 1976, six years after Magma’s debut. (And the first non-French release wasn’t until 1991!)
I mentioned Eskaton last week in the Firyuza/Gunesh column, so that inspired me to highlight them for their own piece! Eskaton was one of the first zeuhl bands to arise without any direct connections to Magma. Their music was largely in the same vein, though, if more synth-heavy. I really like their music a lot, and their sophomore release, 4 Visions, is probably my favorite of theirs.
January is always a weird time of year for me to write. I’m done with my 2025 best-of lists, and I do have some music to cover, but not a ton. Or, at least, I need to spend some more time combing Bandcamp to find new stuff to cover and build up a backlog. The Elite Extremophile isn’t all recent album reviews and lists of blurbs, though. I do have two other (very) occasional columns: Deep Dive and Lesser-Known Gems.
On the Deep Dive front, sorry for not putting one out last year. I got about a third of the way through writing one for Camel, but then I kinda lost motivation. I enjoy Camel; I just find them weirdly hard to write about. I think I may set that one aside and do ELP or Kate Bush or something.
On the Lesser-Known Gems front, January offers a great opportunity for that. I can pound out 3-4 LKG columns in an afternoon or two, leaving me with the rest of January to discover and write about more-current releases.
So, without further ado, welcome to Lesser-Known January. Or, alternatively, Lesser-Known Gem-uary. Let me know which name you prefer.
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.
The Elite Extremophile 