Odds & Ends: December 1, 2025

Band: Agabas | Album: Hard Anger | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp

The title of Agabas’s latest record is quite fitting. This record is heavy, hard-hitting, and angry as hell. The riffs are punishing, lashing the listener’s ears. There’s a neverending sense of forward momentum, with almost no breathing room. Everything here is maximal, with shouted vocals, pummeling guitars, and squalling saxophone filling up every available inch of auditory space.

Score: 76/100

Band: Ahles | Album: Between Dreams and the Waking World | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp

The debut album (well, sorta; they previously released a record in 2010 under the moniker Born from the Ashes) from this Australian quartet showed a lot of promise. The opening few songs featured a lot of strong melodies, exciting playing, and intelligent structuring. Unfortunately, the second half of the album is quite a bit wobblier, and it’s only hampered by some less-than-amazing lyrics that even I couldn’t zone out. However, they show a lot of ambition and promise, so I’m optimistic they can refine things more on their next release in 2040.

Score: 67/100

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Album Review: Gros Coeur – Vague Scélérate

Band: Gros Coeur | Album: Vague Scélérate | Genre: Krautrock, Progressive rock | Year: 2025

From: Liege, Belgium | Label: Spinda Records

For fans of: King Gizzard, Wand, Mother’s Cake

Bandcamp

Gros Coeur is a band out of Belgium, and Vague Scélérate (Eng.: Rogue Wave) is their sophomore release. Belgium isn’t exactly some hotbed of prog; to my recollection, Neptunian Maximalism is the only Belgian band I’ve featured on here before. And even the other Belgian bands in my library are kind of…marginal. Nessie, Phylter, and Womega are hardly essential acts; and I just don’t like Univers Zero that much.

Vague Scélérate, however, is a great record. It’s rather diverse with a wonderful, distinctive sound.

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Album Review: Stinkbug – Between Timid and Timbuktu

Band: Stinkbug | Album: Between Timid and Timbuktu | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2025

From: Portland, (OR,) USA | Label: Independent

For fans of: Yes, Yezda Urfa, K’mono

Bandcamp

Stinkbug is a prime example of why I like going to live music. I discovered them about five days ago (at time of writing) when I went to see Dust Mice perform. (Dust Mice is a Seattle-based space rock band very heavily influenced by Hawkwind, and I only discovered them when I went to go see Everything Oscillating play. And I only know about Everything Oscillating because they’re a Moon Letters side project, whom I first discovered opening for Pinkish Black. Support local live music, folks!) Stinkbug was the second band on the bill, and I was absolutely blown away.

Their sound is definitely rooted in a lot of classic progressive rock, and all four members have experience in jazz. Accordingly, there is a ton of speedy, technical playing and unconventional songwriting on their debut record, Between Timid and Timbuktu. They also add in heavier music, especially thrash metal and punk, but the sound is overall rather sunny and bright.

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Album Review: Coroner – Dissonance Theory

Band: Coroner | Album: Dissonance Theory | Genre: Progressive thrash metal | Year: 2025

From: Zurich, Switzerland | Label: Century Media

For fans of: Voivod, Dark Angel, Vektor

Bandcamp

As I’ve noted before, progressive thrash is currently one of the less-popular varieties of metal out there. A few bands still carry the torch (like Vektor and Anarchÿ), but black, death, and sludge bands are much more likely to fold progressive elements into their music. For a while in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, prog-thrash was relatively more vibrant. Bands like Dark Angel, Toxik, Voivod, Watchtower, and even Metallica wrote long, multiparted compositions and demonstrated some major artistic ambitions.

One of those classic early prog-thrash bands was the Swiss trio Coroner. Their songs were usually relatively to-the-point, only rarely going over six minutes. But their composition was some of the most varied and intellectual in all of thrash metal. Jazz, classical, and avant-garde elements often found their way into the band’s riffs. The last time Coroner put out an album was their self-titled quasi-compilation album from 1995. They broke up and went on an extended hiatus. I wasn’t even aware they’d reunited!

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Odds & Ends: November 3, 2025

Band: El Castillo de Barbazul | Album: Sobre Finales | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

This Mexican instrumental quartet has a rather fun, loose, and noisy air about them. The music is complex and chaotic, and it’s shot through with influences from some of prog’s odder micro-genres, like zeuhl and the Canterbury sound. Some songs on this album are absolutely longer than they need to be, but the band’s unbridled enthusiasm always shines through.

Score: 76/100

Band: Donella Drive | A;bum: AXON | Genre: Progressive metal, Alternative metal | Bandcamp

The latest release from this San Antonio-based duo skillfully blends alternative metal, post-hardcore, and prog into a punchy and memorable record. The band balances harsh, aggressive tones and relatively straightforward melodic passages. In addition to obvious influences like Tool and The Mars Volta, they include some funkier elements that evoke acts like Rage Against the Machine and Primus. Some individual songs can run a little long, but the overall listening experience is a fun one.

Score: 79/100

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