Best of 2024: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 2: 25-1

Welcome back to The Elite Extremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2024. Today covers the top 25, and you can read about the first half in Part 1.

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.

Now, onto the list!

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Album Review: Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God

Band: Ulcerate | Album: Cutting the Throat of God | Genre: Death metal, Progressive metal | Year: 2024

From: Auckland, New Zealand | Label: Debemur Morti

For fans of: Gorguts, Artificial Brain, Blood Incantation

Bandcamp

Barely a month ago, I commented on how infrequently New Zealand shows up on this site. (Indeed, that was the first time I had featured any Kiwis here in three-and-a-half years.) And now here I am, covering (what is most likely) that country’s most respected metal band!

I covered Ulcerate’s last album, 2020’s Stare into Death and Be Still, and I liked it. I didn’t revere it quite as much as many others, but it’s a solid album overall. My thoughts on it haven’t moved much since my original review. This trio’s new release though, Cutting the Throat of God, takes the thundering, intelligent death metal of their last album and further refines it into something spectacular.

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Album Review: Half Empty Glasshouse – The Exit Is Over There!

Band: Half Empty Glasshouse | Album: The Exit Is Over There! | Genre: Avant-prog | Year: 2024

From: Auckland, New Zealand | Label: Uncharted Sounds

For fans of: black midi, Arcturus, 5uu’s

Bandcamp

I swear I cover more than just avant-prog. Please ignore the fact that this is the fourth consecutive full-length review I’ve posted of an avant-prog act. 2024 is shaping up to be kind of a slow year in most of the other pico-genres I cover, but the crazy stuff is having a decent one. But you know what I don’t cover that often? New Zealanders!

Half Empty Glasshouse is a New Zealandic avant-prog and experimental metal band that takes the classical influences of bands like Eunuchs and integrates it even more. The Exit Is Over There! is their second full-length release, and it’s a concept album about public backlash to experimental music throughout history. The twisted, disgusted and disgusting faces on the album’s cover are a perfect complement to this theme.

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Top 50 Prog Albums of 2020, Part 1: 50-26

Welcome to Part One of TheEliteExtremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2020, this site’s second-annual best-of list. It’s also my tenth year of writing year-end music roundups. The first eight were posted on my personal Facebook. Check out Part 2 here.

2020 was a banner year for progressive rock and progressive metal. There were so many fantastic albums released, and paring this list down to just 50 was often a painful process. Even more difficult was deciding on the exact order of these albums.

Like I said last year, I’m sure there are some excellent albums not included. 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, which affected the composition of this list. But if you’ve got recommendations, do not hesitate to shoot them my way.

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Odds & Ends – December 14, 2020

Band: Avandra | Album: Skylighting | Genre: Progressive metal, Progressive rock | Bandcamp

After this band’s stellar debut last year, Skylighting has come as something of a disappointment. This is still a metal album, but only barely. They went in harder on ballads and gentle pieces, and the distinctive vocals—one of the strengths of Descender—wear thin on this record. All in all, much of the album’s atmosphere comes off as mushy and indistinct. There is some very good music here, particularly in the album’s second half, but this turn toward gentleness is disappointing.

Score: 59/100

Band: Dysylumn | Album: Cosmogonie | Genre: Post-metal, Progressive metal | Bandcamp

This churning maelstrom of an album relentlessly pushes forward with its crashing walls of distortion, enticing melodies, and unpredictable structural turns. Dysylumn blend the best textural elements of atmospheric black metal with a more urgent undercurrent. This is a pretty long record, clocking in at nearly 80 minutes, but it feels like it needs that length. It doesn’t meander or lose focus, but Cosmogonie does require patience.

Score: 80/100

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Odds & Ends – July 27, 2020

Band: Chaos Over Cosmos | Album: The Ultimate Multiverse | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp

This album is packed to the brim with tight, technical riffage and lush synth pads. Chaos Over Cosmos draw heavily from melodic death metal and classic prog metal, and they blend it into something exciting and complex. It’s perhaps not the most inventive or original bit of prog metal you’ll hear this year, but it’s engaging, fun, and shockingly accessible for a genre like death metal.

Score: 73/100

Band: Inter Arma | Album: Garber Days Revisited | Genre: Sludge metal, Progressive metal | Bandcamp

This is Inter Arma’s covers album. There are some interesting experiments on here. It opens with a Ministry cover; I’m not familiar with the original, but the feeling is both pummeling and atmospheric. Their cover of Neil Young’s “Southern Man” is an absolute gem. The blackened sludge fury lends itself to this track so naturally. This middle of this album sags a bit for me, as I’m not a fan of any of the originals, though hearing Inter Arma’s takes is interesting. They cover “Runnin’ Down a Dream”, and that’s just disorienting. Tom Petty was not sludgy in the least, and these guys play this song pretty clean. The non-shrieked vocals were almost distracting. It’s a serviceable cover, but it doesn’t do anything noteworthy. The album ends on a cover of “Purple Rain”. It closes strong, but the vocals in the first half feel strained, and that sort of instrumental gentleness doesn’t suit these guys too well.

Score: 65/100 Continue reading “Odds & Ends – July 27, 2020” →

Album Review: The Dark Third – Even As the Light Grows

dark

Band: The Dark Third | Album: Even As the Light Grows | Year: 2018 | Genre: Post rock, Progressive rock, Post metal

From: Auckland, New Zealand | Label: Sony BMG

For fans of: Pure Reason Revolution, Alcest

Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon | Apple Music

I was surprised at just how much I liked this album. It’s a very strong debut outing, and I’m very interested to see what this New Zealand quintet will do in the future. The Dark Third use atmosphere as an instrument unto itself, and there’s a nice balance of loud and soft elements.

The opening epic begins with a wall of distorted guitar which transitions into an impressive instrumental exercise. Guitar lines soar over complex rhythms, only to be overtaken by majestic violins. Hints of blackgaze (black metal shoegaze) show up momentarily, but they’re soon replaced by the melancholy verse. Broad guitar arpeggios complement the vocals, which sound like they’re adrift in space. Near the 8-minute mark, the song becomes a quiet acoustic piece, led by piano and folk-inflected guitar patterns. This shift leads back to the earlier bombast to close the song out. Continue reading “Album Review: The Dark Third – Even As the Light Grows” →