Odds & Ends: June 2, 2025

Band: Ancient Death | Album: Ego Dissolution | Genre: Progressive metal, Death metal | Bandcamp

Ego Dissolution is an exciting record that deftly weaves progressive and cosmic elements into a solid death metal base. This album is somewhat comparable to Blood Incantation’s recent work, minus the overt Floydianisms. There are pummeling, stormy riffs and gut-rattling bass and drums, but the occasional pared-back moment (like on “Breathe”) really helps this album shine.

Score: 83/100

Band: Cosmic Cathedral | Album: Deep Water | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

The latest Neal Morse project certainly sounds like a Neal Morse project. And as usual, where Neal is the creative lead on a project, he has one question for you: “Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior: Jesus Christ?”

The music is fine. Do you like early Spock’s Beard? Do you like Transatlantic? Do you have enough lactase in your system to handle the staggering amount of cheese here? Then you’re probably going to enjoy this, especially if you like (or at least don’t mind) the overt religiosity. There are some genuinely fun passages, and for all my quibbles, Morse is a very talented arranger. He’s got his signature sound, and he’s good at varying it enough between releases to (mostly) stay interesting on a musical level.

That said, this does suffer from some ills endemic to his other works. First and foremost is the album’s length. Deep Water is 71 minutes long, and it is absolutely not deserving of that length. The most obvious culprits here are the 13-minute opener and the 9-part, 38-minute title track. There’s simply an immense amount of bloat and music that doesn’t really lead to or add anything.

Secondly, it’s Jesus. Like, I get it, Neal. You found God. Now find something else to write about. Or at least be less obvious about it. If I, an avowed lyric-zone-outer, am noticing how thoroughly you’re beating a dead horse, try shifting topics. Or at least pick some obscure Bible stories. There’s a lot of material there.

Score: 70/100

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Album Review: Edensong – Our Road to Dust

Band: Edensong | Album: Our Road to Dust | Genre: Progressive rock, Progressive metal | Year: 2025

From: Middletown, USA | Label: The Laser’s Edge

For fans of: The Dear Hunter, Phideaux, Dream Theater, Jethro Tull

Bandcamp

Edensong is not a band I was familiar with before writing this review. They play a brand of semi-metallic progressive rock with significant folk influences. The band also has a dedicated flutist, so the comparisons to Jethro Tull are pretty easy. Those comparisons are also pretty apt, as Tull’s influence can be heard throughout this record.

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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: April 7, 2025

Artist: Lukey Cope | Album: Interpretation | Genre: Progressive rock, Progressive metal | Bandcamp

Lukey Cope’s debut album is an instrumental affair full of fast, flashy guitar licks. Amid all the showing off, he also displays a keen ear for melody and composition. Piano is prominently deployed, and that instrument’s percussive, biting tone pairs well against some of the thicker auditory qualities at play here. Despite being an instrumental record with a semi-atmospheric vibe, the bloat is pretty minimal here.

Score: 79/100

Band: Deddom | Album: When you find out the amount of your pension and start thinking what to do with it | Genre: Avant-garde metal | Bandcamp

This is an absolutely insane release. This 42-minute behemoth covers territory as diverse as black metal, free jazz, ambient, and more. It’s angry, full of harsh sounds and uneasy rhythms. There is a lot of inventive, oddball material here, and I like just how stark many of the contrasts are. That said, it is longer than it needs to be, and if you’re not in the mood for something harsh and challenging, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Score: 73/100

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Album Review: Frogg – Eclipse

Bad: Frogg | Album: Eclipse | Genre: Progressive death metal, Technical death metal | Year: 2025

From: New York, USA | Label: Independent

For fans of: Atheist, Atvm, Between the Buried and Me, Vektor

Bandcamp

I covered Frogg’s debut EP, A Reptilian Dystopia, back in 2020, and I really liked it. It was one of my favorite short releases of that year. In the intervening years, they’ve put out a handful of songs (all of which show up here), but now they’re finally back with their first LP.

Frogg’s brand of music is fast, dense, and powerful. I often have somewhat mixed feelings on tech-death bands, as it’s easy for such acts to get lost in their own intricate guitar lines. Frogg, though, demonstrates both a keen ear for melody and a certain compositional ambition often lacking elsewhere in this micro-genre.

Plus, just look at that album cover. 10/10, no notes.

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Odds & Ends: March 3, 2025

Band: Besna | Album: Krásno | Genre: Post-metal | Bandcamp

Slovakian quartet Besna’s newest album is a powerful record full of searing, anguished post-black metal. The band expertly blends haunting and disorienting atmospheres with raw emotionality and clever and unexpected song structures. There are moments of stark beauty woven into the piercing guitar lines. The closing track is an especially strong encapsulation of this band’s best tendencies.

Score: 82/100

Artist: Marton Juhasz | Album: Metropolis | Genre: Jazz, Jazz-fusion | Apple Music

This is certainly at the jazzier end of things I cover, but it isn’t out of place here. Juhasz’s latest album sees him toy around with complex meters and rhythms, and the drumming is especially impressive. Warm saxophones and glimmering electric piano lead the way on most songs. He also draws from a fairly diverse set of influences. “Sao Paulo” has fitting Brazilian flavors; the guitar on “Helio” would be right at home in a post-rock song; and “Radar” features the structured chaos of an avant-leaning math rock band.

Score: 81/100

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Album Review: Dream Theater – Parasomnia

Band: Dream Theater | Album: Parasomnia | Genre: Progressive metal | Year: 2025

From: Boston, USA | Label: Inside Out Music

Bandcamp

Three-and-a-half years is a relatively long gap between Dream Theater albums. In fact, this is the longest it’s ever taken them to put out a new album. However, this record also saw some rare churn (or maybe un-churn) in the band’s lineup. Mike Portnoy is back behind the drums after a 15-year absence.

For my money, though, I don’t notice much of a difference. I wasn’t nuts about a lot of Dream Theater’s work with Mike Mangini, but Portnoy has his share of spotty records with the band, too. The music here is pretty typical of the band. They write big, majestic melodies, and they also engage in astounding amounts of instrumental wankery. C’mon. It’s a Dream Theater album. If you’re reading this, you probably know what you’re getting into.

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Album Review: Hologram Earth – City of Gold

Band: Hologram Earth | Album: City of Gold | Genre: Progressive metal, Post-metal | Year: 2025

From: Amsterdam, Netherlands | Label: Independent

For fans of: The Ocean, Leprous, Meshuggah

Bandcamp

Hologram Earth is a Dutch band that plays an intriguing variety of metal. Much of their music is full of aggressive, technical basslines; but the guitars are often more abstract and impressionistic. The band also utilizes trumpet, trombone, and flugelhorn as effective atmospheric elements. I really liked their 2017 debut album, Black Cell Program, but they hadn’t released anything since a single in 2018. As such, I thought this band had just kinda petered out. Lo and behold, though, they’ve been working on something!

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Odds & Ends: February 3, 2025

Band: Actionfredag | Album: Lys fremtid i mørke | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

I liked Actionfredag’s debut, Turist i eget liv, a lot, so I went into this new release with somewhat high hopes. The opening track, “Angst oppå bordet” is a tense and exciting instrumental, but much of the rest of the album fails to land for me. They’ve incorporated a lot more jazz and Canterbury elements on this record, but it often comes off as a bit weak and mushy. Many songs meander without saying or doing much, and even some of the more enjoyable cuts here are still somewhat forgettable. There’s a certain sonic slipperiness which makes them difficult to hold onto. If you like warm, mellow jazz more than I do, perhaps you’ll get more out of this.

Score: 62/100

Band: Blackwood Station | Album: In the Gamma Garden | Genre: Psychedelic folk, Americana | Bandcamp

On their latest album, Blackwood Station takes a laid-back, psychedelic approach that heavily evokes the late 1960s. Textures are lush, and the atmosphere is dreamy. Bandleader Ian Blackwood shows a natural knack for catchy melodies. Some songs are a bit longer than they need to be, but it’s an overall fun listen.

Score: 78/100

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Album Review: Uulliata Digir – Uulliata Digir

Band: Uulliata Digir | Album: Uulliata Digir | Genre: Avant-garde metal | Year: 2025

From: Poznań, Poland | Label: Independent

For fans of: Neurosis, Ashenspire, Kayo Dot

Bandcamp

My usual means of looking for music does have its blind spots. I typically search by tags on Bandcamp, but if a band doesn’t use a certain tag, I’m not going to run across their material. I try to account for these blind spots by occasionally perusing the charts on Rate Your Music and Prog Archives, but Uulliata Digir is a band I found via the comment section of a Simpsons meme on Facebook.

Uulliata Digir is a Polish sextet based out of Poznań, and their self-titled debut is a strange and striking record. It has a swirling, lurching rhythm, and the atmosphere is often hazy and ritualistic. Upon my first listen, it reminded me a lot of Solar Drone Ceremony. This is far from drone, but that occultic ritualism is a common bond between the two albums. Consisting of two epics, two interludes, and one song of a-bit-more-than-average length, Uulliata Digir brings the listener on an otherworldly journey.

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