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.

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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

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Album Review: Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit

Band: Tomb Mold | Album: The Enduring Spirit | Genre: Death metal, Progressive metal | Year: 2023

From: Toronto, Canada | Label: 20 Buck Spin

For fans of: Blood Incantation, Edge of Sanity

Bandcamp

Tomb Mold is a name I’ve heard tossed around in the past. I was vaguely aware of them, and that people generally liked them, but I wasn’t even really sure what subgenre of metal they played. So when they dropped their first new album in four years and people started praising it as this wonderful prog metal release, I felt like I had to give it a listen.

The Enduring Spirit kicks off with “The Perfect Memory (Phantasm of Aura)”. It’s got a tight, complex, nasty main riff, and that title really nails the pretension of prog-death well. The playing is fantastic, and there are lots of neat flourishes. This is one of my favorite songs on the album. The following “Angelic Fabrications”, though, is considerably more generic. It’s not bad, but it’s pretty run-of-the-mill blackened death metal.

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Odds & Ends: October 2, 2023

Band: Baroness | Album: Stone | Genre: Progressive rock, Sludge metal | Bandcamp

Baroness’s first non-color-themed album is an improvement over the miserable Gold & Grey. The production is much better here; I can actually distinguish different instruments in the mix! The songwriting sees Baroness try a few new things, to mixed results. “Beneath the Rose” and “Choir” both see the band integrate some alt-metal influence, and “Magnolia” features some excellent evolution through its runtime. Stone still sees the band trying to be both pop-friendly radio rock and prog-sludge, and that prevents either side from truly shining.

Score: 71/100

Band: Giant the Vine | Album: A Chair at the Backdoor | Genre: Progressive rock, Post-rock | Bandcamp

This instrumental Italian act usually plays at an unhurried pace. This gives the music a chance to build and take its time in making its point. In their best moments, the channel strains of Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater’s less-metallic side. On the flip side, Giant the Vine has a tendency to let their music become aimless or repetitive. On the whole, this is decent, enjoyable instrumental prog, but the bloat does detract from it somewhat.

Score: 67/100

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Album Review: The Anchoret – It All Began With Loneliness

Band: The Anchoret | Album: It All Began with Loneliness | Genre: Progressive rock, Progressive metal | Year: 2023

From: Canada | Label: Willowtip Record

For fans of: Dream Theater, latter-era Porcupine Tree, Devin Townsend

Bandcamp

I really couldn’t find too much about The Anchoret. “Canada” is the extent of what I could find about their origin, and their record label doesn’t have much more information on them. This is a five-piece band that plays a melodic variety of progressive metal, with a number of notable jazz inclusions. With such a scarcity of information, let’s jump right into their debut record, It All Began with Loneliness.

Despite the title, it actually begins with “An Office For…” This features some jazzy–if somewhat overwrought–guitar soloing before launching into a slow-moving, languid verse. The saxophone which shows up is also a bit on the corny end of things. But don’t worry, things improve after this somewhat weak opening!

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Odds & Ends: September 4, 2023

Band: Grant the Sun | Album: Voyage | Genre: Post-metal | Bandcamp

I liked this band’s 2019 EP, Sylvain, so when I saw they were putting out a full-length release, I made sure to put it on my docket. The music here is heavy and moody, occasionally with vocals. Guitar lines are both gritty and expansive, and there are a lot of wonderful textural contrasts. I’m not sure there are enough ideas here to warrant a full album, but this would have made a pretty decent long EP if they trimmed off a couple songs. The playing is great, and I’m especially fond of the guitar tones they chose. But post-metal is simply a genre where songs can quite easily start sounding too similar to one another for me.

Score: 73/100

Artist: Bobby Lee | Album: Endless Skyways | Genre: Krautrock, Americana | Bandcamp

This record is full of dreamy, floating guitar lines and airy, otherworldly atmospheres. The influences of acts like Neu! and Hawkwind are evident, but the occasional twang of slide guitar or folky acoustic strum helps keep this album in fairly unique territory. The blend of country, psychedelia, and krautrock is pulled off very well here.

Score: 77/100

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Album Review: Fleshvessel – Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed

Band: Fleshvessel | Album: Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed | Genre: Avant-garde metal | Year: 2023

From: Chicago, USA | Label: I, Voidhanger Records

For fans of: Oranssi Pazuzu, Panopticon, Panegyrist

Bandcamp

Sometimes I run across albums with artwork that does not seem to fit the music. Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed, the first full-length album from Chicago-based Fleshvessel, doesn’t quite gobsmack me, but it’s not really what I was anticipating. Twisting trees made of arms and chasms lined by teeth led me to expect a gruesome onslaught of relentless death or black metal. But instead, this band has put out an impressively diverse, cohesive, and thoughtful record. Yes, there’s no shortage of harsh metal here, but there’s so much more.

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Odds & Ends: August 7, 2023

Band: Amoeba Split | Album: Quiet Euphoria | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

This instrumental release has a nice diversity of sounds on it, and the prominence given to jazz flavors works in its favor. The saxophone and keyboard parts especially call to mind early jazzy prog acts, like Frank Zappa, Magma, and Soft Machine. At points, they even veer into territory comparable to Return to Forever. The only real weak point here is the sprawling closer, which atmospherically meanders for eleven-plus minutes without saying or doing all that much. That aside, this is a really enjoyable release.

Score: 76/100

Band: Aton Five | Album: Aton Five | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

This instrumental Russian quartet plays a relatively heavy variety of prog that often treads the line between rock and metal. The riffs are flashy, complex, and weird, and the guitar and keyboard tones deployed are all great. Dashes of jazz and classical crop up throughout the record for some pleasant moments of contrast. The speed and complexity of these riffs call to mind bands like Liquid Tension Experiment. The closing 22-minute “Lethe” might be a touch long, but it still has plenty of great ideas in it that channel acts like Pink Floyd and Elder.

Score: 73/100

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Odds & Ends: July 3, 2023

Band: Chafouin | Album: Trois, quatre | Genre: Math rock, Progressive rock | Bandcamp

I liked this band’s 2021 album Toufoulcan, so I was excited when I saw they had something new coming out. Where Toufoulcan had a sense of sonic continuity between the tracks, this release feels more like a collection of unrelated (or barely-related) songs. The music itself is good, and none of the songs overstay their welcome. When taken as a whole, though, Trois, quatre feels a bit unfocused.

Score: 74/100

Band: Numidia | Album: South of the Bridge | Genre: Hard rock, Progressive rock | Bandcamp

This album was a huge disappointment. I loved this band’s Middle Eastern-tinged debut record, which expertly blended Near-Eastern flavors with prog and psych in very satisfying ways. Here though, the band has stripped away anything that makes them unique and put out a bland, bluesy hard-ish, vaguely-prog-adjacent record that often reminds me of ‘90s Pink Floyd (and not in a good way). The music isn’t bad, per se, especially if you’re looking for something evocative of certain 1970s blues rock acts, but it’s a major step down from their self-titled, in terms of both creativity and impact.

Score: 52/100

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Album Review: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse

Band: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard | Album: PetroDragonic Apocalypse | Genre: Progressive metal, Thrash metal | Year: 2023

From: Melbourne, Australia | Label: KGLW

For fans of: Coroner, Dark Angel, Vektor

Bandcamp

The 24th album from these prolific Aussies sees them dipping their toes back into thrash metal. 2019’s Infest the Rats’ Nest is a modern thrash masterpiece, and the band’s eco-apocalyptic lyrics suit the grim nature of that music. PetroDragonic Apocalypse is in a similar vein, but the songs are more progressive and ambitious. The riffs are fast, impactful, and complex, and Stu Mackenzie’s hoarse vocals are distinctive throughout.

(It should be noted that the album’s full title is actually PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, but that’s a bit clunky, and PDADENAPEBMD isn’t the catchiest initialism. The album title is also long enough to have caused issues when transferring the folder to my phone’s internal storage, putting it in the same club as such prolix album titles as Dr. Colossus’s I’m a Stupid Moron With an Ugly Face and A Big Butt and my Butt Smells and I Like to Kiss My Own Butt and Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum’s debut album, the title of which is nearly 500 characters long.)

PetroDragonic Apocalypse was recorded in a manner similar to that of their 2022 album with a long-winded title, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava. Where that album was recorded one song per day from scratch, with songs evolving from jam sessions, Mackenzie explained that he wrote the general concept for this album first and then worked backward from there. However, there is much less bloat here than on IDPLML. The songs are often long, but they’re bursting with ideas and frequently take surprising, unexpected turns.

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