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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Album Review: Saint Vayu – Eternal Returns

Band: Saint Vayu | Album: Eternal Returns | Genre: Progressive rock, Neo-prog | Year: 2025

From: Los Angeles, USA | Label: Wave Racers Collective

For fans of: Spock’s Beard, Wobbler, Marillion

Bandcamp

I’ve dipped my toes into electronica a handful of times on this site. I often feel somewhat out of my depth, but there is the occasional act which crosses into my wheelhouse. One of the first electronic acts I covered was Vayu and their 2021 album, Wrath. That was solidly an electronic album with prog-rock influences, and the vocals were performed with a Vocaloid synthesizer. I liked it overall, and obviously, so did Pope Francis, hence the canonization and name change.

(Note: I started writing this review before Pope Francis died.)

(Second note: Francis contributed to a progressive rock album in 2015, which is fucking wild. Wake Up! is actually an alright record. Not amazing, but alright.)

In the four years since Wrath, more has changed in the band than just the name. Where Wrath was primarily electronic, Eternal Returns is unquestionably a rock album. Vocaloid has been eschewed, as well, with the sole member of this band contributing his own vocals.

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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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Album Review: Fulguromatic – Fulguromatic

Band: Fulguromatic | Album: Fulguromatic | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2025

From: Rennes, France | Label: áMARXE

For fans of: Zopp, Frank Zappa, Gong

Bandcamp

Fulguromatic is a French duo, about which there is relatively little information online. Their self-titled debut album is a fascinating blend of styles. “Progressive rock” is certainly a safe label for this act, but they incorporate a lot of jazz into their sound, as well as weirder, more experimental and improvisational elements. Fulguromatic has a rich and enthralling sound, and each song is impressively inventive.

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Album Review: Amplifier – Gargantuan

Band: Amplifier | Album: Gargantuan | Genre: Progressive rock, Space rock | Year: 2025

From: Manchester, UK | Label: Rockosmos

For fans of: Devin Townsend’s less metallic stuff, Porcupine Tree, latter-era Beatles

Bandcamp

Amplifier is a band that’s been around for a while, and they’ve often skirted the edges of this site’s purview. They’re primarily an alt-rock band, but they frequently include prog, psych, and space elements in their music. I’m especially fond of their 2011 release, The Octopus. Gargantuan is the band’s eighth studio album, and it sees them largely stick to their usual sound, but with a bit more space rock influence than on their last album. Things are grand and huge and often overblown here, but the band pulls it off quite well.

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Album Review: The Mars Volta – Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio

Band: The Mars Volta | Album: Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio | Genre: Art rock | Year: 2025

From: El Paso, USA | Label: Clouds Hill

Bandcamp

I was not super jazzed about this album in the period leading up to its release. The Mars Volta’s 2022 self-titled was not a good record. I savaged it as being underbaked, half-assed, and overall un-Voltaic. Supposedly, the acoustic re-recording of that album from 2023 is better, but I haven’t listened to it. I thought the underlying songwriting was weak enough that an aesthetic reshaping couldn’t save it.

TMV’s new album is Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio (Dirty Luck; the Eyes of Emptiness). It’s 18 songs long, so that daunted me a bit at first glance. But the total runtime is under 50 minutes, so it’s not as bad as I initially feared. I was dreading the prospect of something with the sound of their self-titled coupled with the length of Frances the Mute.

I’m happy to report my fears were largely misplaced. Lucro sucio is a huge improvement over The Mars Volta. The songs are relatively short, but they don’t suffer from the same underdeveloped qualities of their reunion record. Songs flow together smoothly, giving this a sense of cohesion the last album sorely lacked.

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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: Motorpsycho – Motorpsycho

Band: Motorpsycho | Album: Motorpsycho | Genre: Psychedelic rock, Progressive rock | Year: 2025

From: Trondheim, Norway | Label: Det Nordenfjeldske Grammofonselskab

For fans of: Amplifier, Gong, Dungen, Slift

Bandcamp

Motorpsycho is one of the most prolific bands in the modern prog scene. They’re not quite King Gizzard, but they’re not terribly far off, either. Including a handful of collaborations, their 2025 self-titled is their 28th full-length release. They’ve demonstrated a lot of range, both across their career and on individual records. Their 1991 debut is primarily a stoner metal album, for example. I wasn’t introduced to Motorpsycho until their sprawling 2017 album The Tower.

Motorpsycho sees the now-duo take an approach somewhat similar to The Tower. This is a long record with a few songs where the band really stretches out. Textures are rich, dreamy, and psychedelic, but flashes of heavier stuff crop up every now and again.

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Album Review: Steven Wilson – The Overview

Artist: Steven Wilson | Album: The Overview | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2025

From: Hertfordshire, UK | Label: Fiction Records

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Steven Wilson has described his new album, The Overview, as a return to longer-form writing. I’m not sure “return” is necessarily applicable here. Even To the Bone and The Future Bites had one song apiece that pushed 10 minutes. Though I suppose if he’s talking more specifically about songs long enough to cover one whole side of an LP, it has been a while. The last one of such length was “Raider II” off Grace for Drowning in 2011. And this is the first album to feature two such massive songs since The Sky Moves Sideways (though disc one of The Incident is billed as one hour-long song cycle).

This is also the first Steven Wilson solo album in a while I’ve gone into with good hopes. He has explicitly cited Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd as influences he channeled here, as well as stating that the concept of The Overview is well-suited to progressive rock. (The concept behind this album is “the overview effect,” where astronauts viewing the Earth from above often report overwhelming emotion and a strong connection with all of humanity.)

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