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: Dominic Sanderson – Blazing Revelations

Artist: Dominic Sanderson | Album: Blazing Revelations | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2025

From: Liverpool, UK | Label: Independent

For fans of: Van der Graaf Generator, King Crimson

Bandcamp

Dominic Sanderson’s 2023 debut LP, Impermanence, was one of my favorite albums of 2023. It was dark and moody, with sharp contrasts between delicate and bombastic passages. He drew a lot both from classic acts like King Crimson and more modern bands like Porcupine Tree. The song titles are a bit on the melodramatic side, but the music is strong.

Two years later, he’s back with his sophomore release, Blazing Revelations. Sanderson, covering guitar and vocals, is backed by four additional musicians, including a dedicated wind instrumentalist. The music maintains its dark edge, but he is much more clearly drawing directly from Van der Graaf Generator than on his previous release.

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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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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: Rainbow Face – Enjoy This Ruin

Band: Rainbow Face | Album: Enjoy This Ruin | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2024

From: Portland, USA | Label: Independent

For fans of: King Crimson, Cardiacs, late ‘70s Pink Floyd

Bandcamp

Rainbow Face is a Portland, Oregon-based quartet that plays a brand of prog that draws from some of the heavier classic acts. National Diet is an associated band I’ve covered before, and they’re broadly similar in many regards. Enjoy This Ruin is Rainbow Face’s second full-length release, and the seven songs here have a certain auditory roughness to them that I like a lot. The mood here isn’t too cheery (shocking with an album title like this, I know), but they utilize it to make some really solid music.

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Album Review: WIZRD – Elements

Band: WIZRD | Album: Elements | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2024

From: Oslo, Norway | Label: Karisma Records

For fans of: Beardfish, Zopp, K’mono

Bandcamp

WIZRD is a quartet featuring four veterans of Norway’s jazz scene. The band was formed while the members were at the Jazz Conservatory in Trondheim, and their origins as jazz musicians are evident in their playing. The music on Elements is energetic and fluid, and it’s clear the musicians are skilled at playing off one another. I really liked their 2022 debut, Seasons, and Elements is another strong addition to their discography.

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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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Best of 2024: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 1: 50-26

It’s time for The Elite Extremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2024! This is the first half of the list, and you can find the second half here.

2024 wound up being an alright year for the sort of stuff I cover here. It felt like it started off somewhat slow, but in the end, it wasn’t too challenging for me to find 50 records worthy of being highlighted.

Now, onto the list!

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Best of 2024: Top Prog EPs

Welcome back to The Elite Extremophile’s Best of 2024 week. Today, I’ll be presenting my Top EPs of 2024. The criteria for this list is always kind of squishy. The number of entries varies year-to-year, and I take an “I’ll know it when I see it” attitude when it comes to differentiating EPs and LPs. This year, I’ve got six strong short releases to highlight. (And as a reminder, these year-end lists cover music released between December 2023 and November 2024.)

Now, let’s get to it!

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Best of 2024: Cool Songs

Welcome to the first installment of The Elite Extremophile’s Best of 2024. Today we’re starting off with Cool Songs, to be followed by the Top EPs tomorrow and the Top Albums on Wednesday and Thursday.

Before we get to it, let me give my usual Best-Of disclaimers. This is a one-man operation, in regard to writing the reviews. My proofreaders Kelci and Dan are very helpful, but I’m sure there was plenty of great music I just simply couldn’t get around to. I’ve also got my own personal biases against certain styles and trends.

And as a reminder, these year-end lists cover music released between December 2023 and November 2024. I spend much of December compiling and editing these lists, so I don’t bother searching for new music released in December until the new year.

This segment is meant to show off great tracks that do not appear on my other year-end lists. If a release makes my best EPs or best albums list, it is disqualified from appearing in this particular segment.

Without further ado, let’s get to it!

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