Welcome to the top half of The Elite Extremophile’s Top Prog Albums of 2025. Part One can be found here.
Continue reading “Best of 2025: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 2: 25-1”Best of 2025: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 2: 25-1
Tag: thrash metal
Album Review: Coroner – Dissonance Theory
Band: Coroner | Album: Dissonance Theory | Genre: Progressive thrash metal | Year: 2025
From: Zurich, Switzerland | Label: Century Media
For fans of: Voivod, Dark Angel, Vektor
As I’ve noted before, progressive thrash is currently one of the less-popular varieties of metal out there. A few bands still carry the torch (like Vektor and Anarchÿ), but black, death, and sludge bands are much more likely to fold progressive elements into their music. For a while in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, prog-thrash was relatively more vibrant. Bands like Dark Angel, Toxik, Voivod, Watchtower, and even Metallica wrote long, multiparted compositions and demonstrated some major artistic ambitions.
One of those classic early prog-thrash bands was the Swiss trio Coroner. Their songs were usually relatively to-the-point, only rarely going over six minutes. But their composition was some of the most varied and intellectual in all of thrash metal. Jazz, classical, and avant-garde elements often found their way into the band’s riffs. The last time Coroner put out an album was their self-titled quasi-compilation album from 1995. They broke up and went on an extended hiatus. I wasn’t even aware they’d reunited!
Continue reading “Album Review: Coroner – Dissonance Theory”Odds & Ends: December 30, 2024
Band: Anarchÿ | Album: Xenötech and the Cosmic Anarchÿ | Genre: Progressive thrash metal | Bandcamp
Anarchÿ’s third full-length release sees this St. Louis-based thrash duo both stay in their usual niche and also push some sonic boundaries. Verbose sci-fi storytelling, blazing guitar lines, and more umlauts than any reasonable person would ever use all abound here. Synth pads do a great job at adding richness and lushness to the music, and the occasional acoustic interlude helps to keep this record varied and interesting. There is even a splash of sitar for some truly unexpected sonic variance.
Score: 83/100
Band: Avneya | Album: Road to I | Genre: Progressive death metal | Bandcamp
Avneya’s debut record is a great example of progressive death metal. There’s a strong focus on contrasts between delicate, melodic passages and moments of crushing heaviness. Dashes of strings here and there add some nice contrast, and folk motifs from the band’s native Israel also add to this record’s distinctiveness.
Score: 79/100
Continue reading “Odds & Ends: December 30, 2024”Album Review: Anarchÿ – Eyeclöser
Band: Anarchÿ | Album: Eyeclöser | Genre: Progressive thrash metal | Year: 2023
From: St. Louis, USA | Label: Independent
For fans of: Vektor, Coroner, Voivod
When I covered Anarchÿ’s debut album a couple years ago, I noted that thrash (and especially prog-thrash) is not the most widespread or vibrant metal subgenre at the moment, but the few bands in the current vanguard are pretty solid. Vektor is not known for a rigorous release schedule, and Droid–a Canadian prog-thrash act I like a lot–put out one album seven years ago, and it’s been radio silence since. With Anarchÿ, it’s nice to have a semi-regular flow of new music.
Or, well, mostly new music. Eyeclöser, the band’s second full-length record is three-quarters new material, but it does feature a handful of rerecorded songs originally from their 2021 EP Breathing Necropolis. As a proportion of this album’s total runtime, rerecordings have a combined length less than this album’s centerpiece suite. This is a long record, so get comfortable before settling in for it.
Continue reading “Album Review: Anarchÿ – Eyeclöser”Best of 2023: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 2: 25-1
Welcome to part two of The Elite Extremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2023. Part one can be found here. Now, let’s get back to it!
Continue reading “Best of 2023: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 2: 25-1”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
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.
Continue reading “Album Review: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse”Album Review: Hammers of Misfortune – Overtaker
Band: Hammers of Misfortune | Album: Overtaker | Genre: Progressive metal, Thrash metal | Year: 2022
From: San Francisco, USA | Label: Independent
For fans of: Detente, Voivod, Droid
Hammers of Misfortune is a progressive thrash four-piece currently based somewhere out of Montana. Every source outside of their Bandcamp listed their location as San Francisco, but Bandcamp said they’re based in Montana. So I’m guessing a relocation occurred somewhat recently.
Geographical unclarity aside, they’ve got a distinctive sound. Female-fronted acts outside of power and traditional metal are somewhat rare, and this band is quite keys-forward, especially for a thrash band. The vocals remind me a lot of Detente, and the rich synths and organs could fit in perfectly with any classic prog band. The riffs are fast and complex, though, and the music overall is uncompromising.
Continue reading “Album Review: Hammers of Misfortune – Overtaker”Top 50 Prog Albums of 2022, Part 2: 25-1
Welcome back to The Elite Extremophile’s Topg 50 Prog Albums of 2022. In case you missed it, Part 1 can be found here.
Continue reading “Top 50 Prog Albums of 2022, Part 2: 25-1”Album Review: Anarchÿ – Sentïence
Band: Anarchÿ | Album:Sentïence | Genre: Progressive thrash metal | Year: 2022
From: St. Louis, USA | Label: Anarchötic Audio
For fans of: Coroner, Vektor, Toxik, Superfluous umlauts
Thrash metal is a genre I like a lot when it’s done well, but there simply don’t seem to be that many quality thrash bands nowadays. There’s plenty of amazing output from the mid ‘80s through the early ‘90, Vektor’s music is amazing, and Voivod is still doing respectable work, but prog-thrash isn’t exactly the most flourishing sound out there.
Anarchÿ is a two-piece based out of St. Louis, and their debut full-length album Sentïence does a great job of scratching that prog-thrash itch. The songs are propulsive and masterfully played, and the breakneck pace of the music keeps the listener stuck to their music-player of choice. Even the album art and extraneous umlauts do an incredible job of conjuring this micro-genre’s heyday.
Continue reading “Album Review: Anarchÿ – Sentïence”Album Review: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Omnium Gatherum
Band: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Album:Omnium Gatherum | Genre: Psychedelic rock | Year: 2022
From: Melbourne, Australia | Label: KGLW
I hesitate to use a label more restrictive than “rock” to describe King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. These astonishingly prolific Aussies have one of the most diverse back catalogs in modern popular music, ranging from garage rock to prog to thrash metal to synthpop to microtonal music and beyond. Their latest release is a dizzying encapsulation of their always-shifting style. The appropriately-titled Omnium Gatherum (a faux-Latin phrase meaning “a collection of many different things”) is a sprawling, 80-minute record that has a bit of everything.
Continue reading “Album Review: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Omnium Gatherum”
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