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

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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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: 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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Album Review: Jethro Tull – Curious Ruminant

Band: Jethro Tull | Album: Curious Ruminant | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2025

From: Luton, UK | Label: InsideOut Music

Bandcamp

Oh boy! Jethro Tull is back with a new album. I gave their last two releases middling-to-lukewarm coverage, so I didn’t exactly have very high hopes for Curious Ruminant. Overall, though, I was pleasantly surprised. They leaned hard into folk music, and the album is mostly a success. It’s not going to be a contender for my album of the year, but if you’re looking for some decent, proggy folk rock, this is a good choice.

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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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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: 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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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

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Odds & Ends: December 23, 2024

Band: Aeon Nexus | Album: Positive Disintegration | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp

Aeon Nexus’s debut EP is a fun, to-the-point bit of progressive death(-ish) metal. Their vocalist displays impressive range, belting out powerful clean vocals and coarse gutturals. This reminds me of certain early prog-death bands, like Atheist, Cynic, or Death, as well as a more recent crop of artists who strive to evoke this sound. Piano adds a lot of textural depth and richness, which really helps this band stand out from their peers.

Score: 80/100

Band: Ærkenbrand | Album: Hedenfarne æventyr | Genre: Avant-prog, Noise rock | Bandcamp

The newest release from this Danish act is a warbling, wobbling melange of influences drawn from across the spectrum of forward-thinking rock music. Squealing saxophones and mad, buzzing guitars cultivate uneasy moods that can shift on a dime. One moment, there’s a maelstrom of reeds and clattering drums, and the next, things have moved in a more spaced-out and contemplative direction. The closing “Alting Sammen” features some nice electronic touches, too.

Score: 82/100

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