Reports from the Underground: March 2018 (revisited)

Good day reader! Today we will be revisiting some early installments of the site. This is old y’all. I’m not sure any of you remember, but this entire thing started as me (Sam) posting notes to r/progmetal on cool underground prog metal albums I found on Metal-Archives. As such, the “reviews” you see here are not so much reviews as that they’re a short collection of initial thoughts on the music. Everything was a lot less professional than it is now, so please excuse me if some of these are a bit amateurish. I’ve largely tried to keep true to their original spirit, but since some of these notes were so amateurish, I felt the need to update them. It’s still largely the same text, but some reviews are altered a bit from the first time to reflect my thoughts on these albums more accurately. I also updated the FFO for each album, added recommended tracks, and updated the score if necessary. All reviews here are by me (Sam).

The original post can be found here.

Good morning/afternoon/evening r/progmetal,

And welcome to my third installment of this series!

What is this, you ask? In this series I scan the metal-archives for good underground progressive metal albums that went unnoticed. I use their advanced search function for progressive metal full lengths. Then I click on literally everything on the list for the corresponding month and intuitively pick out a few. Be it that I read a positive review somewhere, that it has an interesting characteristic like a 20 minute song or that I just get a good impression from their scanning through their music on their bandcamp and/or Spotify page, if any of those give me a solid enough impression I’ll give it a chance. It’s a tedious process and the quality of bands is very unstable, but I have found some of my favorite bands this way. Someone on the discord gave me the idea to structure my searches and write down notes on them, and that’s what I’m doing now!

Unlike last time, I did not search rateyourmusic and/or progarchives for related genres like prog metalcore or djent. The reason for that being that their search engine does not lend precise enough results for me to make it feasible to search for bands there. What also makes it ineffective is that bands there are often poorly tagged, making it hard to distinguish bands that play “progressive metal” and are not on metal-archives and those who are. And there are also bands who only have a bandcamp page and you have no way of finding them unless someone directs you to it. However, as always, feel free to PM me music you’d like to see reviewed for future installments! Especially if you find anything outside of MA, I’d be very happy to review it.

Now that all of that is out of the way, let’s get to it!

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Sleep in Heads – On the Air (Ukraine)
Style: atmospheric prog metal/rock (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instragram | Metal-Archives page

If you read my February post, you might have seen me talking about a band called Weend’ô. It was a prog rock/metal band with poppy female vocals and decent songwriting, but ultimately it was underwhelming as it didn’t really get anywhere. That’s not a very promising introductory paragraph, isn’t it? And I’m not gonna betray your expectations here, because you can expect the exact same recipe for Sleep in Heads.

Let me start off by saying what Sleep in Heads does well. There’s a very dream-like atmosphere throughout the album, supported by the pretty vocals of Sonya Yarovaya, the tasteful keys of Nikolay Kirsanov, and the unique addition of the violin in Natalia Dzizinskaya. If you are into doing drugs, I think this would work well while high or tripping. Furthermore the riffs are very groovy and the production is stellar. If originality is something you value in your prog, this is something you should try.

What’s also admirable about Sleep in Heads is that they try to build climaxes naturally using unconventional song structures instead of just going all out soloing during the bridge. However, this is also the band’s downfall as (in my opinion) their songwriting isn’t at a high enough level to justify this approach. This causes a severe lack of fitting climaxes, making the record a lot more forgettable than you wish it were, as the potential is definitely there. If you’re gonna leave out the solos in a prog record, you better have some other way of creating climaxes and standout moments because otherwise it’ll get lost in a sea of other average-to-decent bands.

Overall On the Air is a promising debut with great atmospheric, unconventional songwriting, but the lack of standout moments harms it a lot. I recommend them for their next record to put in some solos or study ways of reaching climaxes in other ways, because otherwise they’ll never escape the realm of being simply OK.

Recommended tracks: Pacifying, Deceiver, Time Like the Sand
Recommended for fans of: Caligula’s Horse, The Contortionist – Clairvoyant, Effuse, Bent Knee
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Will ‘o’ Wisp – Mot (Italy)
Style: prog/tech death (harsh vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

This album is… short. The songs are… short. So, my review will be… short. It’s only 34 minutes and the average track length doesn’t even reach 3 minutes, and the longest one is not even 5 minutes. On Mot, Will ‘o’ Wisp (which is an absolutely awful name to type thanks to the double apostrophes) leave little room to breathe. Like a proper death metal album it grabs you by the balls and doesn’t let up. There are great riffs, good solos and odd time signatures, which is all you need in an album like this. Oh, and there are symphonic elements as well sometimes, which is nice. Give it a listen, it’ll be over within a heartbeat. You won’t regret it.

Recommended tracks: I Am Pestilence, Rephaim, Hall of Dead Kings, Banquet of Eternity
Recommended for fans of: Death, Atheist, Pestilence
Final verdict: 8/10

Leviathan – Can’t Be Seen by Looking: Blurring the Lines, Clouding the Truth (US-CO)
Style: 90s prog metal/US power metal (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Official website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Why the hell is that album title so long? And why the hell isn’t this streamed anywhere except for the first two tracks? [Editor’s note: this is no longer the case in 2021, but it was back then.] And why the hell does Mark Zonder [Fates Warning, drums, 1989-2004 E.d.] feature on an album that’s as underground as this? Leviathan‘s latest album poses a lot of questions to the listener, and that’s even before you heard a single note of music.

This is an album which I have known since April already, but I still don’t know what to think of. It’s a very riffy album. Unlike most prog power bands, Leviathan does not play Euro power. This is old-school US power metal, but then progressive and modern. And dang, it’s good. It starts with a soft spoken word intro, but after that Leviathan hit you with super groovy riffs and sexy drum beats. And by groovy I don’t mean groovy in the modern sense of heavy as hell, Gojira-esque headbangers, but rather Queensryche-style, old school mid-tempo riffs that make you feel like you’re that douche from an 80/90s high school movie with an expensive car who plays the music really loud and always has some hot girl next to him. I don’t say this often about prog metal, but Leviathan makes me wanna dance. It just grooves so hard.

What’s good furthermore about the album (sooo not typing that title in full) are the very catchy choruses, Mark Zonder doing Mark Zonder things on drums and the tasty synth work (which also scream 80s) supplementing the music. The songs don’t really stay in one place either, so it’s not just riffs ad nauseum. There are plenty of softer sections to add dynamics to the songs.

What’s less good about the album is mostly found in the song lengths and interludes. Like the album title suggests, this is a concept album about hypnotization of the masses by the elites, furthering the Queensryche comparisons. Like QR, this is also about rebellion. I haven’t delved into the lyrics much, but at least this much is clear to me. For the sake of the concept there are some spoken word interludes of men rousing up crowds about their lack of freedom, how they’re being controlled, etc. Sometimes they work well, but just as often they do not. They’re often placed in the middle of songs, which doesn’t always work to its favor. Some of the songs could also really do well with some trimming. Lastly the production could also use some work for modern prog metal, and the singer isn’t that good, often coming across rather bland in his delivery.

On the whole though, this is an excellent album and certainly one of my favorites from March. If you want to listen to something that channels that old-school cool metal feeling again, this is where you should be Looking. I imagine that there aren’t enough flashy modern proggy licks for the most of you though.

Recommended tracks: Life Beyond Meaning, Mercy Kill Liberty
Recommended for fans of: Queensryche, Savatage, Vicious Rumors, dad metal
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Nautilus – The Oceanwalker (Norway)
Style: prog/post-metal (instrumental)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

I felt like I was gone from this world. Drifting through snow flakes on the wind. Then, I was reminded I had to write a review, aaaaand I fell back to the earth. A month ago I was approached by a band member of this group, and so here I am. Just let me start out by saying that The Oceanwalker is a beautiful instrumental album. Nautilus create beautiful soundscapes with their intricate layering of melodies, while still maintaining a strong prog metal foundation. Every song has distinct themes and melodies and a great dynamic range. There are heavy sections, but they also know when to drop the intensity and focus on atmosphere and/or melodies instead. Even during the riffing sections Nautilus do not stay in one level of intensity, so the record is very dynamic. The best part about this album to me though, is the atmosphere they create. The keys and the melodies bring images of hushed winter landscapes to my mind. It’s beautiful and relaxing, just like the rest of this album. Overall The Oceanwalker is a superb achievement, and they definitely deserve your attention. Be sure to credit u/mweigand, who approached me. Also massive thanks to cavies and Samy from the discord for providing feedback and ideas on my review.

Recommended tracks: Arktos I: Division, Striped Icebergs, Panthalassa
Recommended for fans of: Scale the Summit, Intronaut, Cloudkicker, The Arbitrary, kebab
Final verdict: 8/10

Structural Disorder – …And the Cage Crumbles in the Final Scene (15-03, Sweden)
Style: traditional prog metal/Haken (mixed vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Official website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Sometimes I have no inspiration at all on what to write about an album, and this is one of those times. It’s not because this is bad or mediocre, it’s great actually, but telling you why I like this is just, ugh, idk. Structural Disorder sound like Haken, but they also use growls. The clean singing comes across a bit forced. I’m not well-versed in singing technique, but it sounds as if he’s not relaxing his voice muscles properly. He comes across as if he tries too hard to make it sound “big”. Musically I like what SD have put out. It sounds properly heavy and the songwriting is varied. They wear their influences (Haken and Dream Theater) on their sleeve, yet retain enough originality for it to work. The clean vocals are a turn off for me, but I haven’t heard anyone else I’ve shown this complain about them so I’m probably the only one. This record is good, go check it out.

Recommended tracks: The Fool Who Would Be King, Nine Lies, Kerosene
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Dream Theater, Headspace
Final verdict: 7/10

Monotheist – Scourge (US-FL)
Style: prog (brutal) death metal (harsh vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Do you want your metal to be unrelenting and brutal? Do you want it heavy? This is for you. Scourge is a brutal record in every sense of the word. Deep, incomprehensible growls over mean riffing with lightning-speed drums that will pound on your ears so hard you’ll still feel the aftermath days later.

This is a very ambitious record in which Monotheist attempt to channel all the previous Floridan (prog) death greats, but at the same time try to make it their own. How do they succeed in their quest? The first 2-4 tracks (the third one is split in two parts) are pretty average brutal/tech death, and there’s not much prog on them. However after that the record quickly gets better. The second half kicks off with a 10 minute instrumental piece (which is the best song on the album). From here on out it gets more progressive, and the songwriting gets a lot better. The songs don’t live up to their ambition entirely, but there are some superb moments throughout. There are more softer sections included, odd-time signatures and there are some tasty synths sprinkled in some parts. All these work for the better, making for an overall excellent second half.

So how good is Scourge in the end? Ultimately speaking, it is nothing groundbreaking. Monotheist certainly do have their own sound, but it’s more of a salad bowl than a new entity in the prog death realm. And while this is a great salad bowl, you can’t help but feel disappointed that this is nothing more than a salad bowl.

Recommended tracks: Infinite Wisdom, Desolate It Mourns Before Me, Abominable Acts
Recommended for fans of: Death, Suffocation, Nile, Archspire
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Masochist – Masochist (US-IN)
Style: thrash metal (clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

This is not very progressive really. Masochist is just straight up thrash metal. The only thing progressive about this record are the song lengths. There are some super rare actual prog moments scattered throughout, but that’s it. So, for thrash metal, how good is it? It’s quite decent, with some great moments. The first track is amazing. It starts with a long instrumental intro with shredding solos and awesome riffs, and when the vocals come in it doesn’t lose any steam. Speaking of the vocals, they’re pretty great thrash shouts. Very “manly” and all. banana republic. Second track isn’t as good though as it goes on for way too long on mediocre ideas, which is kind of a running theme throughout the album. Masochist show some good promise here and there, but overall their songwriting isn’t all that memorable.

What is good about Masochist, is the production. Sonically, this is everything modern thrash should sound like. The guitars sound clean and heavy enough to be modern, yet retain that rawness and grit of older metal production. The other instruments sound great as well and everything has its own proper place in the soundscape. The production is so good, it sometimes made me not even notice how mediocre the music could be. This is an enjoyable album, but if I were you I’d rather pull out Rust in Piece or Ride the Lightning again.

Recommended tracks: Uncharted Lands / Annihilate Them All, No More Is the End, Morphine
Recommended for fans of: Metallica, Heathen, Spastic Ink
Final verdict: 6/10

Disconnected – White Colossus (France)
Style: prog/melodic metalcore (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Sometimes I really wonder what metal-archives users are smoking when they tag a band. This was tagged as “progressive metal”, but for 90% of the time this is just melodic metalcore. It’s quite well-performed. There are some djent-y chugs occasionally and I like the keyboard usage a lot in this album (which reminds me of Persephone), but for an album tagged as progressive metal I really expected more prog in this.

Editor’s note: holy hell this review is trash. It doesn’t say much of anything about the music. However I currently don’t have the energy to rewrite it, so I’ll just link a couple of other reviews in here who do give a good idea of what the album is like:
https://metalnation.com/album-review-disconnected-white-colossus/
http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/reviews/cd_3/d_2/disconnected-white.htm

Recommended tracks: Blind Faith, Wounded Heart, White Colossus
Recommended for fans of: Bullet for My Valentine, Trivium
Final verdict: 6/10

Kingfisher Sky – Technicoloured Eyes (The Netherlands)
Style: prog metal/pop (clean, Female vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Official website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

I was intrigued on what this was about as it had great scores on Dutch reviewing websites. 4/5 seemed to be the general consensus for this album, so I went and gave it a listen. And man, did it disappoint. Technicoloured Eyes is like pop songs thrown in a prog metal format. There’s a female singer (who sounds decent enough), and… there’s a male singer, who mostly stays in the background. Furthermore… there’s a female singer. Wait, didn’t I mention that already? Yeah I did. Judith Rijnveld’s singing is basically all that matters here. The music is largely build around her vocal melodies, making it sound a lot like pop. You’ve got some interesting moments here and there. Some good riffs, decent guitar solos and occasionally tasteful synth work can draw your attention, but most of the time the vocals are all that matter here. I mean, it’s not bad by any means, it’s just that I expect more… prog from a prog metal band.

Recommended tracks: Golden Thrones, Walk with Brothers, Swimming Against the Tide
Recommended for fans of: Rush, The Tea Club, Kate Bush
Final verdict: 6/10

Iona Death Cult – Aid to Worship (Ireland)
Style: prog/sludge (harsh vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Last time I said that, while I didn’t listen much to prog sludge, when I do Take The Time for it (pun intended) I often enjoy it a lot. Now you can already guess that this review can go two ways: either it confirms the trend or it breaks from it. I’ll have to disappoint you, because this isn’t really all that good. What immediately stroke me when I spun this was the production, which is bad. I haven’t ever listened to non-prog sludge metal, so the raw production might be intended (as is often the case with metal), but for progressive sludge metal it is certainly below standards. The crashes hurt my ears and the guitars sound very thin for sludge. The drum sound in general could use some work. What’s also bad about this album is the vocal performance. Both the harsh and the clean vocals sound very amateurish. It’s like they were taken straight out of the garage. Some vocal training could do wonders for the next album. I also missed the proggy moments here. I’d say this is about as progressive as 80s Savatage (i.e. not much).

It isn’t all bad though. The rhythm guitarist has a very strong performance supported by a good arsenal of sludge riffs. Nothing too original, but they get you grooving well. The songwriting on Aid to Worship tends to get better as the album progresses. It starts out pretty weak, but as the album goes on you’ll find some excellent moments throughout. I initially felt like grading this a 4/10, but with repeated listens and patience it got remarkably better. I’d say give it a listen, but honestly you’re better off sticking to Astrakhan or Dvne if you want some underground prog sludge.

Recommended tracks: Slumlord, Kafka, Mother Gaia
Recommended for fans of: Down, Cult of Luna, early Mastodon
Final verdict: 6/10

Abduction – A L’heure du Crépuscule (France)
Style: prog death/black (harsh vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

A beautiful progressive black metal album. Abduction has French lyrics. This is not black metal that is carried by aggressive riffs, but rather by atmosphere. The black metal sections are intense and epic and the clean sections get you drifting properly with beautiful melodies and varied, relaxed drumming techniques. Had it not been for the BM parts this would be proper meditation music, as the production is beautiful. Both the harsh and the clean vocals fit very well with the music. The clean vocals especially are beautiful. François Blanc’s chant-like singing makes you feel like he’s conjuring up some ancient magical creatures. His vocal performance alone should convince you to give this a listen.

What also stands out is the drumming. I said the vocals are good, but Morgan Velly’s performance here is just as good, if not better. His techniques are varied and tasteful. In the softer sections his playing is smooth and subdued and during the black metal sections it’s intense and rich with fills. This album can feel a bit aimless at times, but even then the drumming will keep you captivated.

So overall this is an excellent record. It’s carried by the drumming, great vocal performance and atmosphere (along with beautiful production). I recommend any fan of black and/or atmospherically oriented prog metal to check this out.

Recommended tracks: Sous Les Cendres et la Pierre, A l’Heure du Crepuscule
Recommended for fans of: Primordial, Emperor, Enslaved, early Borknagar
Final verdict: 8/10

Marc Rizzo – Rotation (US-NJ)
Style: shred/flamenco (instrumental)
Related links: Spotify | Official website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Looking for instrumental music with a guitarist that can shred? I present to you Marc Rizzo. His licks and riffs are solid and the background instrumentation provide an excellent base that complements the guitars very well. I barely know anything about instrumental prog metal though, so I can’t tell you much about originality (and hence take my largely uneducated opinion with a huge grain of salt), but I liked what I heard. Rotation is not an album without it flaws though. There are one or two pretty pointless flamenco tracks in there and the memorability of his compositions can suffer under mindless shredding. However, I found his guitar theatrics to be pretty tasteful so it didn’t bother me much. I thought it was an enjoyable record, but maybe that’s just me.

Recommended tracks: Signum, Ad Pila et Spathas, Rotation
Recommended for fans of: Ron Jarzombek, Angel Vivaldi, Steve Vai, Andy Timmons, early Sea in the Sky, shred
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Melodius Deite – Episode III: The Archangels and the Olympians (Thailand)
Style: prog power/neoclassical (clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter | Metal-Archives page

Close your eyes, take a deep breathe and relax. Now imagine some good old cheesy power metal: hugely over-the-top theatrical vocals, a double bass addicted drummer playing uptempo beats, insanely fast guitar melodies, generally too happy for its own good and LORD, you wish they’d just slow down for a second. Does an image start to settle in your mind already? Is the fear creeping in? If so, you can leave this place and move on to the next paragraph. Just make sure you listen to the album closer and forget about the rest. If not, stay a little longer because Melodius Deite is here to grab your attention and not let go of it, because this is some excellent (progressive) power metal. It’s got everything you’d ever want in power metal: great vocals, crystal clear production, a soulful guitarist that can shred for days and cool Symphony X-inspired progressive licks to top it off. Saint Raphael would be my favorite track of the bunch.

And that’s not all, because there is a 23 minute instrumental piece (bar a few minutes of spoken words) thoroughly infused with classical music at the end. Even if you don’t like power metal, this piece is surely worth your attention. It’s not an epic piece like you’d expect from such a long song, but it’s full of interesting little frills and just screams plain fun. Episode III is just an excellent progressive power metal record that is surely worth your time if you have any love for the genre.

Recommended tracks: Saint Michael, Saint Raphael, Forever (Hades and Persephone)
Recommended for fans of: Symphony X, Angra, Stratovarius
Final verdict: 7/10

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Finally, I’d like to add a note of thanks to all users on the discord server who gave me their thoughts on the albums and feedback on the reviews. Thanks Cameron von Beek for the help with Masochist, thanks Ele for your thoughts on Abduction, thanks Samy, Quintessence, caviesfan10 and PD’s Prog Blog for your thoughts on Marc Rizzo and Nautilus, and thanks again Quintessence and Samy for sharing your thoughts on Kingfisher Sky. You all were of massive help in shaping up my reviews.