Reports from the (progressive metal) underground: October 2018

Usually I’d write an elaborate introduction paragraph, but I’m short on time since I completely forgot about it until half an hour before posting and there was still a ton of other stuff to do to shore up the post, so you’ll have to do with less. Anyway, we have some changes from last time, as Yung2112 is now going by his real name of Dylan. Also the website is still shit, as I’ve focusing on my studies mostly these past few weeks. There was probably time to do it, but I’m terrible at planning, so sorry for that.
(Also if you are a Voragine of Autumn member reading this, I’m so sorry we didn’t review your album. It was a great prog black release, but all our review slots were full. I’ve bookmarked it for missed albums edition!)

As always, here’s a link to the Spotify playlist with all recommended tracks in advance, and the links to all previous editions:
– January
– February
– March
– April
– May
– June
– July
– August
– September

What is this place? We have an about page now! So take a look at it if you’re unfamiliar. Now let’s get to it!

10-01 Medic – Ascension (Egypt)
Style:
Related links: Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

One of the thing I look for when scouting albums is track length. Writing epics is something that requires a ton of skill, so every time I see an album riddled with long songs I always get my hopes up that I might have stumbled on a gem. I don’t often succeed with this method as long songs can also be a sign of a band overestimating themselves, but on the other hand I found some amazing bands like Maladie, Hands of Despair and Maestrick with this criteria. This album has 6 songs over 9 minutes, it sounded pretty good from snippets and it was from Egypt, a country I don’t come across to often in prog metal, so here I am.
Well what can I say about this band? It’s not bad really. Sometimes it’s quite good even. But what really irks me in this album is a sense of “heard before”. These guys basically took what was popular in prog metal in the early 2000s and added a couple of Oriental elements to it. You know that stereotype of how prog metal is a diluted landscape of Dream Theater clones? Well this sounds exactly like a band befitting of such a review, except it’s also Opeth-worship. And what’s even more appalling is that you’d think such a worship album would have rather been released 10 years ago. If you’re gonna worship, at least rip off modern bands like Haken or Ne Obliviscaris instead of bands that were cool 15 years ago. Honestly if I hadn’t heard Dream Theater or Opeth before I’d probably give this album a 7 or so as their songwriting is really enjoyable despite the absurd song lengths, but as those two are literally the two biggest bands in the entire genre, that’s kind of a hard criteria. Medic definitely had songwriting chops, but as long as they continue to worship other bands I don’t see this band making it out of their local scene any time soon.

Recommended tracks: Of a Blessed Memory
Recommended for fans of: Opeth/Dream Theater worship
Final verdict: 4/10

10-01 Serpents Kiss – Dragon Lord (United Kingdom)
Style: heavy
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

Ah good old heavy metal. You were many a prog heads first love in metal. Through bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden or Judas Priest the absolutely huge world of metal (and heavy music in general) opened up for countless of people. You may now have dwelled into prog metal, but I imagine for the most of you heavy metal was one of the earliest genres you listened to. This band rekindles that nostalgia.
I can be short about this band. They are amazing song writers, but holy mother Mary of fuck they need a new singer, or he needs to go back to practice. It’s not even like the vocal lines are bad, but he has such a nasal, ugly voice it ruins any potential it had. The contrast with the rest of the music is even greater, because – vocals aside – this is a fantastic slap of (progressive) heavy metal. Creative song structures, great harmonies and riffs, highly energizing drum beats, awesome solos and longer songs with progressive twists. There are clearly some skilled musicians at work here. If it wasn’t for the singer I’d probably rate this album an 8 or more, but as it stands it’ll have to do with just a 6.5. If you like more adventurous heavy metal with a couple of proggy twists like Savatage or 2000s Maiden, definitely give it a listen.

Recommended tracks: Innocence, Witches Embers
Recommended for fans of: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Manilla Road, Iron Maiden, Savatage, Iced Earth, etc.
Final verdict: 6.5/10

10-01 The Artifice Precept – Premonition (US-CA)
Style: symphonic deathcore
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Dylan

So, symphonic deathcore. Did you almost spit out your drink by reading the genre? I surely did. I thought immediately “well, I guess I have a contender for worst album of the year here. Deathcore and symphonic can’t work, right?”… It may surprise everyone of you but… it actually isn’t bad?
I’m not saying this is a great release that blends two unconventional genres together. But, seriously, it was shocking to me that this album was far from unlistenable, and actually pretty damn good.
The way the artifice precept adapt symphonic elements to their deathcore is by subtle classical instruments, and an overall classical music influence. The closest I can compare them to is if Spawn of Possession merged with rings of Saturn, and took out all of the studio trickery present in the latter band. It’s a combo that I still can’t believe works, but it does.
The instrumentation is very technical while not being overly wanky. The use of symphonic instruments is very, very subtle, as in a piano passage playing behind all of the chaos at a low volume. They never feel out of place, since they are subtle enough to not ruin the brutality of the album, yet present enough to add another layer of atmosphere to each track. Also, the band itself sounds GOOD. Both the growls and shrieks here and fantastic, the guitars are punchy, the bass has plenty of room to breathe, and the drumming is relentless.
A huge surprise, yet an amazing one. I’d give them an 8/10, but I’ll add half a point more for being very bold.

Recommended tracks: Light, Whatever Do They See
Recommended for fans of: Spawn of Possession
Final verdict: 8.5/10

10-03 Leviathan – Of Origins Unearthed (Germany)
Style: melodeath/power with growls
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Nostrebor68

I’m incredibly fond of Melodic Death Metal. It was my introduction to the more extreme metal subgenres, and without it I’d probably still be listening to Nu-Metal and crying. Because of this, I tend to hold the genre to a pretty high standard. I’ve heard so much good Melodeath that the bad just feels that much worse. Because of this, I always go into new releases with more trepidation than most other genres. So the question is, does Leviathan DE have the Melodeath chops to impress me?
Nope.
Instrumentally this album is fine. Also, instrumentally this is a Power Metal album. That’s where my issues really start. Melodeath is supposed to incorporate those melodic from Power and Traditional Heavy Metal into a Death Metal structure, which is great. The problem here is that the death metal elements, instrumentally, are minimally present at best. Sometimes there’s a double-bass drum, but that’s about it. Otherwise I might as well be listening to Stratovarius.
So this leads you to think, where does the Death Metal come in? It has to be the vocals, right? Unfortunately that would be correct. I say unfortunately because god damn the vocals are bad. Not “oh this could get better with practice” bad, they’re just unpleasant. The harshes are really sharp and shrieky and just generally aurally jarring. However, the real sin comes when the band layers those harshes over clean, female vocals. This in theory might be good, but in practice it’s a dumpster fire. The clean vocals are competent at best, but there’s minimal strength or tonal variety to them, which just emphasizes how one-note the harshes are. Added to this is what may be my absolute biggest pet-peeve in music production. The two vocal tracks aren’t synced up half the time, leaving a microscopic gap between when the clean and harsh tracks start and end. At first it isn’t bad, but the more I listen the more I notice and the more it drives me insane. Does this ruin the album? Probably not for everyone, but it comes damn close for me.
This is a difficult one for me, because the guitar-work and drumming are quite competent, albeit barely death-metal related. The bass is inaudible if present. Also of note is that there are random Latin-inspired acoustic bits scattered throughout the album that are incredibly pleasant and also don’t make any sense whatsoever in the spots they are used.
I can’t recommend this album, I just can’t. The music doesn’t make sense, the vocals are painful, and the composition is often just confusing. If you want to give it a listen after reading this, go for it, but I definitely won’t be returning.

Recommended tracks: Lake of Blood
Recommended for fans of: Dark Tranquillity and In Flames but worse
Final verdict: 4/10

10-05 Piah Mater – The Wandering Daughter (Brazil)
Style: death/Opeth
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

Someone recommended me this band on Shreddit based on my love for Hands of Despair and Disillusion, two bands who have an album in my top 10 favorites of all time list, so I was supremely hyped to review this band. These Opeth-styled extreme progressive metal bands, if done Well, somehow manage to hit all my sweet spots. How naturally they’re able to switch between intensity without resorting to formulaic-ness is just mind blowing to me. Incorporate some extra nostalgia and emotion (Disillusion), and bam, you have my favorite album of all-time. So how does Piah Mater compare to these lofty standards I have for this genre?
One word: Opeth. That’s really all there is to say. I expected a band who took Opeth-like structures and did their own thing with it, but rather what I got was just Opeth-worship instead. It’s very competent worship, but worship nonetheless. As Bujjick said on the discord, “this is it’s own thing but it sounds like one of those TV shows that uses a knockoff song to avoid copyright”. This almost literally to the point where, for every idea on this album, you can find an Opeth-song which did the same thing (but better). From the singing to the death growls to the guitar stylings to the drumming everything just screams Opeth. For the other mathematicians reading this, if there was a map between Opeth’s discography and Piah Mater, it’d be a bijection. I mean I enjoy Opeth, but if you’re just gonna rearrange their ideas even I will lose interest, no matter how talented you are.
If you are still living in denial about the fact that Akerfeldt stopped growling, this band can keep up that reality for you. But if you’re looking for something original, I’d rather go with something else like Hands of Despair, Loneshore or Uroboros and don’t bother with this one. This band clearly has talent, but if they really wanna gain any traction they’ll have to start doing their own thing.

Recommended tracks: Sprung from Weakness, The Meek’s Inheritance
Recommended for fans of: #MakeAkerfeldtGrowlAgain
Final verdict: 7/10

10-19 Karmic Link – Dark Metropolis (Sweden)
Style: industrial/gothic
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Nostrebor68

So I want you to take a moment and imagine you’re listening to Depeche Mode. You’ve got the 80s synths, the poppy tone, everything is normal. And then suddenly, for no reason, you’re being bombarded with heavily distorted shouts and riffs out of nowhere. Are you happy about this? Based on Karmic Link, you really shouldn’t be, because this album is absolutely horrendous.
I need to make clear that I love a bunch of Gothic Industrial, especially the German scene. I have a sweet spot for bands like Oomph! and Lord of the Lost that really capitalize on the combination of heavily distorted riffs and ambient synths to great effect. What makes those bands enjoyable though, is that all of the elements are usually well executed, so while the sound isn’t often enormously creative, it’s just damn fun to listen to.
Karmic Link tries to replicate that style of sound without any of the heart, soul, songwriting ability, and absolutely NONE of the vocal talent. The riffs are standard and boring, and the synths feel like they were ripped right out of the 80s, which isn’t bad per se, but it doesn’t work well. The vocals are a nightmare-scape filled with talking, and fake harsh vocals that are just more heavily distorted talking. There’s no singing on this album. I want to make that abundantly clear because some of the band’s descriptions reference singing, and it’s just untrue. The vocals are enormously unpleasant and boring, and when they are often the element of the genre that makes the music engaging, this is the nail in the coffin for this band.
Just don’t listen to Karmic Link. It’s not pleasant, it’s not fun, it’s just bad. Go delve into the German Goth/Industrial scene instead if you’re really interested, it’s way better.

Recommended tracks: N/A
Recommended for fans of: Depeche Mode, Oomph!, Lord of the Lost
Final verdict: 2/10

10-19 Moss upon the Skull – In Vengeful Reverence (Belgium)
Style: death
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Nostrebor68

So I’m not great at classifying Death Metal, let’s get that out of the way. I can pick out Tech Death and Melodic Death very well, but once we get into Traditional, Brutal, etc I’m pretty useless. That being said, Moss Upon the Skull reminds me of a lot of Traditional Death I’ve heard. There’s bits and pieces of time signatures changes here that make it a bit proggy, but otherwise it’s pretty standard fare. Is that bad? Not really. Is it good? Not really.
The guitar-work ranges from competent to enjoyable here. Mostly it’s standard riffage broken up by the occasional distorted lead part, often a small noodly set of arpeggios or otherwise that quickly transitions back into the riffs. The drum work is a definite highlight, as the drummer does a fantastic job of just absolutely destroying a song with double-bass and some crazy rhythmic structure that really makes me wish the riffs followed suit and felt a tad less standard and chuggy. The bass ranges from inaudible to nice and thick, which leads to my major complaint here. The production is pretty varied in quality. Sometimes it’s really clean and nice, and you can hear everything, and other times the bass disappears and the lead guitar is inexplicably pushed further back. This doesn’t make the album unlistenable by any stretch of the imagination, but it does annoy me just a little. The vocal performance here is relatively standard, but incredibly competent, as the vocals stick in the low gutteral to lower-midrange growl range and do so to excellent effect. I would’ve liked more variety, but I can say that about most harsh vocals, so that’s not specifically a knock against this band.
This isn’t a long review because I really don’t have that much to say about this album. “In Vengeful Reverence” is an incredibly competent Death Metal album that I wish did a little bit more. But, if you’re a fan of non-melodic death metal and you’re looking for something to sate your appetite, give it a spin, you might like it.

Recommended tracks: Lair of the Hypocrite, In Vengeful Reverence
Recommended for fans of: Death, Immolation, Morbid Angel
Final verdict: 6/10

10-19 Sacral Rage – Beyond Celestial Echoes (Greece)
Style: thrash/USPM
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

If you read our about page, you might know that my habit of thoroughly searching the metal-archives originally started out in a craving for modern tech/prog thrash. It’s like the genre just completely died out halfway the 90s. It’s no wonder Vektor became as huge as they did when they blew some new life into the genre again with their epic blackened sound. Now I did manage to find some good stuff in Cautiva and the Japanese legends Gargoyle, but that was so far in between I gave up on it after a while. Unsurprisingly, I haven’t found anything good in this diluted genre with this blog 9 editions in a row either. However, that ends today! I was shown this album by wildwindsurfer on the Discord. It seemed in metal-circles it had already picked up some steam, but in prog circles this album still seems completely unknown, hence my inclusion.
This album is really, really, really competent. In fact I’d go so far to say it’s a stroke of genius. It’s fast, furious, varied and completely insane. It starts with a perfectly sinister intro with machine noises, and when that’s over the insanity starts. Immediately you’re greeted with an old-school weird-ass falsetto vocalist that pierces your ear (but in a good way). He’s like a combination of James Rivera (Helstar), Buddy Lackey (Psychotic Waltz) and King Diamond. His vocal melodies are weird like the former two and has the weird but magical falsetto of the latter.
Following that is just a whirlwind of riffs, riffs, solos and more riffs. Exactly the way it should be with thrash. Sacral Rage blends thrash riffs with USPM-style melodic stylings and Watchtower-esque technical wizardry in a phenomenal fashion. One quickly loses count of all the amazing riffs in this album. The way they follow up riff after riff reminds me of Helstar, but then with actually memorable songwriting and a good vocalist. And Jesus Christ they can shred as well, see Eternal Solstice at 3:17. This is a very guitar-focused album. The rhythms guys are no slouches either, but they play in mostly a supportive role. It’s not like they need to do more anyway. If the drummer went ham with his fills the soundscape would just become cluttered. They provide a great backbone for all the guitar wizardry.
What above all else makes this album so amazing though, is the songwriting. Like I said this is as if Helstar actually knew how to write proper songs instead of just sprouting riffs for 50 minutes without much cohesion. Their songs are generally of medium length, but they all have distinct personalities and something memorable about them. And it’s not just a pure riff-barrage either as there are plenty of aptly placed softer sections to provide some breathing room. And at the end there’s a 14 minute epic and lo and behold does it kick ass. I never thought I’d see a thrash song over 10 minutes that isn’t written by Mekong Delta (see: Dances of Death) being actually good, but these guys manage to pull it off. Sacral Rage pull out their entire arsenal to create one of the best prog thrash songs you’ll ever hear.
This album is an absolutely phenomenal prog thrash release. It stays true to the old-school sound and influences are clear, but they have more than enough songwriting chops and freshness to make up for it. I recommend this to anyone who’s even remotely interested in prog thrash. Beyond Celestial Echoes is a modern masterpiece in a genre that has all but died out.

Recommended tracks: everything lol Vaguely Decoded, The Glass
Recommended for fans of: Watchtower, Voivod, Helstar, prog thrash in general
Final verdict: 9.5/10

10-22 Presto Vivace – Realidades convenientes (Argentina)
Style: traditional/funk
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Dylan

My introduction to presto vivace was when I saw them open for the flower Kings a couple months ago. It was a cool show, kinda hard to digest for a first time listen, but a super tight and enjoyable performance overall. When Sam brought this album up I thought hell yeah let’s check it out!…
I was disappointed 🙁 this album screams wasted potential. As musicians, they’re all extremely talented. The bass player is a BEAST, he’s extremely funky. The singer’s got some big pipes, with a super powerful voice. The talent is here, the songwriting? Not so much.
Basically, this album has every problem a prog album can have for being prog. It’s hectic at times, with almost every song lasting more than it should, it lacks hooks or a clear sense of direction, and sometimes it is way more technical than it should be.
Unfortunately, I can’t give an album with all of those problems a high rating. There’s a lot of potential here, and with a good producer we could’ve got a great album. Instead, it’s mediocre.

Recommended tracks: Rothschild
Recommended for fans of: Watchtower maybe??
Final verdict: 5/10

10-23 Cor Serpentii – Phenomankind (France)
Style: death/black
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Nostrebor68

When I started listening to this album it was a relief. If you haven’t noticed, the other selections I got for this set of reviews were less than stellar, and Cor Serpentii was the final band on my review list, so I was pretty pessimistic when I started listening. This changed almost immediately as I was treated to a barrage of tremolo riffs, blast beats, and wonderful high snarls and emotive clean singing.
The guitar-work on this album is stellar, ranging from traditional blackened riffs to wonderfully dissonant guitar squeals and more death metal inspired riffage. While not necessarily incredibly creative for the whole run-time, the guitar is constantly engaging and wonderfully pleasant to listen to. The bass is definitely not as loud as I would like, but it’s present and provides a good backup to the drums in filling out the album’s sound. The drumming is freaking insane, double-bass abounds and the various drum fills are incredibly varied, from traditional hyper-fast death metal drumming to rhythmic, Gojira-esque fills I found myself constantly surprised, and enjoying every second of it. This is even more impressive given that the drums on this album are all 100% programmed, which often lends an unnatural feel to them. Not so here, as I didn’t even realize the drumming was programmed until I check the band’s bandcamp page.
Then you get to the vocals, and man those do not disappoint. The harsh vocals are snarly and high and wonderful, and occasionally dips into a really guttural lower range that just does a phenomenal job of filling out and beefing up the sound. Occasionally the album includes clean singing, and it reminds me of Ihsahn’s recent ventures into cleaner vocals. They might not be the most technically impressive or varied, but they have a wonderful emotional strength behind them, and they absolutely add something to the band’s whole sound, and make me want to keep coming back to listen to them.
Cor Serpentii makes me want more of their music every time I listen, and that’s no small feat. The band apparently formed after the collapse of a previous death metal project, and all I can say is that I hope they keep making music, and I hope that it keeps getting better and better, because this debut impressed the hell out of me, and you should absolutely give it a listen.

Recommended tracks: The Serpent’s Stratagem, Sand Storm, Waves of Wrath
Recommended for fans of: Behemoth, Dissection
Final verdict: 8/10

10-26 Onlihtan – The Sentinel (United Kingdom)
Style: post black
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Dylan

I should start off by saying that I’m a huge fan of post black. And right away I can tell you that if this was never your cup of tea, onlihtan won’t change your mind about the genre.
For those that do like this genre, this band will be another great addition to your playlists, but won’t do more with the style than any other of the bands you love. This is simple, predictable post black. Harsh vocals are layered on top of riffs that mix black metal and post rock, with plenty of pretty acoustic interludes in between. The execution of this is tightly paced, and enjoyable overall. Some songwriting decisions are far from perfect, but those are rare.
Worth noting is also the bad way the drum kick is mixed into this. It’s not all that bad with a single kick, but holy shit the double bass kick intro of the second track violated my ears. Luckily, this is the only time double bass is used.
A good addition to any post black fan that wants more of the same. A bad album for people to change their mind on the genre.

Recommended tracks: I: At the Forest’s Edge, III: Evocation
Recommended for fans of: Heretoir, Møl
Final verdict: 7/10

10-29 Universe Effects – Desolation (Canada)
Style: rock
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | RYM page
Review by: Yung2112

Wew, now this is quite a beefy record. Upon first listen I had no idea what to write here. There’s just so much going on, 66 minutes length, including a 5 track epic? Yeah, it was gonna take more than one listen to “get” this record.
I am however very happy to report that this is an album that rewards multiple listens. The more I listen to it the more I find things to appreciate, and I still want to go back to it a couple times before moving on to something else.
Universe Effects is a fusion of Seventh Wonder’s prog power with Karnivool’s chilled out somber-ish prog rock. This means that the album is full of energy, with a sense of somberness surrounding it. Epic, yet not over the top. Powerful, yet still vibrant and beautiful when it needs to be. Plenty of technical goodies, backed up by solid hooks. All of this makes a lengthy release not tiring at all.
The production is very good, everything sounds crisp and clean with every instrument having plenty of room to breathe. The keys here are a highlight, with some awesome soloing throughout the record. The drumming is pretty simple yet perfect for what the record sets out to do. The vocalist has some awesome roaring highs, but he does struggle a bit to pull of convincing mid register lines. They sound a bit… nasally? I guess that’s the best way to describe it. They’re far from unlistenable but leave a bit to be desired.
A great addition for traditional prog fans, one I’d recommend to anyone.

Recommended tracks: The Library pt. III, V
Recommended for fans of: Karnivool, Seventh Wonder
Final verdict:  8.5/10