Tier 3: The Great
The first real tier. This is by far the longest tier (not counting honorable mentions). These are the albums where we felt the band in question had something special going on for them, but just missed out on true greatness. Numerically these would be the albums you’d rate an 8.5/10 or so. As mentioned before, the albums are listed alphabetically as there’s no significant distinction in our reviewer’s personal enjoyment of these, and for a better reading experience in general. And before we get into it, here’s a Spotify playlist with all the recommended tracks.
Altesia – Paragon Circus
Style: Haken (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page
Original review: December
Pick by: Andrew
There has been an influx of Haken worship bands recently, and Altesia absolutely stands out among them as not only one of the best, but one of the most unique and interesting. At its core, Paragon Circus borrows many aspects from the Haken style. However, they add enough of their own unique flair to make the album interesting and complete on its own without leaning too heavily on any prog tropes. That’s not to say Paragon Circus doesn’t have any prog tropes – it’s full of ‘em. But Altesia’s use of these tropes is unique in a way that they significantly contribute to the music instead of detracting from the sound or making it sound derivative and unoriginal. Paragon Circus is a wonderful debut album and definitely one of the debut albums from 2019 I enjoyed most. Altesia has a bright future ahead of them.
Recommended tracks: Reminiscence, The Prison Child, Cassandra’s Prophecy
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Haken, Haken
Archaeologist – Winter’s Wake (US-CA) [EP]
Style: Djent (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Original review: December
Pick by: Josh
Ah, djent. A djenre almost more hated than loved nowadays, it seems. Nonetheless, looking past the schlock, one can djenerally always find something fresh, despite what the naysayers may say, and Winter’s Wake is djust that. It’s an epic, something that’s rarely seen within the djenre, and on top of that it demonstrates experimentation without getting unnecessarily spicy. It brings with it the theatrics of BTBAM and some great solos the likes of which are rarely seen within djent, featuring Scott Carstairs and Wes Thrailkill as well as the skills of Archaeologist himself. Out of all of the releases in 2019 that I’ve reviewed for this blog, this is one of the few I find myself coming back to the most.
Recommended tracks: bro it’s one song, just listen to it
Recommended for fans of: Plini, Sithu Aye, BTBAM
Articulus – I Norway)
Style: Symphonic/Power (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Original review: November
Pick by: Matt
A nice treat for those of us who wish Kamelot had good guitar playing (trust me, they made 2-3 of my favorite albums). Articulus is classy and refined, and occasionally they make a legitimate stab at heaviness too. This album is well-composed and professional to a fault, but probably too long for its own good – these songs aren’t varied enough to warrant 72 minutes, great though they may be.
Recommended tracks: Beneath the Veneer, Absinthe, Mutiny
Recommended for fans of: Kamelot, Serenity, Epica
Avandra – Descender (Puerto Rico)
Style: Traditional (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Original review: April
Pick by: Jonah
I can admit to a tiny bit of bias here, as the vocalist of Avandra is a friend of mine on the r/progmetal Discord server (how’s it going Volteau!) but I can say with full certainty that I would love this album even if I’d never met the guy. Between the lovely and rich vocals, the absolute adventure that is the guitar-work, and some lovely synth work there is so much to be absolutely enraptured by. In a year where I mostly gravitated to the much, much heavier side of the metal spectrum, Avandra provided a much needed break. While not soft by any means, the music is so immensely powerful and melodic that it just envelops me in the sound and doesn’t let me go until the whole album is over. Absolutely great stuff, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Recommended tracks: A Decision Must Be Made, The Narrowing of Meaning, Adder’s Bite
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Haken, Marillion, Vanden Plas
Bushwhacker – A Fistful of Poison (Canada)
Style: Cowboy Sludge (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Original review: July
Pick by: Tyler
I didn’t review this one, but I read Sam’s review and I know it was one of the albums I had to listen to myself. I’m a sucker for high concept stuff, and this one really did not disappoint. The setting is really intriguing; American western with Egyptian mythology is a really cool idea. The inclusions of the voice over vignettes (albeit really corny. They’re doing their best!) makes the album flow really well almost like a comic book series. The music itself is composed really well. While not super technical, it mixes a lot of progressive and sludge elements that fit the narrative really well. The production could have been better, there are elements that definitely fall flat, but for me, the narrative and the effort that went in is well deserving of multiple listens.
Recommended tracks: Knives and Teeth, The River Black, Brother in Blood
Recommended for fans of: Mastodon, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Russian Circles, Voivod
Constellatia – The Language of Limbs (South Africa)
Style: Blackgaze (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page
Original review: November
Pick by: Andrew
In my initial review of Constellatia’s The Language of Limbs, I mentioned that I do not typically listen to post-black or blackgaze. Since I wrote that review, I’ve actually been listening to much more of this style and enjoying a lot of it. Despite this, The Language of Limbs remains one of my absolute favorite albums of the style. I recently revisited it after not having listened since I wrote the review and it was as beautiful and lush and full as I remembered it. What sets The Language of Limbs aside from other post-black albums I’ve heard is the very tasteful use of clean female vocals alongside the high screams typical of albums of the genre. They set a mood unlike anything else, allowing the album to feel almost hopeful at times. Constellatia manage to use the music to effortlessly create and shape moods and feelings, ever shifting as the album progresses. While not particularly complex or technical music, the use of mood and feel makes this album feel more like a journey than a collection of songs.
Recommended tracks: All Nights Belong to You, The Garden
Recommended for fans of: Alcest, White Ward, Deafhaven
Dead to a Dying World – Elegy (USA, Texas)
Style: Post/Doom (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Original review: April
Pick by: Jonah
I don’t think the old adage about the size of things in Texas is always true, but god damn when it comes to Dead to a Dying World, it absolutely is. The sound here is fucking massive. Between the gorgeous gothic country influences, the bone-crushingly heavy post metal sections and the absolutely gorgeous viola work, not a single note on this album feels out of place. The only reason it didn’t land higher for me was a bit of repetition and an ending to the album that is just horrendously unneeded. Other than those minor quibbles, this is a kick-ass piece of folky post-metal and has some of my favorite individual songs of 2019 on it.
Recommended tracks: Syzygy, Vernal Equinox, Empty Hands Hollow Hymns
Recommended for fans of: Panopticon, Swallow the Sun, Opeth
Dreamwalkers Inc – First Re-Draft (The Netherlands)
Style: Symphonic/Traditional (clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Original review: February
Pick by: Sam
Back in the first two editions of the year, we had a reviewer called Daniel. He had to step down after that because he got too busy with work. This was one of the albums he was really sold on (along with Althea – The Art of Trees). While my enjoyment of these records is not as great as his (he gave both a 9/10), I enjoy both quite a bit and Dreamwalkers Inc in particular I wanted to talk about. Both to honor Daniel’s memory (hope work is going well!), and because I enjoy this record a great deal.
So this is a band that has 5(!!) vocalists. They do have a lead singer too, but most of it is sung with a full-blown choir. The vocal performance alone is breathtaking and enough a reason to buy the record. The music underneath is very 90s melodic prog metal. It has the omni-present Dream Theater template, but here it’s much more symphonic and not as guitar-driven. The songs are also a lot more concise and melodic (it’s more like Vanden Plas in that regard). You’ll likely have heard similar things before, but Dreamwalkers Inc do more than enough to separate themselves from the crowd. First Re-Draft is a highly melodic, catchy, and powerful album that I suggest any 90s prog metal fan should look into.
Recommended tracks: Endless, Innerburn, Your Room
Recommended for fans of: Ayreon, Dream Theater, Vanden Plas
Driftglass – World of Conversation (Canada)
Style: Classic Prog (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Original review: March
Pick by: Dylan
World of Conversation is an album with quite the old school feeling. Driftglass reminds me of 70s hard rock, and early metal, in a lot of ways. The production, the guitar tone, the constant use of organs, the very 70s like “heavy” vocals, and catchy high(ish) pitched chorus, whenever I put on World of Conversation, I feel like I’m listening to something from a time past, but it hasn’t dated a bit.
This album also features a lot of catchy hooks to sing along to, which are delivered perfectly by vocalist Manuel Montes. The lyrics are thought provoking too. There’s plenty of interesting instrumental sections that don’t get too messy, and the music is easy to grasp, yet also proves to be rewarding upon multiple listens.
The only very minor flaw I’d say this album has is that they sometimes make the songs a tad longer than they should be, but this comes from a guy that thinks Haken’s The Mountain also has that same problem, so maybe don’t take me too seriously on that.
Recommended tracks: World of Conversation, Little by Little
Recommended for fans of: Lighter Rainbow/Dio
Effuse – Contextual Noise (US-GA) [EP]
Style: Metal/Djent (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram
Original review: December
Pick by: Stephen
As I mentioned in my full review, Contextual Noise is an EP from Effuse. A band that includes one of our newest writers, Chris. Don’t let that fool you though, that is not why the album is on this list. This EP was on our list to review well before Chris joined the team, and my mind was made up about the album before he joined. Contextual Noise is here because it’s awesome. If you enjoy bands like VOLA and Voyager, I’d highly recommend checking this album out. “Kill Castle” has been a song I have returned to many times, and the rest of the album kicks ass as well.
Recommended tracks: Kill Castle, The Silent Push
Recommended for fans of: (late) Voyager, The Contortionist, VOLA, TesseracT
Essence of Datum – Spellcrying Machine (Belarus)
Style: Tech Death (instrumental)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | VKontakte | Metal-Archive page
Original review: August
Pick by: Dylan
Okay so picture this: instrumental tech death that’s incredibly frantic, with a ton of melody that resembles early thrash metal and a bit of Iron Maiden. That’s Spellcrying Machine
This album has got to be the most energetic instrumental album I’ve ever heard. It just makes me want to run, sprint very fast and chase a train or something… In any case, it gets you seriously pumped. The combination of heavy metal melodies, thrash, and fierce tech death drumming that never takes a break makes for an incredible fusion of genres. Spellcrying Machine is great for getting you pumped, great for working out, great for getting homework done, great for appreciating all the technical love. It’s an album that refuses to do the “boring solo over boring riff”’ route of much instrumental metal, and innovates and wows you instead.
Spellcrying Machine is an amazing achievement, fusing many different inspirations into a fantastic piece of art. Essence of Datum surely is a name I look forward to hearing more of next couple years.
Recommended tracks: Shikari Algorithm, Vitality
Recommended for fans of: Vipassi, Howling Sycamore, tech death without the death
Hyvmine – Retaliation (US-CA)
Style: Djent/Post-Grunge (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page
Original review: July
Pick by: Josh
This album shouldn’t be as good as it is. It’s an album tagged as “active rock” on bandcamp that blends djent and, of all things, post-grunge. Yet in spite of it all, this album absolutely slaps. Tight songwriting and excellent riffs keep you hooked throughout the entire listen. The splashes of other styles that the band incorporate help to keep it fresh throughout, such as the Dream Theater-esque keys/guitar solo section towards the end of “Assassins”. You won’t find a masterpiece here, but Retaliation is a hell of a fun listen and if you have any friends who are into mainstream rock, this is the perfect gateway album into djent and eventually prog metal as a whole.
Recommended tracks: Assassins, Retaliation, Demoness
Recommended for fans of: Alice in Chains, Three Days Grace, Nickelback (no, really)
Merlin – The Mortal (US-MO)
Style: Doom (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Bigcartel | Facebook | Metal-Archive page
Original review: August
Pick by: Josh
Doom metal is often a stale genre. It gets really tiring hearing yet another album of dudes singing about weed over slow riffs. Most bands fail to give me a reason to listen to them over taking a nap. In the midst of this stagnation, though, exists Merlin, who have chosen to break with their contemporaries and innovate. Namely, Merlin brings a saxophone to the table, and it’s incredible how well it works within the context of doom metal. The wail of the sax perfectly accompanies the singer, whose voice carries with it all of the ominous energy of Ozzy Osbourne. To top it all off, Merlin brings the riffs, dipping into heavy metal and psychedelic rock territory as well as more traditional doom metal. Put your headphones on, light up, and enjoy the ride.
Recommended tracks: Mindflayer, Basilisk, The Mortal Suite
Recommended for fans of: Black Sabbath, heavy psych
Obsidian Tide – Pillars of Creation (Israel)
Style: Extreme (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archive page
Original review: August
Pick by: Sam
I have to say I undersold this album a bit with my review back in August. I kept comparing this band to Opeth, but now I realize they aren’t as close to the Swedes as I thought. It’s a big influence surely, but they very much have their own sound. And I have to say this sound has grown on me quite a bit. As expected, it’s a prog death album that continually switches between harsher and softer parts. It makes for very adventurous songs with lots of cool twists. Their riff game is very bouncy and the songwriting is very engaging. I absolutely adore the harsh vocals too. It’s some sort of ghastly, raspy death metal growl that makes you feel like you’ve angered an evil djinn and it’s now haunting you.
Speaking of djinns, this band makes really good use of local (Middle-Eastern) folk elements, and in my opinion, this is the most striking element of their sound. Especially in the clean vocal passages they know how to include these really well. For example how the title track opener literally drum rolls into “Seven” with a very folky pattern is super dope. In the harsher passages the folk elements are not as pronounced, which is a slight bummer. I think for me personally this is what keeps them from achieving something truly special opposed to something that’s just great. And some of the riffs do tend to steer dangerously close to Opeth territory. For a debut album though, Pillars of Creation is a significant achievement, and we should expect a lot more greatness from this band in the future.
Recommended tracks: Pillars of Creation, Seven, Hireath
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Orphaned Land, Wilderun
Omega District – The Machine Destiny (US-WA)
Style: Metalcore/Extreme/BTBAM (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | RYM page
Original review: June
Pick by: Dylan
Welcome to the metalcore dystopia!
Omega District is an amazing progressive metalcore act that’s very eclectic (ala BTBAM). It is all done by one guy named Miles Weber, which is honestly super impressive when you take into account how complex and layered this album is.
The Machine Destiny is a great album with plenty of worship towards acts that have put this kind of genre on the map, and a lot of personality shown through textures and atmosphere. Top notch instrumentation with textured guitar riffing, fantastic drumming, and bass present enough for it to have a kind of ‘’eyebrows’’ role, there’s really very little to dislike here. Also, when the main songwriter tells you he took a lot of instrumental inspiration from the 2016 DOOM game, that’s never bad! The vocals are mixed on this album, but the focus is more so on harshes than cleans. The harsh vocals are pretty amazing and it’s a shame the clean vocals were relatively sidelined, because they’re just as good!
If you’re even merely into the BTBAM formula, please do not sleep out on this. It’s a heavier, very unique take on a formula that’s very hard to replicate successfully even just trying to copy it. The fact that Miles was able to grab said ideas and put his own spin on it, is nothing short of amazing.
Recommended tracks: Digital Prison, The Garden of Light, The Machine Destiny
Recommended for fans of: Between the Buried and Me, The Human Abstract, The World is Quiet Here (hi Tyler!), Rivers of Nihil
Ray Alder – What the Water Wants (US-CA)
Style: Hard Rock (clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page
Original review: October
Pick by: Sam
I love Fates Warning and all their related projects (from what I’ve heard at least), and Ray Alder’s solo album What the Water Wants is no exception. Compared to the other stuff it’s a lot less proggy, and it feels more like a hard rock album than anything else. As a hard rock album though, it is fantastic. The songs are diverse and every single one of them is instantly memorable. Ray’s vocals are just so damn infectious. I don’t know how he does it, but every fucking line that man sings has pop-levels of catchiness, and he doesn’t sacrifice ANY artistic integrity while doing so. But this album is not just Ray. It has hard metallic bangers, moody atmospheric tracks, sincere ballads, upbeat rockers and more. Add in some proggy sauce and you get a very powerful album. What the Water Wants is a great start to Ray’s solo career. A worthy addition to this list.
Recommended tracks: Lost, Under Dark Skies, A Beautiful Lie, Wait
Recommended for fans of: post-No Exit Fates Warning, Alter Bridge/Tremonti, Subsignal/Sieges Even
Release Hallucination – Imperfection of Imaginary Number (Japan)
Style: Power/Neoclassical (clean, Japanese, female vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Original review: April
Pick by: Dylan
You know what’s cool about AOTY lists? I can write short reviews without feeling like I’m phoning it in because there’s like 50 albums here so we gotta keep things going!
And it’s just what I’m about to do; Imperfection of Imaginary Number is a VERY Japan based prog metal album. Japan style means traditional/power prog metal, a couple classical and jazz influences, Japanese lyrics (duh), a few very Japanese ballads, and W A N K. Just so much wank that whatever instrument you feel you’re pretty good at, you’ll end up feeling useless at it after listening to this. Holy moly, these guys can play, ESPECIALLY the keyboardist/pianist. Major props to him. Every time he’s on the album he just steals the show, truly fantastic stuff.
At 74 minutes, Release Hallucination does a pretty great job of keeping the listener entertained, with plenty of unusual styles thrown into tracks such as ‘’a freaking waltz section in the middle of Deus Ex Machina’’, which is what Sam told me to sell me on this album. Another particularly impressive inclusion is a RAGTIME Japanese prog metal track, which shouldn’t work at all, but it totally does. However, a negative about this album is that it includes a couple very bland ballads which I feel could’ve been easily skipped to make it more digestible. That’s just about my only issue with this album though. Other than that, it’s something very much recommendable for those who love traditional prog metal, and W A N K.
Recommended tracks: Deus Ex Machina, Cure (Reprise), A Passing Point, Memento Mori
Recommended for fans of: Yousei Teikoku, Symphony X, Demetori, Dream Theater
Sentire – Time and Motion (UK)
Style: Power/Symphonic (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Original review: September
Pick by: Matt
Not much to say about this album, except for that it’s an asskicker. Fast heavy riffs, shredding leads everywhere, an orchestra that feels like well-known symphonic black metal bands… It may be a selling point or a slight problem that it never lets up, depending on your point of view. It didn’t have that much depth compared to my other picks, but it is definitely the most metal.
Recommended tracks: End of the World, Fall
Recommended for fans of: Fleshgod Apocalypse, Wilderun, Angra
Sermon – Birth of the Marvellous (US-PA)
Style: Alternative (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page
Original review: March
Pick by: Sam
For some reason Jonah only picked two albums for each category, so that leaves more stuff for me! He originally reviewed this album for March, and said it was good, and damn straight it is! Sermon have a sound that fits in well with the likes of Soen and Tool, but also has shades of Opeth in the more intense moments. The songs are rhythmically driven, and have a very ritualistic personality (Tool elements coming in). This causes lots of very cool rhythms and me air drumming basically all the time. These guys have nailed the songwriting department. The vocal melodies are melodic soothing, reminiscent of Soen, but every once in a while they go for a deep guttural approach once a song reaches its climax. It’s an absolutely killer vocal performance in both clean and harsh styles. The vocal lines are instantly memorable and not at all cheesy. The only complaint I have with this record is that it can get very same-y after a while, even though the songs individually are great. Some more melodic aspects aside from the vocals could do wonders I think. That said, this is a fantastic album and should they keep this up on later releases, this could very well be the Birth of something Marvellous.
Recommended tracks: The Drift, Chasm, The Rise of Desiderata
Recommended for fans of: Tool, Soen, Karnivool, Opeth
Spirit Healer – Hollowform (US-GA)
Style: Djent (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram
Original review: Missed albums – second edition
Pick by: Chris
There are few times a new, unknown band has decided on their first release to just go completely all out on ambition and concept and it has landed. Spirit Healer gave us exactly that with Hollowform, giving us a 43 minute concept album full of atmosphere, riffs, and story (accompanied by a complete novelization on their website). Personally I get a bit tired of 8 string djenting riffs and constant syncopation from bands that enjoyed TesseracT and think they can do it too, but the descriptor I gave in my initial review of Hollowform was that Spirit Healer is not that. Instead, they are what I wish TesseracT was. In this album you will find nice lush synth parts, layered atmospheric guitars, great syncopated riffs, emotive singing, and intricate drumming tying all of that together. In the messy sea of djenty atmospheric bands, this is one that has risen above the mire and carved out their own space. There’s a reason this album not only creeped into my top spins of 2019, but of all time on last.fm.
Recommended tracks: Incredible Views, A Memory of the Ritual, Zero at the Bone
Recommended for fans of: TesseracT, The Contortionist
Starborn – Savage Peace (UK)
Style: US Power Metal (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Original review: September
Pick by: Sam
This was the first album this year I reviewed that I loved from the get-go. Back in September I praised them for their heavy-as-fuck heavy/power metal approach, and it still holds up very much. I read an interview where they cited their main inspirations, and it was basically a run-down of all my favorite heavy/power metal acts. No wonder I like these guys. They write these epic songs that are melodic, yet aggressive and powerful and the guitar work is fan-fucking-tastic. Aggressive riffs, pretty harmonies and blazing solos, they do it all. The epicness is further amplified by an absolutely commanding vocal performance. The best way to describe him is as an old school metal banshee, but with BALLS. He nails both the high notes and the aggressive tones, is theatrical in all the best ways possible, and fits the music to a T. It’s as if you had a mixture of John Arch in his early days and peak David DeFeis. God, I could go on for ages describing how good this album is, but it’s not the point to write another review here, so I’ll just cut it short. This album is fantastic and if you like any heavy/power metal, go listen to it ya doofus.
Recommended tracks: Existence Under Oath, Darkness Divine, Inked in Blood, Savage Peace
Recommended for fans of: Iced Earth, early Fates Warning, King Diamond, Virgin Steele
The Fifth Alliance – The Depth of the Darkness (The Netherlands)
Style: Post/Black (harsh vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archive page
Original review: August
Pick by: Tyler
I’m usually not one for black metal, but this album really captured me. The biggest thing that grabbed me about this one was the emotion that the whole album is dripping with. The vocals are the driving force, full of raw power that really only comes as a detriment when the album quiets down, as they elect the same rough style rather than going with a cleaner tone. But the way the album flows in and out of the quiet and hectic aspects take you on a really great and cathartic journey that made a pretty good quarantine soundtrack so there’s that as well.
Recommended tracks: Black, The Hellfire Club
Recommended for fans of: Neurosis, The Ocean, Krallice
TheNightTimeProject – Pale Season (Sweden)
Style: Alternative (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page
Original review: Missed albums – first edition
Pick by: Stephen
If you need a band that will scratch that Katatonia itch for you, but also has it’s own sound, Thenighttimeproject is a must. There is such an awesome sound spectrum covered on this album. There are tracks like “Embers” that will get your head rocking, and then there are also tracks like “Signals in the Sky” and “Hound” that will make you lean back and close your eyes in bliss. For me, this has also been one of those albums that gets better everytime I return to it. I was very tempted to move this album up on my list, it’s fantastic. I was very happy to discover this band shortly after Pale Season released, and have recommended it to lots of prog-metal fans.
Recommended tracks: Hound, Embers, Signals in the Sky
Recommended for fans of: Katatonia, Vulkan, Sisare
