Reports from the Underground: May 2020 prog reviewed (part 2)

BlackLab – Abyss (Japan)
Style: Witch/Doom/Crust? (Mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Tyler

Are we out of metal subgenres yet? Have we really not exhausted every adjective? I just learned about Witch Doom, which is how BlackLab describes their music. I just don’t have anything else to compare it to because I’ve never heard that phrase before. From the listens I gave, it seems to be a mix of pretty standard sludge and doom, mixed with a tinge of crusty pop…? Or maybe it’s witchy because it’s a female duo playing it. I’m not sure. Either way it’s not bad.

Instrumentally, it’s pretty standard. Nothing is super clear or high fidelity. The guitar is a wall of never ending fuzz that’s also pulling double duty for the bass as well. All of that noise does take up a lot of real estate, so finding the other aspects of the music actually takes some digging to find. If you remembered your shovel though, the vocals do tend to shine a bit more than other similar projects. There are some really cool stand out moments that showcase the vocals when they aren’t gasping for air between riffs. The haunting Japanese inspired intro of “Fade and Melt” grabbed me immediately and served as a pretty great vehicle for the song, sort of establishing that the vocals would be featured a little bit more (the heavy vocals later on are banging as well).

You’ll notice so far that I have not mentioned the drums much at all, and there isn’t too much to say, honestly. That’s not to say that they are bad or negligible by any sense, they are just fairly middle of the road when it comes to the style. I didn’t hear anything particularly fascinating about them. The one moment that stood out was the intro to “Sleepless Night”, but that was because they were the only instrument being played. The playing is great across the board, the style was fitting to pretty much every song, there just much that needs to be said.

Overall, this was a pretty solid outing for the duo. My biggest issues with the album as a whole are how distracted and fuzzy the guitar is. It NEVER lets up and just feels monotonous when you hit the last song. Which is a shame, because everything else fits so well otherwise. The riffs are great, the vocals are stellar, they just need to be pushed forward a bit more in order for them to make more of an impact. There needs to be a shift in balance in order for that next step to mean something.

Recommended tracks: Fade and Melt, Sun
Recommended for fans of: Black Sabbath, Sunn O))), sandy speakers
Final verdict: 5/10

Lost Forever – Unbreakable (Brazil)
Style: Power (Clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Andrew

You know the saying, don’t judge a book by its cover? In this case, it’s “don’t judge an album by its first song.” When I first listened to Unbreakable by Brazilian prog power metallers Lost Forever, the first song was definitely a huge turn-off. Set in the style of a cheesy 80s power ballad complete with corny synth tone, I really hoped the rest of the album wasn’t the same. Brazil has produced some of my all-time favorite prog power bands including Maestrick and Angra, so I had high hopes for Lost Forever – however, the opening track “Let It Go” did not bode well for the remainder of the record.

Fortunately, track two, “Uncanny Symmetries,” immediately restored my faith in Lost Forever. Kicking off with more keys (more piano-sounding than cheesy synth) and a heavy-hitting riff, “Uncanny Symmetries” effectively sets the stage for the remainder of the album. I’m not sure why Lost Forever made the decision to start the album with a track so different from the overall feel but luckily I stuck with it because from track two onward, Unbreakable never relents. Singer James Galvão presents a dark, raspy tone that is a far cry from the usual power metal vocal style. The rhythm in not only this track, but basically every track that follows, is urgent and powerful. A key element of Unbreakable that elevates it above generic power metal is the variety of tempo throughout the record. One of my biggest pet peeves and a large contributing factor to an album dragging is a lack of variety in tempo. Lost Forever do a great job of changing things up track-to-track, jumping from fast to mid-tempo to even a ballad or two. 

Both lead and rhythm guitar sound great and have a uniqueness in composition across tracks that helps make each song stand out on its own. The drums add an essential layer while remaining tasteful. I do wish the bass was more prominent but there are absolutely moments where it is not only quite audible, but where it stands out as a highlight. 

Keys are omnipresent here — but aside from the first track, they are always welcome. Like the drums, they often act as a rhythmic layer rather than another level of melody, but this is far from a bad thing. The highlight of the album is the penultimate track, “Another Faith” — clocking in at just over 10 minutes, this behemoth is a fantastic summary of everything Lost Forever has to offer. Ripping solos, unique rhythms, and ever-changing tempos, the song goes basically everywhere in its runtime. 

Aside from the first track, Unbreakable is a fantastic effort from Lost Forever. Without ever sounding too generic, they manage to cram most of what power metal has to offer into the album while still incorporating some outside influence. I’d absolutely recommend this for any fan of power metal. Just skip track 1 (or don’t, if you like overly corny 80s power ballads…)

Recommended tracks: Uncanny Symmetries, Balance in Chaos, Another Faith
Recommended for fans of: Circus Maximus, Angra, Parallel Dimension
Final verdict: 7.8/10

Of the Vine – Left Alone (US-GA)
Style: Post (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page
Review by: Dylan

I usually don’t expect to listen to this type of post when an album of said genre makes it into this blog. After all, the term ‘’post’’ in itself is very vague for music. While in metal it encompasses artists like Neurosis in rock it’s a completely different breed, with even more sub-breeds within it.

Of the Vine play, for the most part, very airy, heavenly, crescendo-corey post rock, similar to artist like We Lost the Sea, and to some extent, Godspeed!. It thrives in a lot of quietness, build ups, ‘’walls of sound’’, and crescendo/climaxes. The moments where the music’s intense it actually has quite a similarity to Karnivool’s softer sections, especially on the vocal side. It’s very much minimalistic compared to most of the albums present on this blog, and for that one time you don’t want a lot to happen in music, Left Alone can be the album to do the job for you. 

That being said, I find it to be a VERY mood specific kind of record, like most crescendo-core post rock. There’s probably 5 days per year where I feel like listening to this, so it probably won’t get a lot of play time for myself, not nearly enough to consider this album as a contender for AOTY, or even top 10 of the year. But for what it is, I was satisfied with Of the Vine’s release, and I hope that with this review people that are more into this style of music can find a new cool band to listen to.

Recommended tracks: Forelorn, Illfracombe
Recommended for fans of: We Lost the Sea, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Karnivool
Final verdict: 7/10

Course of Fate – Mindweaver (traditional, Norway)
Style: Traditional (clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

This album makes me happy. I like melodic prog metal and this band does melodic prog metal well, and they don’t even sound completely derivative! I am elated. Now let’s talk more in depth.

This record mostly shines at the keyboard play and the vocal delivery. The atmosphere created is lovely and I find the choice of patches tasteful. The vocal melodies are powerful and cleverly written. He’s got a very pretty voice and the way he sings distantly reminds me of Daniel Gildenlow from Pain of Salvation. I think it’s the tone also. Some of the vocal arrangements in the choruses also frequently remind me of Shadow Gallery. These songs are all very memorable. It’s not just a good chorus that carries them, but the music during the verses is very pretty and dynamic as well. It’s not just a standard VCVCBC structure either. The band experiments a bit with that. Finally I really like the drums and the production as well. The guy does some pretty tasty fills and tom work. The record sounds warm and spacious. The softer sections echo nicely, while in the harder parts everything packs a good punch, but nothing is overtly loud to kill your ears. The song “Wolves” shows the dynamic production nicely.

Some parts of the record I dug less were the riff work, which is a bit standard prog metal fare, and the solos, which tend to be a bit tame. It’s not like they’re bad, not at all they’re tasteful, but I frequently found myself wanting a bit more extravaganza. The climaxes for this reason tend to be a bit more mundane than I’d like. It’s not a big detractor, but it does make the difference between a solid album and an amazing one. Course of Fate do have the potential to make such a record I feel, but this is not quite there yet. That said, this is a great melodic prog metal album, and every fan of the traditional prog metal style should check this out.

Recommended tracks: Endgame, Wolves, Drifting Away
Recommended for fans of: Shadow Gallery, Pain of Salvation, Dream Theater
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Dining With Dogs – The Problem With Friends (US-TE)
Style: Sludge/Psych (Barked vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page
Review by: Tyler

This review was supposed to be done last edition. But, I am in a state of physical/emotional/spiritual bungus right now and I just didn’t have anything to say about it then. I’m not exactly sure if anything has changed but I already didn’t do it once so here we go!

I was really hoping this album would be a little bit more interesting than it ended up being. Not that it doesn’t have surprises, because there certainly is a character to this thing.I don’t know if I was expecting something a little more theatrical with a cover like the one displayed here, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a sludge filled noir of a half hour that I got. This album is as thick as molasses. Super heavy and punchy riffs, straight forward drums, and vocals that sound like smoked tires. It all fits really well together, but there definitely were times where I didn’t need things to be that heavy and gravely.

This album is missing some delicates, and I say that as someone who likes to be challenged by music and will give anything a fair shot. The Problem With Friends lives in the dirt. There is such an emphasis on crushing, marching songs that halfway through I needed to take a break just to make sure I could still stand up. Some airier parts would have been a wonderful change of pace. The main motif in the guitar part of ‘Puzzled’ touched on that a bit. Combined with some Mastodonian vocals, it really brought the aetherial aspect that I was hoping for when I jumped into this thing. There isn’t too much else that really scratched that itch for me on this album. There is jut a constant buzzy and distorted feeling that permeates through the entire album that honestly was making my head spin. 

The songwriting itself never caught me off guard too much. Every now and again I’d hear some pretty great phrasing in the vocals (see “Fruit of the Poison Tree”, vocals on that song are psychotic), or an interesting riff that raised an eyebrow or three. But I always felt like the band never got too far outside of the box that they had built for themselves. It’s a wonderful box, and they explore every inch, but there came points where I felt like I was hearing the same song over again. “Fruit of the Poison Tree” and “Snowflake” both start with a fuzzy bass intro that made me do a double take to make sure the songs weren’t the same. The band is great at what they do, but there seems to be a lack of variety when it comes to anything else. If you need to feel like being sat on by an entire ocean for a while, check her out, but if you’re going through something right now, it may be best to circle back on this one.

Recommended tracks: Puzzled, Fruit of the Poison Tree
Recommended for fans of: -(16)-, Daughters, Mastodon
Final verdict: 5.5/10

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Lör – Edge of Eternity (US-PA)
Style: Power/Folk (Mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Andrew

I always love surprise releases. Eliminating the suspense period and delivering new music straight to my ears — what’s not to like? Avenged Sevenfold did it back in 2016 with The Stage, which became one of my favorite albums of that year. And now, in 2020, American prog-folk-power band Lör did it with their album Edge of Eternity. Having only released one album before — 2017’s In Forgotten Sleep, Lör are definite newcomers onto the scene. However, ever since I first heard In Forgotten Sleep a couple years ago, it’s been one of my favorite albums. A surprise release from Lör was one of the best pieces of news I’ve ever heard.

That’s enough exposition — let’s jump into this thing. Clocking in at a brief 25 minutes with only five tracks, one could hardly call Edge of Eternity an album. But there are enough ideas packed into the short runtime for a full-length and more. Lör’s debut is notable for seamlessly blending power and folk metal with a strong progressive edge, and Edge of Eternity continues that trend flawlessly. The first and second tracks display Lör’s power metal prowess while still honing their progressive blade ever sharper. Blazing riffs, ripping solos, and progressive song structures, these two tracks are wonderful introductions to Lör’s core sound. 

Third track “Ruin” is something else entirely. Lör’s heaviest song to date, it wastes no time getting started with its main riff before introducing what sounds like plucked violin over the riff. “Ruin” goes so many places throughout its 7 minute runtime that it almost feels like an album on its own. After a couple of verses, it quiets down into a somber, tense passage, building tension before building up again over a ripping lead guitar line. The passage comes to a climax with breakdown heavier than an anvil and releasing effortlessly into a more energetic version of the original somber passage. After a solo, Lör switches up into a waltzy clean passage over a beautifully orchestrated backing track. This then builds into another massive climax similar to earlier in the song. The absolute highlight of this song and Lör in general is their mastery over tension and climax. Their builds are huge and the releases are beautiful and enormous as well. 

The next track, “Relic”, is a beautiful ballad highlighting singer Tyler Fedeli’s fantastic vocals. Primarily acoustic, this track slowly builds up in intensity until it reaches a peak and finally explodes into a final chorus. Finishing up the album is the title track “Edge of Eternity”. Originating as a track from Lör’s 2010 demo, “Edge of Eternity” is the definition of the word anthemic. From the urgent and massive riff to the gang vocals in the chorus, this is one song that I would definitely play while riding into battle. I’ve heard some criticism of the production of the album — I personally don’t find anything wrong with the mixing or mastering but I’ll mention this in case it stands out to anyone else. 

Lör came out of nowhere with Edge of Eternity but managed to effortlessly carve a permanent home in my album-of-the-year list. For fans of power metal, folk metal, prog metal, or basically just music in general, Edge of Eternity is one album you do not want to miss. 

Recommended tracks: Upon a Withered Heart, Ruin, Relic
Recommended for fans of: Wilderun, Aether Realm, Aeternam
Final verdict: 10/10

Никто Не Против – Время уезжать? (Russia)
Style: Post-Metal/Alt-Metal (Clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | VKontakte
Review by: Jonah

Unfortunately as an American living in Florida I have never had the pleasure of learning Russian. While there are very, very moments in my life that this has had much of any impact, it sadly means I have no idea what this band’s name, album name, song names, or lyrics mean. I hope they’re as high in quality as the music though. At this point you’ve probably looking at the score and FFO and might find yourself slightly confused. Well I’ve never heard anything quite like this album, so I stretched a little on the related bands, but I think they’re all applicable. Let me explain.

This album sounds like post-metal more often than not. They’re atmospheric guitar leads, driving riffs, and general slow builds growing into these huge crescendo moments. However, this is all compressed into relatively short song lengths, and more often than not sounds more like the Deftones brand of post-ish alt metal than it does any proper post-metal band. Add into that some really funk and grunge influence bass work and some quasi-rapped vocal sections alongside very Chino Moreno-esque cleans (albeit in Russian) and you’ll have some of the more interesting music I’ve heard this year. While I don’t necessarily love every single track on this album the entire package is just so damn interesting and I keep coming back to listen to it again and again.

From a production standpoint this isn’t the best mixed or mastered album I’ve ever heard, but it’s entirely serviceable. Especially worthy of note is the bass mixing and tone, which are just absolutely sublime. The bass is a massive highlight on this album and it’s incredible audible, driving it’s grooves and rhythms into your brain as the riffs and raspy vocals fly overtop. There are even a few sections where the bass takes the lead part of the song and those are just absolutely sublime.

I was unsure how I felt about this album when I first listened, but after repeated attempts I’ve grown quite fond of it. I don’t think every single thing they’ve tried works but the sound as a whole is really interesting and I would love to hear more of it. Given last time I checked this band had a grand total of 2 listeners on a couple different streaming platforms, I think they deserve a hell of a lot more attention than they’re getting and I heartily suggest you check them out!

Recommended tracks: На север, Крот, Птицам
Recommended for fans of: Deftones, Rage Against The Machine, Sólstafir
Final verdict: 8/10