Hello there reader. Today we are going into the final month we’re doing batch reviews. After this we’re gonna switch to individual reviews. There will still be roundup posts, but the bulk of this blog is gonna consist of individual reviews. It’s weird to say, but after July we’ll actually be caught up with the present. I remember in the beginning (when this was still just me) that I estimated that I’d be caught up with the present in December 2018… lol. It’s ironic we’re catching up in the year I said we’re gonna stop to try to frenetically catch up to the present. I guess that’s what happens when you have enough writers to not make one absence instantly crippling.
Speaking of reviewer absence, there are no reviews from Jonah this week since he’s moving places and everything is hectic at his place. Worry not however, since the albums he missed this week will be picked up by Tyler in the next. Josh is also not doing a review this week because he mods a large subreddit which is currently in turmoil so he has his hands full with that for a bit. Hence this edition is rather small.
Now speaking of small, this amount of prog releases this month is very small as well. For the first time in ages we can actually cover everything on our list. Recently the usual number of albums per month is almost 50, but this month we barely have 25. I guess that’s COVID-19 finally hammering in on the new releases output. If this keeps up, we might actually have the time and space for other things than reviews of present albums.
There’s a final thing I wanted to mention and that is that I realized that I can actually embed Spotify links. So the Spotify playlist with recommended tracks from the albums listed here will be embedded below. It’s mindblowing right? Guess it’s time to go back to the older editions and embed the playlists everywhere.
New here? Check our About page and take a look at our social media accounts (links in the sidebar). In short what we do is that we search for promising underground prog metal (and related) bands through Metal-Archives advanced search, Bandcamp and other sources, group them together by the month they were released in, and then write a review on them. Do you want your band reviewed? Send us an email at theprogressivesubway@gmail.com. Just make sure it’s from a month we haven’t covered yet, that the release is over 20 minutes long and that you don’t have more than 10k Spotify monthly listeners.
Acute Mind – Under the Empty Sky (Poland)
Style: Traditional (clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Andrew
Traditional prog metal sits in a weird spot for me. I’ve basically never heard a trad prog album I truly disliked. I’ve also never heard a trad prog album I truly loved. In my opinion, this is in large part due to the lack of innovation and widespread homogeneity pervading the subgenre. Under the Empty Sky falls squarely in the middle of this space. On paper, there is nothing wrong with this album. It is very well-produced. The instrumentation sounds great. The singer has a great voice. The songwriting is concise and well-paced. The band members are all exceptionally talented. Despite all of this, I have trouble recalling a single moment from the album even after listening to it more than a few times. This lack of memorability is a common issue with this style of music, at least for me.
That’s not to say Acute Mind hasn’t jam-packed this album with catchy choruses and hooks. During a listen, I catch myself humming or singing along when a chorus is repeated for the fourth time. But, as soon as the song ends, it is hard for me to remember what happened in that song. Before you get on my case about my short-term memory, this absolutely is not the case for most music. It’s just this subgenre. I really don’t know what it specifically is about the music that has this effect, but it’s there. One thing worth pointing out is the last song is almost nu-metal and has some rapping. I like nu-metal so I enjoyed the track, but it’s the one memorable part from the entire album.
I don’t really have much else to say. Acute Mind has made a collection of trad prog songs, each of which are good. I enjoy this album a great deal, but there’s no lasting effect. I wish I could say more but I’m really drawing a blank on what else I can talk about here. It’s a good album. Yeah.
Recommended tracks: Clouded Eyes, Under the Empty Sky, Kingdom
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Threshold
Final verdict: 6/10
Ehnahre – The Scrape of a Keel (Drones and Improvisations) (US-MA)
Style: Avantgarde/Doom/Improv (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Stephen
One of my favorite genres is avant-garde and experimental metal. Because of that, I’ve noticed a trend growing with “drone-metal” within the experimental metal umbrella. Ehnahre’sThe Scrape of a Keel falls into this subgenre, and you should be able to tell pretty quickly if The Scrape of a Keel is going to be your cup of tea or not.
I feel like The Scrape of a Keel gives a good summary of itself, with it’s first two tracks “Colossus” and “The Birds Have Vanished.” The intro track, “Colossus” is just about everything I didn’t like about the album jammed into one track. You know bands are playing live and they hit those long sustained notes accompanied by drum fills before resolving the song? Now imagine 10 minutes of that with random dissonance and random atonal screams. That is most of this album.
On the other hand “The Birds Have Vanished” was actually a bit interesting. It was still almost completely drones, but the song was a lot more focused than “Colossus”. It begins with these low and ambient piano notes that builds and builds, creating an atmospheric and unsettling track. Even though I still enjoyed “The Birds Have Vanished” the most, I still felt that the track went on too long and found myself getting bored at times. The track is just under seven minutes and there is no real musical idea that develops. “The Birds Have Vanished” starts slowly with dissonant piano. Then it adds static noise on top of the dissonant piano. Next, it builds to more dissonant piano. Lastly, it adds some spooky vocals moaning in the background. Then it ends… and that’s the best track in my opinion. The rest of the album continues to be mostly unenjoyable with a few cool moments. However, even the cool moments were still missing musical elements to turn this album into music, rather than just focused noise or ambience.
I’ve listened to The Scrape of Keel a few times now and I couldn’t tell you one melody from the album because each track moves so slowly and is so loosely structured. The biggest positive I can say about this album is that if it were background music for a movie scene it could work pretty well, but for an album to sit down and listen to, I won’t be doing that again. I love avant-garde metal, but this isn’t for me.
Recommended tracks: The Birds Have Vanished (if I had to pick one)
Recommended for fans of: N/A
Final verdict: 3/10
Transit Method – The Madness (US-TE)
Style: Grunge/Psychedelic (clean vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page
Review by: Tyler
Man, did I miss punk. I don’t mean I’m nostalgic about it, I mean that I just totally missed it. It never crossed my radar much further than Green Day, like, 15 years ago (if that could ever be considered punk at all by some standards). I just went right from emo to the intellectual (hard sarcasm) mass of prog goo you see before you, and I liked that. But sometimes, I imagine what if I listened to punk, what kind would I like? Transit Method. That’s the punk I like.
…if this can be considered punk. There are definitely punk tendencies on The Madness, really tastefully done too. I was a little worried, because the British style punk that the title track kicks in with certainly isn’t for me, and I was surprised to see a spookier, more gothic edge come in so quickly. The dreamy, reverby guitars were a nice turn that kept me intrigued on what other secrets lie on beneath the (let’s admit it) pretty terrible album cover. And what the rest of the album had to offer was really great. Transit Method managed to find an area of punk that few really venture, and add some pretty smart and progressive elements. The riffs in “Drag the Ghouls”, the reverby guitars that kept creeping back every so often to remind you how sick they are. There is even a song that might as well be a Rush tribute song in “Cannibals”. The absolutely gorgeous guitar melody paired the perfect of 70’s drum beat and the nasly delivery of the story about meeting cannibals was the highlight of the album, and really made me question if this was the same band that opened with an underwhelming intro. It was a great progression to see.
My main gripes with the album, as few as they are, have to do with the composition on most of the songs themselves. There was a ton of room to layer and add embellishments. A great example being “Cage the Beast”. The lead riff is killer, but it seemed empty with just the guitar and bass. It was missing a thickness that could have started out the last suite of songs with a bigger bang than we got. And this was an issue that actually persists through the rest of the album, and ultimately, left the ending lacking substance.
Despite those flaws, Transit Method does come out on top with a sound that isn’t exactly breaking the mold, but is certainly fresh. The musicianship is crispy, the parts themselves are smart and well thought out. Listening back to the rest of their discography, it is also the most focused album they’ve done, no fluff here. I just hope that with their next release they up the ante a little bit and get a little more maddening.
Recommended tracks: Drag the Ghouls, Recarnivore, Cannibals, Odd Punk
Recommended for fans of: Mutoid Man, Cave In, Rush
Final verdict: 8/10
0 Comments