What a weird and wild year. We’ve had major releases, new faces, and singles for albums that still haven’t released. With so many amazing above-ground albums occupying most of my listening time this year, the back half of this list isn’t quite as strong as I’d like (in my opinion) and I haven’t listened to them nearly as much as 1 – 5.
Honorable mentions:
- Aviations – Luminaria
- Sleep Token – Take Me Back to Eden
- Closure in Moscow – Soft Hell
- The Ocean – Holocene
- Earthside – Let the Truth Speak
10. TEMIC – Terror Management Theory
Style: progressive metal, electro-prog (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Leprous, Haken, Caligula’s Horse
TEMIC is a new supergroup featuring members of Haken, Maraton, Arkentype, Neil Morse Band, and Shattered Fortress. Throughout Terror Management Theory, TEMIC prove that they’re more than just the sum of their parts. Despite hailing from some big names in the prog-o-verse, they’ve forged their own path. With Terror Management Theory releasing rather late in the year, I haven’t been able to spend much time with the album, but what I have heard made it clear that TEMIC needed to be on this list.
Recommended tracks: Falling Away, Count Your Losses, Mothallah
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
9. tB Project – Hourglass of Exile
Style: progressive metal/rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Teramaze, Ayreon, Voyager
I first learned of Taylor Batory’s music project, tB Project, during last year’s High Taste at Home live stream. As a big fan of UK band Azure, I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris Sampson pulling double duty performing lead vocals for both bands. Chris’s high-flying voice over Taylor’s virtuoso are a winning combination on Hourglass of Exile. While not a perfect album, I still found it to be one of the more interesting offerings this year.
Recommended tracks: The Messengers, Zeal/Appeal
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
8. Nospūn – Opus
Style: traditional progressive metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Native Construct, Caligula’s Horse, Dream Theater
I’ll admit, I’m a little late to the Nospūn party. I did listen to Opus when it first released, but it wasn’t until very recently that I’ve revisited the album and really took it all in. It seems every year, a band comes out of nowhere with a hugely ambitious debut that rivals the efforts of seasoned veterans, and Nospūn is that band for 2023. Opus is a snapshot of a brand new band already at the top of their game.
Recommended tracks: The Death of Simpson, Earwyrm, Within the Realm of Possibility
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
7. Vulture Industries – Ghosts from the Past
Style: progressive metal, avant-garde metal, alternative metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Arcturus, Thy Catafalque, Ghost
Avant-garde tends to be the overlooked subgenre of prog. Vulture Industries have created five high-quality avant-garde prog metal albums since their debut in 2007 and Ghosts from the Past finds the band just as bizarre and energetic as they’ve ever been, even if this album is a bit more straightforward than previous records. Bjørnar Nilsen’s unique operatic vocals lead the charge backed by the band’s crunchy rhythms and dark vaudevillian melodies creating a truly entertaining record.
Recommended tracks: Saturn Devouring His Young, Deeper, Tyrants Weep Alone
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
6. Head With Wings – Without Intervention
Style: progressive rock, alternative rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Anathema, Rishloo, Riverside
With their first album being produced by two members of Earthside and Without Intervention by Vikram Shankar of Lux Terminus, Head With Wings comes with some heavy-hitting endorsements. While their sound is quite disparate from the aforementioned bands, there is a reason these artists have collaborated with Head With Wings. With mostly clean guitar tones, wavering vocals, and a hard-hitting rhythm section, Without Intervention becomes a cinematic experience you should not miss.
Recommended tracks: The Dream Broker, Galaxy, Absolute Zero
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
5. Stoneside. – God of the Mountain
Style: progressive metal, djent (mostly clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Sleep Token, Katatonia
With the unprecedented meteoric rise of Sleep Token’s popularity this year, people have been clamoring for other bands that occupy a similar sonic space. Out of all those suggested, Stoneside. are easily the most interesting group listed. I wouldn’t say they really sound all that much like Sleep Token but they share a similar aesthetic with their masked anonymity and utilize soft ethereal passages in tandem with crushing djenty moments. The band states that they tell the stories of the dead through their music, which can be heard through the wide range of emotions prevalent throughout God of the Mountain.
Recommended tracks: Dust Cloud, Foothills, Avalanche
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
4. Omnerod – The Amensal Rise
Style: progressive death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Devin Townsend, Opeth, Gorguts (Mixed Vocals)
Omnerod fall into a bewildering void between dissonance and melody. Crushing rhythms, sinister ambience, and tortured screams intermingle with jazzy leads and epic melodic cleans. The Amensal Rise is a practice through meditative chaos, enveloping the mind in sweet darkness. Omnerod’s sound may be quite contradictory, but the balance they’ve found on The Amensal Rise makes it required listening from this year.
Recommended tracks: Satellites, Spore, Magnets
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
3. East of the Wall – A Neutral Second
Style: progressive metal, post-metal, post-hardcore (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Intronaut, ISIS, The Mars Volta, Mastodon
The dreamy progressive post-metal collective are back with their sixth full-length (seventh if you count their previous life as The Postman Syndrome) and they haven’t lost an ounce of their genius. Despite multiple line-up changes, East of the Wall have retained their unique identity in the sludge-o-sphere. They use a lot of the same tools as their contemporaries like psychedelia, prog, adventurous soundscapes, but it’s the way that they utilize these pieces that truly places them in a league of their own.
Recommended tracks: Detonator Gauntlet, Momentum Mori, Autosomal Recessive
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
2. Alkaloid – Numen
Style: progressive death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Obscura, Gorod, Cynic
Progressive death metal’s premier Lovecraftian supergroup rises from the shadowy depths once more with their third full-length album Numen. Building off of their accomplishments with their previous two releases, Alkaloid have proven once again that they are one of the most engaging and inventive groups in the genre. From their penchant for dank stygian grooves to I Can’t Believe It’s Not Pop hooks to otherworldly solos, Alkaloid demand attention from the listener. Cosmic horror has never been so damn fun.
Recommended tracks: The Cambrian Explosion, Clusterfuck, Alpha Aur
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
1. The World is Quiet Here – Zon
Style: progressive metal, metalcore (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Between the Buried and Me, Black Crown Initiate, Rivers of Nihil
On their second full length release, Zon, The World is Quiet Here are anything but quiet. They’ve employed new vocalist Lou Kelly whose trademark ultra-low cleans and contorted-creature harsh vocals deploy a unique element over the band’s controlled chaos. Additionally, with guest musicians Poh Hock (Native Construct, Replacire), Max Moberry (Others By No One, Flummox), and Ivan Chopik (Painted in Exile), Zon is a wealth of progressive mastery. Despite releasing in January, Zon remains the year’s best underground release.
Recommended tracks: White Sun, Ossuary, Moonlighter
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
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The Progressive Subway's Official Top Ten Albums of 2023: A Report from the Underground - The Progressive Subway · January 11, 2024 at 16:58
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