Hello, and welcome to the first part of a very special two-part posts counting down our favourite underground albums of the 2010s! For many months now, our writers have been listening, nominating, voting and writing to bring you this Extremely Scientific™ ranking of the fifty greatest underground gems from the years 2010 to 2019. In Part One, we’re diving into numbers 50 through 26, and part two will take us to the number one spot some time next week!
As far as methodology goes, our long-time metric for reviewing albums was any band with fewer than 20,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. We’ve since abandoned that threshold specifically so we can roast bands like Dream Theater, but for this post and future posts regarding “underground” bands and albums, we’ll be keeping that threshold. All of these bands had fewer than 20,000 monthly listeners at the time of voting; they might be over that threshold now. Additionally, that threshold isn’t foolproof; some unexpectedly big bands slip through the cracks, but rest assured you won’t be seeing the likes of Tool, Gojira, Opeth or Devin Townsend in this countdown.
There were countless bands we wish had made the cut but unfortunately didn’t make the top fifty. As a result, we’re starting out with honorable mentions from some of our writers who wanted to give a shout-out to their favourites that missed the bar.
Honorable Mentions
Andy: All Traps on Earth – A Drop of Light | orchestral progressive rock | Bandcamp
Dave: Gallowbraid – Ashen Eidolon | Cascadian black metal | Bandcamp
Chris: Subterranean Masquerade – Vagabond | oriental progressive folk metal | Bandcamp
Francesco: Icefish – Human Hardware | traditional progressive metal | Bandcamp
Cooper: Hath – Of Rot and Ruin | progressive death metal | Bandcamp
Doug: Darkwater – Human | symphonic traditional progressive metal | Bandcamp
Sabrina: Headspace – I Am Anonymous | traditional progressive metal | Bandcamp
Sam: Kingcrow – Eidos | progressive metal | Bandcamp
50. StarSystems – StarSystems III (2016)
Genres: Progressive metal, djent, jazz fusion (instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Plini, Intervals, Sithu Aye, Arch Echo
I’m not sure whether the dearth of instrumental albums in this list says more about the Progressive Subway staff or about instrumental music itself. In either case, the presence of StarSystems as the only ranked instrumental entry, and in last place at that, undersells its significance. The last and longest of three debut self-titled releases which straddle the line between EP and LP, StarSystems III stands as one of the most consistently great instrumental albums I know of, featuring absolutely no misses and showcasing incredibly emotional vocal-less songwriting comparable to genre greats like Plini. To me, StarSystems III demonstrates the heights that instrumental prog reached in the last decade just as much as any of its better-known contemporaries.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Doug
49. Southern Empire – Civilisation (2018)
Genres: Progressive metal, progressive rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Sons of Apollo, The Flower Kings, Transatlantic
With gargantuan epics and cheesy prog metal antics, Southern Empire’s sophomore release Civilisation is simply epic in a way reminiscent of Transatlantic or Dream Theater at their gaudiest. Civilisation opens with “Goliath’s Moon,” an unreasonably catchy bop that has been a mainstay of family karaoke on road trips for half a decade. The twenty-nine minute beast “Crossroads” contains everything one could possibly hope for in such a lengthy epic: glorious reprises, face-melting solos, and tons and tons of cheesy charm. But the real highlight for me is “Cries for the Lonely,” which I would not only consider one of the best prog epics of the 2010s but also one of the best prog tracks ever. It’s beautifully bombastic, building from its overture with a huge swell which crashes into a violin solo before gritty tenor Danny Lopresto belts out the first of many verses. Even at a husky nineteen minutes, the track never loses steam. Civilisation came out my freshman year of high school, and “Cries for the Lonely” was the exact length of the drive to school, so my mom and I have heard the track a million times, and I love it more with every listen. Southern Empire shot for the stars, and they hit the moon… Goliath’s moon.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Andy
48. The Ruins of Beverast – Exuvia (2017)
Genres: Atmospheric black metal, experimental doom metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Blut Aus Nord, Decline of the I, Esoteric, Heilung
Sometimes an album has perfect cover art. Julia Schneider’s painting for Exuvia encapsulates the album, its deep purple ochre decorating the perfect shade of night for the shamanic ritual pictured. Delving into Exuvia is scary and intense, hypnotically suffocating. Alexander von Meilenwald’s solo project has never been for the faint of heart, but The Ruins of Beverast’s fifth album transcends space and time, transporting the listener back to the Middle Ages: I’m in a mead hall about to be ravaged by Grendel. From the three part opener and title track to the closing notes of “Takitum Tootem,” there’s a pulsating rhythm, a liveliness that’s impossible to escape. Exuvia is pre-industrial, back to the good old days before technology poisoned us and fighting off demons was mere entertainment.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Andy
47. Novembre – URSA (2016)
Genres: Gothic metal, doom metal, progressive metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Katatonia, Anathema, Tiamat
As the saying goes, beauty is rarely skin deep. If the rocky boot of Italy with its blue skies and sunny beaches evokes within you cheery, uptempo albums, just know you’re missing out on a world of depth, in which albums like Novembre’s URSA bloom like black roses. Drawing clear inspiration from the broody, melancholic death and gothic metal aspects of groups like Katatonia and Anathema, the Rome-based outfit Novembre takes these elements and creates a distinctly painterly atmosphere on URSA, where the sounds, like colours, flow into one another to create light and shadow. The progressive nature of the album lends itself to effecting changes in mood and tempo not merely throughout its runtime of over an hour, but also within songs themselves: haunting ecclesiastical chanting leading into strained, impassioned, despairing harsh vocal cries; tremolo-picking passages dissolving into reverberant minor-key arpeggios and saxophone. In a country that’s primarily known for their power metal scene, Novembre stands as the antithesis; a consummate effort to portray beauty in tenebrosity.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Francesco
46. Children of Nova – Impossible Landscape (2012)
Genres: Progressive rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Closure in Moscow, The Mars Volta, Rishloo
There’s something to be said for burning short and bright rather than slowly fading away. While their time as a band may have been tragically brief, San Diego’s Children of Nova managed to put out two excellent releases in that span, namely 2009’s unfortunately-not-eligible-for-this-list The Complexity of Light and its often-overshadowed follow-up, Impossible Landscape. While its predecessor was a wild, explosive blast of The Mars Volta-core chock-full of bongos and piercing falsetto wails, Impossible Landscape is a more mature, measured effort, with greater focus on tight songwriting and strong melodies. Frontman Teo Lopez scales back his stratospheric shrieks in favor of his powerfully melodic mid-range, working in harmony with the instrumentals rather than passing the spotlight back and forth. This approach pays off in the form of the punchy yet progressive riffs of songs like the title track and “Erratic”, and when they indulge their more sprawling instincts on closer “It’s Just a Ride”, it feels like something special. Not a bad way to go out, I’d say.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Ian
45. Barren Earth – A Complex of Cages (2018)
Genres: Progressive death metal, melodic death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Amorphis, Ghost
We all make fun of our glorious leader Sam for liking cheesy, theatrical music, but the truth is, so do I. A Complex of Cages is what happens when you put Opeth and Ghost in a blender, and I mean that as a compliment. Opener “The Living Fortress” is the perfect tone-setter, beginning with a bludgeoning main riff that leads into Jon Aldara’s overdramatic cleans. As much as the riffing is clearly inspired by Ghost Reveries, there’s enough 70s prog influence and epic, fist-pumping choruses to keep things interesting. Speaking of choruses, it’s hard to find a song on this album without an incredible one, with special mention to “Further Down” and “Dysphoria”, which continue to be stuck in my head long after I finish my 300th listen of this masterpiece.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Zach
44. The World is Quiet Here – Prologue (2018)
Genres: Metalcore, progressive metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Between the Buried and Me, Native Construct, Others By No One
Prologue took the prog-metal underworld by storm back in 2018, and it did so for good reason. I’d call The World is Quiet Here one of the few bands from the underground scene that manage to thrive while being so heavily influenced by a major act in the genre, rather than being held back by it. They’re absolutely taking a page (or more) from Between the Buried and Me’s style; very abrasive metalcore mixed together with unpredictable genre-fusions and a good amount of goofiness packed in. But they take this blueprint and make it their own, with their riffing far more influenced by djent, and the genre mish-mashes having a hell of a lot of western/americana/country influence to give them their own flavour. Prologue is well produced, flows excellently from track to track, provides technical chops, memorable choruses, a concept that’s easy to understand yet well written, and has a unique sense of urgency that allows it to pack all these things in one tight, fifty-minute package.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Dylan
43. Iapetus – The Body Cosmic (2019)
Genres: Melodic death metal, progressive metal, black metal (mixed vocals, mostly harsh)
Recommended for fans of: Ne Obliviscaris, Opeth, Persefone
Themes of space in metal have frankly been done to death, in many contexts a dour reflection on humanity’s fear of the unknown or abject loneliness. Iapetus take a more transcendent perspective on space on The Body Cosmic, as according to Iapetus, you are the cosmos reflecting upon itself, proclaiming “Where does the weight of the universe lie, if not with me?” Such statements of grandeur are accompanied by equally ambitious progressive melodeath, employing Dan Presland’s (ex-Ne Obliviscaris) unrelenting blast beats underneath melodic guitar work that reverberates through the cosmos until it decays into acoustic guitar and gentle clean vocals, all spread out over multiple ten-plus-minute pieces. The title track opens The Body Cosmic with an intensity and resplendence that most bands would close an album with, and yet Iapetus use that as a springboard to even loftier compositions, culminating in the explosive “The Star of Collapse.” The Body Cosmic makes a firm statement that we are never alone in our shared curiosity, optimism, and capacity to love, and does so with an unmatched fiery passion.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Dave
42. Thrawsunblat – Metachthonia (2016)
Genres: Melodic black metal, folk metal (mixed vocals, mostly harsh)
Recommended for fans of: Agalloch, Ulver, Moonsorrow, Windir, Ellende
An album replete with folk black metal brilliance and vivid animist lyricism, Metachthonia yearns for an ancient kind of self-discovery: each track paints vignettes of reconnection with the primal forces that move us as humans, whether they be our connections to the Earth, the stars, our ancestors, or other people. Joel Violette’s lyrics are rich, evocative, and truthfully life-changing: Metachthonia’s ideas help ground me to my roots when I feel lost or overwhelmed, pointing me back to the things that are important to me. All of these, well, chthonic themes are backdropped by intense and sprawling melodic black metal pieces inspired by Canadian folk music and accompanied by the virtuosic cello work of Raphael Weinroth-Browne; harsh vocals and blast beats tear across the landscape while earthy cleans and acoustic guitars force you to stop and listen to the Earth’s breath. A true standout of forward-thinking black metal expression, I can say without hesitation that Metachthonia is my favorite album of all time thanks to a mixture of supreme songwriting and lyricism that speaks to me at my core.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Dave
41. Conjurer & Pijn – Curse These Metal Hands (2019)
Genres: Post-metal, sludge metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Baroness, Svalbard, Rolo Tomassi
As the only collaboration album to make the list, Curse These Metal Hands sits at the vast crossroads of Pijn’s aching melancholia and Conjurer’s potent ferocity. And despite each band wielding balefire with their own respective sounds, these Englishmen opted instead to create a salve to nihilism. Over the album’s four tracks, one’s life is completely and utterly affirmed, the weight upon one’s shoulders lifted, and the clouds blocking the sun parted. This is no subtle affair; these Englishmen pound optimism into you note by note, riff by riff until you too are lifted up and see the light of day. From the epic lyrical climaxes of “High Spirits” to the nursery-rhyme like motif that closes out the album on “Sunday,” this album serves one purpose. And it achieves it beautifully.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Cooper
40. Black Peaks – All That Divides (2018)
Genres: Alternative metal, progressive metal, post-hardcore (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Deftones, Mastodon, Vheissu-era Thrice, Loathe, Moon Tooth
A bright-burning but brief legend in the UK alt metal scene, Black Peaks’ tremendous second album was sadly their last. Deftly blending indelibly British progressive post-hardcore with the sludgy dynamism of Mastodon and the heavy grooves of later Deftones, Black Peaks managed to forge a unique identity within an often homogenous genre on All That Divides. Will Gardner’s bellows, shrieks and angelic cleans were the hook, built upon intricate riffing both progressive and punchy, and a varied rhythm section which could rise to every occasion. From the punky energy of “Electric Fires” to the post-metal crescendousness of “The Midnight Sun” to the heart-wrenching refugee crisis ballad “Slow Seas”, Black Peaks pushed the UK proggy post-hardcore scene to giddy heights that yet remain unsurpassed.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Christopher
39. Vulkan – Mask of Air (2011)
Genres: Progressive rock, psychedelic rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Mars Volta, Rishloo, Closure in Moscow, Malina-era Leprous
Vulkan’s heavy rock sound defies description and comparison but lands somewhere between The Mars Volta, Leprous with a little less depression, and Closure in Moscow or VOLA with a little less pop. While the intervening years and two additional albums have brought them some much-deserved recognition, Vulkan spent the majority of the previous decade being criminally underrated for their clever songwriting, lively psychedelic tone, and expressive yet enigmatic lyrics. Although 2020’s Technatura seems to have finally been their breakout release, their debut Mask of Air still shows the band at their best, with numerous tracks that could easily be the highlight of a lesser album, including a final one-two punch (“Pyrrhus” into “Howling Owls (Pt. 3)”) that remains one of my all time favorite album closers.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Doug
38. In the Silence – A Fair Dream Gone Mad (2013)
Genres: Progressive metal, progressive rock, alternative metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Katatonia, Karnivool, Tool, Riverside
What convenient timing! For an almost Tool-worthy length of time, A Fair Dream Gone Mad has remained the one and only album by little-known California band In the Silence—but no more! With a new label deal signed last year and a pair of singles from the upcoming album released so far, now is the perfect time to dive into this melancholy prog band in anticipation. Their dark, gothic atmosphere feels most comparable to Katatonia, with mournful vocals and an atmospheric flair to the production that brings an autumnal chill to the air at any time of year. Balancing thick, syrupy distortion with occasional dashes of subtle acoustic guitar, In the Silence have mastered a very specific aesthetic, and A Fair Dream Gone Mad drips with it.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Doug
37. Cheeto’s Magazine – Amazingous (2019)
Genres: Progressive rock, symphonic prog, neo-prog, heavy prog (strange vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Flower Kings, A.C.T., Genesis
Cheeto’s Magazine are not the kind of band I would usually listen to and Amazingous simply defies intuitive logic; it doesn’t make any sense to me how this album turned out so good. This is a once in a decade sort of deal—perhaps, an accidental masterpiece. Paced immaculately and written close to perfectly, Amazingous brings the listener through a sanity-melting path of muppet vocals, harsh muppet vocals, inspirational pep-talks, and achieving ultimate power through contact with eldritch forces. Cheeto’s Magazine is molded out of the progressive rock classics from the 70s and 80s while providing a contemporary twist on the genres of old, contributing sounds from the current progressive metal scene. This culminates in a super refreshing, upbeat, and playfully cohesive sound. Amazingous is deceptively friendly in its sonic presentation but there is something ungodly sinister going on underneath the surface.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Sabrina
36. Spawn of Possession – Incurso (2012)
Genres: Technical death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Necrophagist, First Fragment, Decrepit Birth
Spawn of Possession have been a tech death mainstay for decades and knew since day one what they wanted to do with their music: abrasive death metal with a whole bunch of neoclassical influence to create an epic, nigh theatrical, atmosphere that somehow co-exists with some of the heaviest melodies ever written. Despite all three of their albums following this similar structure, Incurso makes the other releases essentially redundant. This is a product that assembles everything that made their debut and sophomore releases promising and elevates it to heights that have yet to be reached again in the technical death metal scene. Incurso has some of the most complex-yet-catchy passages of music I’ve ever heard, with its neoclassical elements adding a certain wow factor that sticks the landing upon first listen and consistently elevates the experience upon revisits. It’s grandiose and larger than life, yet never struggles to keep the listener engaged in spite of its incredible complexity. If that isn’t enough to sell you on Incurso, it’s one of the few death metal albums I’d highly encourage you to listen to with a lyrics sheet, for they are some of the grimmest, darkest, yet also beautifully written lyrical passages in the genre’s history.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Dylan
35. Bent Knee – Land Animal (2017)
Genres: Progressive rock, art rock, avant-garde (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Dear Hunter, Radiohead, Joanna Newsom, King Crimson, Björk
Throughout their defiantly uncategorizable career, art rock darlings Bent Knee have made a name for themselves largely by striking an incredibly deft balance between the cerebral and the primal, using their fancy Berklee music degrees to alchemize raw, bleeding-edge emotions into angular, groovy indie prog tunes that expertly zigzag listener expectations. Perhaps none of their records address this balance as head-on as Land Animal, whose loose concept centers around the conflicts that arise between humanity’s breakneck technological expansion and the ancient, animalistic desires and fears that remain unchanged from millions of years ago. It’s seemingly heady stuff, yet, fittingly, it also manages to be one of the most accessible albums Bent Knee have ever made, with Courtney Swain’s keening soprano and Chris Baum’s expertly arranged strings at the heart of its unforgettably potent hooks. Offering soaring dynamic builds (“Holy Ghost”, “Time Deer”) and quietly devastating ballads (“Insides In”, “Boxes”) in equal measure, Land Animal is a record for the partially-evolved beast in all of us.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Ian
34. Daydream XI – The Circus of the Tattered and Torn (2017)
Genres: Progressive metal, power metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Seventh Wonder, Dream Theater, Symphony X
One of my favorite tropes in prog metal is that of the concept album, and The Circus of the Tattered and Torn is a gem of an album that simply adheres to and delivers on all the tropes you could ask for in spades. Cheesy spoken word interludes? Check. An epic instrumental overture? Check. Over-indulgent songwriting? Hell yeah. Daydream XI play their asses off on this album, channeling all their theatricality, showmanship, and passion into creating banger song after banger song. They equally nail the grandiosity of power metal as they deliver on softer, emotionally vulnerable prog moments, carried as much by Tiago Masseti’s insanely charismatic vocal performance as by the sublime instrumental arrangements. One moment your face contorts to the depths of stankdom, and the next you’ll be listening to gospel and you won’t even be mad because it’s so well done. Everything you want in your classic prog metal is here, and I can’t recommend The Circus of the Tattered and Torn enough. (New album when??? :(((( )
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Sam
33. DGM – The Passage (2016)
Genres: Progressive metal, power metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Symphony X, Haken, Vision Divine
Italy’s DGM are the sunny peninsula’s answer to the USA’s Symphony X, with impressive heavy guitar work, melodic vocal lines, beautiful keyboard melodies, and a rhythm section that could teach a metronome how to keep time. The Passage brings together speedy, melodic power metal and traditional progressive metal to create massive hooky choruses and virtuosic instrumental passages that crescendo masterfully into outro sequences that maintain a breakneck pace until the very last note. Simone Mularoni’s surgical work on the six-string and Mark Basile’s inspirational vocal tone are a duo to be reckoned with, and although that seems to be a staple of progressive metal outfits in this vein, using the aforementioned Symphony X as an example—if Symphony X is a Dodge Viper, then DGM is a Ferrari 488. Both have power and speed, yes, but only one of them has the artistic sophistication of a land whose beautiful landscapes inspired the cultural revolution that was the Renaissance. The other has a MAGA shaman.
Links: Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Francesco
32. An Abstract Illusion – Illuminate the Path (2016)
Genres: Progressive death metal, atmospheric death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Ne Obliviscaris, Kardashev, Insomnium
Long before they released Woe, I knew future Subway darlings An Abstract Illusion from a random Reddit post. They already stood out from their Opethian peers by putting a heavy emphasis on atmosphere, making them more akin to someone like Mare Cognitum than the aforementioned Swedes. AAI weave shimmering aural tapestries, combining bludgeoning trem-riffs with ambient keyboard noodlings and leads, the slight black-metalisms of Saor coming through on songs like “Abode of A God” and “Drop This Planet of Dust”. “Skeletons of Light” remains a favourite for showcasing how these Swedish prog-wizards would tackle the art of the long-form prog epic, and the sixteen-minute behemoth remains a testament to writing songs that feel way shorter than they actually are.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Zach
31. The Reticent – On the Eve of a Goodbye (2016)
Genres: Progressive metal, death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Wilderun, Perihelion Ship
The Reticent have become infamous for delivering some of the most hard-hitting, depressing, and gut-wrenching albums out there for covering topics like dementia, depression, and suicide in visceral detail. On the Eve of a Goodbye was the beginning of this trajectory. Led by Grammy-nominated music instructor, Chris Hathcock, The Reticent snake through a harrowing story about the last twenty-four hours of a girl that the narrator couldn’t save before her tragic suicide; emotional introspection and questioning observation separate intervals of masterclass Opeth-inspired death metal mediated by a dynamic, powerful production. Hathcock conjures insane growls alongside mathy, technical riffs, shifting between acoustic, somber passages and hateful distorted cacophonies. “The Confrontation” is when all hell breaks loose and the real mind-bending instrumentals take us by storm. The finale, particularly the tracks, “Funeral For a Firefly” and “The Day After” are potentially perspective-changing songs to hear in the album’s epilogue. This is one of the most depressing albums you will likely hear; I say that with the utmost praise.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Sabrina
30. Moron Police – A Boat on the Sea (2019)
Genres: Progressive rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Thank You Scientist, Voyager, Haken, Bear Ghost
The sheer glow-up of Moron Police in the late 2010s needs to be studied. Sure, their early material showed musical promise beneath its forced quirkiness and sophomoric song titles, but I don’t think anyone expected a follow-up this good. A Boat on the Sea is one of the most exultantly colorful-sounding albums I’ve ever heard, with soaring, infinitely catchy choruses backed up by lush, creative musicianship that presents a delightful new bit of instrumentation at every turn. While its lyrics may have grown more serious (and more apropos than ever in recent times) in their commentary on warlike, capitalist hegemony, the prevailing mood is that of radiant, defiant joy. The world may be locked in a cycle of fascism and violence, but we can still smile and laugh at life’s absurdities with the ones we care about most.
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Ian
29. Equipoise – Demiurgus (2019)
Genres: Technical death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Beyond Creation, Necrophagist, First Fragment, Inferi
Written by members of Beyond Creation, Inferi, and Greylotus and featuring members of every other tech death band on the planet, Equipoise’s Demiurgus is the definition of tech death for tech death’s sake. Solos are traded around like a toxic plague, exotic scales latching onto your skin and STANKY fretless bass worming its way into your bones. At every turn, Demiurgus hits the listener with the purest distillation of technical prowess, and yet Equipoise still manage to make the whole thing memorable in part thanks to their classical influence yet mostly thanks to the sheer ludicrousness of the whole thing. Did I mention the fretless bass is rather STANKY?
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Cooper
28. Anubis Gate – Anubis Gate (2011)
Genres: Progressive metal, power metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Vanden Plas, Seventh Wonder, Pagan’s Mind, Circus Maximus
Anubis Gate’s self-titled marked the beginning of a new era for the band: previously fronted by producer Jacob Hansen, bassist Henrik Fevre takes on vocal duties, his down-to-earth timbre sitting in strong juxtaposition to Hansen’s cosmic, beamed-in-from-satellite vocal approach. The shedding of Hansen’s vocals and some of the more industrial electronics gave Anubis Gate the opportunity to write more straightforward power/prog and, incidentally, make their catchiest and most personal record to date in the process. Anubis Gate’s sense of groove has never been better, intertwining hefty chugging with crystal-clear soaring guitar melodics (“The Reformation Show”, “Hold Back Tomorrow”), all augmented by Fevre’s impassioned vocal performance. Replete with commanding vocal lines and energetic power metal swagger (“Desiderio Omnibus”, “Telltale Eyes”), Anubis Gate still makes room for dramatic sentimentality (“Golden Years”, “Oh My Precious Life”) and extended pieces (“World In a Dome”, “Circumstanced”) in between its more immediate moments. Anubis Gate shows that, in the right hands, a transition album can still be thoroughly engaging and eschew the growing pains associated with change entirely.
Links: Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Dave
27. iamthemorning – The Bell (2019)
Genres: progressive rock, chamber pop (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Oceansize, Ludovico Einaudi, Riverside, Sigur Ros
Although I ever-so-slightly prefer Iamthemorning’s debut ~, The Bell is an easy pick for this list as the band’s proggiest record to date. For those unfamiliar with the sound, the chamber duo consists of Gleb Kolyadin on piano and Marjana Semkina singing craft magnificent whimsical songs with haunting lyricism. On The Bell, the two bring in a whole host of guest musicians to turn the humble duo into a veritable prog rock ensemble, and the results are stunning. With tracks like the epic-in-miniature-proportion “Freak Show” and banger “Salute,” Iamthemorning truly found the perfect balance between chamber music and progressive rock. Plus, these guys write such beautiful and (deceivingly) simple music that you should have no problem showing it to your non-prog friends!
Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Write up by: Andy
26. Ad Nauseam – Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatum Est (2015)
Genres: Dissonant death metal, technical death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Artificial Brain, Gorguts, Spawn of Possession, Ulcerate
Few albums have broken a genre with their qualities and ambitions: some that come to mind are Vektor’s Terminal Redux, Yes’ Close to the Edge, and Astor Piazzolla’s Tango: Zero Hour. These albums shifted the paradigm with their technical brilliance and progressive outlook, perfecting what had come before and setting the standard for years to come. In similar form, Ad Nauseam’s Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatum Est took dissodeath to a whole new plane of existence. With completely familiar mechanisms in a framework I know and love, Ad Nauseam simply surpass their peers in every regard. NQVOE is stunningly beautiful, endlessly precise, heavy as anything, and yet sophisticated. Building their own equipment to their specifications, NQVOE is produced so you can hear each clack of the bass perfectly, each brush of the drumstick on the cymbal, and each eerie chamber instrument. This is Modern art and a perfect album for those willing to let the dissonance into their ear holes.
Links: Bandcamp
Write up by: Andy
Phew. There we have it, the first round of the best underground prog album of the 2010s. Any surprises? Anything you thought would be higher? Anything you’re expecting for the top 25? You’ll have to wait a little while for Part Two but we promise it’ll be worth it and that you’ll probably end up shouting at us for the things we missed out! We’ll just go ahead and sharpen the pitchforks for you, shall we? We’ll see you soon for the remaining 25 albums!
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