Review: Masseti – Odds and Ends

Style: Progressive metal, power metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Symphony X, Dream Theater, Seventh Wonder, Angra
Country: United States-New York
Release date: 14 June 2025

Sometimes I lament the fact that I only started The Progressive Subway in 2018. There werevso many interesting underground albums in the years prior, but if not for reviewing, finding a reason to attentively listen to a random good, maybe even great obscure album from, say, 2014 becomes increasingly difficult as the years go by. An underground album needs to be either strikingly unique or exceptionally well written (or both!) to stand the test of time. One such album I wish I had gotten to review is Daydream XI’s 2017 release The Circus of the Tattered and Torn: a brilliant concept album in classic prog metal fashion, blending Symphony X, Dream Theater, and Seventh Wonder in equal parts. Tragically, Daydream XI disbanded as their main songwriter Tiago Masseti moved from Brazil to New York. Now, eight years after Circus, Masseti has blessed us with a solo album to continue his prog-power quest for the stars. Can Odds and Ends live up to the hype?

In many ways, Odds and Ends continues where Circus left off and shows much of what made that album so special: ferocious, heavy-as-balls riffage, superb lead guitar work skillfully balancing melody and shred, charismatic vocals, tight songwriting, and all the odd-time and transition wankery a prog fan could ask for. The overall tone has become darker, however, thanks to brooding synths and slightly more ferocious riffs, and Masseti has also experimented with multi-tracking himself to make a choir, such as on “The Singer in the Arms of Winter” and “Never Be Like You”. Of course, one must not forget to mention the heavy Symphony X influences that seep through nearly every crack of Masseti’s writing, most of which he disguises just well enough to avoid the worship allegations (for when he doesn’t—just listen to the intro of “Heir of the Survivor”), and the clear Dream Theater-isms that pop up in proggier moments (e.g. the unison solo in “Against Our Fire”). Either way, Masseti’s talent for songwriting ensures influences are cute nods instead of belabored crutches, and his instrumental prowess is dazzling as ever.

At a succinct 47 minutes, Odds and Ends is remarkably compact, for the prog-power genre at large but especially so considering both Daydream XI albums spanned over 70 minutes. Much like Circus, the first half of Odds and Ends consists of compact, riff-driven tracks, while the latter half contains epics, slow burners, and ballads. This structuring leads to incredible momentum at first, but rather stilted pacing in the mid-to-late stretch that the album’s closing epic can only partially remedy, as any gathered steam has been irretrievably lost. On Circus, “Forgettable” was the major momentum killer, ironically living up to its name by being the third lengthy slow-starting track in a row when a faster overall tempo was needed (on a sidenote: this is my only real gripe with Circus). On Odds and Ends, most momentum from the first three tracks was already “Gone” thanks to a breather ballad, but it’s the follow-up Dio-homage “The Singer in the Arms of Winter” that truly wreaks the album’s pacing with its dramatic, plodding arrangements and extended ballad-y outro. The track is fine in execution by itself—if a tad long—thanks to Masseti’s excellent vocal prowess, but its awkward placement unnecessarily brings it down. The following “Never Be Like You” tries to patch things up by beginning explosively, but another extended outro—this time in dramatic midtempo—puts a lid on that fire before it could spread. 

Remarkably however, I found that switching the track order of “The Singer in the Arms of Winter” and “Never Be Like You” immediately fixes nearly all pacing issues (the remaining issue being that both tracks could have easily been trimmed a minute or two). As it stands, track 4 “Gone” is a welcome heartfelt breather, but the transition into the drama of “The Singer” is clunky both tonally and pacing-wise. By placing “Never Be Like You” at track 5 instead of 6, the album smoothly regains its momentum. The track opens with a very brief hypnotic, slightly haunting modal guitar motif—somewhere between phrygian and atonal—that gives an unsettling, vaguely Middle-Eastern vibe before unleashing a hellfire riff barrage. Coming off the emotionally charged twin-harmony solo that “Gone” ends with, this transition naturally reintroduces tension and intensity into the album’s narrative structure. Meanwhile, the song’s dramatic mid-tempo outro segues seamlessly into the lumbering, brooding heft of “The Singer”, whose ballad-like outro then glides without “Hindrance” into a gorgeous piano ballad.

But pacing issues are not the only complaint I have about Odds and Ends; Masseti’s vocals seem to have deteriorated ever so slightly since his Daydream XI days, too. He’s still got a majestic, versatile voice, but there’s forcefulness in his delivery that he didn’t need before, sounding noticeably more strained. Compare, for instance, his singing in “Trust-Forged Knife” by Daydream XI to virtually any track on Odds and Ends: on the former, he’s silky smooth for the softer lines and effortlessly majestic when he’s belting, while on Odds and Ends he sounds like he’s pushing his voice beyond its capabilities to impress you, coming off unnecessarily edgy. Furthermore, the compression levels on Odds and Ends border on unpleasant, most notably in the drums, making the record louder than it needs to be—again adding to the edgy masculinity feeling. The production is great otherwise, providing ample room for each instrument, and the riffs are positively crushing—I just wish it all came without the ear fatigue.

Critiques aside, Masseti’s exceptional talent for songcraft shines through many a time on Odds and Ends. “The Pool of Liquid Dreams” might be the shortest metal song on the album, but it’s by far the most densely packed one, going from leads that sound like they could have come out of a Slash record, to pop punk, to intense power metal, to absurdly cool odd-time sections and blistering shred, and back. Similarly, “Against Our Fire” is a rapid prog-power track with especially impressive soloing and it successfully experiments with harsh vocals in the chorus. And while I ragged on their track order, Masseti pulls out all the vocal stops for phenomenal results when “The Singer in the Arms of Winter” reaches its climax, and the vocal multi-tracking in “Never Be Like You” is used creatively. Finally, “Serpents and Whores” and “Heir of the Survivor” are fantastic bookend tracks. The former is a heavy, suspenseful chonker of an opener, while the latter blends melodic beauty with dynamic prog metal, taking clear inspiration from neoclassical Symphony X epics like “The Accolade” or “Through the Looking Glass”. That said, one could argue its opening melodies evoke that particular sound a little too well.

While Odds and Ends may not be exceptional like The Circus of the Tattered and Torn, it’s great to have Masseti back on the prog metal stage. He’s an extremely talented songwriter and performer with a lot of charisma. Much like its name indicates, Odds and Ends plays like a collection of ideas that don’t always coalesce well, but when they do, the results are spectacular. I hope he’ll be able to bless us with his songwriting talents more frequently from here on out; after all, it’d be a shame to let the momentum go to waste.

Recommended tracks: Serpents and Whores, The Pool of Liquid Dreams, Heir of the Survivor
You may also like: Daydream XI, Sacred Outcry, Scardust, Manticora, Witherfall
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: Independent

Masseti is:
– Thiago Masseti (vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards)
With guests:
– Thiago Caurio (drums on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 8)
– Benhur Lima (bass)
– Bruno Pinheiro Machado (guitar solo on track 2)
– Renato Osório (additional guitars on track 4, 5)
– Marcelo Pereira (guitar solo on track 6)
– Cezar Tortorelli (orchestration on track 2)
– Fábio Caldeira (piano, orchestration on track 7)
– Eduardo Baldo (drums on tracks 2, 5)