Style: Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock (Clean Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Riverside, Voyager, The B-52s
Country: Germany
Release date: 16 January 2026

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One of the things I love about metal is how, under the right circumstances and with the right compositions and general gusto, it offers the opportunity for those who aren’t necessarily good singers to become good vocalists. Few people would consider Dave Mustaine a good singer, but the way he wields his alien snarl and snotty attitude works so well in tandem with Megadeth’s technical thrash and acerbic radio metal that to have anyone else in the role would be unthinkable. The death and black metal genres alone are home to legions of ill-voiced miscreants who, if faced down by a bevy of American Idol judges, would surely be executed on sight. Under the long shadow of metal’s canopy, however, these ghouls and goblins have found a place to thrive and, often, be celebrated in their own rights. Genres like pop tend to focus on singers, while the music exists simply as a backdrop to their charismatic performances. Metal is more readily defined by a collaborative structure, operating like a weird jigsaw puzzle where even the roughest piece can find a place and complete the picture.

However, that piece still has to fit and create harmony with the rest of the image. Square pegs and triangular holes and all that. Which brings us to German proggers Neronia and their new EP, Two Lives—a jaunty little thing patterned together by buoyant basslines, expressive kitwork, and warm, crunchy guitars that hinge between the quirky and mundane. If Two Lives had stopped there, a decent enough picture might have taken shape, confidently and competently executed. But stop Neronia did not, and seconds into opener “Tug of War” I was met with a question I’d never thought to ask: “What if The B-52s guy tried his hand at singing progressive metal?”

The result is not a particularly positive one. While I can hardly be called the biggest B-52s fan—or even a casual B-52s fan, for that matter—one cannot deny that Mr. Rock Lobster fit perfectly with the Georgians’ bizarro clash of avant-garde pop and prog rock zaniness. Also, he was just a really good vocalist, with a clear understanding of his capabilities and how to fit them holistically within the instrumental strata. Neronia frontman Falk Ullmann’s vocals are not technically bad per se, but his tone, timbre, and timing are so jarring across the bulk of Two Lives as to land like an aural defibrillator, jolting me out of the experience with shocking immediacy. “Call to Arms” in particular highlights the vocals’ at-odds delivery, as Ullmann often sounds like a man struggling to keep time with his bandmates. Awkward phrasing and an emotionally flat delivery only exacerbate matters, adding additional friction to the listening experience.

When the instruments are cutting loose, however, Two Lives begins to show glimmers of promise. Guitarist Ruediger Zaczyk drops some road-ready riffage and air-guitar-worthy solos on songs like “Two Lives”, while drummer Thomas Dumke finds time to kick things up on occasion and inject some much-needed liveliness into an otherwise sturdy, if somewhat bland, foundation. But the highlight across all of the EP is Lutz Beberweil and his beautifully buoyant and ever-present bass. Even when the band meandered into slower territory like the beginning of “A Light at the End of the Corridor” and “Masterpiece of Memories”, Beberweil’s tasty, undulating tone kept me engaged, like a Life Alert ping reassuring me that help was on the way as I slipped away into a coma. The band also pull off some fun transitions. The wandering intro of “A Light at the End of the Corridor,” for instance, stirs to life under Zaczyk’s scratching riffs and a creeping buildup of Hammond organs, later leaving the vocals behind for a brief Riverside-adjacent instrumental that adds some real gravitas and energy. However, said transitions aren’t always the smoothest, adding another, albeit smaller and more nitpicky, layer of friction.

Structuring seems designed around the idea that Neronia is playing capital-P prog, rather than being informed by any sense of internal logic, be that conceptual, thematic, narrative, et cetera. Normally, I wouldn’t care to even mention such a minor inconvenience, but little things become far more noticeable when I’m unable to settle into a work. And, not to beat the proverbial larynx to death here, but unfortunately Ullmann, like a wrathful Poseidon sending the wave to shipwreck Odysseus, knocks me from the mooring every time.

Voice is supremely important in music—not only the words or the delivery, but the texture, sound, and harmony one creates alongside the rest of the instruments. The second a vocalist opens their mouth is a make-or-break moment. Two Lives, for all the flashes of entertaining, head-bobbing music sprinkled across those lean thirty-four minutes, breaks apart the second Ullmann’s vocals step in, and no amount of vibing solos or grooving, rolling bass can win this tug of war on my attention.

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Recommended tracks: Call to Arms, A Light at the End of the Corridor
You may also like: Misleading Days, Doping Hornets, Imaginerium
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Neronia is:
– Falk Ullmann (vocals)
– Lutz Beberweil (bass)
– Ruediger Zaczyk (guitars)
– Thomas Dumke (drums)