Style: Progressive Metal, Avant-Garde Metal (Mixed Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Agonist (early), Cradle of Filth, Diablo Swing Orchestra
Country: Norway
Release date: 27 March 2026

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Music, of any stripe and style, is at its core performative. Even the most honest and vulnerable compositions, lyrics, et cetera, are delivered in a heightened, curated way designed to elicit an emotional impact from an audience. Metal, with all its myriad subgenres, is quite possibly the most performative of all—just look at death metal, for example, a genre defined by gruesome imagery and violence, performed by people who would (hopefully) never dream of committing such heinous acts. We accept and enjoy these things because they’re representative of maximal storytelling divorced from actionable reality. Theatricality is part and parcel with the experience.

Norway’s Ram-Zet know a thing or two about theatricality. Since the halcyon days of 2000, they’ve been off-loading a big-top’s worth of kooky prog compositions juggling everything from grinding extreme metal, sideshow orchestrals, djent-y breakdowns, and jazz-coded passages. Sapien marks the band’s return after a fourteen-year hiatus, and time has done little to whittle down their gonzo kitchen-sink approach to progressive metal. So, one must wonder: do these madcap Norwegians have an act worth revisiting, or is this a show better left shuttered?

Despite the fact Ram-Zet seem incapable of writing a song under seven minutes (“Peace25?” is the shortest, bordering on six minutes) and that they pack each minute with all manner of ideas, the band have done an admirable job creating a sense of identity in many of the tracks on Sapien. Opener “Zerocane”, for example, anchors itself around repeated motifs like a churning industrial riff; brief, but wind-y prog guitar; and creeping violins, all fixed around bouts of kooky synths and some funky, Riverside-coded bass. Likewise, “Cranium” wields similar anchor points via the guitars, violin, and vocal melodies that foment a sense of cohesion despite the song’s unfortunate spiraling into the “circus music” trope. What’s most impressive about Sapien as a whole is how natural all of Ram-Zet’s compositions sound—for the most part. One could reasonably expect to get whiplash as the band leaps from sunny folk to grinding metal, but through a considered implementation of elements, the transitions feel portended in ways accessible as opposed to asinine. Much of this can be attributed to Zet and Sareeta (guitars and violin, respectively), whose instruments often act as musical leylines to ground the compositions within specific tones and guide the listener through Sapien’s labyrinthine constructs.

Vocalist SfinX also does solid work carrying, well, the voice of Ram-Zet. Her caustic growls and theatrical cleans are wielded with aplomb, and she has a good sense of when and where to deploy each across the album’s long-winded tracks. Her vocalizations are also fun, as on “Sleepers” and “Bozzadevil”, adding splashes of character and showcasing more of her skillset. Some may consider her cleans perhaps a bit confined in range, but I appreciate that she knows her levels and operates within them confidently, as opposed to pushing too far into unfamiliar territory and risking jeopardizing both her performance and the song. Even the occasional rough patch, like the strained harshes on “As Worlds Collide”, are saved by a smart transition into a gravelly clean that reinforces the song’s internal drama.

Where Sapien and the band as a whole are less successful, however, is in the editing room. As I mentioned above, practically every track is over seven minutes, totalling over an hour’s worth of music across ten tracks. And, while the comparatively laid back instrumental that is “Peace25?” feels designed as a midpoint breather from the zany carnival ride that Sapien has been up to that point, the track does little in hindsight but add to the exhaustion of listening to the album in its entirety. Cutting that and “Psychosis”, which just sort of meanders around in a mid-paced haze for most of its runtime, would have helped in reducing the listening fatigue—that, or maybe shave down each track a tad. Whatever the solution, Sapien’s current pacing makes one hour feel like two. With the bulk of the material being enjoyable, one may assume this wouldn’t be that big of a negative, but in Sapien’s case, the protracted length makes sitting with the album start to feel like a chore after the first half. Which is a shame because “Catching Flies” and “Hangman’s Jazz” are a lot of fun. I just wish I wasn’t so cooked by the time they rolled around.

Those gripes aside, Ram-Zet’s return has largely netted a prog-positive. Sapien is entertaining, full of lively performances and whirlwind compositions that keep their eye on the prize, despite a venerable knife-storm of ideas flying around. Editing and length are a problem, and not every track stands as tall as others, but considering we could’ve gotten some tired, uninspired dreck instead, I’d say the fourteen years were rejuvenating for Ram-Zet. And though I’m a big fan of the auteur, no-holds-barred approach to creativity, I’d love to see what these nonsensical Norwegians could do with a sharper pair of scissors and a defter hand in the editing bay. Still, if quirky, kooky prog metal is your wheelhouse, then Sapien comes recommended. Just make sure you settle in for a long haul.

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Recommended tracks: Zerocane, Sleepers, Hangman’s Jazz
You may also like: Vitam Aeternam, Devil Doll, Sanguine Glacialis, Stolen Babies, Akphaezya, ÖxxÖ XööX
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: ViciSolum Productions Records

Ram-Zet is:
– Zet (guitars, vocals)
– SfinX (vocals)
– Küth (drums, percussion)
– Sareeta (violin, backing vocals)
– Lanius (bass, didgeridoo)
– Aazuu (keyboards)