Style: Power Metal, Progressive Metal (Clean Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Angra, Lost Horizon, Dragonforce, Symphony X, Edu Falaschi, Iron Maiden
Country: United States
Release date: 17 July 2026

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Last week I celebrated my four-year anniversary of writing for the Subway on the same day the blog published my two hundred fiftieth review.¹ It’s almost hard to believe how long the blog has been around because it’s nearly unrecognizable from the time I joined, halfway into The Progressive Subway’s magnificent existence. Since I’ve joined, we’ve redesigned the site, gone from publishing a review every couple days to daily (even twice a day sometimes), dramatically reduced our score average like serious critics, and collectively raised the writing quality immensely. But the blog has been operable since B.A.,² and buried in our first twenty posts ever published, in a batch-post format of reviews long-abandoned, there is a half-paragraph write-up of Novareign’s 2018 debut, Legends.

We were less discerning with high scores back in the olden days, so I didn’t expect Legends’s 8/10 score to hold up under closer scrutiny; as it turns out, that record still kicks ass, a power/prog debut full of ambitious songwriting and killer performances. Eight years is a long time to hone your craft, so I’ve got lofty expectations for Shifting the Axis of the World.

Novareign didn’t leave much room to grow like the primordial Subway did, and the band easily dodges the sophomore slump; in fact, not much at all has changed for the Los Angeles-based power/prog group since their debut—barring a couple small lineup shifts. As Sam pointed out way back when, one of Novareign’s myriad strengths is the dual guitarists setup, handled by Balmore Lemus (ex-Exmortus) and newcomer to the band David Walston. When the two aren’t tied together in harmonized heavy metal solos, one is guaranteed to be playing a flamboyantly technical, hyper-melodic riff in the style of Dragonforce or Edu Falaschi,³ while the other locks in with the bass and drums to provide a thrashy rhythm section. However, as virtuosic as the guitarists are on the album, Moises Galvez’s bass steals the show from just a minute in, where he unleashes a monstrously technical, wickedly speedy tapping riff. All throughout the album, Galvez makes his presence known with his instrument’s boisterous tone galloping beneath both choruses (“Sun & Moon,” “Thunder & Majesty”) and guitar solos (“Ironsides,” “Blood of the Game”).

The songs on Shifting the Axis of the World fit prog stereotypes with their lengthiness, but Novareign consistently make the runtimes pay off, balancing extended instrumental solo sections with catchy choruses—I hardly notice that “Sun & Moon” lasts ten minutes with all its hooks. Vocalist David Marquez’s rich tenor hits notes both low and high with authority and provides substantial energy to Shifting the Axis of the World. Sure, he relies on the trope of shifting the last chorus up a key, but his parts are good enough to let it slide, and any opportunity to sing the choruses of bangers like “Shifting the Axis of the World” and “Ironsides” is welcome—“Blood of the Game” even has some rhythmic modulation in complex grooves during the final run of the chorus. The transitions during tracks also demonstrate excellent songwriting chops—the shift in tempo halfway through “Thunder & Majesty” is particularly sublime, shifting seamlessly from muscular chorus to floating euphoria.

The songwriting isn’t perfect, though. The long buildup in the middle of “Sun & Moon” doesn’t pay off at all, as it concludes with a limp stompy rhythm and not some epic chorus or fiery solo. And whenever Novareign steps off the gas, the result is less strong than when they’re at their most kinetic. The biggest sin is that Novareign struggle to end songs. “Sun & Moon” and “Shifting the Axis of the World” both conclude in the banal fashion that most metal concerts seem to: with the guitars making loud noises on whammy bars while the drummer goes ham in a chaotic “solo.” More offensively, “Ironsides” ends with a fadeout—finish your damn solo! The band also has an obvious place to grow: orchestration. Novareign brings out that big gun only in the second half of the finale title track, and the strings and horns complete their sound, making the whole track more epic and cinematic than anything else on the album.

After what’s been a weak few years for power/prog, Sam’s comment that Novareign’s Legends lacked originality fortunately hasn’t aged well: Shifting the Axis of the World feels refreshing in 2026. If anything. I can’t blame Sam, though, since he couldn’t have predicted how the progressive metal scene would shift over the next almost-decade, just like he never dreamed of how far the blog would grow. Going back through our annals has been worthwhile, just like listening to Shifting the Axis of the World will be for you, our readers. We’ve been bringing you guys great music for a long time, as it turns out.

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Recommended tracks: Sun & Moon, Ironsides, Blood of the Game, Shifting the Axis of the World
You may also like: Paladin, Judicator, Dimhav, Tanagra, Silver Talon, Holy Grail, Shadowstrike
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: M-Theory Audio

Novareign is:
– Balmore Lemus (guitars, backing vocals)
– David Marquez (vocals)
– Moises Galvez (bass)
– Ulises Hernandez (drums)
– David Walston (guitars)

1. That’s the real 250 America is celebrating this year. ↩︎
2. Before Andy ↩︎
3. My guess is lead guitars are handled by Lemus, as they’ve got an Exmortus-y shred quality. ↩︎