Style: progressive rock, electronica (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Fates Warning, OSI, Lunatic Soul
Country: United States
Release date: 24 July 2026

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One of prog rock’s little, cluttered corners I’ve enjoyed over the years is the one filled with the moody, electronic-oriented projects of prominent artists. I’m not sure what exactly drives these artists to the style, but there are countless instances. Mariusz Duda (ex-Riverside) has released prolifically through Lunatic Soul, Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief) and Jonas Renkse (Katatonia) teamed up on the fantastic Wisdom of Crowds album, Kevin Moore of early Dream Theater fame started Chroma Key, and then Moore began yet another band in this vein—the underground favorite, OSI—with Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos. These examples just scratch the surface.

As with Moore, one such project apparently wasn’t enough for Matheos, and he joined up with Fates Warning bandmate and longtime vocalist Ray Alder to form North Sea Echoes. After a relatively under-the-radar debut in 2024, the two are back with sophomore LP How to Cast a Shadow, adding the mercenary drummer Dennis Leeflang to the roster. Having a bevy of prog metal classics under their belt, and a debut album to sort out North Sea Echoes’ mellower sound, how well does Matheos and Alder’s latest effort fare in that crowded corner I often find myself picking through?

Although tied loosely together by a consistent, slight moodiness, How to Cast a Shadow sounds more like a collection of ideas than a unified set of tracks. Some records pull that off well, but unfortunately this isn’t one of them. My main gripe is that nearly every track feels underdeveloped—and when there’s little to connect them all, the listening experience as a whole feels especially unfulfilling. The streamlined, chorus-driven “Enjoy the View” sits haphazardly between “A Time of Innocence and Purpose”—an inert electronica opener—and ballad “Good Enough,” which sounds like one of Pain of Salvation’s softer tracks if you were to strip away any compositional intrigue. Similarly, the straightforward and undeniably enjoyable rocker “All That Comes After” launches awkwardly out of “What Is and What Was,” a non-sequitur of a song stuck somewhere between being an interlude and a would-be slow burner that never sets alight. With each track, I feel as if I’m waiting for the composition to develop, but I’m jerked over to a new song before it does. The title track is the one exception, closing the album on a high note: at two minutes longer than any other song, and twice as interesting, the band unfold a catchy, atmospherically dense piece with songwriting closer to what I’d expect from the very capable Fates Warning legends.

On another positive note and to no one’s surprise, Ray Alder’s vocals are strong. The performance might not stand out as particularly noteworthy—it’s good, inherently, because Alder is a talented vocalist—but it’s nonetheless the record’s strongest feature. And the choruses throughout How to Cast a Shadow are indisputable earworms, even if most of them are overly generic. Still, other issues abound. Matheos’s guitar is simply too meek, in tone and performance. And the bass is innocuous in most tracks but nearly overwhelming in “Villains or Saints,” adding to the album’s overall lack of balance. Then there’s the ending of “All Fall Away,” which sounds as if it were accidentally cut short, making for a jarring transition into the next track. Further, in addition to my earlier compositional gripes, the band’s tendency to lean on repetition doesn’t land because most of the ideas aren’t compelling enough to justify being repeated. All this said, How to Cast a Shadow remains an inoffensive listen, sometimes pleasant. But it’s hard to feel anything beyond lukewarm, even at the album’s highest points.

Ever the diplomat, I can’t fault North Sea Echoes too much for How to Cast a Shadow. Side projects are necessary outlets for the creative expression that doesn’t fit an artist’s primary canon, and for that I appreciate them. Matheos and Alder’s desire to release something other than another Fates Warning album is understandable, and in any event, better that How to Cast a Shadow falls flat than whatever Fates Warning releases next. For me, though, the record will be one that sits idle and collects dust in the prog-goes-electronic corner.

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Recommended tracks: All That Comes After, How to Cast a Shadow
You may also like: Oak, Jonathan Hulten, Bruce Soord and Jonas Renkse’s Wisdom of Crowds
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Metal Blade Records

North Sea Echoes are:
– Ray Alder (vocals)
– Jim Matheos (guitars, programming)
– Dennis Leeflang (drums)