Reports from the (progressive metal) underground: December 2018

December traditionally does not have many releases of major quality. The reason for that being that the average fan’s focus has already shifted. December is a time of recapping and looking back, which music fans often use to revisit stuff from earlier that year to come up with end-of-the-year lists. It’s not a period of actively searching for new music anymore. The major releases for early next year are already announced and barely anyone is coming out with new music. Probably even more so than January (which is like a hungover period) December is a month that is often just straight up dull for music.

However, since the sub-tectonic underground we live in with this blog has seemingly different rules from the rest of the music world, I hoped this would be different. Surely there would be talented bands who went completely under the radar? Perhaps some local band that sucks at marketing, but does have a Metal-Archives page released a rough around the edges, but musically excellent album?

Turns out, it actually does! I had already written off most of these albums, and painted a pessimistic picture about how even in these lands December kills the hype. Our preliminary ratings literally only had a single 8/10, with everything else below it. But as time went on and we listened more to these albums we ended up with a very respectable bunch of stuff that’s worth your attention after all. There’s even a 9 ! I don’t think any of us expected such great output. Now let’s hop into it

But first… time for all the usual rites: what is this place? We have an about page you can check out! And as per usual, here’s a Spotify playlist of all the recommended songs.
Also if you want your band reviewed in the future or have a suggestion for us, feel free to PM me (u/genderlessperson), u/Nostrebor68 or u/Yung2112 on reddit and we’ll bookmark it in advance. I should probably be setting up a contact page with our own email, but contrary to what you might think I’m really lazy when it comes to things like this. I should really start working on this website instead of wasting time by mindlessly browsing Reddit. I promise it’ll be different next time.

Lastly here’s the links to all the previous editions:
– January
– February
– March
– April
– May
– June
– July
– August
– September
– October
– November

12-03 The Wright Valley Trio – Submarine Funeral (Germany)
Style: funeral doom (harsh vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Dylan

So yeah, a 48 minute Funeral Doom album/track. This is an album that was way out of my comfort zone. I found it while searching for music under “Post” category, saw that it was a one track album and thought about giving it a shot. I was surprised at how much I was enjoying what I was hearing, and here we are because of it.

The Wright Valley Trio focus on atmosphere 100%. This track is very haunting, long, repetitive, and heavy. Most of the time, it’s all kept pretty simple; heavy hitting slow riffs accompanied by slow and crushing percussion. Sometimes there’s even less elements present in the music. A couple of notes are thrown at you, with a very minimalistic hi hat pattern on the background (I hope you like the “ts, ts, ts, tstsTSS” present at the very beginning of the album because that pattern appears a lot).

If what I’m describing sounds attractive to you, you should check this out. If it doesn’t, you shouldn’t, it’s as simple as that. It’s good funeral doom, but nothing that will click with people who already know and dislike this type of music. Regardless, I believe this track accomplish what it sets out for, even if I’d trim it down to 40 mins if I could.

Recommended tracks: it’s one track XD
Recommended for fans of: Pantheist, Ahab, Eye of Soltitude
Final verdict: 8/10

12-04 Darkaeon – The Shattered Monolith (Canada)
Style: power (clean/mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

Now man this band sucks. I had decent hopes for it. It sounded like pretty standard prog power from snippets, but I had hopes it’d at least be executed well. And I tell you, it’s not. This band clearly has talent on the technical side of things, but their songwriting just isn’t up to par. It’s a cliché, but this band shows off for the sake of showing off. It’s a combination of showing off how technical they are and how tough and heavy they are. The riffs are mostly uninteresting chugga chugga and the vocalist tries to sound real manly but instead he sounds like the dude from Three Days Grace. And to make it worse they also incorporate some generic Metalcore-styled breakdowns with generic Metalcore harsh vocals. His vocal lines are also just uninteresting and don’t fit the music at all.

For example, the ending epic Ocean is exemplary of everything wrong with this album. It starts with an incoherent three minute instrumental piece full of showboatery. Then when the guy starts singing it doesn’t match the music in the slightest. He tries to sound big and manly like Rusell Allen, but it fails horribly. Then the songs continues with all sorts of proggy twists and turns (with awful singing) without really going anywhere, and when it ends it doesn’t feel conclusive either.

If I had stumbled on this band when I just started reviewing, I might have given them a pass. But the longer I’ve been reviewing the more skeptical I’ve grown. Initially I still had the excitement that I was doing something new and that all underground bands are underrated and thus gave them a rating that was too high. Now I’ve come to the realization that most underground bands are underground for a reason and that there are usually only about 5 albums a month that are worth adding to my collection. This is not one of those.

Recommended tracks: no
Recommended for fans of: late Symphony X no
Final verdict: 5/10

12-05 Eresis – Destructive Knowledge (France)
Style: traditional (clean, female vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

Female vocals are always a nice surprise when searching for new music as metal is genre heavily dominated by men. They can provide a good boost in personality for a band. That’s not to say though that your defining feature as a band should be the sex of your vocalist. Songwriting should still be the main focus. How does Eresis do?

This is a pretty nice record. It’s very guitar-focused. The riffage is firmly old-school. It’s clear they’ve been listening to Crimson Glory and (early) Fates Warning. As a huge fan of USPM this really pleased me. The acoustic parts also heavily reminded me of the magic from early Fates Warning, though it’s not as good. There are some cool solos as well, both from the guitars and the keys. The drummer also lays down some creative rhythms.

Second most focus goes to the vocals. Most often female singers tend to go for an overly operatic soprano approach, but Nico has a more jazzy voice. Note that there are still plenty of operatic stylings, but on the whole it’s a very nice change.

This record is long, too long. There are five songs of 7 minutes or more and the last 6 songs are part of a 26-minute suite. This wouldn’t have been a problem if their songwriting was up to par, but that’s not the case unfortunately. It could definitely use some trimming. Every song has interesting ideas, but the overall structure is lacking so the songs tend to feel aimless and the record starts to become repetitive after a while. There’s a certain tom rhythm that gets used in almost every song for example and the riffs start to blur together after a while. I’m also missing good vocal hooks and the keys are most often buried in the mix.

This band has potential to put out an 8 or so, but as of right now there’s too much they still need to work on to justify a score that high.

Recommended tracks: Test Subjects
Recommended for fans of: female vocals, early Fates Warning, Pagan’s Mind
Final verdict: 5.5/10

12-06 Hollow – Between Eternities of Darkness (Sweden)
Style: USPM (clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Official Website BLOGSPOT! | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

Now this is rare. This band last released an album in 1999, and if I had to take Angry Metal Guy’s word, it was a majestic prog power album. I haven’t gotten around to this band’s earlier catalogue though, so you’ll just have to do with my opinion on their latest release.

This record is good, but it’s nothing special. If you’re a fan of USPM, this is nothing you haven’t heard before. Every song sounds tight and has good hooks (just listen to Down, that chorus is catchy af) and riffage, and the singer has a pretty unique voice, but it doesn’t really wow you either. I guess one could complain about relative homogeneity of the record or the lack of solos. Most songs tend to follow a pretty standard pattern of pretty soft acoustic sections in the verses and mid tempo riffs in the rest of the song. But even then the songs have enough personality to distinguish themselves, and even without solos the bridges are still quite satisfying. Maybe that’s my complaint. It’s all quite satisfying, but there’s nothing that really wows you. Maybe you’ll find something more in this than I did, but listening to this just left me empty.

Recommended tracks: Fate of the Jester, Down, Shadow World
Recommended for fans of: Savatage, Crimson Glory, early Queensryche
Final verdict: 7/10

12-07 Keor – Petrichor (France)
Style: rock (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page
Review by: Nostrebor68

Parts of this album could be on the soundtrack to The Witcher. There’s this heavily medieval, European sound that I associate with old minstrel tunes that this lad has just managed to capture exceptionally well. It’s definitely not a constant presence throughout this album, but when it’s there I enjoy the hell out of it. The caveat is, of course, that it’s not always there.

The guitar is the first thing that really popped for me with Keor, and it never really stopped throughout the entirety of the album’s run time. The lead melodies scattered throughout the album grabbed me immediately, creating this lovely, mystical atmosphere that transported me to magical other worlds, and I just absolutely adored it. When the album shifts into a heavier tone it also works quite well, as the riff structure is interesting and fun in a very Steven Wilson kind of way. The drumming ranges from competent and unexciting to innovative and fun in a couple moments, and that’s just fine with me because it does what it needs to do, it creates a rhythmic backbone for the lovely guitar and the equally mystical vocals. I can’t quite place who Keor’s vocals remind me of, but they’re wonderful. I can easily imagine myself in an old-timey Inn listening to this man warble in the background while plucking on a lute. The bass is pretty low in the mix a lot of the time, but when audible it’s quite enjoyable, joining with the drums to create a lovely backbone for the sound.

I’m not the biggest fan of the bands that Keor clearly draws inspiration from, but I can absolutely enjoy the sound that has been created here. The melody and atmosphere are gorgeous and entrance me on every listen. My biggest complaint is that even with the album’s relatively truncated run time of 49 minutes, it somehow still feels a tad too long for me. This might be because it ends on a longer track, or just because the songs all take quite a bit of time to get to where they’re going, but I could’ve done with probably 5 less minutes of music somewhere on the album.

This is a minor critique though, as Keor is definitely a project any fan of Wilson-esque prog should immediately listen to. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Keor, as I’m sure it’ll be astounding.

Recommended tracks: The Nest of Evil, Snivel by the Pond
Recommended for fans of: Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief, Simon & Garfunkle
Final verdict: 8/10

12-11 Overtoun – Centuries of Lies (Chile)
Style: death/thrash (mixed vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Dylan

What happens when a band has great potential but is still kind of immature and inexperienced? Centuries of Lies happens. It’s an album with moments that are absolutely brilliant, and others that are utter garbage.

This album kicks off super strong. And doesn’t really stop for half an hour or so. I’d describe the sound of Overtourn as Archspire meets Revocation and First Fragment. The first track is totally brilliant. It’s heavy, frenetic, and extremely proggy with an awesome funky breakdown/solo in between that somehow fits perfectly well into the song. The next couple songs hold up to that description too, maybe not as brilliant but still. Up until the title track (32mins of music) this seems like a super solid album that could get a 9.

Then, the instrumental happens… and it sucks. You know those Tool ambient tracks? They remind me of those. You’re just left asking, why are you here? Then there’s another more traditional track, but it’s not very good either. And then ANOTHER instrumental which is somehow even worse. 21 minutes of absolute shit show.

It reminds me of the Khorada – Salt  from August. I end up wishing it was a 32min album/ep, with raw and creative Death/Thrash metal. Instead the last 3 songs pad out the album and make it an overall lower quality product. If you’re gonna listen to this, do it up until the title track then avoid the rest of the album completely.

Recommended tracks: Restless Sleep/Eyes Wide Open
Recommended for fans of: Archspire, Revocation, First Fragment
Final verdict: 6/10

12-20 Kârma – Illusions (Greece)
Style: power (clean vocals)
Related links: Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Nostrebor68

Holy shit I’m reviewing a Power Metal album? You’re damn right I am. While my previous reviews might have you thinking I’m just a Death/Doom boy, I absolutely adore myself some Power cheese on occasion, and I grew up on the USPM scene with bands like Queensryche and Iced Earth. Karma, sadly, doesn’t quite hit those notes for me. Let’s go over why.

The first thing I noticed on this album is that Karma’s vocalist really, REALLY, sounds like a power metal vocalist. So much so, in fact, that I swear I’ve heard him sing on 30 other albums before this one. This is to say, that while he has an incredibly competent singing voice, there’s nothing exciting at all. He sounds like some kind of hybrid between Tommy Karevik and Tobias Sammet, and if you enjoy the very traditional Power Metal vocal style I’m sure he’ll be just fine for you. I found myself wanting just a bit more, however. The guitars and drums both fall into the same trap of “play one riff/beat for the verse, then another one for the chorus. Rinse/Repeat” and it just doesn’t do much for me. The riffs sound quite generic, and the drumming is repetitive and uninspired. I’m also convinced this band has no bassist.

Why a 6 and not lower, you might ask. Well this is due to the fact that, while no individual facet of the band’s technical ability really impressed me, I will give them credit for their songwriting. Whether not the songs are progressive is debatable, but Karma knows how to write a damn good melodic hook. The choruses throughout this album are punchy as hell, and while I can’t remember a single one currently, while listening I couldn’t help by bob my head along.

I can’t really call this album anything other than a “fine” Power Metal album, but if you’re a fan of the style and want something very, very familiar but just slightly new, you might as well give Karma a spin. Who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy them more than me, and that’s just fine.

Recommended tracks: Path of Light, Red Lion
Recommended for fans of: Circus Maximus, Edguy, Seventh Wonder
Final verdict: 6/10

12-21 The Alpha Incident – Convergence (US-IN)
Style: metalcore (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Dylan

In a dull month like December, this band seriously sticks out, in the best way possible.
The Alpha Incident play a style of Prog Metal/Metalcore that’s been very popular for the last 12 years, thanks to the release of Between the Buried and Me‘s Colors. That album still to this day is held up as one of the greatest of the genre, being able to merge frantic heavy passages, with beautiful melodic hooks. This style is not easy to pull off, and a lot of bands who try to replicate or come close to it fail miserably.

I’m very happy to report that these guys know what they’re doing. A beautiful acoustic intro sets the tone for the album, followed by an amazing 6 minute piece that both bombards you with polyrhythms and chuggy riffs, while also having memorable hooks with amazing clean vocals. Next track is another sort of acoustic outro to the previous song we just heard. This 3 song combo is one of the best triple punches I’ve heard in a while, they flow perfectly.

What I’ve just described applies to the second half of the album too. They even got some unconventional sounding interludes going on at the title track which also manages to fit the tune.
The potential here is huge. This is a great demonstration of what this band can do in just 33 minutes. That may sound a bit short, but it’s great that they knew when to stop before they ran out of great ideas. If they can cram this much excellence in 33 minutes, in a few years, they could be making the next Colors.

Recommended tracks: Psychonaut, Run the Gamut, Dreamspeak
Recommended for fans of: Between the Buried and Me, The World Is Quiet Here
Final verdict: 9/10

12-24 Nonamen – Interior’s Weather (Poland)
Style: Gothic? (mixed, female vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Dylan

Out of the many bands I’ve listened in my entire life, this has got to be the hardest to classify. Nonamen have a kind of melancholic sound, with mixed vocals, occasional blast beats, Melodeath riffing, and violins. How the hell do you put that into a genre?

Simply put, this sounds as if Opeth‘s heavy sections mixed with My Dying Bride‘s sadboiness and Nightwish‘s violins. It’s a very odd mix, that surprisingly, doesn’t suck! I mean don’t get me wrong it’s not like it’ll blow your mind or anything, but it’s good a couple great tunes and some cool ideas.
The highlight for me were the vocals. Layers are used excessively and effectively. The harsh vocals sound like a possessed woman, and the cleans add another layer of melancholy. Another thing to compliment is that the band pulls off this “eerie” mixing so many bands go for pretty damn well.

The main issue here is the lack of consistency. You’ve got a slow opener, which isn’t bad, but takes up way too much time for a 35 min album, a 1min interlude, two great 5/6minute tracks, another interlude, a 10 minute song which really doesn’t justify it’s length, and a closer similar to the opener, but with a heavy climax, which is nice, but not as good as the actual great songs here.

With that in mind, I’d recommend you give this a shot without many expectations. Tracks 3 and 4 show the potential this band has, and I’d certainly keep an eye on them for a sophomore album that fixes the issues present here.

Recommended tracks: The Storm, Eye of the Storm
Recommended for fans of: Uhmmmm…
Final verdict: 6/10

12-28 Lascaille’s Shroud – The Tiger’s Daughter (US-FL)
Style: death (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Nostrebor 68

Okay so in 2 days I’m moving to the city this band is from, so I felt a bit compelled to review this “album”. I put album in quotes because this is one singular 43 minute-long song, and while definitely feeling cohesive, I would’ve almost preferred a bit of separation. 43 minutes of one single idea is exhausting. I’m a bit of an awful Prog fan in that I really don’t like epics that much, and the same applies here to some extent. This all being said, my personal stance on songwriting aside, this is a pretty darn neat album.

Lascaille’s Shroud is a solo project hailing from my state of residence, Florida (it’s terrible don’t come here). The Tiger’s Daughter is a melodic-death metal concept album based on a book of the same name. I can’t speak much for the concept because I didn’t have a lyric sheet in front of me, but the vocal presentation is pretty top notch for the most part. The song shifts between higher snarled vocals and lower traditional Death growls, and they’re all executed quite well. The occasional clean female-vocal is also present, and for the most part they’re lovely and melodic and really fill the song out well. The guitar-work isn’t exceptional, but the riffs and the leads are in the right places to really drive the song forward and that’s good enough for me here, because much like my other Melodeath band this week, the highlight is the synths. They’re used to exceptional effect, and give an almost sci-fi feel to a clearly fantasy inspired album (do with that what you will, doesn’t bother me). The atmosphere created is incredibly enjoyable, and while I find another trip through this song to be daunting at best, I definitely enjoyed many moments of my time reviewing it. The drumming is largely similar to the guitar, in that it is serviceable and uninspired, but solid enough. Also worth noting is that the bass guitar is both audible, and quite chunky in the mix on this album, which is a huge plus for me.

I can’t really say I loved every moment of this song, and I don’t necessarily see myself going back to it often, but for fans of the softer side of Melodeath, and people who enjoy incredibly long individual songs, I think this is absolutely worth a shot. Good job Lascaille’s Shroud, you’re doing the historic Florida Death Metal scene pretty damn proud.

Recommended tracks: The Tiger’s Daughter, I guess
Recommended for fans of: Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquillity, Omnium Gathering
Final verdict: 7/10

12-28 Well of Sacrifice – Primal Conquest (US-CO)
Style: melodeath (harsh vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Nostrebor68

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a real sucker for melodic death metal. The driving hooks, the massive melodies, and the crunchy grooves all just mesh together into something that ticks every single musical box for me. Because of this, I’ve heard a whole hell of a lot of Melodeath in my time, and it’s somewhat hard to impress me anymore. Therefore, I went into this review with some trepidation. However, this was unneeded, as Well of Sacrifice have thrown together an absolutely massive hunk of Melodeath here that any fan of the genre should absolutely listen to.

This album explodes with energy right out of the game with opener Blood in the Water and never really lets up. The riffs are chunky and engaging, often drifting outside of the simple Melodeath realm. There are blackened riffs scattered throughout, and there are even occasional chuggy hard-Rock riffs thrown in for some extra flavor. All of this combines into some of my favorite Melodeath guitar-work I’ve heard in quite a while. It manages to never leave me bored in a genre not always known for the most individually exciting guitar-playing, and that’s wonderful. The vocals aren’t particular innovative, they’re pretty standard death roars and snarls, but they’re damn good all the same. The bass is pretty inaudible, which is a real shame as I would’ve loved to see it closer to the forefront. What really made these guys pop for me though, was the synths. They’re used sparingly, as they should be in a style like this, but when they do pop up they create these driving melodies that just absolutely hook me.

Honestly, I only have 2 real complains about this album. The first is that the production gets a tad rough at a couple points, with the guitars getting a bit too loud for everything else going on. The aforementioned lack of bass guitar is also an issue, as I love nothing more than some thicc bass guitar along with my Death Metal. The 2nd complaint is that the album is definitely front-loaded. The first songs are all the strongest ones, and while the latter half isn’t bad it doesn’t carry the same pounding energy that the first one does.

This all being said, if you enjoy Melodeath at all, absolutely give this album a spin. It has fantastic songwriting, fantastic energy, and some really damn exciting riffs.

Recommended tracks: Blood in the Water, Obsidian Death, Ear to the Ground
Recommended for fans of: Dark Tranquillity, Carcass, (early) In Flames
Final verdict: 8/10

12-31 Riverwood – Fairytale (Egypt)
Style: oriental/folk (clean/mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Sam

Now this is a pleasant surprise. Just when I thought December couldn’t be more dull, at the literal last day of the year these fellas from Egypt put out a record that’s worth coming back to. The best way to describe this band would be as a combination of Orphaned Land and Dan Swano’s Nightingale project. It has the former’s oriental touches and incorporation of the occasional harsh vocals and the latter’s style of metal, which has a very 90s feeling.

The production lends itself to this too. Riverwood clearly took account of their technical and financial limitations when making this and instead went for a more old-school organic approach. The guitars aren’t as heavy as modern metal, yet they’re produced with a sharp edge and subtle weight which makes up for it instead. And for the oriental side of the music it all sounds incredibly warm. From the guitar tone to the vocals to the synth work it feels like a soft, silky blanket enveloping you with its warmth. And of course for the bread and butter of good production, all the instruments can be clearly heard in the mix (yes, that includes the bass).

Now for the music. For one it’s just super pretty. The oriental stylings and warm tone of everything gives it an incredibly nice atmosphere. It doesn’t matter what’s happening in the music, the magical atmosphere is never lost. I already mentioned the guitar tone, but the playing is also lovely. They can riff well, know how to build the atmosphere with clever melodies and warm, weighty chords and the soloing is very delicate and elegant. Also the keyboards provide magic with a blend of oriental music and more Traditional Progressive Metal stylings. It’s safe to say this is just a very good performance all around.

I also really like their songwriting. It’s not super progressive music à la Dream Theater or Haken, but they instead opt for an approach which could better be likened to Nightingale, Vanden Plas or Threshold, but then with the addition of atmospheric Folk passages. They incorporate plenty of Prog, but reserve it mainly for driving the song forward instead of transitioning every thirty seconds. They’re not afraid to stick to a simple 4/4 beat if the song demands it for example. Every song has a solid basis of ideas to carry it forward. And if all else fails, there’s always the majestic atmosphere to get lost in. I found myself completely enveloped by this band’s sound.

There are some complaints though. While the music is very pretty, it definitely lacks some punch. The difference with, say Orphaned Land’s Mabool album is pretty staggering in terms of power and memorability. Some more hard riffs, powerful, sharp vocal hooks and high tempo metal could do wonders. The production also definitely could still use some work. The guitars tend to get lost a bit in the mix and the drums could use some more oomph. Finally the songs could use some trimming.
So overall this record is definitely a good one. While it lacks some punch and immediate staying power, it makes up for it by just being insanely pretty. This is an album that grew heavily on me with repeated listens. I had almost all but written off December as Dullcember, but it turns out that at the very end of the year these fellas from Egypt manage to surprise me with some great music.

Recommended tracks: Nightfall Overture, Möt ditt öde, Fairytale
Recommended for fans of: Orphaned Land, Nightingale, Threshold
Final verdict: 8/10