Style: Progressive death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Alkaloid, Parius, Devin Townsend, Cynic
Country: United States
Release date: 31 December 2025

---

Much like those totally bizarre creatures inhabiting the deepest parts of the sea, we’re sure to discover our share of oddities when dredging the fathomless depths of the progressive underground. A couple of weeks ago, we uncovered an obscure Japanese tech-thrash act that, somehow, got prominent bass prodigy and Willow Smith bandmate Mohini Dey to feature on two tracks. (Solid album, go check it out.) This week, we’ve got Ellimist—or, Ellimist® LLC, Progressive Metal Band and Sci-Fi Media Company, All Rights Reserved.¹ What? Why does the Bandcamp page for this band, who have a following about equal in size to your local high school garage band, mention a business structure and contain enough legalese to bring back memories of my days as a practicing attorney? I don’t know, but I’m intrigued enough to check them out.

Headed by guitarist and vocalist Anthony Lewis,² Ellimist’s sophomore album, Devastation of the Large Magellanic Cloud, evidently tracks a novel in progress titled Cyr the Destroyer.³ The band’s sound sits somewhere in the spacey prog-death universe and brings in Gojira-type chugs, jazzy elements, synth-centered passages, and all sorts of narration. In spirit, the record is akin to conceptual works like Devin Townsend’s Ziltoid the Omniscient, Parius’s The Signal Heard Throughout Space, and Alkaloid’s ongoing “Dyson Sphere” saga. Does that have you prog nerds excited? Read on…

Narratively and musically, Devastation of the Large Magellanic Cloud strives to cover an immense amount of ground—or space, I suppose. Alongside the prog-death chops are narrations, cinematic sound bites, interludes drawing upon entirely different genres, vocals ranging from clean to Demilich-style burps, and a host of other elements aiming to bring the album’s concept to life. The aspiration is commendable, but there’s a huge issue: the record has enough fluff to fill a 90-minute double album, yet Devastation of the Large Magellanic Cloud is only 35 minutes long. The listening experience is largely one that alternates between headscratching and whiplash. 

Let’s start with the good, as there’s potential here. Standout track “Fenegastre” offers huge riffs, reminiscent of a stripped-back Alkaloid. Catchy vocal layering bolsters the track’s middle stretch, and a triumphant vocal melody closes it out. “The Beacon” delivers some interesting guitar work, particularly during a proggy bridge that leads to a slick set of sweeps. Meanwhile, “Cyr the Destroyer” features a few of the more compelling theatrical clips and integrates them well, which can’t be said about many of the tracks. And the vocals, largely sitting in the comfortable realm of “serviceable,” carry a Devin Townsend-esque bite in the refrain of “Ballok and the Death of Worlds,” providing a nice complement to the heavy riff rolling beneath. 

The tracks themselves may be of varying quality, but Devastation of the Large Magellanic Cloud really breaks down in its composition as a whole. The album’s first interlude, a catchy enough little jazzy number, appears a mere seven minutes into the work, and a couple of those preceding minutes were focused on narration. I haven’t heard nearly enough to be ready for a standalone instrumental vignette, and its style is wholly untethered to what surrounds it. Then, only five minutes later, we happen upon another stray bit: “Spacer” and its three minutes of dancy synths, the presence of which I couldn’t begin to justify. Three proper tracks follow, each containing a relatively palatable amount of narrative elements and establishing the slightest amount of cohesion. Then, we’re done—a narrative closing track based around contextually unestablished melodic piano and symphonic synths closes the curtains. Stylistically, musically, and even in how the tracks move from one to the next, nothing flows, which really undercuts the narrative focus the record works so hard to establish. Devastation of the Large Magellanic Cloud comes across as a few songs—or pieces of songs—thrown haphazardly into a mess of sound bites and stylistic non sequiturs. Some prog bands thrive in achieving the oxymoronic balance of coherently incoherent. Ellimist, unfortunately, fall off the beam. 

Still, sometimes it’s better to wildly swing for the fences than to watch a pitch go by. Ellimist might not have connected with the metaphorical ball here, but I appreciate the effort and recommend giving the record a listen. Devastation of the Large Magellanic Cloud is many things, and boring certainly isn’t one of them. And to the band’s credit, the album’s bright spots could form a decent foundation for their sound’s development—once the unrestrained ambition is reined in and its execution refined. Until then, I’m afraid this is the end of my time with Ellimist® LLC, Progressive Metal Band and Sci-Fi Media Company, All Rights Reserved. I really thought I’d get to dust off that old law degree.

---

Recommended tracks: Fenegastre, Ballok and the Death of Worlds, Cyr the Destroyer
You may also like: Changeling, Obsidious, Exist, Fractal Universe
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Ellimist is:
– Anthony Lewis (guitars, vocals)
– Ben Paden (drums)
– Justyn Fogarty (bass; has since left the band)

1. It appears that Ellimist LLC is, indeed, a registered and active LLC. ↩︎
2. Also known as Matt Danger, Matt Danger Goorahoo, and The Madman of Manchester, naturally. ↩︎
3. Maybe that helps explain the copyrights, trademarks, and LLC to some very small extent? Anyway, for those interested, here’s what Ellimist’s Bandcamp has to say about the album’s narrative: 
   
   This album sonically details the story of Cyrrus Magnus Reyalta. A fledging [sic] ecogeologist, Cyr’s greatest desire is to put an end to the devastating quakes wrecking [sic] havoc across his homeworld. However, the EFFIT conglomerate opposes him at every turn. He soon finds himself way over his head, fighting not only for his own world, but for the very existence of his people. Will he save Ballasta before it’s too late? What will happen if he fails?
   
   For the upcoming book’s sake, I hope they plan on hiring a good editor. ↩︎