Album art by Ari Lempinen

Style: Progressive metal (mixed vocals, mostly clean)
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Haken, Vola, Voyager
Country: Finland
Release date: 15 May 2026

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Our tastes grow and change as we mature; the bitter coffee and pungent blue cheese beloved by so many adults aren’t exactly as popular amongst the elementary school demographic. Just because our tastes broaden, though, doesn’t mean those childhood staples stop being delicious – after all, not many grown-ups I know would turn up their nose at a good old slice of cheese pizza. The same principle extends to our taste in music – even if I’ve become more accustomed to the weirder, more avant-garde realms of prog as a grown-ass adult, sometimes it’s nice to return to the straightforward, melodic Dream Theater worship I ate up as a kid. 

And indeed, with their new release Echoes of the Hypermind, Finland’s own Sum of Seven¹ aim to serve up an endearingly tropey serving of prog metal comfort food. With a title and cover so stereotypically “prog” that they could only be surpassed by a dude with a maze where his brain should be², alongside a concept about an ultra-advanced AI that pontificates “logic, structure, and the contradictions and very fabric of existence”, it’s clear that these guys aren’t exactly out to break new ground in the genre. As I alluded to earlier, though, the familiar and comfortable can be enjoyable as hell if executed on with enough heart and panache, and Sum of Seven have clearly put a lot of effort into this record over the course of a grueling six-year development cycle³. But have said efforts resulted in a work as transcendently genius as its protagonist, or is it still struggling to count the “Rs” in “strawberry”?

On the surface, signs are incredibly promising. Echoes of the Hypermind boasts a clear, chrome-perfect sheen in its production, a sound immaculate and futuristic enough to befit its sci-fi setting. The guitars pound out odd-meter riffs and shreddy leads with exacting precision, offering a level of distortion scientifically formulated to register as “heavy” without ever tipping into anything remotely abrasive. Esa Lempinen’s synths take up a sizable share of the spotlight as well, switching from a standard starry, semi-retro sparkle (a la Voyager), to a more cutting sonic style reminiscent of classic Haken or mid-career Dream Theater. The rhythm section may not boast the dizzying virtuosity of either of those aforementioned bands, but the bass and drums fit snugly into the mix nonetheless, with certain moments such as Miika Erkkilä’s thick, Riverside-esque picked bass line on “Shattered Symmetry” and Rasmus Raassina’s tasty tom fills on “Eternal Equation” giving them a bit of space to shine.

There’s a great deal to like on the compositional front, as well. In Sum of Seven‘s promo copy, the band are are always quick to mention their focus on integrating catchy melodies into their sound, and this tune-first approach to songwriting is evident in Hypermind‘s numerous catchy choruses and instrumental hooks. Frontman Marko Loukamaa has a lower-placed voice than your average prog castrato, with an interestingly weathered, raspy timbre that, when utilized to its fullest potential, adds a dash of unique emotionality to the band’s otherwise-straightforward style. Some of the choruses here, such as in the last third of “Regeneration” or the eleven-minute grand finale “Wonder”, are memorable and anthemic, and the frequent female guest vocals from Pia Wijerama, alongside Loukamaa’s occasional harsh roars, add a fair bit of timbral variety. Sure, some of the riffs feel rather familiar – opener “I Think I Am” in particular has a couple moments that feel ripped straight out of Dream Theater‘s Train of Thought – but at their best, Sum of Seven offer enough fun solos and weedly synths to forgive a bit of unoriginality.

Unfortunately, however, Echoes of the Hypermind is beset by an assortment of nagging flaws that keep its grade on the Turing test at a solid B-minus. Most egregious is the way the vocal melodies often write checks that Loukamaa’s range simply can’t cash. Now, I said earlier that I kinda liked his voice, how it was refreshing to have a frontman lower than the standard prog tenor, and I stand by that… but it seems somebody forgot to tell whoever was writing his vocal lines. Time and again, Loukamaa is forced painfully outside his range, and it ain’t pretty. Hearing the poor man’s voice crack into falsetto on the choruses of “Supreme” and “Everlasting” is like listening to a square peg’s corners be agonizingly shaved off as it’s forcefully hammered into a round hole. The composition, too, has moments where its cracks begin to show. While the individual performances and riffs are generally solid, the transitions between them and the way the overall songs flow can sometimes feel a tad amateurish. Take the way the album’s very first vocal lines in “I Think I Am” just sort of pop in with zero fanfare, as if they forgot a verse and started on a prechorus, or the way the verse melodies on “Shattered Symmetry” don’t seem to know how to gel with the odd-meter riffs beneath them. Add in a few instances of parts crashing in a beat early or transitions that don’t quite stick the landing, and Sum of Seven can come off as a band that knows it’s “prog” to subvert expectations but don’t always manage to do so in a way that conveys intentionality.

Much like the output of an LLM, Echoes of the Hypermind comes off as extremely polished and professional at first glance. The soundscapes of 21st century prog metal are executed impeccably, blended with an extra dose of futuristic synth in a mixture that nails the genre-standard balance between heaviness and melody. Solos burst up and down the fretboard, choruses sound solidly anthemic, and the rhythms satisfactorily balance odd meters with straightforward grooves. But the closer one looks at it, the more odd mistakes one finds: a chorus sung far too high for its singer here, a riff that stops a bit too early there. Thankfully, however, Sum of Seven have a great deal that sets them apart from the token-regurgitators, such as actual human emotions and the capacity for growth, and that makes all the difference. If they can lean into the strengths they’ve shown in crafting big, heart-stirring choruses while clearing up the awkward stumbling blocks in their composition and vocal performances, I have full faith these guys can make something genuinely inspiring down the line. But for now, as the score below indicates, Sum of Seven is stuck as less than the “sum” of its parts.

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Recommended tracks: Regeneration, Eternal Equation, Wonder
You may also like: Advent Horizon, Skinner Project, Mile Marker Zero
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Sum of Seven is:
– Marko Loukamaa (lead vocals)
– Ari Lempinen (guitars, additional vocals)
– Harri Annala (guitars)
– Esa Lempinen (keyboards, backing vocals)
– Miika Erkkilä (bass, backing vocals)
– Rasmus Raassina (drums)
With guests:
– Pia Wijerama (additional vocals)

1. Originally named Sonus Corona, but changed their name in 2021 for fairly obvious reasons. ↩︎
2. A perennial favorite among prog album cover tropes here at the Subway. A couple of our favorite examples can be seen here. ↩︎
3. Said development cycle was exacerbated by bandleader Ari Lempinen suffering a severe head injury in mid-2024, which made him need to consciously re-learn aspects of his previous guitar technique due to brain damage. What is it with bands I review and their main songwriters suffering near-fatal injuries lately? ↩︎