Reports from the Underground: May 2020 prog reviewed (part 1)

Hello there. If you have read this blog for a while you know that these intros are absolutely pointless and do nothing except for me writing some random things that have no relation to each other. Today will be none of that as my inspiration is kinda blank for bullshit (“Blank for Bullshit” would be an interesting song title I suppose). It’s a miracle, but there’s actually something to say. In our writer’s room we had been chatting a bit about the future of the blog and how to become bigger. The conclusion we came to is pretty simple: we’re gonna switch to individual reviews once we catch up to the present. Basically search engines hate our bulk approach, which seriously prevents this site from growing beyond its current audience. For example my review for Karma Rassa a good while back literally doesn’t appear if you search “Karma Rassa – Vesna… Snova Vesna review”. If we instead made a post that had “Karma Rassa – Vesna… Snova Vesna review” as the title, it would show up.

I kinda hate it on one hand, since bulk reviews are literally the foundation that started this blog and I assume are also its charm, but I get it. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the greater good. The advantages of individual reviews are numerous. Beyond improved SEO performance there’s a good chance bands will be sending us promos as well, so that’s even better for publicity. And for the bands it also makes sense as it falls within their promotional cycle still. Another things is that most people don’t read long form articles, and this would fix that issue. Lastly it’s easier to tag our reviews that way so it’ll be easier to retroactively find things.

We discussed a couple of other things as well, but those were more minor such as putting one or two reviews on the first page to lure in people to click on page 2 as well. I think I’ll leave it at that. I’ll just dump the Spotify playlist with recommended tracks and I’ll be off. Enjoy reading!


New here? Check our About page and take a look at our social media accounts (links in the sidebar). In short what we do is that we search for promising underground prog metal (and related) bands through Metal-Archives advanced search, Bandcamp and other sources, group them together by the month they were released in, and then write a review on them. Do you want your band reviewed? Send us an email at theprogressivesubway@gmail.com. Just make sure it’s from a month we haven’t covered yet and that the release is over 20 minutes long.

Chaos over Cosmos – II (Poland/Australia) [EP]
Style: Melodeath/Metalcore/Power (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Review by: Matt

Back for their second round in under a year, we have shredmeisters, and friends of the blog, Chaos Over Cosmos. Releasing EPs has its advantages, I guess. They might actually make a lot more sense than albums at this point…

II is broadly similar to the last EP – Once again, the band is a guitarist/vocalist duo with programmed instruments, and they play a techy amalgamation of melodeath and metalcore. This time, they’ve brought back some of the power metal tendencies from the first album, though they mostly exist in different worlds. Tracks 1 and 4 are more power metal, while 2 and 3 stick to the chugging grooves. I find the writing of the latter to be higher quality – the overt power metal parts are kind of barebones and forgettable – but it’s all anchored by the same futuristic atmosphere and ridiculous Animals as Leaders-style shredding.

About those guitar solos… I mentioned last time that they sounded a little too clean, and now it’s keeping me up at night wondering. At the risk of getting owned later, are these guitars programmed to some degree? Even Allan Holdsworth had a little pick attack. It is possible to get a passable lead sound by running MIDIs through an amp and a wah, though I’d be surprised if the rhythm playing wasn’t real. It’s tough to call, but something feels strange there. We need a playthrough video!

Vocally, Joshua Ratcliff is more reverb than man here. The mix has done him dirty a little bit, and you get more the impression of vocals happening than actual vocals. He goes through screams, cleans, and some new age spoken word, all competent, but faint and distant-sounding. The vocals neither add nor detract from the music, except the frustratingly offbeat choruses on “One Hundred”, which sound as though they were recorded at a different BPM.

In spite of all this, the writing is generally solid enough to carry the day – there’s colorful note choices, cool keyboard sounds, and catchy modern riffs. I think this is a clear step down from the previous EP, which didn’t show any cracks in its production, but there’s little that can’t be easily fixed. I’d just work on bringing the power metal stuff up to the complexity of the rest, or drop it entirely, because right now the difference is jarring. These guys know what they’re doing, and I look forward to them someday perfecting this formula.

Recommended tracks: Worlds Apart
Recommended for fans of: Disarmonia Mundi, S P A C E
Final verdict: 6/10

Parallel – Entropy (US-NJ)
Style: Post-Hardcore/Sludge (mixed vocals)
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify
Review by: Tyler

When I started Entropy, I was really excited and impressed. There were strong riffs, absolutely insane vocals, great production and the songwriting was solid as well. An odd thing happens where every aspect of the song feels disjointed and about to fall apart on its own, but together, everything ends up working incredibly well. Where the album stumbles lies in some of the same songwriting choices I mentioned earlier.

For the most part, the Entropy is really well thought out, very meticulous (rumor has it that it took a whopping 10 years to put together), so the guys had time to get everything where they needed it. And the more I listened, the more I could start seeing where in the timeline some of the songs fell into place. At some points, it sounds like almost two different bands wrote this album and put it together as one unit. Songs like “Entropy” and “Proles” are dense, complex, and raw examples of what the band can do and show off, exactly as I specified in my above description. But then along comes a song like “Whiting”, which is so reeled back, it doesn’t sound anything like the Parallel I’ve come to admire. The riffs are boring and straightforward, the throaty vocals in the chorus tango with eye rolling, it stopped me dead in my tracks and made me think Parallel weren’t who I thought they were.

Of course, as I listened there was, in fact, nothing to worry about. Almost every other song on the album lived up to the hype that the intro track had laid out before. I will say that there are moments where things sound almost too raw. The fellas are few in numbers (three from my count), and there definitely could have been room to layer and fill things out in the times where things go quiet. I always felt that the crunchy bass tone trying to fill things out on it’s own while the guitar was playing a lead felt a bit awkward, and actually fatiguing after a while. Nothing that could ruin the experience, but something I noticed quite frequently while listening a few times.

Parallel manages to walk a really tight line on this one. There is so much energy that it makes you want to finally punch that bird that keeps smacking into your window and spooking your cats, but it’s also complex and interesting enough to where you don’t have time to punch that bird, you’ve gotta think about these tunes you’re hearing. Hopefully there’s more to come from these guys too, if they expand and morph their sound into something that has some give and not as rigid. From what I can tell, they dropped this thing and dipped off of the internet, so I have no way of knowing if anything comes next. Good stuff though guys, see you in the stars.

Recommended tracks: Entropy, Proles
Recommended for fans of: Moon Tooth, Freighter, Code Orange
Final verdict: 8/10