Riffstone - Sanctuary Sky Year: 2025
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Symphonic Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: Not in top 100
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Riffstone brings together melodicism and atmosphere in equal measure, and they do so with a strong 70s vibe; not necessarily golden age of prog vibe so much as that gloriously melodic pop that comprised so much of the decade, but then put it in a symphonic prog format. I could have used a little more variety in tempi and vocal style, but still a fine listen and a great option for those who like "listenable" 70s tuneage as well as hard core progginess.
Tritop - Tritop 120 Subgenre(s): Heavy Prog
Score: 80
Year: 2025
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 4th
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Tritop's second album brings no sophomore slump, but it also doesn't quite fully achieve their promise. We do get all the hallmarks of classically informed contemporary prog including long compositions, transitions galore, and positively stellar musicianship. Listening to snippets can be very promising as all those goodies make themselves apparent and scream joy to the prog part of my brain. But in total, there's little overall musical vision linking all those goodies into a coherent whole. So much to love here... if they just could have made it all play together, this could have been a new classic. Moderate recommendation.
Storchi - By Far Away Year: 2025
Score: 85
Style or Subgenre: Experimental/Post Metal, Prog Folk
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 71st
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Storchi is an international folk/experimental/post metal quartet with flute as their primary melody instrument. This is progressive music in the sense that it eschews genres and lables, and brings its own sound and style rather than aping prog of the past. And that music is excellent. That genre fluidity lends itself to a lot of ears without alienating any. There's more than the expected amount of melody for music of this type and, as a lover of the flute, it all wits quite comfortably yet excitingly in my ear. This is music I can sit and dwell on, or play in the background and rock out to while doing other things. Really good stuff in a number of applications.
And even though I'm not big on the color purple, I totally dig that album cover.
Midlake - A Bridge Too Far Year: 2025
Score: 75
Style or Subgenre: Prog-folk
My Rank in Year as of this listen: Not in top 100
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Prog folk often sounds the least proggy of all prog subgenres. This album seems even less proggy even by prog folk standards. Still, this album is getting some love in prog circles. I'm not so quick to jump on the bandwagon, even independent of expectations for a certain level of progginess. While nicely composed and recorded, this album is just too subdued throughout to really grab me. If the idea of consistently well crafted but understated (especially vocally) prog folk with some modern but repetitive beats sounds appealing, then this might sit well in your ear.
Fulgoromatic - Fulguromatic Year: 2025
Score: 75
Style or Subgenre: Eclectic Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: Not in top 100
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If you want some music that is totally modern, highly eclectic, and completely impossible to pigeonhole genre or style wise, French Duo Fulgromatic should be on your short list. There is so much to love in this very creative set. Like anything this experimental, it's also easy to land on things that don't sit perfectly either. That shouldn't deter anyone with an adventurous musical taste, though. This album is getting a lot of love from the progressive community and I wouldn't even try to argue with that even if it's not going to sit atop my personal list of faves from 2025.
Atomic Sun - Atomic Sun Year: 2025
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Symphonic Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: Not in top 100
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This 2025 album is a keyboard lovers dream. There's all manner of synth, plenty of Hammond organ, and lots of mellotron. The group is composed of a duo, the other half playing guitar in a mostly supporting role. While instrumental, this is very much an album of symphonic prog storytelling. Easily recommended for fans of either the genre or the instrumentation.
John Holden - The Great Divide Year: 2025
Score: 85
Style or Subgenre: Neo Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: Not in top 100
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Finishing up the last of my 2025 current year listens, I selected this highly rated neo prog release from UK multi instrumentalist and band leader John Holden. Happy to say I finished strong. This is an excellent neo-prog album with particularly strong compositions buoyed by plenty of melodocism; it's like a slightly less edgy, more accessible version of Marillion's better work. The variety and interest is further enhanced by varied vocals, both male and female. The whole album has a sort of pseudo spiritual preachiness to it, but that's almost never a problem; only song became overtly political in a partisan sort of way, and the song itself remained full of great music. There's lots to love here in this rather traditional but not trite bit of 2025 prog.
I decided to really focus on new music like never before. During the year 2025, I listened to 382 current year albums, mostly prog and jazz. I found these two genres to be not just alive and kicking, but totally kicking butt! I listened to about 180 from each genre, and liked everything I heard, and dearly loved a good chunk of it. With numbers like that, I feel comfortable dropping a top 100 in each genre, all from this year.
An interesting thing about my explorations is that my list is also much more international than usual with only about a third coming from the US or UK. My top 100 (not taking time to split genres) consists of the following entries:
US - 27
UK - 9
Italy - 8
Mixed nationality - 7
Canada - 5
Israel - 5
Germany - 5
Norway - 4
France - 4
Japan - 4
2 each from Brazil, Spain, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Denmark and Slovakia
1 each from Peru, Romania, South Africa, Greece, Chile, Iceland, Ukraine, and Switzerland
Now it's probably clear that having checked out almost 400 current year albums means I can't be intimately immersed in each and every one. These selections will likely shift a bit as time goes by, but I think it's a pretty good list.
As a note, I will not be doing this again in 2026! This took a lot of time and energy and while it was highly rewarding, I think I'll settle back into a more balanced life in 2026, and change my listening habits to exploring more back catalogs of favored artists, checking out unfamiliar artists of the past, listening to fewer albums in greater depth, and returning more classical to my lineup.
Now here's my prog top 100 albums of 2025:
Top 10 The rest of the Top 20 The rest of the Top 40
The rest of the Top 100
Edenya - The Secret Destination You Are Looking For
Lars Fredrik Frøislie - Gamle Mester
Hora Prima - Hora Prima
Tale Cue - Eclipse Of The Midnight Sun
Limite Acque Sicure - Un'Altra Mano Di Carte
Magic Pie - Maestro
Dominic Sanderson - Blazing Revelations
Diego Petrini - La Materia Del Suono
Aleph Quintet - Hiwar
Cosmos - Flor De Loto
Mad Vantage - Minutiae
Love Unfold The Sun - Explode Yourself
Wippy Bonstack - Tactile Demons
Mad Parish - The Dust Of Forever
Storchi - By Far Away
Dream Theater - Parasomnia
Everyone- Shells
Lars Fredrik Frøislie - Quattro Racconti
The Far Cry - Once There Was
Ceiling Unlimited - A Life Mirage
Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno - In Fuga
Danefae - Trøst
Steve Morse Band - Triangulation
Nuova Era
Atypical - Apotropiac
Paradigm Blue - Frontiers
Karfagen - Omni
Chercán - Chercán
Jethro Tull - Curious Ruminant
Storchi - By Far Away
Ethiva - Veaten Track
Half Past Four - Finding Time
Glass Hammer - Mostly Live In Italy
The Wood Demons - In Rabbits & Dreams
Hooffoot - Phantom Limb
Numen - The Outsider
The Guildmaster - Gathering of Souls
The Adekaem - Pictures From Sierra Morena
Cea Serin - The World Outside
Cinder - Lux Terminus
Messa - The Spin
Echolyn - TimeSilentRadio ii
Krokofant - 6
The One - Loghter than Air
Argonaut - Argonaut
Spock's Beard - The Archaeoptimist
Agropelter - The Book Of Hours
Julian Jay Savarin - beyond the Outer Mirr
Jaime Rosas - Tres Piezas De Rock Progresivo
Echolyn - TimeSilentRadio vii
Discipline - Breadcrumbs
Edensong - Our Road To Dust
Ujig - Delta
Gerald Massois - Community Demain À L'aube
Green Doesel - Onward The Sun
Grovjobb - Nallebjörn Är Död
Wilson Project - Atto Primo
Antoine Fafard - Quadra Spherium
Lisa LaRue - Forged From Fire
Cen-ProjekT - Carnival of Lost Souls
Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Songs No One Will Hear
Spherical Agenda - Spherical Agenda
Imminent Sonic Destruction - Floodgate
Lesoir - Babel
Soft Ffog - Focus
Moundrag - Deux
Czyszy - Secret Clockwork
Canvas of Silence - As The World Tree Fell
IQ - Dominion
Goad - Dusketha
Imaginaerium - Siege
Fluctus Quadratum - Laplacian
Moon Letters - This Dark Earth
Malabriega - Frippada Andaluza
Soniq Circus - Cursed Cruise
Jet Rotula - Dead Angels
The Foundation - Relations
Tritop - 120
Corde Oblique - Cries and Whispers
The Lab Experience - The Lab Experience
Crayon Phase - Synthetic Mind
North Sea Radio Orchestra - Special Powets
Riffstone - Sanctuary Sky
Trey Gunn & David Forlano - Select Habits Of Invertebrates
New Grove Project - Epiqurium
Cosmograf - The Orphan Epoch
Atomic Sun - Atomic Sun
Pattern-Seeking Animals - Friend Of All Creatures
Pinn Drop - For The Love Of Drama
Daal - Decoding The Darkness
Niechęć - Reckless Things
Singlelito - Non-Consciousness
The Flower Kings - Love
Ring Van Möbius - Firebrand
Cosmic Cathedral - Deep Water
Solstice - Clann
Hawkwind - There Is No Space For Us
Breidablik / Jordsjø - Kontraster
Celeste - Anima Animus
Обійми Дощу [Obiymy Doshchu] - Vidrada
Doracor - Unexpected Intersections
After just about short circuiting my musical mind by listening to almost 400 current year albums in 2025, I'll bee throttling back significantly in 2026. There will be some listening to old favorites, some checking out less familiar albums by familiar artists, and listening to artists I missed completely back in the day. Of course I will be checking out some new music, but first, I'm going back and and picking a couple albums from each year; with prog, I'll be starting with 1967. Let the journey through time begin!
The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed Year: 1967
Score: 100
Style or Subgenre: Symphonic Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 1st
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I discovered the moodies with Long Distance Voyager in '81 and rapidly began acquiring their back catalog. When I got around to DOFP, I was in absolute musical heaven. No matter how much I listened to it, I never tired of it, and if anything, its stature has only grown with me over the last 4+ decades. Each and every time I listen to this album, I am completely carried away. Everything about it is sheer perfection; each individual melody and its overall composition, every song and its placement in the whole, the Moodies themselves and the symphony as well as their integration into a complete whole. This was a groundbreaking album both in terms of progressiveness and as a concept album. It can float gracefully and it can rock hard. It brings the variety necessary to express the totality of a day from dawn 'til dark. Really, you just can't beat this. No on ever has. No one ever will.
It boggles the mind that Justin was writing the brilliant hits at age 20! So far beyond the standard pop of the day. And his voice! But it's not just Justin and it's not just the hits. Everyone in the group gets their licks in (so to speak) and while all the parts are brilliant, the whole still somehow manages to be greater than the sum of it's parts.
Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn Year: 1967
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Psychedelic/Space Rock
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 30th
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Here we have another classic at the front end of the history of the genre. A quintessential flag bearer for the progressive psychedelic/space rock subgenre, this album delivers sonic experimentation around every corner yielding the likes of which had not been heard to date, and remains unique to this day. This is also an album that delivers excellent variety with some songs sounding a little throwback, albeit it with a modern twist, and other sounding as though reaching into a distant future. This is an album I was familiar with, but not nearly so much so as Days of Future Passed or any of my real favorites, so this listen was a genuine rediscovery. What caught me off guard was how I really took to the quirky and a little creepy Matilda Mother, a largely unknown very deep cut.
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