Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition Subgenre(s): Progressive Metal
Score: 80
Year: 2009
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 4th
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On their fourth album, Polish proggers fulfill their metal promise with an alt vibe. Think of a gene splice between Dream Theater and Tool with European prog influences (classical infusion, not in terms of strings or "symphonic" scope, but rather the interweaving of intricate musical lines in a modern sort of counterpoint). The five songs clock in at about 45 minutes, making the run time much like a pre-CD era LP, which works extremely well here. The album says what it needs to stay and gets off the stage, leaving me with an overwhelmingly positive reflection. Great stuff here.
Plantoid - Terrapath Subgenre(s): Fusion, Neo-Prog, Space rock
Score: 85
Year: 2024
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 1st (okay so this is my first and still only 2024 listen, but I'm confident this will remain high on the list no matter what else I encounter)
Taking up a recommendation from @Repo, I grabbed this debut released earlier this month as my first album of the new year.
Smashing success.
This is an album that totally tickles my prog fancy. I was actually seriously engaged right from the first few bars in the opening cut, "Is That You." As the album progresses, there's plenty of variety and modulation, holding my interest on every song. The music, like the album artwork brings a spacey vibe that harkens back somewhat to the golden era of prog, and yet seems perfectly contemporary. But neo-prog may only be it's second or third most prevalent vibe. The space rock is strong in this one as well. But what grabbed me most was the fusion underpinnings that, when seamlessly blended with the other genre effects, make this album truly special. All musicians are exemplary, but even among such a fine cast, drummer Louis Bradshaw stands out. He is the driving force behind that jazz foundation. What makes his input so interesting is that while he is clearly a solid fusion drummer, often he brings a more traditional swinging or shuffling jazz beat, and in other cases a more contemporary jazz beat, making this a rather new kind of fusion, and best of all, it always works brilliantly. Even when the group go more ambient, he keeps the skins interesting. Throw in some tasty female vocals (something I think prog could use a lot more of), and I'm calling this a real winner and a major discovery. Thanks, Repo!
Oh, I do love Mary Halvorson!
I don't have anyting of hers in the queue while I focus on artists I'm not already familiar with.... buuuuuut...... being that this is also a brand new release, I definitely need to check it out!
New Machine - New Machine Subgenre(s): Progressive Metal
Score: 80
Year: 2003
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 11th
This rather amazing sounding progressive metal band is actually just two guys: David Garcia (drums, keyboards, lead & backing vocals) and Bob Gilmartin (guitars, bass, lead & backing vocals). This self titled debut, loaded with commercial friendly prog metal, is sadly their only release. For the uninitiated, the closest comparison I can think of is Threshold, but then this should appeal to anyone who likes their prog a little more metallic than proggy. I like it more proggy myself, but I still really like this album, so it's appeal might be even broader. Too bad it will always remain a one-off, lost obscurity. Amazon currently has it for all of $5.98. Stellar deal in my book.
Huldre - Tusmørke Subgenre(s): Folk Metal
Score: 80
Year: 2016
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 8th
Tusmørke - Hestehoven Subgenre(s): Folk Prog
Score: 75
Year: 2023
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 7th
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It was time to check out some more new-to-me prog and I was in a Scandinavian mood, so the next such item in my queue was Tusmørke. Being a little lazy, I just pulled up YouTube and let the first thing that came up fly. After a while, I was thinking "this doesn't sound much like prog." After repeating this song through a few songs, I took a closer look at my selection and realized I hadn't selected an album by the progressive folk band Tusmørke but rather an album called Tusmørke by a folk-metal group called Huldre. But I was digging it, so I let it continue. A really good album, and there was enough interesting rhythmic ideas and non-standard rock instrumentation that I figured is was at least a little prog-ish. After all the lines between folk metal, prog metal, and folk prog can get pretty blurry anyway. So this was not the prog I was looking for, but it still became one of those moments of unexpected joy of discovery.
After that, I still wanted to get the group Tusmørke into my speakers, so I pressed with their most recent release, 2023's Hestehoven. This turned out to be exactly what I was looking for; brilliant Scandinavian folk prog. If the idea of a Norwegian cross between Jethro Tull and Steeleye Span with a bit of a groove appeals to you, this might hit you in a sweet spot. I've had three listens over the last two days and each one was better than the last. Highly recommended for fans of folk prog or music from the north country.
Took a little trip to Italy today, brought to you by the letter D.
Dedalus - Dedalus Subgenre(s): Fusion
Score: 80
Year: 1973
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 34th (1973 is a very tough year)
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This was a stumbleupon while looking for some new to me jazz. While this one and only Dedalus album sits smack in the middle of the glory years of RPI, this is actually a fusion album. But this isn't straight ahead fusion (if there is such a thing), but more a sort of semi-experimental space fusion. It's as if a little Sun Ra-meets-early-Floyd snuck into a primitive, pseudo-psychedelic Mahavishnu/Weather Report hybrid. Sound trippy? Well it is. But it's also groovy at times. Within a single song, things can migrate across all these fronts and the result is usually pretty impressive. Anybody who digs early experimental jazz rock needs to check this out.
Deus Ex Machina - Equilibrismo da Insofferenza Subgenre(s): Fusion
Score: 85
Year: 1998
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 3rd
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Leaping forward a quarter century, I landed on another Italian fusion album, and found this one to be even more impressive. There are obvious nods to Mahavishnu Orchestra, and while the guitar is somewhat McLaughlinesque, I heard even more Allan Holdsworth in there, at least from a compositional standpoint. This is pretty brilliant fusion right here. Making it even more brilliant in my ear is the vocals. There aren't a lot of vocals in fusion, and it seems a particularly challenging place to integrate them effectively. Well Deus Ex Machina do exactly that. Stellar vocals, exceptionally well integrated into highly complex music delivered with totally off the charts musicianship. How could I possibly not love this!
De de Lind - Io Non So Da Dove Vengo, E Non So Dove Mai Andro'. Uomo E' Il Nome Che Mi Han Dato Subgenre(s): Rock Progressivo Italiano
Score: 75
Year: 1973
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 3rd
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To complete my trifecta tour of the letter D in the Italian peninsula, I went back to the golden age and landed on some actual RPI this time. Once again, we have a group that only released one album before evaporating. Again, that's a shame. This is classic RPI with it's own unique sound, excellent rock guitar and plenty of my beloved flute. Also a candidate for longest album name! But it's the music that counts and this is also winning music.
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