Progressive Metal

Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3 Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on April 16, 2021 in Reviews, Instrumental Metal, Progressive Metal, 58 comments

“Believe it or not, it’s been roughly twenty-two years since the band’s last full-length. I know that LTE isn’t for everyone but it’s hard to deny the impressive instrumentation. Bringing acclaimed bassist Tony Levin on board took a potential this-is-just-Dream–Theater-without-James-LaBrie outfit, and made it mostly original. Sure, you can’t take the DT out of John Petrucci but, even then, it’s nice to hear the instruments without LaBrie’s voice.” Do androids dream of Liquid Tension Experiment theater?

Los Disidentes Del Sucio Motel – Polaris Review

By Steel Druhm on April 2, 2021 in Reviews, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, Stoner Rock, 21 comments

“Oddball French heavy rock outfit Los Disidentes Del Sucio Motel (LDDSM) is difficult to assign to a specific genre or style. Over their career they’ve been described as stoner, psychedelic and prog rock, and none of that is completely wrong. Nor does it give you the full story. Now they’re back after 4 years in limbo with fourth album Polaris, and they’re every bit as tough to pigeonhole as always. If I were to make a Hail Mary effort to describe their style, it would be alt-rock mixed with prog, post-rock, and post-metal, with grunge/stoner/desert elements lurking at the edges.” A multiverse of influences.

Wheel – Resident Human Review

By GardensTale on March 30, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 60 comments

“Remember that unexpected wave of quality Tool-like albums that got released in short succession a few years ago? One of the more overlooked albums at the time was Moving Backwards, the excellent debut from British / Finnish proggers Wheel. With a dark take on the modern prog sound, slightly off-kilter riffs, heavy and engaging bass and drums and a smooth, expressive vocalist, the band did not disappoint after its excellent supporting appearance for Soen. With another platter exploring human nature landing in our laps, can the guys live up to the high standard they’ve set for themselves?” Wheels as tools.

Ghosts of Atlantis – 3.6.2.4 Review

By Twelve on March 24, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, 25 comments

“The best way to get my attention is with an awesome album cover. More than genre tags, credits, stylistic themes, or lyrical themes – more than nearly anything else – an awesome album cover is what I go by when I explore the wonderful world of metal. That’s how the English band known as Ghosts of Atlantis got my attention, although the rest did line up very nicely: they credit themselves as something of a supergroup, boasting experienced musicians from bands across various well-known labels trying out something different, tagged in my promo package as “symphonic progressive extreme metal.”” Ghost in the calculator.

Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm Review

By Holdeneye on March 23, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, Thrash Metal, 78 comments

“Wow. Thrash is kind of having a year, folks. There are large swaths of the metal community who feel that the fires that heated the furnace in which all great thrash was forged went out decades ago, while others feel that those flames still sputter and cough and produce a great record every now and again. Well, something about a worldwide shutdown secondary to a pandemic seems to have stoked whatever embers remained within that furnace into a raging inferno, because the first quarter of 2021 is basically littered with quality thrash releases of a variety of styles. Therefore, I didn’t hesitate to pick up Bionic Swarm, the debut record from Dutch thrashers Cryptosis, a band who’d like to throw their hat into the progressive cyber-thrash ring with Paranorm.” 4 Swarm to wengeance.

Dvne – Etemen Ænka Review

By GardensTale on March 19, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Sludge, 91 comments

“If you ask me, Dvne is one of the greater discoveries of the last 5 years. After sampling them, based on a random recommendation from a random review, I’ve found myself increasingly absorbed by the Scottish band. They are still my favorite out of all the TYMHM reviews I wrote, and they landed a high spot in my end of year list in 2017. Needless to say, my anticipation for this weirdly named sophomore offering of sci-fi prog sludge was sky high.” The riffs must flow!

Hevilan – Symphony of Good and Evil Review

By Holdeneye on March 18, 2021 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, 43 comments

“If you are one of the poor souls who’s managed to follow my pedestrian music journalism career, you know that I’m a hopeless Nevermore weenie. There’s just something about the way they combined immense, progressive, down-tuned riffing with powerful, operatic vocals that is incredibly pleasing to my ears. I was therefore absolutely defenseless against the promo blurb that touted Hevilan guitarist Johnny Moraes as having appeared in Warrel Dane’s live band, as well as on the late Nevermore singer’s posthumous solo release, Shadow Work.” Good times, bad times.

Everture – Emerge Review

By Dear Hollow on March 16, 2021 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Post-Hardcore, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Rock, 39 comments

“Album length is a point of contention at AMG Headquarters. So around the office cooler one day, the illustrious Carcharodon revealed that his promo was a honkin’ two-hour commitment. I now realize that “Mine’s a nine-minute grind EP! Sucks to be you!” was the wrong thing to say. As a dear Lavagirlbitch to the Sharkboy, he used his power to punish me pick a promo for me. Please direct your hate mail to him for the awkwardly named Everture. I was immediately horrified at the phrase “modern metal” that greeted my eyes.” The Everture will continue until morale improves.

Sullen – Nodus Tollens – Act 1: Oblivion Review

By GardensTale on March 14, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 17 comments

“You never forget your first 4.0. Oh, I don’t mean the first 4.0 you listen to, I mean the first 4.0 you review for Angry Metal Guy. Honestly, this statement will probably not breed a great deal of recognition with the majority of you. But my first 4.0 was this album by Disperse. It was light, modern prog metal with a djenty undertone that everybody hated except for me and like 3 people, but I stand by my score for that record. So when the first notes of Sullen’s Nodus Tollens – Act 1: Oblivion reached my ear and I caught a Disperse-y scent in the air, I grinned and readied myself to write another loving review reviled by the masses. 4 is a crowd.

Snaer – Frozen Alchemy Review

By Dear Hollow on March 9, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Progressive Metal, Thrash Metal, Viking Metal, 22 comments

“From Pittsfield, Maine, Snaer is a quartet founded in 2015, having released a 2019 EP entitled Do It Yourself, a title that conveys their aesthetic and work ethic. Featuring a thrash- and doom-infused style that feels icy and brutal in equal measure, debut full-length Frozen Alchemy effectively balances mystical and punishing. Raw spiraling riffs conveyed through Viking metal-esque chord progressions, blackened rasps, complex percussion, and a nice progressive edge all greet the ears with frigid bite.” Lead to gold or lead to goat?