“The promo’s promise of “Rush without the synths” is a pretty decent summary of what The Wring are going for here. The key elements are complex, layered, noodly guitar/bass lines and shifting time signatures. Prog’s regular downfall is letting the noodling get in the way of good songs, but The Wring keep things tight and let the songcraft lead.” Loose cipher.
“Given the heavily jazz-influenced psychedelic free-form rock on show from Mythic Sunship, that they borrow part of their moniker from Coltrane‘s 1971 Sun Ship. For me, there’s a fine line in avant-garde music—be that jazz, psychedelic rock or even the most progressive forms of black and death metal —between writing something progressive, challenging and interesting, and simply delivering what sounds like a noisy, unstructured jam session committed to record.” Spacey jam.
“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.
“NASA once lost a perfectly good spacecraft due to a units error, which led to a miscalculated course and a fiery collision with the destination planet. The navigation team had raised concerns that it was off course before the actual crash, but no action was taken. Managers preferred to assume everything was fine until it was too late. Here on final approach hoping everything is fine is Italy’s Blue Hour Ghosts with their second album, Due.” Brace for impact.
“Given that we’re no longer in the 1970s, for better and for worse, Steven Wilson is now the unwilling “King of Prog.” He’s the writer of what some consider modern classics; a remixologist extraordinaire; a sophisticated producer; a musical experimentalist; a successful imitator; and even a pop star. And yet it appears he’s still not the star he wants to be.” Once and future prog star.
“Yet, Transatlantic is one of the more pretentious groups I’ve ever heard. When I first realized that the debut record, SMPTe, was the first letter of each member’s surname, I rolled my eyes so hard I fell off a bridge. Even so, this foursome knows how to play, and Portnoy has made himself a diverse drummer that can play many styles. So, when we got Transatlantic‘s The Absolute Universe, I had to partake. I mean, who else would be dumb enough to review a three-disc record?” A universe of material.
Soen‘s Imperial is a record that pursues some of the changes foreshadowed on Lotus. And that little ecosystem of choices can work well with these adjustments, or it can start to cascade.
![Villagers of Ioannina City – Age of Aquarius [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Villagers-of-Ioannina-City-Age-of-Aquarius-01-768x768.jpg)
“Originally released on an independent label in 2019, I didn’t find out about the excellent Age of Aquarius until Napalm re-released it this year. I’m writing it up anyway because it’s one of the best things I’ve heard this year.” Time is fluid.
Five years have come and gone and the Dutch trio, whose resumés include Cynic and Exivious, have finished their new offering, sporting a notably more drab cover than its predecessor. Is this an ill omen, or is that judging a book by its cover?
“Those of you who insist we review nothing but the purest and most extreme metal, step away from the computer. The next five paragraphs will upset and irritate you, causing you to lob hit pieces at the Huckster down in the comment section. For there is nothing remotely metal about today’s band of choice, Wobbler. This is music to prance to, not music to bang one’s head to. In fact, one has to be an El Cuervo-like old soul to truly want to dive into this band’s immaculate take on 70’s progressive rock.” Hit pieces go wobbly.
