16 highlights from the second half of September, as eclectic as they come!

“Solastalgia” is a look at what we’ve lost in the past. We’ve lost our way, humanity is scarce, with each man to himself. That can lead one to an existential crisis, which is one of the themes explored in this dark, but also comforting album. The range of emotions that can be felt are expressed through post-rock and shoegaze-y elements mixed with black metal. It feels like swinging between melancholy and agony. It is a quality musical expression of a very relatable pain. Evelina

Risen from the Edge of Haze, whose ‘Convoy of Ruins’ totally blew my mind in 2022, the Finish modern Progmetal band is “back” with a new moniker – Royal Sorrow – and a debut album at the renowned label InsideOut! “Innerdeeps” got its release on September 26th, looking for listeners who seek more than just sound, but craving meaning, catharsis, and depth.

Royal Sorrow offer modern Progmetal with a wide range from Melodeath to Pop, flawlessly melting soft- and heaviness with highly addictive melodies. Over 44 minutes, they deliver vigorous Metal songs with well-produced synth soundscapes and an absolutely marvelous vocal performance. Sometimes close to cheesy, but always with a certain melancholy in their music, which makes the difference for me, so does the hard-hitting bass and the rather raw guitar sound. Clearly one of this year’s highlights for me. And they’re currently on tour in Europe opening for Leprous. Check the dates here: https://leprous.net/tours/ Katha

Speaking of Leprous: the modern, hyper-melodic emo-prog style they’ve been developing and pursuing ever since the release of “Malina” eight years ago seems to have caught on in the meantime. “Ether Metal”, the newest album by UK Alternative Prog Rock/Metal sextet Esoterica might bear close similarities to that sound for sure, but with an impeccable production, top notch performances all around, and – most of all – compelling songwriting and emotional hooks for days, they’ve certainly earned a recommendation among these highlights despite the A.I.-looking artworks and videos. Check out Bob’s full in depth review here: https://theprogspace.com/esoterica-ether-metal/ Dario

Between Hollingshead, Habrand and Bakelit, Swedish keys and synth legend Carl Westholm (Carptree, Jupiter Society, ex-Avatarium) has been keeping himself busy lately. “No Fear of Drowning” is the second Bakelit album in less than a year and it is quite the slow burner, not entirely unlike Jupiter Society’s swansong “From Endangered to Extinct”. No wonder since it’s essentially the same personnel. However, this one seems to never really ‘take off’, prodding along broodingly for just short of 40 minutes. Its dark, somber atmosphere still manages to take me captive though. All good in the land of Bakelit then. Dario

Concluding this rather melodic quadruple (Royal Sorrow, Esoterica, Bakelit & this one right here) with some a bit more mellow Art Rock from Germany courtesy of Sammary (not to be confused with neither Hamasaari from France nor Samtar from the US). Talking about the previous album, “The Dream”, I attested it (at least partly) “an irresistible undertow that draws me into its melancholy dreamlike mood”. The subject matter of the new concept album that listens to the rather unwieldy title “The Deer Pants For Flowing Streams” is rather heavy and unwieldy as well though: Goethe’s “Faust”. Heavy parts, at least musically, are sparse here, but when they appear, they hit double. Notable guests include Pure Reason Revolution’s Jon Courtney and Porcupine Tree’s Randy McStine. The star of the show is still Stella Inderwiesen’s phenomenal vocal performance throughout though. A diamond in the dark, shining bright just like the white poodle on the black cover… Dario

Lucenthia is a band that you might want to keep an eye out for from now on. This autumn they released their first album – “Architecture of a Downfall“. Beautiful, vulnerable and raw, it feels like a confession. It showcases the growing pains and challenges one goes through. The Greeks offer a lot of variety in their sound, making you feel the motions of life – sometimes gentle and isolating, sometimes grand and heavy, but impactful nonetheless. Evelina

Throwing quite the curveball with the musical direction of tracks number two and three after a gloriously Opeth-y opening with ‘Eclipse’: Salt Lake City progressive death metal duo Sindar on “Tower of the Sun”, their second album. But fret not: by the end of the folksy ‘Greenfields’, they have found their way again. Tolkien-inspired, Dan Swanö-mixed – what’s not to love? Dario

Ukrainian Extreme Prog horde Korypheus is pulling us into their sophomore full-length “Gilgamesh” within the first seconds of the opening banger of the same name by way of a ferocious groove that doesn’t seem to let up throughout the album’s total runtime of 38 minutes. Clean vocalist Andy Gushin is creating huge anthems with his powerful timbre while guitarist Oleg Kokotun is not only a master of brutal, heavily chugging riffs, but also a shredding solo or two. Killer stuff. Dario

Speaking of shredding solos: “New Gods, New Masters”, the new album by longstanding Boston based Technical Death/Thrashers of Revocation has plenty of it. No wonder, being spearheaded by Dave Davidson, a true god and master of his craft. Guest appearances on this record range from Cattle Decapitation’s Travis Ryan and Job for a Cowboy’s Jonny Davy, Gorguts legend Luc Lemay all the way to Jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman. And there you have it: the exciting Extreme Tech Death Fusion of Revocation. Rooted in Extreme Metal, with lots of juicy dissonance thrown in and the occasion Jazz/Fusion sprinkle. Fucking delicious. Dario

Hailing from Sweden, the band’s moniker Vittra evolved out of Vildvittra, which is based on the scary, bird-like characters created by Astrid Lindgren as part of Ronia, The Robber’s Daughter. Fitting to their name’s origins and further inspired by the mythical creatures appearing in Swedish folk stories, the five-piece goes wild with their new album, “Intense Indifference“, making the pit circling from the first minute by delivering razor-sharp riffs, pummeling drums, and raspy harsh vocals.

With ten songs all clocking in around 3 minutes, “Intense Indifference” is a short-whiled, mind blowing listen. The overall tempo is high without losing groovyness, and there’s enough variety to keep things interesting. Vittra’s sound comes along fat and heavy yet catchy, and I’m a sucker for these furious guitar solos as well as the playful details within the moshing madness, which clearly will work well in a live setting. Highly recommended to crank it up! Katha

Instrumental Progressive Rock with subtle, but profound influences from classical music by Tempus Cucumis, a Belgian duo I first encountered with their 2022 album “The Story of C and the Lowering Skies”, that’s what you will find on their new EP, “Alptraum”. Somehow I had saved them on my internal squishy hard-drive (aka brain) with vocals, and a quick check of their older material revealed to my relief that my memory hadn’t failed me. This is completely instrumental though, yet not lacking any leading melodies. Just check out the tail end of ‘Endymion’. A high energy “Alptraum” (“Nightmare”) for sure. Dario

Being able to write about follow-up releases from bands and artists that I have covered before here in this Releases of the Week format means that I’ve been doing it for a long time already, right? Well in the case of German García, his previous album “Monsterpiece” was only released in February this year, so not all too long ago. So, after that “Monsterpiece” (and the “Alptraum” above) awaits a “Fever Dream”. Here, the classical influences are not so subtle. On the contrary, they are worn on the sleeve of this energetic instrumental Prog Metal release. A better (programmed) drum sound could be wished for to match the quality of guitars and orchestrations, but as we say in German, that is ‘whining at a high level’. Dario

Somewhere between the hyperactive breakbeats of Igorrr at his most electronic, the djenty, the polyrhythmic fusion of bands like Their Dogs Were Astronauts or Voronoi, and the electronic-glitch-meets-crazy-drums of French project Codex Anima, UK project Luo has carved itself a nice little niche within two niches. Or something like that. I was already a huge fan of their “Convoluted Mess Machine”, but “The Darkest Shapes” are taking on some sick forms again – maybe even a little faster and more extreme than last time – that I’m digging at least as much. Still nothing for the djent, let alone metal purists. But a feast for everyone open minded for some crazy electronic shit. Dario

One Belgian band that used to have vocals in their music turns instrumental (see Tempus Cucumis above), an instrumental one adds – pretty diverse guest – vocals to their repertoire. Glass Museum’s fusion of nu jazz with piano, ambient and electronic sounds gets enhanced by soulful tones in one song (‘Call Me Names’) and (dutch) rap in another (‘VAN GLAS’). Everything melts incredibly smoothly though, merging the “4N4LOG CITY” seamlessly with an electronic world. Analogue drums and piano sounds find a warm bed in electronic tinklings and layers – or is it the other way around? A warm bed it is in any case after the (exciting, adrenaline inducing) glitchy abrasiveness of Luo. Dario

This is a full-on pop album. Except when it isn’t. Like the whole of ‘The Depths’. Or most parts of ‘Violent World’. But also when it is, it remains excellent music. “The Baroness Sessions” could serve as an application for the Grammy’s as much as for the next James Bond song. In the end it is one more display of Jason Bieler’s superior songwriting power. Who the mysterious Baroness remains in the dark (unless I’m missing something). But whoever is able to re-arrange, or almost re-compose his (Progressive) Rock songs to that kind of pop perfection is a true master of their craft. Dario

As always, 80’s King Crimson was way ahead of their times as well, preceding similar styles like Brutal Prog or the current Windmill scene by more than a decade. Central to the success of the three legendary albums of that era “Discipline”, “Beat” and “Three of a Perfect Pair” (next to mastermind Robert Fripp of course) was of course frontman Adrian Belew, who now teamed up with his old bass pal Tony Levin, got none other than Steve Vai himself and Tool’s Danny Carey on board, to celebrate this music once again on a massive North American tour last year. So, Beat – “Live” is naturally one of the most important live documents of the year and as close to 80’s King Crimson you’ll ever get again. Dario