Back in late 2021-early 2022, I had a phase where I was quite hooked on Sonic Youth. While now I do not quite listen to them all that much anymore, I think they are still a perfectly fine band all around, especially considering the aspect of them virtually bringing noise rock into more of a limelight with albums like Daydream Nation and Washing Machine. Though, I do have a bit more fondness for one of their albums in comparison to their rest, that being Bad Moon Rising.

This album was released ... read more

2023 so far has been a really good year for music, especially in the sphere of metal. We got some really awesome prog metal records from Ne Obliviscaris, Thy Catafalque, Periphery, and Haken. We got a really good thrash metal record from the Gizzy Lizzy Wizzy Gladiators themselves. And we got a really amazing metalcore debut record from Zulu. It seems like the really good metal train doesn’t stop for no one, and that stays true to today’s subject of Woe Unto Me.

Unlike every other ... read more

I have always been enamored by the more quirky side of post punk. Post punk usually has many bands like The Cure or Joy Division that express very sad and melancholic ideals, which is kinda what the genre has become known for, as well as some more avant garde quirks from groups like This Heat and Swans. However, I feel like the more goofy side of this post punk coin should also be acknowledged. Stuff like Oingo Boingo, The Cardiacs, and XTC are some of my favorite groups in this quirked up ... read more

Wobbler is probably one of the most popular modern prog acts right now, especially in the field of retro prog. With five consistently great albums and many more to come, their inventiveness on more symphonic prog textures of Genesis and ELP, with combined elements of Gentle Giant, Renaissance, Anglagard, and Gryphon create a very familiar, yet really unique sound on their part. So, it is great to see their lead vocalist and keyboardist, Lars Fredrik Frøislie, being highly successful in ... read more

Dark cabaret music! Fun, quirky, sinister, and filled to the brim with depression and gloom, all the hallmarks for something I am surprised I don’t enjoy more often, though that is mostly because my input of the genre is related mostly to more avant garde metal acts like Stolen Babies and Unexpect. Still, it is quite a fascinating other side of the cabaret coin, where normal cabaret could be described as going down to a lavish and jovial fair filled with cotton candy, fun games, rides, ... read more

If there is one recent prog metal act that is the true definition of quality over quantity, it is most certainly Ne Obliviscaris. While they do not release a ton of albums, they are certainly a band to come out of the wood works with some high class prog metal stuff, with 3/4ths of their discography being some albums I consider to be masterpieces. Even what I consider to be their “worst” record, Urn, is still a fantastic album that bands bigger than them would dream of having. If ... read more

Another year, another Motorpsycho release. Due to me reviewing this band’s past discography up until this point, I feel like I am a bit indebted to them. That being said, they have not stopped with their cunning ideals of creating interesting prog rock music, though they took a back seat with the more illustrious heavy jams that we saw on their last 3 albums of this decade, and into a bit of a different direction.

Yay! is an album that is a direct 180 from the heaviness of their former ... read more

It has been a hot minute since I reviewed a full on symphonic piece. Well, in the wake of my past reviews of Nikolai Korsakov’s Symphonies No.1, Op.1; No.2, Op.9 “Antar” and Tony Bank’s Five, I have been listening to quite a bit of classical symphonies and romantics, and thus right now, decided to explore the territory more in a review.

I told a member of the Electric Light Orchestra discord server that I wished to explore more classical arrangements, and they ... read more

The jazz fusion renaissance of the 70s has many big names attached to it. Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Masayoshi Takanaka, and so many more, so much that the list could honestly go on for an eternity. In fact, you could say the jazz fusion renaissance never ended in the wake of the 80s as it is still highly influential to this day, almost that it goes on forever. Perhaps the late and great Chick Corea knew this, and thought to give it his own spin of ... read more

It is basically a fact that Meshuggah are the godfathers of djent. Though while it’d take them a few years from 1987 through 1994 to become fully djent (at first they were a very technical thrash band) they would endure a long journey through their streak of djent music over the years, inspiring prog metal entrepreneurs like Periphery, Animals As Leaders, and Car Bomb to follow suit in this angular conga of mathematical metal.

While Meshuggah at first wasn’t all that special to me, ... read more

Pure Reason Revolution, or PRR, is a rather interesting band in the sphere of contemporary prog rock. They take a page from The Pineapple Thief and Porcupine Tree, but instead of going to a more Radiohead type sound, they instead take another page from the book of Muse, going for this heavy, space, and alt rock sound that is filled with electronics, and for the most part I think it works quite well. A lot of their albums, especially their post hiatus albums of Eupnea and Above Cirrus, are very ... read more

The Pineapple Thief is a band I was kinda obsessed with back in early 2022, back before I listened to a lot more of this whole contemporary prog scene, aside from Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree. To me, they were, and always will be, this enigmatic band that seemed to try something new each album, kinda like King Crimson or Motorpsycho. The difference between them and Pineapple Thief is that Pineapple Thief were less changing things on a dime, and instead were evolving, with each album ... read more

Now for the second Momentaufnahme.

Compared to the first, I actually quite like the second one as a much better Faust experience, especially when you take in consideration to their more avant garde elements.

This album has the same quirks of Momentaufnahme I, however, here the more short snippets of weird electronic and avant garde are mostly gone, and in favor we get a nice blend of krautrock goodies that remind me of Faust IV and some other stuff, and very tranquil ambient elements that ... read more

Much like their album from last year, Punkt, Faust’s 2 Momentaufnahmes were once exclusive to the 1971-1974 box set. Where Punkt was the band’s lost album in the same vein as Faust IV, Momentaufnahme I and II are more akin to The Faust Tapes, being albums with very short songs and experiments that are less rocking and more sound collage and avant garde.

As opposed to the second part of these two whole albums, Momentaufnahme I is honestly just not really that good in my ... read more

I will be skipping Roadwork Vol 4, as I think it is best to stay in, somewhat, numerical order of things when it comes to the Roadwork albums, even if Roadwork Vol 4 did release first.

This album came about in between The Tower and The Crucible, but was recorded during the band’s era when they were a lot more overtly psychedelic, away from their stoner metal and grunge days, and many of the songs here are from Let Them Eat Cake, Phanerothyme, and It’s A Love Cult, but some of their ... read more

Oceansize is one of those prog rock bands that is hard to classify due to their general style of music. Are they alt prog with their hardcore sound that bands like Coheed And Cambria follow suit? Are they contemporary prog due to their sound having similar veins to that of Porcupine Tree? Are they psych prog for their use of modern day psychedelia like what Crippled Black Phoenix does? It is hard to pinpoint these lads from the UK, but even then their music is an excellent foray into this ... read more

While I think most Motorpsycho releases are really excellent pieces of music, not every one of them can be homerunners, that much is shown with Begynnelser, but I still think there can be at least something to enjoy, even in the band’s least savory. However, their second Roadworks album is one that I actively do not like whatsoever.

Unlike Roadworks Vol. 1, Volume 2 is a collaborative piece with jazz band The Source, and drone and noise artist Deathprod. Now, this would be a neat ... read more

Well, The Alan Parsons Project wasn’t always the most proggiest or experimental band back in the 70s, in fact I’d say they were just straight up prog pop like ELO or Supertramp, so what they got going for them with Eye In The Sky isn’t quite surprising to me.

This is the band’s most popular album, with, I think, I Robot and The Turn Of The Friendly Card being close behind. Unlike those albums, Eye In The Sky is more or less a standardized artsy–poppy soft rock ... read more

Current 93 albums are pretty creepy, even scary for the most part. However, I never felt a strong discomfort for them, heck not even some of their most dark songs have ever really made me feel fear, but everything has an exception, and for Current 93, that exception comes in the form of the EP of I Have a Special Plan For This World.

This album is a lot more related to the more experimental ambient works David Tibet makes in tandem to his neofolk, and in this case he is working with Thomas ... read more

Live Motorpsycho albums are quite a different beast compared to their studio works, especially in their 90s output of records. However, unlike their studio works, their first live album is a very great masterclass of live music.

While I may disagree a bit on this being their best live album, I do agree that this album is great. At this stage in the band’s career, they were slightly exploring more proggy territories, but still they were more of a psych rock/alt rock band that takes cues ... read more