Consisting of four epic length tracks, “Breathing Space” showcases Hackberry inventively infusing their sophomore album with a dense patina of heavy prog movement. This virtuosic instrumental quintet created mammoth of a record that nimbly integrates heavier elements with intricate classic prog. “Breathing Space” may have been even better served by a bit more thematic unity and compositional structure, but the album remains a thrilling and pulse-racing heavy prog cosmic sojourn.
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“The Approbation” is a stellar debut for AVKRVST, who have delivered a powerful opening album statement for progressive music fans to stand up and take notice. Delving deep into dark and moribund subject matter with strong progressive rock and metal elements, AVRKVST don’t dilute the emotional impact of their themes in an impenetrable shroud of doom; their compelling musical content renders them more immediate, accessible, and impressive.
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“PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation Music” is an early contender for my favorite album of 2023, thus far. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard brought their talents for inventive, evocative compositional prowess to bear, with electrifying thrash metal results. The album forges the King Gizz ethos ahead into pure genre territory, catalyzing its evolution with shredding metal intensity.
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“Fire Foretellinger”, the debut solo album from Wobbler keyboardist Lars Fredrik Frøislie, is a captivating and deeply impressive release, imbuing Norse/Norwegian folk tales with a thrilling display of symphonic prog virtuosity. The end result is easily accessible (and enjoyable) for fans of Wobbler, retro prog, or classic 70s prog.
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“Cosmic Chronicles, Act I: The Ascension” from They Watch Us From The Moonis a doom metal-infused Laser Floyd for the mind’s eye, a disarmingly melodic and riff-driven take on heavy psychedelia that blasts off into a wholly-other sonic cosmos.
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“Fauna” is Haken’s best work since Affinity, perhaps even since The Mountain. Evoking the animal kingdom as thematic ruminations on the human condition, the band has crafted an engaging series of musically-rich tableaux, with content often both puzzling and precipitating, but always entirely compelling. “Fauna” is a fantastic record that bridges many of the band’s eras whilst forging ahead along their unique evolutionary trajectory.
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A love letter to the classic innovative rock of the early/mid 1970s, “Golden Age of Music” pays tribute to acts like Sweet, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Bowie, T. Rex, Budgie, Rainbow, Queen, and Black Sabbath. Arjen Lucassen and Supersonic Revolution deliver big, loud, larger-than-life epic hard rock that engagingly evokes the highlights of the band’s 1970s rock influences, without giving in to the temptation of directly recreating them.
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In honor of the 40th (!) anniversary of Iron Maiden’s classic 1983 album Piece of Mind — a landmark New Wave of British Heavy Metal record (and that of heavy metal in general) — I’m reprinting a review I wrote at Hokeyblog about ten-and-a-half years ago. This album meant the world to me at age 12. Forty years later? Hasn’t missed a freakin’ piece.
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“Brass” is an infectious and often surprising transmogrification of blues, funk, and prog elements into a satisfying whole. Brass Camel delivers a wondrous slab of sonic wizardry, channeling fireballs of rock’s epic past but weaving them into an eccentric yet intoxicating new vision.
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If you’re aligned with a convergence of 1972-ish Sabbath and Floyd, 90s indie rock/grunge, and whatever else The Sleeping Legion tossed into this bubbling sonic cauldron of creepy concordance, “The Last Transmission” delivers an epic psychedelic doom metal ride of cosmic terror and sci-fi derring-do.
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