Tag Archives: progressive metal

Review: Scorched Moon – Obsidia

by Jeff Nixon

The Music

The Words

Scorched Moon is a band featuring my buddy Trapper Lanthier (the band’s lead guitarist and one of the main songwriters), who actually attributes his love of Metal, to me! for introducing him to Blind Guardian through an anime music video I made back in 2003. Trapper has shown me some demos of his music over the past few years, which always impressed me, but this debut album, Obsidia, is on another level!

Obsidia is a sci-fi concept album, something that’s right up my alley. The lyrics and tone fit the concept … Read more

Matt versus Dragoncorpse: The Drakketh Saga Review

by Matt Matheson

From premise to name, Dragoncorpse is not a band that exactly begs to be taken seriously. The elevator pitch of “power deathcore” gives you an honest and clear idea of what to expect: a gimmicky juxtaposition of two genres that are generally gimmicky to begin with. (Leading off the album with a guest appearance by a member of Brojob doesn’t help matters.) They’ve taken the “Dragon-” prefix that is necessarily required to indicate your power metal status. My friends and I half-started a joke band called Dragondragon more than a decade ago mocking this very phenomenon. Toss on “-corpse” to … Read more

Weserbergland, Yawn, Vetvi, and Izthmi

by Dæv Tremblay

Weserbergland – Sacrae symphōniae, numerō 1


Sacrae symphōniae, numerō 1 is a one-track, forty-minute, progressive, atmospheric, psychedelic, , symphonic krautrock piece. Yeah, I bet I tickled your curiosity right there eh! This is the third album from Norwegian band Weserbergland, and it’s just as advertised. When you click play, you’re submerged in an aura that’ll only end two-thirds of an hour later. During that time, you’ll come across the mesmerizing repeated riffs of krautrock, only spiced up with a lot of keyboard ambiance, woodwinds, and piano. The whole thing sounds uncanny, like it shouldn’t exist, yet it does. And it’s… Read more

Sinularia, Sonic Assault, Mad Fellaz, and Xiranda

by Dæv Tremblay

Sinularia – Subwater Beats


What if you mixed wonky beats hip-hop, jazz, and AAL-style compositions and technique? Well, you get Sinularia. The unique character of the music that’s shown on Subwater Beats is utterly fascinating. The band consists of a drummer, a double bassist, and an electric guitarist. All of them seem very fond of effect pedals and post-production shenanigans. Regarding the composition, the songs move from one section to the next like tides ebb and flow, and it’s a real rhythmic challenge at times to decipher what’s going on. It’s real fun when bands make rhythm their main focus,… Read more

Backxwash, Adapar, Cydemind, and Horse Lords

by Dæv Tremblay

Backxwash – His Happiness Shall Come First Even though We Are Suffering


Backxwash—Montréal-based rapper Ashanti Mutinta—just released their new album: His Happiness Shall Come First Even though We Are Suffering, the final part of the trilogy that began with 2020’s God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It. So-called “horror rap”, this is some real heavy hip-hop on the more experimental side of things. I mean, it’s got features from Pupil Slicer (mathcore) and Ghais Guevara (another experimental hip-hop artist I like), so I’m already sold on it! As dmaestaz puts it so brilliantly… Read more