Tag Archives: progressive rock

An Art as Catharsis Special: Opium Eater, Raven, Seims & Slowly Building Weapons

by Ignacio De Vincenzi

Australia has become one of my favourite places in the world to look out for new and exciting bands. From alien overlords such as Portal to fresh faces of progressive metal like Caligula’s Horse, there is a pallet of sounds to be found on the Lucky Country. However, there is a special label that has gained recognition for finding and delivering some of the most unique albums I’ve heard in recent years: Art as Catharsis.

Psychedelic drone music with eastern influences (Ḥashshāshīn), John Zorn worship jazzgrind (Kurushimi (苦しみ)) or experimental hardcore madness (Tired Minds), Art as Catharsis has … Read more

Wobbler – From Silence to Somewhere

by Dæv Tremblay

Wobbler is a Norwegian progressive rock band that’s younger than it sounds. On October 20, they will release their fourth full-length album, From Silence to Somewhere, and it seems lifted straight out of the golden age of progressive rock. The Canterbury sound is quite apparent in this there eclectic, there symphonic monument of an album. The eponymous megalith opening this four-track record covers a wide range of the progressive rock of the late sixties and seventies. Rarely – if ever – do we smell the faintest fragrance of modernism in this musical anachronism. Organs, flutes, – did I hear … Read more

The Tangent – The Slow Rust of Forgotten Machinery

by Jeff Nixon


Out this Friday is The Tangent‘s new album The Slow Rust of Forgotten Machinery, or “Where Do We Draw the Line Now?”. This politically charged prog album is very dense but enjoyable once you fully dig into it. It has some nice jazz sprinkled throughout and some great melodies and solos. There’s an electronic breakdown in the track ‘Slow Rust’; apparently the band brought in a DJ for those sections. They even got Chumbawamba founder Boff Whalley on as a guest vocalist. The slogan of this album is “The World Changed. Not the Band.” But, with this genre, … Read more

Marateck – Time Is Over

by Dæv Tremblay

We recently discussed a band that takes math rock to the extremes in terms of technical skills, to the detriment of the ‘math’ aspect, but here’s a band that does the opposite. Marateck don’t play thirty-second notes and they don’t quickly arpeggiate extended chords, but they ingeniously integrate polyrhythmics and polymetrics into often odd-time signature compositions. This is more evidently displayed on their debut album, Time Is Over, which was released on July eleventh. Of course, playing such counter-intuitive timings and measure subdivisions is a technical feat in itself, but it unfortunately garners much less attention than playing … Read more

Bisonwar – Bisonwar

by Dæv Tremblay

California’s math rock band Bisonwar is what I want to see more of from this genre, and what it was originally set to do: a focus on instrumental prowesses, all the while borrowing slightly from jazz for its harmony but keeping it all generally easygoing. Well, the band’s debut self-titled full-length does just that, and more! The only thing it lacks is odd measures. While math rock has always been fascinated with guitar, Bisonwar shares the spotlight equally between the guitarist Joe and the bassist Peter. There is an abundance of parallel riffs – where the bass plays the same … Read more