Tag Archives: progressive rock

Saint Sadrill – Pierrefilant

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Pierrefilant is the debut album of Lyon, France’s Saint Sadrill sextet, who plays a thoroughly interwoven mix of avant-garde prog and jazz fusion. Out on November 2 via the excellent French label Dur et Doux, the album is over an hour long and features a full-time vibraphonist. I was anticipating the album since the first single came out, and, now that it is, let me tell you about it.

I was expecting the release to be good; I mean, listen to “Corq”: it’s beautiful. Even if it’s not the most theoretically interesting track on there, it … Read more

Haken – Vector

by Jeff Nixon

The Music

The Words

Haken are back at it again with their fifth album Vector releasing this Friday, October 26th. A surprisingly short album, clocking in at just under 50 minutes, with only one track “Veil” breaking the 10 minute mark. That’s not to say this album isn’t still jam packed with prog metal goodness. The album starts off with “Clear” a short instrumental intro similar to “affinity.exe” off their last album. This leads right into the first single “The Good Doctor” a fun song that sets the theme for the album.

According to the band, this album very riff … Read more

Scherzoo – 04

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

French entity Scherzoo is no newcomer to the prog scene, as you might have deduced by looking at the album name—04—referring to it being their fourth. The mastermind behind it, François Thollot, also released music under his own name, but is here joined by Clément Curaudeau of Süryabonali, Grégoire Plancher, and Anthony Pontet. 04 is one the latest release under the legendary Soleil Zeuhl label. So, let’s take a look at it!

In under forty-five minutes, François and Scherzoo take us to the land of progressive rock. 04 being an instrumental release, it … Read more

Kendall Burks – Waves

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Kendall Burks is a musician and composer from Littleton, Colorado. Primarily using loops, he creates cinematic soundscapes, atmospheric compositions. That’s not to say that they don’t take centre stage. On Waves, this formula is put to work in a style that amalgamates progressive rock, math rock, indie folk, and world music in a whole that sounds minimalistic, rather than pompous, and that’s utterly delightful.

As the album goes on, you slowly get sucked into its quicksands. The guitar parts usually take the lead, but they are joined by many percussive and rhythmic ideas from other … Read more

Opposite Day – Divide by Nothing

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Opposite Day are no newcomers to me: I’ve enjoyed my fair share of I Calculate Great and Space Taste Race, Part Zero, their two 2017 releases, but today marks the release of Divide by Nothing, their latest EP, and their best yet.

Art rock, progressive rock, math rock: those are the terms with which you’d best describe the songs here, even though the band has already dabbled in other genres. Here, however, the Texan trio pushes things farther into art territory, especially on “The Only Way to Travel”, a real upbeat, funky, and creative … Read more