Void – The Hollow Man (Duplicate)

Remember Ashenspire and/or Vulture Industries and/or A Forest of Stars? Well, Void is a new name to add to this rather short list of theatrical progressive metal purveyors. The Hollow Man is the British band’s third full-length album, and it’s based on the poem of the same name from Thomas Stearns Eliot. The entire album comes out on January 29, and it’s a great opportunity for anyone who misses the lyrical character and exuberance of acts like those I mentioned before, to which I’d add later Slice the Cake as well, although the types of music digress a bit more there. So, listen to the title track and prepare for the full experience!

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Yaeth – MMXX

Here’s a 2020 latecomer: Yaeth‘s avant-garde, atmospheric, microtonal black metal tape in four different temperaments. With over forty minutes of material for the four compositions on record, you can guess that they are pretty substantial, with only “Consciousness Divided” falling under the ten-minute mark, making it more or less a transition, or bridge between two more massive pieces. It is to be said that the entire project lies on the shoulders of Jon Lervold, who is an amazing drummer and musician, and with whom I’m currently working on a couple projects as well! So, be sure to check this one out!

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Svirfneblin – Tales of the Vast

A svirfneblin is, according to the Dungeons & Dragons lore, is a deep gnome, a sentient species possessing telepathic abilities and a pale, mostly hairless skin, and who live underground. Svirfneblin is a spoken word-driven progressive metal collective including bassist Christian Pacaud of Contemplator, multi-instrumentalist Antoine Guertin of Aeternam, and writer Jérôme St-Charles, with the voice of Alan Owen for narration. The result is a symphonic progressive metal album including the three first chapters of the fantastical story of Maelon, adding up to over thirty minutes of story and soundtrack (and it’s free!) It’s somewhat reminiscent in concept to the international project Instar, except that the musical and literary styles are quite discrepant. It’s an amazing album!

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Nautilus – Tidal Dreams

Nautilus is not an uncommon band name, I actually have three Nautilī in my music folder. For the record, it’s not the progressive metal one, nor the post-metal one, it’s the jazzy math rock one from Texas! On Tidal Dreams, this fun little quartet gives us almost forty-five minutes of outstandingly competent musicianship and songwriting skills. I forgot to mention that the album is from 2019, but it’s so much fun I had to mention it once I found out about it. Be sure to listen to it and, who knows, maybe a new album lies just around the corner!