6 Great New Uniquely Progressive Metal Albums
Last week saw the release of a prog odyssey by one of the most acclaimed death metal bands of the moment, and in time (about a month from now, give or take) that album will show up in this column, as well as my year-end picks. (And on that note, we’re not quite at the finish line yet, but damn it’s been an awesome year for heavy music.) And in the last few months, I’ve found myself listening to a lot of music in an ostensibly prog sphere, whether exploratory jazz fusion or just lots and lots of King Crimson.
In a roundabout way, that got me thinking about what makes music “progressive.” We typically understand “progressive” to mean a high level of musicianship, songwriting that expands beyond simple verse-chorus structure, and ambitious feats that pop music generally can’t get away with. But “progressive” doesn’t always have to mean “prog,” necessarily. Music can be progressive without adhering to the tropes of genre, in fact the less it does, by definition it would seem, the more progressive it is.
I’m not trying to redefine genres this month, but I do want to spotlight that last point, about how metal that’s progressive isn’t always “progressive metal,” so to speak. Some of my picks this month are; I don’t think there’s any question about Papangu’s form or intentions, but I also don’t think simply describing them as a “progressive metal” band really gives you any indication of just how inventive they are. Yet a group like Vuur & Zijde is progressive by way of challenging conventions and in their approach of stylistic hybridization. But that being said, they’re a lot more streamlined in what they actually create.
All of my picks for the best metal albums of the past month (and a little earlier) are progressive in their own interesting ways, and it’s for that reason that I continue to be excited about the direction where metal is headed.
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Föhn – Condescending
Greek death-doom act Föhn are, as with the best and most visionary of doom metal’s myriad subgenres, both forward thinking and in no particular hurry to get where they’re going. Each track on their debut album runs a minimum of 12 minutes apiece, lurching with the languid pace of the most monolithic death and funeral doom, and wrapped in gauzy haze, as if their music is slowly materializing, taking solid form from ether. It’s dramatic, certainly, and consistently beautiful, even at its heaviest. But what puts it over the top are the more mysterious and, frankly, non-metal elements that arise throughout, the like the saxophone that’s spread all over the first few minutes of “Bereft,” or the more gentle minor-key instrumental passage at the end of “The Weight of Nothing,” or the more mournful and wandering flourishes of saxophone again in “Persona.” At an hour long, with only four tracks, Condescending certainly asks a lot of a first-time listener, particularly at the pace it moves. But the band also craft something of compelling textures and wider-reaching boundaries, a doom metal album that (very gradually) swirls in psychedelia, jazz, and more.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Vuur & Zijde – Boezem
Dutch group Vuur & Zijde are more progressive as a matter of attitude and approach rather than aesthetic—in other words, they’re not “prog,” but rather that the kind of black metal they play (that is, when they do play black metal) extends beyond rote, expected norms. They’re as much or even more goth and post-punk than metal, their music steeped in the ’80s-era 4AD sounds of Cocteau Twins, Xmal Deutschland, Bauhaus and Clan of Xymox. Naturally, a forty-something goth- and metalhead like myself eats this up like it’s candy. Which in some ways, it kind of is—the hooks are in plentiful supply throughout Boezom, as are the moody, ethereal keyboards and midnight-at-the-batcave ominous atmospherics. Still, it’s hard to overstate just how excellent the songs are, whether through the driving post-punk rhythms of “Onbemind” and “Zusterzon,” the Transylvanian makeout music of “Ús,” or the industrial pulse of “II.” This kind of hybrid of goth and metal isn’t necessarily new, and some do it with a bit more flamboyant showmanship (see: Unto Others), but Vuur & Zijde merge two sounds thoughtfully and seamlessly, while leaving room for it to expand outward. I’m on record as being a fan of even more ham-handed takes on this kind of sound, like the always fun Devil Master, but Vuur & Zijde pull it off so gracefully that it’s hard not to be in awe.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Skin Tension – Prolegomenon
Goddamn! This is absolutely bonkers, furious, total-chaos, avant-garde blackened brutal prog. Or something. That’s just a compilation of some of the things this prolific Nashville group have been described as, and I’m not sure that entirely offers much context for what Prolegomenon actually sounds like, which is something like a black metal band in a race to the death with itself. The group plays with an intensity I never imagined humanly possible, with a purposeful cacophony that reminds me as much of Lightning Bolt or the Flying Luttenbachers as any proper metal band. But as often as this sounds like an all-pistons-firing exercise in testing their listeners’ mettle, there are grooves within the grind, melodic flourishes amidst the mayhem. Even, at times, a kind of dissonant beauty in moments like “Cloud Circuits Collapse.” At all times, Skin Tension have the noise dialed up and engineered for obfuscation as much as unrelenting intensity. In the simplest terms, Prolegomenon isn’t music that’s intended to be easy to play, or listen to, or even really make sense of with the tools at our disposal. Which is exactly why it’s so exciting.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Eye Eater – Alienate
We’ve already been treated to at least one great death metal album this year from a progressive-minded New Zealand band, that being Ulcerate’s Cutting the Throat of God. But their neighbors in Eye Eater provide their own uniquely dissonant entry in this year’s riffstakes, their alternately elegant and agitated debut album Alienate. And despite its name, it’s not nearly as alienating as a lot of death metal’s most abrasive and avant garde groups often are. To the contrary, Eye Eater provide an impressive balance of atmospheric melodic flourishes to more punishing and jagged moments of menace and aggression. Moments like “Glyphs” are a showcase for the band’s intricate and sophisticated songwriting approach, economical even when ambitious, accessible even when leaning away from more conventional melodies. Given that this is the group’s first, I don’t know that much about Eye Eater, other than that I’m already sold.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Papangu – Lampião Rei
Brazil’s Papangu were one of the most exciting metal discoveries of 2021, their album Holoceno merging Mastodon-like sludge riffs with zeuhl and other strains of progressive rock. That was just the beginning; on their follow-up, Lampião Rei, they cast an even wider net, their progressive metal sound encapsulating everything from psychedelic rock to jazz-fusion, samba and some just plain spectacular riffs. They’ll juxtapose a rhythmically dizzying jazz-metal groove session on “Oferenda no Alguidar” alongside the serene fusion daydream of “Mulher Rendeira,” or even a flute-driven bliss-out on “Ruínas” against a triumphant odyssey on closer “Rito de Coroçao.” Admittedly, this album is less metal than its predecessor, if you want to pull at that thread, but I would think after doing this column for as long as I have, it’d be pretty clear those kinds of definitions aren’t that important. (Remember last month’s?) This album rips in ways that speak to fans of Al di Meola and Antonio Carlos Jobim as well as King Crimson and Kayo Dot, and that’s a spectacular thing to behold.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Pyrrhon – Exhaust
New York’s Pyrrhon have always been a more progressive minded death metal band, balancing breathtaking feats of technicality with a dissonant tonal palette and intricate rhythmic dexterity. Exhaust has all of these in spades, along with a songwriting approach that finds them stretching even farther into more wonderfully weird territory; take a song like “The Greatest City on Earth,” which incorporates elements of noise rock and even a strange kind of funk groove into their brutal assault. Or “Strange Pains,” whose fascinatingly straightforward bassline seems to nod to Helmet more than Gorguts. By the time they arrive upon the blend of spoken-word and uneasy guitar licks on “Out of Gas,” it’s pretty much settled that this is Pyrrhon’s most peculiar and invigorating album in equal measure, showcasing an experimental, oddball approach that pays off handsomely.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
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Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.
One of my favorite columns on any website. Don’t know 5 of these. Can’t wait to listen.