Since my favorite band is Coheed the concept/theatrical stuff doesn't bother me at all. The only time it gets distracting is during the spoken word parts, from the deceased father I guess? Maybe once I read along to lyrics I'll appreciate that more.
So it looks like these are "progmetal" albums I'll have on my AOTY list in some capacity. Caligula's Horse - Charcoal Grace Wheel - Charismatic Leaders Vola - Friend of a Phantom Opeth - The Last Will and Testament Night Verses - Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night Leprous - Melodies of Atonement I'll also have Blood Incantation and Alcest, and while I don't think those are progmetal by the normal definition, they are metal and progressive in their own way. Anything I missed that y'all really liked this year?
Already linked on the Emo thread, but the adored-by-me stop.drop.rewind album has some intensely proggy flexes and a sax solo. Blood Incantation are also somewhere on the prog spectrum but everyone already knows that's great. I did like the CH but it did register as a tiny step down for me on the whole (with some amazing highs).
I'm revisiting Katotonia's discography and every single time I keep returning to this album the most. Their sound has changed a lot over their long career, but this one must be their proggiest so I figured it'd fit here. "The Night Subscriber" and "Serac" are godtier
Great band, but something hasn't fully clicked with me and them. I did like Sky Void of Stars a good bit when it came out. Fun fact, I had a boss who was incredibly reserved, straight faced, bigger, bearded dude who showed little to no emotion. I worked for him a few months before we realized we had a pretty similar taste in music. Katatonia was his favorite band.
this is probably my favourite album of theirs these days, especially since right after they switched to a sound I'm not really fond of at all. "Old Heart Falls" is wonderful, great stuff
The ones on my list that aren't on yours are Devin Townsend, DVNE, Huntsmen, The Pineapple Thief, Pure Reason Revolution, Frost*, and Pallbearer (adjacent, but I hear a lot more prog rock in this than other people do fwiw). The latter 4 are all more prog rock than metal.
Misha and Jake's (Periphery) side project, Four Seconds Ago, will release their new album 1000 Needles on Feb 21st. The first two tracks, "Bump The Lamp" and "Muse", are now streaming everywhere. Limited edition vinyl and merch is available for preorder here.
I think it's overall the best album they've put out in a while. Potentially better than the whole Mangini era once it gets time to sit - but I do really like ADTOE and DOT.
I’ll give it a full listen soon. Don’t want to go all “hurr durr his vocals stink”, but I was vibing pretty good until they came in on the 2nd song. I’ll go in with a better mindset my next listen.
Hmm they’re one of those bands I should dive into. Had a fun time watching the long Drumeo session Portnoy did so their sound should be up my alley after all.
I can still remember the first time I heard Act 2 by TDH, genuinely changed my life. what an era that was (I like all their stuff but the 5 Acts just hit different)
So far, I'm the biggest fan of Migrant - Act IV - Act V, just an insane run of albums. I'd add The Color Spectrum even though I don't care about a good chunk of it. It's just so wild they wrote so much material and in so many styles in a short period of time.
oh yeah The Color Spectrum has some of their absolute best on it and it's remarkably consistent too. that was such a fun year when that came out. Blue EP hits me more and more as time goes on
Real ones know Act IV-V is their best era. Act II has some unreal highs, but it’s wayyyy too long. Act III has 3-4 bangers but that’s about it for me, but if I took my favorites from each album, I have about a 45-50 minute album that is some of my favorite music ever.
eh maybe it's nostalgia but the rawness of the early stuff just strikes a different chord with me, I don't think Casey ever made a better song than Red Hands Act 4 is the one I describe as having unreal highs but being bloated overall personally, that one is an EP that they expanded into an album and I think it really shows. 5 is indeed incredible, I'd say their second best
Some new stuff I've been liking lately. Artificial Language - Trauma Benthos - Fossil - album out April 11th - mathy post-hardcore vibes mixed with modern progmetal Tiktaalika - Gods of Pangaea - album out March 14th - Haken guitarist's Charlie Griffiths solo project. This song features the lead singer from BTBAM. Last album was hit or miss for me depending on the featured vocalist.
and because I can't link more than 3 things at a time: Royal Sorrow - Evergreen - I think this band used to be called something different. Two singles they have are good, Leprous-y vibes. No album currently announced. Sometime In February - Palantir - instrumental progmetal. Really great stuff here. Album out March 21st.
Lux Terminus - Cinder RIYL: punchy, keyboardy, instrumental prog metal; Arch Echo but less upbeat and slightly moodier; dope shit in general