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The Progress Report: October 2017 - Heavy Music Headquarters 10/11/2017, 2124

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HOME ∠ ALBUM REVIEWS ∠ The Progress Report: October 2017 SEARCH HEAVY MUSIC HEADQUARTERS The Progress Report: " Search the site October 2017 by Mike Huck SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Like 41 Tweet Save Email address: Welcome to the October Progress Report. This is the last really big month of releases, as November Your email address will see a winding down of albums, and December will be our Best Of column. So this month we’ve got a bonus for you: seven reviews. Some good, some bad, and one downright scary. As usual, we try to scrounge up something for everyone in every dusty corner of the Prog Haunted House. Okay, Sign up enough Halloween references. Read on, and see if anything here grabs your attention.

Ratings are on a five star scale. RECENT POSTS Agusa – Agusa (Laser’s Edge) The Dark Element Interview Let’s start the month off with a rather calming influence, shall we? Agusa are a Swedish instrumental prog rock outfit, and this self-titled album is their third. Side note: the promo sheet describes organist Jeppe Juul as “living in the deep woods of southern Sweden Heavy Music Headquarters Album Reviews: Week of … in primitive circumstances.” Now that is something you don’t hear every day.

Instrumental albums of any kind can be tough to pull Meet The Band: Boson off, let alone the self-indulgent realm of progressive rock, but Agusa know their stuff. All five of the songs on Agusa are engaging from start to finish, with The Laser’s Edge excellent musicianship showing throw via brilliant Converge – The Dusk In Us production. While the album has a bit too much flute Review for my liking, there’s no denying this is the best instrumental prog release of the year.

Rating: 4 Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black Review

Heavy Music Headquarters Album Reviews: Week of …

Moonspell – 1755 Review

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Dark Waters End – Submersion Annihilator – For The (Self) Demented Review

Remember good, bad, and downright scary? Well, here’s the bad for you. Dark Waters End are a October 2017 Best Heavy Philadelphia progressive death metal outfit, and Metal Albums Submersion is their debut LP. With influences such as Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan, it should have potential. Heavy Metal Album Release Sadly, that potential is not reached. Song structures are Calendar unmemorable and/or awkward, vocals are poor, and honestly Submersion plays more like a metalcore album with death overtones than prog-death. Song titles like The Progress Report: “Velocirapture” and “Up the Dose” accurately depict the music within. October 2017

Rating: 2

Meet The Band: Angel Godsticks – Faced with Rage Nation (Kscope)

Here’s a band I’d never heard of, Godsticks. Faced with Rage is this UK outfit’s second album, and first with RECEIVE POST KScope (Anathema, Steven Wilson). Being on that NOTIFICATIONS VIA EMAIL label automatically gives the band a certain level of

cred. The addition of Gavin Bushell (Pineapple Thief’s Enter your email address to subscribe to touring guitarist) further increases the interest level. this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. The music on Faced with Rage has more in common Email Address with Tool than any of the artists listed in the first paragraph, and that’s a good thing. Godsticks can pull Subscribe Kscope Records it off, with aggressive playing and solid vocal performances. Solid production tops off the album, making this one to definitely check out. HEAVY MUSIC Rating: 4 HEADQUARTERS RSS FEED

Hällas – Excerpts from a RSS - Posts Future Past (The Sign)

Excerpts from a Future Past is the debut album from Sweden’s Hällas. It follows their 2015 EP, and is a concept album telling a story of a powerful seer in an alternate universe. Sounds like your typical cheesy prog rock concept album, and with this record being self-produced by the band’s keyboard player, I was ready for the worst.

Kudos to the band, though, for putting out an engaging record filled with excellent heavy progressive rock that The Sign Records hearkens back to the late ’70s/early ’80s, with some medieval elements thrown in. Sadly, the vocals here are an unintelligible mess, rendering the concept irrelevant. Better singing and this would be the album of the month.

Rating: 3.5

Premiata Forneria Marconi – Emotional Tattoos (InsideOut)

No, Premiata Forneria Marconi are not an Italian law firm, but rather a legendary Italian prog rock

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outfit. InsideOut continue their “we never release bad -43% music” mantra with Emotional Tattoos, the 19th studio album from this collective. PFM have been around literally forever (well, since 1970), but their music still has a youthful vibrancy about it that draws the listener in.

Emotional Tattoos is a double-CD, but not really: Disc 2 is the same as Disc 1, but sung in Italian rather than -39% -43% English. The album features eleven excellent prog rock songs, expertly played and with Franz Di Cioccio’s smoky, expressive vocals. “The Lesson” is shaping up as one of my favorite tracks of the year, and is an InsideOut Music example of how good the album is, with a funky bass groove, slinky guitars and keys, and great singing. English or Italian, this is the best album of the month. -30% -39%

Rating: 4.5

Prostitution – Egyptian Blue (Self)

Here’s the scary, and thank goodness Egyptian Blue is only a three-song EP, because more of this would be too exhausting. Prostitution bring their Brooklyn Sunglasses Shop heritage into play with a blackened avalanche of hardcore progressive metal that obliterates the senses from the opening salvo right to the end.

Even the more psychedelic interludes in these songs don’t offer much respite, as the band crashes through even the most pensive moments with unbridled aggression. Vocals are primarily harsh, with some clean moments, and the musicianship is top-notch. Scary, yes, but all in a good way if you like your prog metal mostly fast and definitely furious.

Rating: 4

Sons of Apollo – Psychotic Symphony (InsideOut)

Okay, we’ve all heard of supergroup Sons of Apollo, so let’s end the column with a look at their debut album, Psychotic Symphony. For those unaware, the band consists of ex-Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian, Billy Sheehan, Bumblefoot, and former Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist Jeff Scott Soto. That’s a lineup rife with potential.

Thankfully, the band comes through with an excellent release. Musically Psychotic Symphony is very similar InsideOut Music to the more aggressive, older Dream Theater releases, with much better vocals and a complete lack of pretension. I found myself playing this album a lot more than I thought I would. Hopefully Sons of Apollo stick together and keep it up.

Rating: 4.5

Other 2017 Progress Reports

The Progress Report: January 2017 The Progress Report: February 2017

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The Progress Report: March 2017 The Progress Report: April 2017 The Progress Report: May 2017 The Progress Report: June 2017 The Progress Report: July 2017 The Progress Report: August 2017 The Progress Report: September 2017