Welcome to Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week. Seven brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
A heart well done to UK prog rockers Esoterica whose return with the enigmatically atmospheric Firefly won last week's Tracks Of The Week. They were pushed all the way by Dutch symphonic rockers Blackbriar whose Moonflower features Iamthemorning singer Marjana Semkina, and with US proggers Advent Horizon in third.
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it?
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it?
The idea is to watch the videos (or listen if it's a stream), enjoy (or not) and also to vote for your favourite in the voting form at the bottom of this post. Couldn't be easier could it?
We'll be bringing you Tracks Of The Week, as the title implies, each week. Next week we'll update you with this week's winner, and present a host of new prog music for you to enjoy.
If you're a band and you want to be featured in Prog's Tracks Of The Week, send your video (as a YouTube link) or track embed, band photo and biog to us here.
SOEN - INCENDIARY
Swedish-based prog metallers Soen celebrate the start of their European tour with a new video for their song Incendiary, taken from last year's Memorial album. The powerful song which drives home a message of hope to rise against the horrors of war and the tyrannous leaders behind them. The new single also comes with stunning artwork created by Victor Portugal, a worldwide renowned tattoo artist and lifelong friend of Soen’s drummer and co-founding member Martin Lopez.
"Incendiary is a song about the true power of unification… even if there is a few in charge ‘we’, as the people, have the power to radically change things," says Lopez.
"It’s a heavy and melodic song that has both the more raw classic metal vibe as well as some proggy passages," adds singer and co-founder member Joel Ekelöf. "I would say that it has a lot of emotion and anger but also beauty and serenity."
KIASMOS - FLOWN
KIasmos are well-known Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Faroese musician Janus Rasmussen, and Flown is the duo's first new music since 2017. Flown is also the title track of the band's brand new three-track EP which has just been released through Erased Tapes. The duo will be touring Europe from May, including a London show at Outernet on May 29.
"We're excited to share this new release, which differs slightly from what we've done before but feels right for us now," Rasmussen explains. "They were written in different locations around the world, contributing to each track’s general vibe. Flown is a relatively new song and is one of the tracks that seemed to want to be born as quickly as possible. Those types of songs tend to be some of our favourites, as we don’t have to overthink them.”
“Flown is our collaboration’s return to a journey of curiosity and discovery," Arnalds adds. “Written in Iceland it was inspired by UK electronic music as well as modern classical - we tried to find a middle ground where those worlds could all meet. The titular track is followed by Told and Dazed, both initially written on our travels around the world and we have added influences of sounds from the local environment, such as the sounds of rainforest and the Balinese Gamelan instrument."
ALEX HENRY FOSTER - A SILENT STREAM
Canadian post-rocker Alex Henry Foster is probably known to some of you for his impressively atmospheric and engaging music with the Long Shadows, but. as you will glean from the suitably epic A Silent Stream, he's shifted more into prog territory. His latest album, Kimiyo, will be released on April 26 through Hopeful Tragedy Records, was inspired by a 2010 trip to Japan and features Japanese singer Momoka.
“I have always been looking for a pretext or an excuse to work with Momoka," says Foster. "She’s got a very unique spirit, and she’s a very inspiring and insightful person.We have a common view about life in general and spirituality in particular, but most of all, she is a fantastic artist for whom I have the utmost admiration. When it became obvious to me that I would be in no way capable of singing or speaking on the songs we had sketched, Momoka was in my opinion the only person able to transcend the project’s spirit. The poetry of Voyage à la Mer was to be the core holding the whole project together, but I wanted Momoka to make her own interpretation of the lyrical undercurrent and to express herself in her native tongue, so she wouldn’t have to be my voice or try to emulate what my words might convey. We set the canvas, laid down the color palettes, but it was for her to express herself and be the painting."
QUANTUM - ON THE VERGE
Swedish prog quartet Quantum are set to release their new album Down The Mountainside April 19, from which is taken the band's new single On The Verge. The band were formed by bass player and singer Anton Ericsson, drummer Olof Simander and Guitarist Fredrik Reinholdsen back in 2016, with Ericsson being the constant member and songwriter. The band cite influences as diverse as composers like Berlioz and Rachmaninoff to prog metal bands such as Mastodon and The Dillinger Escape Plan, to old school prog in the vein of Genesis and King Crimson.
"On The Verge is a song that hooks you in with a propulsive and strange - yet captivating - groove, hypnotising guitar riffs, some really cool chords, and a lead vocal that shifts between being aggressive in the verse, soaring in the epic chorus and somber in the beautiful interlude," explains Erisson. "All musicians get the shine - there are aggressive drum and bass bits, shimmering acoustic guitar textures, a juicy solo and much much more - all contained in a very concise and cohesive package with a really nice flow!
"Lyrically, it deals with domestic violence, and focuses on your typical "too nice" guy who bottles up on his emotions and then snaps - releasing his fury on his partner/child (I'm leaving it up to your interpretation). Once I learned that statistically, we all know someone who is - or will be - like that, I started thinking about whether or not you, as their friend/family member, could see it coming or prevent it."
TAKE & TAKE - DIGGING
Take & Take is the progressive metal project from former Nekrogoblin drummer Eddie Trager, and they make a vastly different sound to the US death metal band. Neither, to the best of our knowledge, do they don ridiculous goblin costumes! Trager quit Nekrogoblin in 2016 and immediately threw himself into his new musical venture. New album Disillusion, which is out now, has been mixed by Matt Bayles and mastered by the legendary Jens Bogren.
"Disillusion draws inspiration from a diverse array of progressive musical influences, weaving a tapestry that spans from the avant-garde sounds of Ihsahn, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Opeth, Mastodon, Wilderun, and The Mars Volta to the vibrancy of Jacob Collier, The Beatles, Queen, and Yes," says Trager. "The album masterfully navigates through a spectrum of musical genres, seamlessly blending pop sensibilities with experimental twists that defy traditional forms."
EXTERNAL - GHOST HOUSE
External are a Finnish prog metal trio who formed in 2014 with both feet very much in the metal camp but have gradually expanded their sound to incorporate far more progressive influences. They've worked with VOLA mainstay Asger Mygind in the past (he produced the band's recent Distance single as well as Ghost House singles) and 2020's Stillness EP drew inspiration from the modern British jazz scene, contemporary classical music by composers like Ólafur Arnalds, and Nordic visionaries such as Björk.
As such, new single Ghost House, like recent album Dreamscape, is a melting pot of influences that doesn't shy away from the band's metallic roots but also shows a young and imaginative band at work.
