Welcome to Prog's Tracks Of The Week. Eight brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
Congratulations to Steeleye Span, whose new song The Green Man overhauled early frontrunner, The Anchoress' cover of Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Sielnce, to riomp home a clear winner with Norwegian prog rockers The Chronicles Of Father Robin in third place.
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.
So get watching. And get voting at the bottom of the page. We share the winning video every Friday afternoon on the Prog socials.
D'VIRGILIO MORSE JENNINGS - THE WEARY ONE
The sweet vocal harmonies of Nick D'Virgilio, Neal Morse and Ross Jennings are back with a new set of music in Sophomore, a second album which has just been released through InsideOut Music. Picking up where the band's debut album Troika left off musically, this time around the three members actually hooked uop to record some videos, this one at a live session from Morse's own studio recorded earlier this year.
"I'm so glad the three of us got to do this again and I couldn't be happier with how our Sophomore record successfully continues to expand upon what we set out to achieve with Troika," enthises Haken singer Ross Jennings.
"If you enjoyed the first one, there’s lots more for you to dive into in album number two," adds Morse. "We’ve combined the vocals - which is what this band is all about - with many diverse musical styles. And all the guys brought their songwriting A game to this one. I can’t wait for you all to hear it!”
MADDER MORTEM - TOWERS
Norwegian prog metallers Madder Mortem are back with a band if the powerful Towers is anything to go by, coming on like a proggier Jinjer's older sibling. The band's new single is taken from Old Eyes, New Heart, the quintet's first new studio album for six years and which will be released through Dark Essence Records on January 26, and sees singer Agnete M. Kirkevaag in especially fine voice.
"Drawing inspiration from grunge, post-metal and 70s rock, Towers is about how people sometimes create defences in their heads to protect themselves," the band say. "However, those defences can become too strong over time, and what was once built to lock out, becomes something that locks in."
CYAN - FOLLOW THE FLOW
Modern prog supergroup Cyan, featuring Magenta;'s Rob Reed vocalist Pete Jones (Camel, Tiger Moth Tales), guitarist Luke Machin (Masdchine, The Tangent), and bassist Dan Nelson (Godsticks, Magenta), have announced they will release their second album Pictures From The Other Side through Tigermoth Records on November 17. It's a reworking of the band's original second album of the same name, which was released in 1994, and from which comes this gentle ballad with a strong vocal performance from both Jones and Angharad Brinn.
:"This track is a rare song that I wrote from having the completed lyrics," explains Reed. "Normally I would write a melody and have words written to fit. These lyrics came complete and I wrote the music and melody to fit them. In the running order of the album, it’s a great quiet, cinematic track, that gives you time to gather your breath, before the last two songs which include the 17 minute epic Nosferatu. This monster of a track, was outdone by a new 25 minute version of Guardians, a track that was on the original 1994 release, but was too long to go on this album. We plan a special mini album to follow in 2024 to include this 25 minute epic."
IHSAHN - PILGRIMAGE TO OBLIVION
Norwegian prog metaller Ihsahn has hit upon a unique concept to release his new, self-titled solo album in both prog metal and orchestra versions. A concept album in itself. Yesterday he released the heavier version of Pilgrimage To Oblivion, and today we presnet the orchestral version of the song, all sweeping grandiosity and full of the kind of musical panache prog fans who have shied away from Ihsahn's music til now might find something deeply worthwhile in it. You never know...
"To create something worthwhile, you can’t aim for what an audience might expect, but you can aim to make something the best that it can be," Ihshan explains. "When given the opportunity to make a record, it’d be arrogant to assume it’d be another Dark Side Of The Moon, or OK Computer, or the Black Album, but somehow it’d be arrogant not to try!?! Admittedly, this is the hardest and most complex musical project I have ever done, and in the end, on a personal level, also the most gratifying. I really had to step up, and I learned so much in the process."
RAINBURN - OUTRAGE SEEKING GENERATION Z BRAIN
Indian prog rockers Rainburn will release their new studio album Vignettes on November 24, from which comes the quirky and dissonant Outrage-Seeking Generation Z Brain. The Bangalore trio have previously released 2018 debut Insignify. along with two EPs, 2015's Canvas Of Silence and 2019's Resignify.
"Outrage-Seeking Generation Z Brain laments the death of centrism, especially in online discussions where it's equated with perpetual fence-sitting," expalins Rainburn founder and frontman Vats Iyengar. "Nuance and balance are often buried, and only the loudest, angriest and most provocative opinions stand out. It's the first single from Vignettes, our second LP which comes out on 24 November. Pre-orders for the album on Bandcamp go live with the video release."
