Welcome to Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week. Seven brand new and diverse slices of progressively inclined music for you to enjoy.
A massive 'well done' to Dublin post-rock quartet Overhead, The Albatross, who won last week's Tracks Of The Week with the ten-minute Paul Lynch, pipping Italian prog metallers Virtual Symmetry who'd led all week, right at the last, and with reformed Swedish prog rockers Beardfish 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.
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX - 444
Dark proggers Crippled Black Phoenix celebrate their 20th anniversary by releasing not one but two new albums on November 29. The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature sees the quintet explore and rework songs from their own back catalogue, while Horrific Honorifics Number Two (2), a collection that serves as a companion to 2017's Horrific Honorifics and which features a selection of covers of tracks, such as New Model Army's Vengeance and Deep Purple's When A Blind Man Cries and even Laura Brannigan's smash 1984 hit Self Control.
444 is from the former, a rousing reworking of a track that originally featured on the band's 2009 album The Resurrectionists.
ODDLEAF - ETHEREAL MELODIES
French symphonic prog quintet Oddleaf have just released their debut studio album Where Ideal And Denial Collide, and if the delightful Ethereal Melodies is anything to go by, it should win them many friends within the prog community. The debut album introduces the band's new singer Adeline Gurtner, who replaced original singer Olivier Marcaud last year. The album's also been mastered by White Willow's Jacob Holm-Lupo who knows a good thing when he hears it!
"The album features the enchanting sounds of vintage keyboards (Mellotron, Hammond organ), both electronic and acoustic flutes, expansive four-part vocal harmonies," explains keyboard player Carina Taurer, who composed the album's six tracks. "The album achieves a cohesive unity, with each track musically and lyrically connected by ecological and humanistic themes, celebrating the majesty of nature while questioning humanity’s place within it."
OUTRUN THE SUNLIGHT - HEATHAZE
Chicago instrumental proggers Outrun The Sunlight follow-up May's Animal single with the effervescent Heathaze. Both are the first new music the band have released since 2021's A Vast Field of Silence album (the quartet re-recorded their 2011 debut album Return Of Inertia and released it as The Return Of Interia 2.0 back in 2022). Now slimmed down to a quintet following the departure of guitarist Cody McCarty, one hopes the singles are a precursor to a new album sometime soon.
“Heathaze is a song that started as a quiet guitar loop, but the melody felt strong enough to become a real song. It's laden with mixing and compositional experimentation as well as easter eggs, like samples from our travels and the original loop, which can be heard at the end of the song. We wanted it to, at times, hug you like a warm blanket and other times jet-propel you into the stratosphere.”
MISSION JUPITER - SOMETIMES IT HURTS
Belarusian trio Mission Jupiter introduce new singer Kate Varsak on their brand new single, Sometimes It Hurts, a soaring slice of uplifting and dramatic melodic prog. Prior to Varsak's arrival the band had released released two albums, Architecture in 2018 and Talk To Me in 2021. Let's hope it's not too long before we hear more music from the band
“This new song is an epic Mission Jupiter rock ballad,” says songwriter/guitarist Vlad Shvakel. “Kate’s vocals are deep and cosmic. The protagonist is mentally down, but by the end he chooses the light side, battling all the negativity. We hope it will resonate with our listeners on a profound level.”
“We’re opening a new chapter of Mission Jupiter with this song,” adds Varsak. “And I am so happy to be a part of this!”
EMPIRE SPRINGS - HOLLOW
Birmingham Alabama might not strike you as a hotbed of prog metal innovation, but that's where quartet Empire Springs hail from. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Dream Theater, Coheed and Cambria, Spiritbox and more, the band will release their second album Attrition in April 2025. Hollow is the third single the band have taken from the six-track album, a potent mix of classic prog sounds and grittier modern metal.
“I felt it was necessary to center the overarching concept around fighting a war of attrition — being adaptable enough to experience and overcome challenges under ever changing conditions," explains guitarist Michael Naro.
TIM MORSE - BLUEBERRY WAY
Prog multi-instrumentalist Tim Morse will be releasing his new album Soundtracks on November 12, the title pertaining to the idea that each song is a mini soundtrack in its own right. With Morse playing every instrument himself, Soundtracks weaves its way through Beatles homages, instrumental electronic music, ballads and more. As you will glean from colourful accompanying video, Blueberry Way is the Beatles track!
“When I wrote the music Blueberry Way I noted that the harmonic structure had a mid-sixties British pop feel and leaned into it," Morse explains. "The original lyrics were more of a parody, and I felt they didn’t really fit and so I wrote an idealised version of childhood with the refrain Blueberry Way being a magical, loving, idyllic place. It’s been great to see that the people who've heard it respond enthusiastically to the song and its message.”
KEYS - SHINING SAILS
One of the most famous stories in rock is that of Touch bassist Doug Howard swallowing a bee while the band opened the very first Monsters Of Rock at Donington in 1980. well, Mark Mangold was the keyboard player and founder of Touch (and also AOR band Drive, She Said), and Keys is his latest project with vocalist Jake E (Cyhra, Amaranthe), which melds his melodic proclivities with his love of progressive rock. Shining Sails, from the band's recent album, The Grand Seduction, is perhaps a bit more of the former, but classy nonetheless.
"This record was such fun to record," says Mangold. "We do not limit ourselves and keep pushing the envelope. For me it’s wonderful as Jake can sing anything… and his incredible range gives us a lot of freedom to go where we want to go. We like to surprise ourselves."
