Welcome to Prog's Tracks Of The Week. Six new and diverse slices progressive music for you to enjoy.
Congratulations to Seattle prog metal veterans Queensryche, whose rampaging Tormentum walked off with last week's honours, followed by quirky Germans Sproingg and Swiss prog metallers Dirty Sound Magnet.
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.
EINAR SOLBERG - OVER THE TOP
Leprous frontman Einar Solberg took his first solo steps earlier this year with the release of 16, a personal collection of songs that reflected on a particularly harrowing part of his growing up. More eclectic than the day job, the soaring musicianship and heartfelt vocal performances were both what on would expect from a musician like Solberg, and a joy to listen to. Here he offers a vocal run through the mournful yet epic sounding Over The Top.
“It’s called 16 because that’s when the first really, really bad things started happening to me in life," Solberg has said of the new album. "From 16 to 19, there were a lot of very life-defining moments that happened to me, and that changed me,” he says. “That’s when I kind of lost my innocence and I started realising that life is serious and bad shit can happen. A lot of pretty drastic things happened within those three years. But this album is not only about the bad things. It’s also about some of the career-defining moments, like the moment I started playing with the band and began to find a community to belong to. Emotionally, I’m a bit of everything, so it covers the entire emotional spectrum!"
KYROS - ILLUSIONS INSIDE
UK synth proggers Kyros have just added noted bass player Charlie Cawood to their ranks, but prior to that recorded this video for their brand new single Illusions Inside, which features a guest vocal performance from DMNIQ, who "killed it so much that her role became something much more integrated through the song. One of those happy collaboration moments, for sure."
"Illusions Inside is about that inner voice that reflects on your past and influences your current decisions in an attempt to capture those more innocent days," the band explain. "The track explores themes of inner turmoil, lost innocence and longing for simpler times. The difference between an easy and carefree existence versus feeling emotionally drained and broken."
POLYPHIA - REVERIE
US instrumental prog quartet Polyphia have certainly made some impact, wowing a packed out Shepherd's Bush Empire earlier this year and attracting star names such as Steve Vai, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno, rapper $not, hip hop duo Brasstacks, Sophia Black, Killstation and more to appear on their recent Remember That You Will Die album. Some may be wary of the band's genre fluid stylings, but it certainly works and takes the band's inherently progressive guitar work into more mainstream areas.
The band's new video for Reverie shares a glimpse of the band’s adventures on tour, following the qurtet through their days filled with gliding on water, extravagant Gucci drip hauls, and pushups on a yacht.as well as stage dives, crowd surfing, and countless mosh pits. “The power of friendship compels us," says guitarist Tim Henson.
RHYS MARSH - WE'LL SEE YOU AGAIN
The ex-pat Norwegian based musician Rhys Marsh releases the thoughtfully reflective and deeply personal We'll See You Again, which is taken from Marsh's upcoming album Towards The West, which will be released through Marsh's own Autumnsongs label on September 1.
"All of the music on the album was written when my dad was sick, but then he got worse, so I flew to England," Marsh explains. "He passed away the day after i arrived, and thankfully my Mum and I were by his side. When I returned to Norway, I wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocals. All of the songs are about specific moments in time that we shared together in his last year.
"We’ll See You Again is based around his last few minutes, and some of the thoughts and feelings that i had. as with most of the songs, the lyrics read more like a diary. The video is made up of footage from my journey to England to be with my Dad for the very last time. it starts with a train journey to the airport in Norway, then the aeroplane flight over the Norwegian mountains, the landing at Gatwick, and then it ends with some slow-motion footage of waves rushing over the rocks in North Devon, near where he lived."
OGIVES BIG BAND - BRANDISHMENT
Bristol's experimental quartet Ogives Big Band make quite the noise, as shown on this new live video for Brandishment. Prtog caught the band at Portals Festival earlier this year, and while their angular sounds might not be for every prog fan, there's no denying the progressive experimentalism on show here,
"Our new album – entitled Boisterous Love - will showcase a move into whole new musical territories of savage, angular, doom laden sludge, progressive metal and psychedelic stoner rock," the band say.
