Standing out has never been an issue for SikTh. Even surrounded by alternative minds on bills from Tech-Fest to 2000 Trees, the Watford sextet just keep pushing the bar to even more extreme heights. Following on from an interview last December, guitarist/producer Dan Weller and I talked about secretly supporting Metallica; the ultimate fantasy band; and SikTh’s next Read more…
When Between The Buried And Me dropped Automata I back in March, it quickly got progressive metal fans hyped for the day they could finally experience the whole thing Read more…
Few musicians manage to spoil their fans as thoroughly as Devin Townsend does. Since this guy’s generosity is backed up by consistently prolific creativity, his discography represents a treasure trove of tracks spanning multiple genres, from extreme metal and prog to more chilled out styles. There is nothing Devin Townsend can’t do, and he never fails to Read more…
Live albums have long served as career landmarks – and Haken timed theirs to perfection. Recorded at the climax of their tenth anniversary tour, L-1VE consists of a set of highlights from Haken’s back catalogue, including a 25-minute medley of tracks from 2010 debut long-player Aquarius and the full 22-minute title track from Read more…
With so many competitors vying for space behind the djent frontlines still dominated by Tesseract, Animals As Leaders, and of course Periphery, the standards by which they will inevitably be judged are becoming more stringent all the time. Having heard advance track Haven, I went into Convenant hyped up and excited to see what Unprocessed were going to bring to the table Read more…
Concept albums have long been a staple part of every progressive music fan’s diet. At this point, so many have been recorded that The Dali Thundering Concept had their work cut out as they put together the plan for Savages.
Their response was simple: Go as deep as possible, and refuse to settle for anything short of Read more…
On last year’s EP Insularity, Valis Ablaze made no secret of the fact that they’re massive Tesseract fans. Since I share the same opinion of the British djent overlords, the only fault I could have levelled at Insularity was its relative lack of other influences.
With Boundless, Valis Ablaze now show signs of Read more…
Too many metal bands make music with all the depth of a raindrop. Tesseract, on the other hand, constantly strive to give their fans more than they could possibly ask for.
More meaning.
More innovation.
More Read more…
After almost two decades in the game, Between The Buried And Me refuse to stop pushing their own boundaries. Since day one, BTBAM have consistently evolved while birthing multiple progressive masterworks. Alaska was one of the first albums that got me into structurally advanced music; Colors was…well…Colors, for fuck’s sake; and 2012’s Parallax II cemented BTBAM’s status as a new generation’s equivalent of Pink Floyd and Dream Theater Read more…
As one of the Internet’s leading guitar personalities, Rabea Massaad is widely recognized by six-string aficionados worldwide as…well…a bit fucking good. A total, authoritative master of rock and metal playing with a unique, immediately recognisable style of his own, this guy knows his shit. Bea (pronounced like “beer”) is also a key member of long-term personal favourites Dorje and Toska – a pair of bands already making an impact on the online rock, metal, and instrumental prog scenes Read more…