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Another month, another five albums to add to your playlists. A heavier collection this month from the USA, Greece, Italy and Lebanon.
As ever, each album comes with a mini review, plus all the necessary links you need to discover more about the artists, to listen to their music and, most importantly, to buy your own copy.
Published on 10th October 2024
All words, selections and layout by Andy Read.
1: MOTHER OF MILLIONS - Magna Mater
Country: Greece
Sub-genre: Progressive metal
Description: It's been a decade since I recommended the debut offering by this Greek post-progressive metal act (review here). Five years later and Artifacts also made my list of top albums from that year (read the feature here).
Jump forward another five years and Mother of Millions return with a very personal sounding fourth album that has a significantly heavier approach than its predecessors. However there is still plenty of the build-and-release emotion and catchy melodic hooks that have become synonymous with the band.
Musically Magna Mater holds a respectful nod towards the heavier moments of Cog, Pain of Salvation, Porcupine Tree, Soen and Katatonia with a singer at the top of his game (George Prokopiou also sings with fellow countrymen Poem). It is a horrible album cover!
Listen to and buy the album on Bandcamp
More info from the official band website
2: SUNBURST - Manifesto
Country: Greece
Sub-genre: Melodic prog/power metal
Description: This is an Album of the Year contender for me. Manifesto is the second effort from this Greek combo, and sees a step up in class in every respect from their enjoyable debut, Fragments of Creation. That album made my Top 30 Albums of 2016 (read the feature here).
Singer Vasilis Georgiou (Black Fate, Innosense) is a dead-ringer for Roy Khan. Thus comparisons to Kamelot and Conception are not unreasonable. But this is more technically-progressive and heavier than either of those. The keyboards played by Bob Katsionis (Vass Katsionis) add a cinematic feel to the album.
This should appeal to anyone who enjoys melody-centred prog-metal with power-metal intent.
Listen to and buy the album on Bandcamp
More info from the official band website
3: WITHERFALL - Sounds of the Forgotten
Country: USA
Sub-genre: Dark progressive tech metal
Description: The 15-minute prog-metal gem ... And They All Blew Away made their last album, Curse of Autumn, one of my Top Albums of 2021 (read that feature here).
I'm still a sucker for some technical metal and again this band delivers. Some impressive mainly-clean-but-harsh vocals, a torrent of ever-changing, complexly-dark arrangements that avoid disappearing up their own backsides, and guitar riffs and solos a-plenty. What's not to like?
4: GHOST ON MARS - Out of Time and Space
Country: Italy
Sub-genre: Progressive metal
Description: With the deluge of new albums every year, it can be hard to keep up. This was a tip from my friend Erik who supplies a constant flow of possibilities in my direction through his excellent blog (read it here). This debut album from a band out of Rome has taken a while to reach the top of my 'to do' list, but I'm so glad that it got there.
From start to finish this album oozes quality. The more you listen, the more this sinks in. Ghost On Mars combines dark and melancholic atmospheres with influences that come from a number of progressive and metal stylings. There is a bit of djent (think Tesseract), a bit of melancholic metal (think Wolverine), plenty of progressive ideas (think Pain of Salvation), some alternative moods (think Karnivool) and some heavy stuff (think Chaos Divine). The growls are used as added textures and don't bother me too much.
The songs are inspired by films, books and stories belonging to the science fiction and horror cultures. I hope this doesn't stay under the radar. Top 10 album contender for sure.
5. TURBULENCE - Binary Dream
Country: Lebanon
Sub-genre: Progressive metal
Description: Turbulence is a progressive metal band hailing from Lebanon whose second album has secured a release on the Frontiers label. They play their prog-metal in the old-style. Their debut album, Frontal, was one of my favourite heavy albums of 2021 (read the feature here).
This is another impressive collection of songs that straddle the past and present, and a vocalist from the top drawer.
Buy the full album on Bandcamp
Listen to the full album on Spotify
More info from the official band website
More great music to be discovered here in our special round-up of
The Best Progressive Rock Albums of 2024 (so far)
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