I hadn’t even stopped to check the genre when I picked up Tales of a Dying Sun, but fortuitously, it’s post-rock/-metal and would have been my thing even without the theme. Ash Twin Project sit on the more melodic and immediate end of the genre. There’s not a huge amount of wandering ambience here, nor of huge, crushing riffs. Their guitar work is nearly always pretty, and the five songs here tend to evolve and reprise through a series of pretty melodies and occasional chugging riffs. There’s even a very prog-rock solo or two (“Cœlacanthe”). It’s very vocal heavy, befitting the narrative goal of the project. Eglantine Dugrand does most of the work with clean singing. She’s occasionally supported by Nicolas Lougnon’s harsh vocals in the traditional hardcore-influenced post-metal style.

Outer Wilds is a very musical game. The soundtrack is excellent, but it’s also important to the gameplay and story in a number of ways. Ash Twin Project have a tricky balance to strike in acknowledging that without simply covering the songs. They pull it off via some generally subtle musical references. Players will find the openings of tracks like “The Wilds,” “Isolation,” and “Sunless City” familiar, and more obviously the end of the album on “Moon.” Tales of a Dying Sun’s flaw is that aside from this, there’s little that makes Ash Twin Project stand out from a surfeit of other post-rock/metal bands. It’s not particularly unique, nor particularly hard-hitting. Post- led by a female vocalist brings obvious comparisons to healthyliving, but ATP aren’t distinctive to the same extent.

I need to highlight Stéphane Cocuron’s work on bass, metal’s most neglected instrument, which is interesting, forward in the mix, and interacts well with the guitars (“Sunless City”). Dugrand is a versatile lead vocalist. The material calls for a variety of tones, from ethereal to sweet to breathy to soaring to a belt, often on the same song (“Cœlacanthe,” “Isolation”), and she spans all these and more without any trouble. I’m not a huge fan of the slight vibrato she uses at times, but it’s hard to complain too much. The lyrics feel like they’re trying a bit too hard a lot of the time—often both overly literal and overly complex (“The Wilds,” “Cœlacanthe”). Nobody listens to metal for the poetic lyrics, but they’re such a big part of what the album is going for, so it’s a bit disappointing.

Tales of a Dying Sun is good. It’s melodic post-metal done well. It does a commendable job of referencing its source material in a way that tickles the brain without being derivative of it. Dugrand does a lot of the work carrying the album and does it well. But in the end, the connection with the game made me want to like this more than I actually do. I like it, but it’s not unique enough or hard-hitting enough to climb my year-end list.

Rating: Good
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Klonosphere Records
Websites: ashtwinproject.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/ashtwinprojectband
Releases Worldwide: April 4th, 2025

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Elements of earlier Mitochondrial Sun are certainly here. Songs like “To Those that Dared to Dream” and “The Fate of Animals” are moody, melancholy, or ominous. But it’s far sparser. Songs are very often a lead synth, a little rhythm or ambiance, and not much else. As an exploration of what you can achieve with nothing but a synthesizer and a knack for writing melodies, Machine Dialectics is quite impressive. Avoiding anything that might be described as even slightly dancy puts this in an unusual corner of electronic music. Working to constraints can produce interesting results, and that’s true here. At its best, the minimalism enhances the impact of the big melody lines when they happen, and Sundin really is an excellent songwriter.

As a title, Machine Dialectics suggests the experience of attempting to understand something a computer is doing and getting, well, largely inscrutable results. I am professionally deeply familiar with this feeling, and the record does as it portends. It wanders, and sometimes interesting things happen, but very often I’m still left scratching my head. I keep thinking – as this review grows later and later – that I’m on the cusp of getting it, but it hasn’t happened. I’m not getting the emotional impact I did from Mitochondrial Sun. There are long passages that only barely climb above ambient. The song construction is so sparse that the success of the entire album hinges on those moments when the melodic leads hit. They’re good, but they’re not quite good enough to carry the whole thing.

Despite that, I do enjoy listening to Machine Dialectics. On “The Fate of Animals,” melody and ambiance lines twist around each other, and the piece progresses from contemplative through ominous to a prettier, almost woodwind-like final movement. Closing track “The Child Sleeps in the Machine” is a bit longer than the others at 8 minutes, which gives it a bit more space to develop. “Trilobite Dreams” is the most immediate track, more urgent than the rest of the album, with a catchy, guitar-like melodic lead. But even here, the couple of different themes are all there really is to the track. I struggled to write much at all of note on some of the most ambient interludes (“Kepler-138 E,” Vast Expanses”).

I’ve regularly—and appropriately—reached for Machine Dialectics as a soundtrack when I’m working and need to think. As work music, it’s wormed its way into my head, and I find myself anticipating my favorite moments even when I don’t quite think I’m paying attention. But that lack of attention is a problem, and that makes it challenging to recommend. It’s slow and contemplative to a fault and there are few big payoffs. It ends with its questions left unanswered and me left largely unmoved.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inertial Music
Websites: mitochondrialsun.bandcamp.com | mitochondrialsun.net | facebook.com/mitochondrialsun
Releases Worldwide: February 21st, 2025

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If you said “Gods of Pangaea will sound like an 80s thrash band with some light prog stylings from the previous record,” congratulations to both you and the artist¹. This is explicitly an homage to the melodic end of 80s thrash and proto-thrash. The sound is exemplified by Peace Sells-era Megadeth, with some proggy influences a la Mercyful Fate. The riffs go chugga chugga twiddly twiddly and then there’s an even twiddlier guitar solo. The vocals, from a selection of talented guest vocalists, span melodic cleans, shouty thrash vocals, and some harsher styles.² If you like that sort of thing, it’s done very well here and this album is for you. Griffiths is clearly having fun and it shows.

If you want to stand out from all the other retro bands, and the historical catalogs of all the bands you’re actually referencing, you need some sort of differentiating factor. Fellow purveyors of retro-styled tripe The Night Flight Orchestra have got away with it for so many albums through a mixture of exuberance, stellar songwriting, and developing an identity despite the references. On Gods of Pangaea, the mixture of vocalists works against Tiktaalika, making it difficult to claim any sort of identity. The result feels like a collection of covers of 80s B-sides nobody quite remembers. And while the songs are good, they’re not quite that good. In particular, the guitars dissolve into a primordial soup of thrash genre conventions. It colors so consistently within the lines it’s hard to pick standout riffs or even identify the songs from the guitar parts. The exception is highlight “The Forbidden Zone,” with a slower tempo and more of a driving, insistent feel to the riffs.

I mentioned last time that Griffiths is a really good vocal writer/director, and that’s still true here… to a point. The thrash influences have led to some of the singers (particularly Daniël de Jongh) aping Dave Mustaine’s style (“Tyrannicide”, “Give Up the Ghost”), and, look, I like Megadeth, but not for the vocals. When it’s good, though (“The Forbidden Zone,” “Mesozoic Mantras,” both with Vladimir Lalić), there are some excellent choruses. “Fault Lines” (with Rody Walker) is an odd example where, though his mixed and harsh vocals are technically very good, the majority of the song falls a bit flat… but the “suddenly I stand on hallowed ground, and I am waiting for the divine”³ chorus is by far the catchiest thing on the entire album.

Gods of Pangaea successfully does what it sets out to do. It sounds like Megadeth. The songs are good, and occasionally great. There are intensely catchy choruses. It sounds like the band are having fun. It’s an enjoyable listen; I just find it very hard to get excited about something so nakedly backward-looking. The thrash genre conventions in the guitar writing leave me unable to pick any favorite guitar moments, and that’s not a great look for a guitarist’s side project. It’s not rethrash in its most cliched form – there’s more melody and songcraft here than that – but it’s far closer than I’d like.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inside Out Music
Websites: insideoutmusic.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/charlie.griffiths.guitarist
Releases Worldwide: March 14th, 2025

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I needn’t have stressed: In Thrall is excellent. I don’t know that this necessarily heralds the return of prog for me. It very much picks up where Helios Forsaken left off. But frankly, that’s a breath of fresh air where a lot of bands I love(d) have toned down the heaviness and turned up the poppiness in a way that’s left them feeling a bit insubstantial. In Thrall sounds chunky and substantial. It sits in a middle ground that’s not afraid to play with everything between catchy melody and crushing riffs and harsh vocals. There’s plenty of prog noodling here, but there’s a weight to their instruments that makes them a joy to listen to. Melody and noodling duties are shared between Brendan Zwaan’s guitar and Felix Lun’s violin. Ne Obliviscaris do the violin prog thing in a very flashy way that makes them A Violin Band; Shepherds’ violin instead adds texture to their instrumentation without coming across as wanky (“Slough,” “Abyss”). Their rhythm section (Omar Al-Hashimi and Vitesh Bava, drums and bass respectively) is meaty without the atonality of djent (“Usurper” intro, “Abyss”) and does some stellar work on build-up sections (“Vestibule,” “Abyss” again). Everything sounds great.

Of course, making your instruments sound great doesn’t buy much without great music to play, and here In Thrall also delivers. Indeed, there’s noticeable growth since Helios Forsaken, and it’s easy to forget the band are unsigned. The melodic writing is excellent, both on the vocals (“Slough,” “Usurper”) and the interplay between the lead violin and guitar (“Red Veil,” “Usurper” again). As with any good prog, the songs are complex and multi-faceted, and the transitions are always elegant. This album is very heavy on atmospheric semi-interlude tracks (“Vestibule” and “Mutineers,” both somewhere between an interlude and a real song). These work well and even deliver some album highlights (the violin lead on outro “Threnody” is genuinely beautiful), but then I loved Hierophant Violent. “Abyss” is a straight-up post-metal track, with a long slow build-up and crushingly heavy finale.

There are some stylistic choices that might be a matter of taste. Brendan Zwaan’s clean vocals are quite high in the mix and occasionally a little rough and ready, in a way that reminds me a bit of the Ben Levin Group. (His harsh vocals, e.g. on “Red Veil,” I like a lot.) And there’s a lot of use of heavy processing effects—wah and phaser pedals on guitars, echoey drums, vocoder filters on vocals (“Abyss” has a section which is very reminiscent of Affinity-era Haken). This reads as quite retro, perhaps a slight contradiction for progressive music, but welcome given my issues with modern prog metal. The production, though, is excellent, giving solidity to all of those wonderful instrument tones. The band sound polished and assured.

Reviewing bands you have Feelings about without second-guessing yourself is always hard. Shepherds of Cassini have saved my angst by producing a record I have no reservations about recommending. In Thrall to Heresy has done nothing but grow on me since I first heard it. The ten-year wait has brought additional maturity to the writing—and social relevance to the lyrics¹—but kept the sound I loved so much on the previous album. If you’re at all interested in prog and post-metal, but particularly if you find yourself hankering after a heavier, more interesting-sounding prog metal that the genre seems to have forgotten, this is for you.

Rating: Excellent
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: FLAC
Label: Self-released
Websites: shepherdsofcassini.bandcamp.com | shepherdsofcassini.com | facebook.com/shepherdsofcassiniband
Releases Worldwide: February 21st, 2025

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Beneath a Steel Sky play a less genre-faithful take on post-metal than I had therefore been given to expect. Cleave is spacier and dreamier than the comparisons to Isis and Cult of Luna might suggest, to the extent that in places it reminds me of stoner/psychedelic bands like Dead Meadow (“Vanguard”). There’s lots of reverb-soaked clean vocals, synth washes and floaty guitars (“The Sky Above the Port Was the Colour of Television, Tuned to a Dead Channel,” “Quetzalcoatlus,” …). The Mogwai comparison hints at this, but unlike Mogwai, they are not boring. Like Aereogramme and Mogwai, they are Scottish, and there’s a definite spacey/stonery Scottish post-* scene they fit into. Likewise, in places, in song construction and style, they also remind me of fellow Scots Dvne—for example, the mixed down clean vocals in “The Sky…”, or the clean/harsh vocal duets in a few places (e.g. “Vanguard”). This twist on the post-metal formula works well for them.

There’s some great songwriting on Cleave. There are some really pretty melodies woven into the dreamy atmospheric sections (“Vanguard,” “Quetzalcoatlus”). They make good use of their six (!) musicians with some complex multi-part sections (“Cyclical Dunt”). “The Infinite Silence That Follows the Absolute Truth” does a very Mike Oldfield-like job of layering onto a simple repeated motif for most of the song’s build. Of course, this is post-metal, so the big metal crescendo after all the build-up is a staple. While they never really stray from the genre template, they do it well. The big riff and soaring melody line on “Quetzalcoatlus” is a highlight, and closing track “The Becoming” is absolutely gorgeous.

One quirk of the production is that whoever did the mixing is a really big fan of the pan slider. Nearly every song has sections with instruments panned nearly all the way to one side or the other. I don’t hate the effect in general, but it’s a bit overused, and the couple of songs that start with fully panned guitars (“Everyone You’ve Ever Known,” “The Infinite Silence…,” “The Becoming”) keep making me think my headphones have broken. There’s also a fade-out ending on “Vanguard” which comes across as a bit of a cop-out. Gimmicks aside, the production does a good job of balancing a lot of parts and maintaining the dreamy feel, although as usual, it didn’t need to be a DR6.

There’s not a huge amount of new ground being broken Beneath [this] Steel Sky, but they successfully bring their own identity to a crowded genre nonetheless. The spacy, somewhat psychedelic take on post-metal both differentiates them and makes Cleave a surprisingly warm listen despite the usual bleakness of post-metal. The songwriting is consistently strong, and with a tidy 40-minute runtime and a great ending, it’s a very satisfying listen.

Rating: Very Good
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Ripcord Records
Websites: beneathasteelsky1.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/beneathasteelskyband
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025

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Sentynel

When I wrote my piece for the fifteen years feature, despite referring to “ten years of running the servers,” it hadn’t really clicked for me that I’ve been here ten years. It was in fact, May 2014 that we moved the server over and I officially joined the staff. While but an eyeblink compared to the oldeness of some of our crew,¹ it’s a long time, and a large chunk of my rapidly oldenating life. It’s also over five years since my first actual review. Every year since then, I’ve promised myself I’d write more and then not done that. Whoops. On the plus side, covering bands I already like went a lot better this year than it did last year, with very good or better albums from all three. And the Contrite Metal Guy piece allowed me to correct the record on some errors from earlier in my reviewing career.

This year, my list covers more genres than ever before—there are a few entries I suspect will surprise people, not least because they surprised me. Despite being into instrumental music, the biggest commonality here is great vocals. Overall, I think it’s been a good year. I left organizing my list to the last possible moment due to a particularly rough house move (sorry, deadlines) and was, as usual, flapping about whether I’d have enough good entries. When I sat down to actually write it I realized I’d filled my list and HM slots with no trouble. And for the first time, I’ve been compelled to do a Song o’ the Year list rather than an individual pick.

In addition to the traditional thanks to the readers and the rest of the staff, olde and new, I also need to add a (returned) thanks to the bands. AMG walks a difficult line with our honest approach to reviewing, and it’s not easy sending your work out to face that. Obviously, without bands sending us music we’d have nothing to write here. I met Tribunal and Mares of Thrace at their gig in Montréal this year, and it was immensely reassuring to hear, from them and others, that our coverage can make a real difference.

#ish. Amiensus // Reclamation – The two parts to Reclamation are officially listed as Reclamation: Part 1 and Reclamation Pt. II, an inconsistency offensive enough to bar them from my actual top ten. Okay, fine, that’s not true, I just whiffed on this until Thus’ TYMHM on part I (sorry Ken) and there’s too much of it to have listened to enough to place either part properly. Nonetheless, these are really beautiful progressive, melodic black metal and absolutely worth the time investment. The balance and transitions between the harsh, the bleak, and the beautiful are often the downfall of this sort of music, and Amiensus absolutely nail it.

#10. Dvne // Voidkind – The brilliant Etemen Ænka took a while to grow on me, and likewise Voidkind. I could rarely name a specific song – their post/sludge sound doesn’t lend itself to big singalong choruses, and I’m terrible with names without that. But every song is memorable. Whenever I see them live, I go “ooh, I love this one” at the intro to every song. Voidkind is no exception. The more I’ve listened to it the more I’ve appreciated it. The riffs, the build-ups, the denouements—listening to it is one “ooh, I love this one” moment after another.

#9. Seven Spires // A Fortress Called Home – Seven Spires continue to carry the whole symphonic metal genre pretty much single-handedly. I still think the editing on A Fortress Called Home could be a little tighter, but I love their sound and songwriting. Mixing in influences from death and doom to the power metal base gives weight. The soaring highs and emotive storytelling here are as good as they’ve ever been. Great cinematic music.

#8. Saturday Night Satan // All Things Black – All Things Black is just a huge amount of fun. It recalls Ghost before their full embrace of pop: proper catchy, occult-themed, rocking heavy metal with a charismatic vocalist. I’ve had “5AM” stuck in my head all year (occasionally at 5AM) and six-ninths of the tracks are in the running for the best song on the record. Uncomplicated but great.

#7. Northern Genocide // The Point of No Return – Wince-inducing band name and confusing theme/sound divergence aside, The Point of No Return rules. High-energy, multifaceted, synthy, dancy, it reminds me of Sybreed but with more going on. I definitely have a bit of a thing for bands that can throw half a dozen styles in and carry the execution off on the basis of being loads of fun (Diablo Swing Orchestra, Sanguine Glacialis). I’ve listened to it a lot when I’m not in the mood for something complex and it’s held up remarkably well.

#6. Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe – I don’t love Die Urkatastrophe to the extent that Carcharodon does, but it’s still a great album. An incredible vocal performance and sharp melodic writing carry a weighty story, even if I don’t quite have the German to appreciate the lyrics. Blackened death is not my usual style, but the craft here drew me in anyway. I highly recommend their live show as well—there’s a theatricality to it which really works, without taking away from the brutality of the music or the themes.

#5. Suldusk // Anthesis – I tend to take a break from albums I’ve reviewed after submitting the review. Even when I love something, the endless repeats as I try and line up my thoughts can get a bit wearing. So it’s telling how I feel about a record when I go back to it. I put Anthesis on a few weeks later and was immediately transported again. If anything it’s grown on me over the year. Beautiful, atmospheric and evocative, this is atmoblack at its best.

#4. Kalandra // A Frame of Mind – My favorite unexpected discovery of the year. Kalandra are absolutely spellbinding. Heavy themes, gorgeous Nordic folk instrumentation, and deft composition make for a genuinely moving listen. Katrine Stenbekk’s vocals are absolutely captivating and I could genuinely listen to her all day, yet part of the beauty of A Frame of Mind is how well she complements the instruments. I had to fight Dolph for TYMHM rights for this, and as I said there, I cannot recommend it enough.

#3. Fellowship // The Skies Above Eternity – There was pretty much no chance The Skies Above Eternity wasn’t going to land high up my list. After the last record, they would have had to have royally fucked it for that not to happen, and they have not, in fact, royally fucked it. The jury is still out on whether I feel that this is a better record than The Saberlight Chronicles, but it’s certainly up there. Fantastic songs and endearingly honest positivity have always been Fellowship’s strong point, and this is no exception.

#2. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – I would not, prior to Cutting the Throat of God, have expected to see dissodeath gracing my list in any capacity, much less almost topping it, squeezed between two… slightly less brutal records. But then, prior to this album, I wouldn’t have expected to describe dissodeath as suspiciously melodic either. So, surprise! Ulcerate’s composition here is stellar. They weave unsettlingly dissonant yet pretty melody into bleak, brutal death metal and the results are infectious. I got so excited about the whole thing that I even tried listening to a couple of the other dissodeath hits this year, but alas, they just don’t have what Ulcerate have.

#1. Meer // Wheels Within Wheels – Well, this was inevitable. There’s very little out there that sounds like Meer’s symphonic, progressive pop/rock. “Symphonic” is often a euphemism for “some string synths are used,” but Meer’s mini chamber orchestra do symphonic properly. And their lead vocal duo is fantastic. Playing House blew me away and very nearly topped my list. Wheels Within Wheels is better. It’s hard to follow up a great record, and it’s hard to compete with the feeling of hearing a band for the first time. But this does both. Take the great foundation from the previous record, turn up the rock elements, mix in a touch of post-, and sharpen up the songwriting, and you get the brilliant Wheels Within Wheels. ²

Honorable Mentions

• Iotunn // Kinship – Narrowly squeezed off my top ten(ish), partly due to me not getting around to it until quite late, this is another great album from Iotunn.
• i Häxa // i Häxa – Weird? Yes. Pretentious? Also yes. Good? Good question. I think it overuses spoken-word-over-atmospherics and it makes it hard to recommend the whole package, but the rest is compelling.
• Lowen // Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran – Really cool interfusion of Iranian music and mythology with doom metal. Nina Saeidi’s vocal lead is remarkable.
• Keygen Church // Nel Nome del Codice – I’m still not completely sold on how natural the merger of MBR’s floppy disk synths with organs-and-choirs church music sounds, but the baroque composition here is good enough to carry it regardless.

Songs o’ the Year

Alphabetically ordered, because I’m a coward.

Twelve

Writing these year-end summaries is always a cathartic experience. It’s odd to try and summarize the year you’ve had, in whatever way resonates best, to an audience of people you don’t know, but that does take some pressure off. Every year, I get a new chance to be grateful for the writers and readers on this blog, and to reflect on what went wrong, what went right, and where I am now versus where I was a year ago.

I can confidently say that, by any measure, 2024 was the worst year of my life. Between personal losses and professional disasters, I spent most of the year feeling demotivated, dejected, and just shy of despairing. And yet, when I compiled my year-end list, I was pleasantly surprised, because there isn’t actually all that much dark material here. You’d think, based on how I started this paragraph, that my list would be filled with the dark and dismal metals from the year, but instead, it leans much lighter, more optimistic, and hopeful. Hope is a tough thing to squash completely, and throughout the year, I have stubbornly remained optimistic that things would get better—and, sure enough, they have. I’ll begin 2025 in a much better place, and take the lessons of the year with me all the way to the next article.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my fellow writers here for their support as I contributed an uneven year (at best) to the blog—your friendships, banter, recommendations, and rare-but-memorable offline appearances mean the world to me. As I come up to the end of my sixth year writing here, I’m still having a blast. Not to mention the music! The music is good too. Speaking of which…

#ish. Opeth // The Last Will and Testament – Having first encountered Opeth during the Pale Communion days, I never really formed an opinion on the growls/no-growls debate. Even so, despite my genuine admiration for their last few releases, The Last Will and Testament feels like some kind of return to form for these giants. An album as dense as it is powerful, The Last Will and Testament keeps me coming back. Perhaps because of that density, I had trouble figuring out how and where exactly to list it. Maybe it came out a little too late in the year for me; I may well regret this “low” placement before long.

#10. Madder Mortem // Old Eyes, New Heart – Old Eyes, New Heart is, appropriately, an album with real heart. I love its laid-back approach that does nothing to diminish the cold darkness that surrounds it. And yet, the sense of hope and determination I get from listening to it electrifying. Just listen to “Cold Hard Rain”—”there’s hope in the dark” is one of the best moments in any album I’ve heard all year. The approach Madder Mortem brings to Old Eyes, New Heart is resonant, mixing dark and light in a way that just worked for me this year. It is an excellent album.

#9. Fellowship // The Skies Above Eternity – Conversely, Fellowship brought all kinds of power metal glory to The Skies Above Eternity, an outrageously fun album adorned with hope, excitement, and super impressive performances from everyone involved. The Skies Above Eternity is just so much fun to listen to; it fills the Angus McSix-sized hole in this year-end list admirably because a year without some kind of super-well-done over-the-top power metal is a year that’s just no good. Thankfully, Fellowship are clearly here to stay.

# 8. Dawnwalker //The Unknowing – The Unknowing is one of those albums that rewards repeated listens. Of course, I listened to it plenty before writing my review in October, but I’ve kept listening to it since and I just keep noticing new things. It’s enough to make me want to rewrite the whole review, honestly; there’s just so much to The Unknowing, and I love the way Dawnwalker made this album simple and complex at the same time. The ebb and flow is very well done, the performances are powerful, and the meanings just keep on coming. This is a great album to get lost in, and I still recommend it highly.

#7. Hamferð // Men Guðs hond er sterk – “But God’s Hand is Strong” is an amazing title for such a dark album. Maybe that’s part of why I like it so much—that idea of hope transcending everything else, of faith and optimism keeping you going when things are really bad. Of course, it helps that Hamferð are phenomenal musicians who know exactly what they’re doing; Men Guðs hond er sterk is a crushingly powerful doom album, well-written and performed to the highest standards. Hamferð have long been my go-to band when it’s cold and dark out. Well, winter is back, and thank goodness Hamderð is too.

#6. In Vain // Solemn – I love epic, complex metal, and In Vain delivers with Solemn. I love Solemn for its melodic qualities, its huge ambitions, and its soaring highs. That it uses a horn section is icing on the cake; the first listen-through is unpredictable, but the quality is consistently high. Solemn is one of those great albums that just doesn’t really have faults—it was never a question of whether I’d like it, just one of how much. It’s that solid, and has all kinds of staying power. A definite highlight from the year in whatever style of metal you think it fits in best.

#5. Árstíðir lífsins // Aldrlok – I love Árstíðir lífsins. I’ve criticized their albums before, but the truth is that the base of their sound is so wonderfully up my alley that I’m not sure it’s possible for me to dislike their music. I’m always so excited when Árstíðir lífsins releases new music, and Aldrlok has grown on me immensely since its release in June. I love its mystical quality, its evocative style, and its historic power—Árstíðir lífsins approach their music in a way that few bands or projects do, and it resonates so well. It’s a long album for sure, but it is filled with outstanding material and well worth the deep dive it offers.

#4. Silhouette // Les Dires de l’Ame – Silhouette first grabbed my attention with the release of Les retranchements a couple of years ago. Since then, it feels like they’ve grown tremendously; Les Dires de l’Ame feels grander, darker, and more complex than Les retranchements, and I love this direction. The melodies, harmonies, and vocal performances are stunning, and the balance of beauty and darkness is incredibly well-done. Even now, I feel like Les Dires de l’Ame is still growing on me; I am fully enamored with this symphonic sojourn, and expect to remain so for some time.

#3. Hell:on // Shaman – For a long time, I assumed Shaman would be my album of the year, and it was not something I would have predicted before May. And yet, here it is: Shaman is incredible, a powerful slab of death metal decorated with just enough melodic, mystic, and folk elements to keep me coming back. It’s rare that I like death metal this much, but Hell:on is just so compelling, from the throat singing to the acoustic interludes that break up blisteringly powerful riffing. Shaman’s got it all, and it is captivating at every moment from beginning to end.

#2. Forndom // Moþir – I can’t believe I’m not giving this one Album of the Year. Maybe it just came out too recently, but it’s still surprising because I adore Forndom. Moþir’s orchestral folk approach to creating time-defying music is essentially flawless, and it is so easy to get lost in. The vocal work, orchestral performances, and lead violin are all exemplary, and it’s been truly wonderful exploring this darker, grander side of Forndom these last several weeks. On the one hand, I wish it had come out sooner so I could have more time with it before writing this blurb—on the other, it suits December weather so well that I believe I’ve been getting the best out of it since day one. Forndom is doing amazing work, and I really can’t recommend Moþir enough. Time travel is real, and I am convinced that Forndom knows the secret.

#1. Meer // Wheels Within Wheels – What can I even write here that Sentynel hasn’t said better in his own review? Wheels Within Wheels is my new go-to album when things are bad—it is melancholic and angry, but also optimistic and hopeful, a delicate-yet-gorgeous balance that really speaks to me. It’s got a ton of variance, and knows when to go big and when to keep quiet. The songwriting is exemplary, and you really feel the impact of the many musicians who’ve come together for each song. The singing in particular is outstanding, lifted by strings, piano, guitar, and drums with a cohesion that most projects can only dream of. More than all of that, however, is that Wheels Within Wheels is an honest, vulnerable album. It is willing to be fragile and open and is achingly beautiful in those moments. Lyrically, it’s like a hand outstretched, a friend with an ear always ready to listen. Done well, this progressive rock style has limitless potential, and Meer do it so, so well. I really love this album; in many ways, it saved my year.

Honorable Mention

• The Dread Crew of Oddwood // Rust & Glory – I don’t know what else to tell you—there isn’t enough goofy music on my list. The Dread Crew of Oddwood are an absolute blast, and I keep coming back to Rust & Glory purely for the fun factor. It also helps that “Lost Comrades” perfectly encapsulates the experience of writing for this blog.

Song of the Year

I’ve written the word “hope” too much in this article—I know that. But metal music is personal, and often our choices for our favorites reflect our experiences. This year, I needed hope. That’s why “Come to Light” by Meer is my song of the year for 2024—because there were times when this song genuinely kept my head up, kept me smiling, and forced me into the right headspace to get through what really was a very bad year. Now I’m on the other side of it, and hey, it’s still an amazing song! It perfectly encapsulates that limitless potential I was going on about a few sections ago, and realizes it in such a beautiful, endearing way. An outstanding song from an outstanding album by an outstanding band.

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Folk/prog rock is indeed the basis on A Frame of Mind. Acoustic guitars and strings play Nordic folk-inflected melodies. Electric guitars, distorted but rarely harsh, come in for the swells and crescendos. The instrumentation alone is great. The composition is consistently stellar. The use of, and transitions between, sparse and heavy movements are deft and surprising. Every song is beautiful and atmospheric. (Just bathe in the interlude track “Hytta,” for example.) But the real standout is the vocals. Katrine Stenbekk is incredibly charismatic and emotive. She flows from fragile to powerful, warm and folky to cutting, often within a single song. Live, she’s even better, as she’s also a great performer. This isn’t to say this is a one-woman show; her voice ebbs and flows with the instruments. Little musical twists reflect and reinforce the lyrics and stick in your mind.

A Frame of Mind tackles some heavy themes with an openness and occasionally bluntness that recalls GGGOLDDD, and this is a major contributor to its success. Opening track “I Am” is about generational trauma. “Are You Ready?” is a wonderfully creepy song about cult recruiting. The different perspectives are woven subtly through the music, and I adore how the song shifts as the narrator gets drawn in. “I Remember a Time” and “The State of the World” discuss, well, the state of the world, with a level of self-awareness that lands what’s ultimately a naively hopeful message in a bleak place. “Bardaginn” is perhaps the most straightforward, and heaviest, song on the record, with a great groove. It’s also written in Old Norse (helpfully with an official translation provided), about fighting on when it’s hopeless. It’s rare that I particularly care about the lyrics on a record, and it’s the interesting subjects combined with composition that actually works with the lyrics that pull me in here.

Kalandra are one of those bands where I wonder how I didn’t discover them earlier. Everything about them appeals to me, and their prior album The Line is also brilliant but had entirely passed me by. Fortunately, those of you who had also missed Kalandra need do so no longer. I cannot recommend A Frame of Mind enough. Clever writing, gorgeous atmosphere, moving themes, and the year’s best vocal performance make for a fantastic album.

Tracks to Check Out: “Are You Ready?,” “Bardaginn,” “The State of the World,” “I Am”

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The good news is they haven’t broken anything that made Playing House great. I mentioned in my TYMHM piece that Meer has a sound: a sparse melody on piano or guitar, some strings join, a fragile vocal line, and a build of all of those up to a great big soaring payoff. That’s still present and correct in Wheels Within Wheels, and it even opens with a brief string motif that’s a deliberate callback to the previous record before setting off in its own direction. The even better news is that the writing outshines Playing House. Nearly every song is a banger. The big, catchy vocal lines are really big. “Golden Circle,” “To What End” and more are super satisfying to sing along to. They play with the instrumentation and writing a bit more. There’s more of a dalliance with rock, with more distorted guitar, a spot of slide guitar here and there, and solos on “Chains of Changes” and “Today Tonight Tomorrow.” Closing track “This Is the End” goes actively post-rock, with heavier instrumentation, an unsettling key, and a more complex, extended song structure.

Wheels Within Wheels is a record where one has to criticize good songs to find criticisms at all. All I have to moan about is that there are two weaker pieces, “Behave” and “Take Me to the River.” The songs are good; I like the little whistled melody in “Behave,” for example, or the twiddly guitar on “Take Me to the River.” But they’re a little bit rote—the reference implementations of that Meer sound without anything notable to distinguish them. In the company of the rest of the record, they come across as a bit of filler. Their position in the running order, songs two and three, respectively, makes for an awkward start, tripping up after the great opener “Chains of Changes.” From that point onwards, however, every song is a hit. It’s redundant to try and list them all, but I do need to mention “Mother” in particular, a gorgeous prayer to a deity of broken things.

Meer is an ensemble, not just a band, and the (very many) musicians here are great. They succeed by combining all the moving parts with a sense of orchestration that would make most symphonic metal bands blush. They’re confident across the whole range of styles they touch, from sparse to bombastic. Still, Wheels Within Wheels is never too busy, allowing listeners to pick out the details. There’s a bass bit I love on “Something in the Water,” some pretty viola on “Take Me to the River,” or the piano on “Today Tonight Tomorrow.” Yes, I’m writing for a metal website, but I really enjoy some songs being more rock and guitar-forward (“Golden Circle,” among others). I’m inclined towards having opinions on vocalists and often feel slightly bad about not having space to say as much about, say, Åsa Ree on violin. But Meer’s two vocalists and lyricists, brother/sister duo Knut and Johanne Nesdal¹ are brilliant. They carry the emotional heart of the music, trading lead vocal roles and duets, from the tender and fragile to the big, belted choruses. The production balances each detail without a problem, though I’d like a little more dynamic range to emphasize the biggest bits.

Wheels Within Wheels loses out to Playing House only in the sense that I knew what to expect—there’s no replicating that “wow” moment of hearing a fantastic band for the first time. But beyond that, it’s a notable improvement on Playing House, and that’s a hell of an achievement. Going a bit more rock and a touch more experimental is good for them. I’ve struggled to choose highlights to refer to because of an endless stream of “No, this one is my favorite track!” every time I listen. If you have any interest in progressive music, modern classical, or stuff that’s just Excellent, you should listen to this.

Rating: Excellent
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Karisma Records
Websites: meer.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/MEERmusikk
Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024

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It’s immediately clear this is still the Seven Spires we expect. The writing is lush and complex. The emotional impact has always been first and foremost in their writing, and A Fortress Called Home is no different. Songs like “Love’s Souvenir” or “The Old Hurt of Being Left Behind” tug firmly on your heartstrings. They’re great at contrasting soaring highs and crashing lows. Catchiness follows from interesting, creative hooks and twists, not from big cheap choruses. It’s never content to sit around in a single genre, despite the obvious power metal base. In particular, there are some definite death/doom influences here, perhaps more so than on previous records, with lots of harsh vocals and downbeat, downtrodden riffs (“Impossible Tower,” “Where Sorrows Bear My Name”). And the orchestration threaded through all of it is key to its success, and never too busy or too cheesy.

So what’s missing? Well, not much. My most significant gripe is we don’t quite get a category 5 banger on the scale of, say, “Every Crest.” There are some category 4s—”Songs Upon Wine-Stained Tongues,” “The Old Hurt of Being Left Behind,” “No Place For Us”— they just doesn’t quite hit the heights they’re capable of. And I do miss the editing from the 50-minute Emerald Seas. This isn’t as long as Gods of Debauchery, and cutting it down would require some fairly brutal choices—there’s no bad songs here. But I took a little longer to appreciate penultimate track “House of Lies” than it deserved due to slight listen fatigue creeping in at the one-hour mark. I also wish the orchestration was real, or that they used slightly more natural-sounding samples. I recognize that hiring an orchestra isn’t exactly cheap, but there’s a real violin on “Love’s Souvenir” and it makes such a difference.¹

The star of the show is once again Adrienne Cowan on clean and harsh vocals (not to mention the keyboards, songwriting, and orchestration). She’s a brilliant singer with versatile cleans and heavy, enunciated growls, and carries a lot of the album’s emotional weight with panache. I also really like the [(Luca) Turilli(‘s) / Lione] Rhapsody [of Fire] flavored duet with a male vocalist on “Songs Upon Wine-Stained Tongues.” Guitarist Jack Kosto (who also handles the very complex production work) is impressive, with highlights like the lyrical guitar on “No Place For Us” and regular stylish solos. Bassist Peter de Reyna gets a few spotlight moments, like the end of “Impossible Tower”, and deserves more. Finally, percussion has a lot of work to do to carry music with this much going on, and departing drummer Chris Dovas does a great job matching the ever-changing moods.

A Fortress Called Home doesn’t quite equal the absolute best Seven Spires are capable of, but that’s as far as the negatives go here. Once again they’ve produced an emotional, captivating record filled with unexpected twists. I’ve had half the record stuck in my head at once since I started listening, all of it earned by clever writing and great performances. Existing fans should find a lot to love here. And if you’re a fan of anything even vaguely power/melodeath/prog flavored, or like symphonic metal in theory but not in execution, and have never checked out Seven Spires, now is the time.

Rating: Very Good
DR: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Frontiers Music
Websites: sevenspiresband.com | facebook.com/sevenspiresband
Releases Worldwide: June 21st, 2024

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The Last Scattering Surface pretty much immediately hits a lot of prog staples. The songwriting is varied, with changeable moods, complex song structure, and a multi-track movement. The riffs recall, say, Haken in their rhythms and chunkiness (“Why Ask?,” “The Condition”). The use of paired male and female vocals meanwhile reminds me of Anathema, particularly in the way they trade phrases or segments (“Relic,” “Earth Overture”). There are several different vocalists on the album, and this and the writing also bring shades of Ayreon at times too (“Dance of the Futile”). There are references to older prog as well, in the synths on “Dance of the Futile” or the guitar solo in “Theia Arrived One Fateful Day.” These things are tropes for a reason and generally work well.

The problem with tropes, though, is the lingering sense of déjà vu that pervades the entire album. While I never get the sense that a particular section is directly lifted from another band, I spend a significant proportion of it with that itch of “ooh this really reminds me of something” that I can’t quite put my finger on. I also find that the writing doesn’t ever quite deliver emotional impact. Consequently, I find myself zoning out on The Last Scattering Surface a lot. It’s rarely as ear-wormy or even memorable. Even the more interesting bits don’t stick as well as they should (“Why Ask?”). Many sections of the album slip by with nary a mark left—I still couldn’t tell you a thing about tracks like “River Mercury” or “Spin.”

Many of the highlights are down to vocalist Emily Rice, who has a great voice and stylistic range and elevates everything she appears on. “Theia Arrived One Fateful Day” is a particularly strong example. The guitar work is always strong technically, and there are some great riffs here (“The Condition,” “Dance of the Futile”). It also sounds good, especially for something self-produced, with a nice DR9 master and plenty of space for all the moving parts. On the downside, there are occasional issues with the male vocals. There’s moments that are slightly charmingly rough-and-ready in a way that again reminds me of some early prog (“Why Ask?”), but also some moments where they just sound a little strained (“Relic,” other bits of “Why Ask?”). And the programmed drums are… there.

Despite its issues, there’s a lot to like on The Last Scattering Surface. Its best moments find talented musicians playing interesting music, with a good balance of the weird, the complex and the poppy. There are strong foundations and flashes of greatness, and perhaps with a clearer vision it could hit those more consistently. But in hewing too close to prog tradition, Look to Windward lose their own voice and my attention, and that’s a shame.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: FLAC
Label: Self-Released
Websites: looktowindwardmusic.com | looktowindward.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

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