I make music content like: top albums of each month, album ranking videos, album of the year videos, cover songs and various other topics with a focus on metal, rock and progressive music. I also make original music (usually progressive metal or rock) and occasionally collaborate with vocalists and/or other instrumentalists to add layers on top of my instrumentals.
I try to answer most comments and check out any of the music recommended to me by commenters so please don't hesitate to give me some recommendations in the comments. I appreciate any subscribes if you want to be in the loop when I post videos.
For any collaboration requests or to get in touch, contact deathbyunicornakabrennen@gmail.com.
cool to see you're enjoying the Circe Link & Christian Nesmith record. Yeah, I would guess you'll enjoy Cosmologica as well. I have only checked out a few tracks from the Bent Knee album and found them ok, but your point about Ben Levin's absence I am still wary about. I wasn't aware the Tigran Hamasayan album was so long, although from memory, his other records haven't been short. But I still have yet to hear the new one.
Thanks for the recommendation on Circe Link & Christian Nesmith's Arcana. I didn't hear about it until I saw you mention it and it's excellent stuff. Bent Knee might now be past their prime for me and Ben Levin's absence could be a factor but the new album is still an enjoyable listen and I think better than the last one. Tigran Hamasyan's new album is very long but it's very fascinating and he plays like no other piano player I've ever heard.
thanks for the video, I'm more just confused on how to listen ton prog metal and stuff since I'm a metallica fan and I love Genesis, I just don't know how to enter this new genre of post hardcore.
If you like Metallica and Genesis and want to get into prog metal, I'd honestly start with Dream Theater's 1999 album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. It doesn't have any of the post-hardcore stuff that it sounds like you're not sure about, it's all clean vocals and it's a concept album that flows nicely from start to finish. Post-hardcore on the other hand which I think of as separate from prog metal but related as some bands combine both is a tricky genre to get into especially if you don't like harsh screaming vocals or don't like higher pitch emo-style vocals. Do you like either of those vocal styles?
@@foolishfool8683 Do you like Opeth, Tool, Mastodon, Leprous or Symphony X? None of them sound like djent to me. If you like Opeth and like death growls, Piah Mater and In Vain are other great bands to check out. For something like Dream Theater, try Vicinity. For something like Mastodon meets Opeth, try Anciients. If you like Leprous, try Kingcrow. If you like Symphony X, try Sunburst. If you like Tool, try Wheel and Intimate Plan.
I'm looking forward to the new Pure Reason Revolution this week. And if you've never heard their other albums, you may want to. Especially The Dark Third, their debut. The The I know had Johnny Marr from The Smiths at 1 point, and actually Steve Hogarth of Marillion almost became their live keyboardist, but decided to take the Marillion gig instead back in 1989. I have 2 of The The's cds, but have never listened to them (borrowed them from a girl I was dating, and never gave them back, lol). This September see releases from Circe Link & Christian Nesmith - Arcana. Really great retro/70's style Prog Rock, that just came out yesterday officially. Also this week, Doom Flamingo has an EP titled "Measurements." Doom Flamingo is the side project of Ryan, the bassist of Umphrey's McGee. The 1st single "Blind Spots" is really good and catchy. Vocals are kind of Soulful from a female singer. Christian (FranticDav) passed that single on to me and I have been pretty hooked by it, so the EP is definitely something I'm looking forward to. The David Gilmour album of course is worth looking forward to. Like you, On an Island is the only 1 of his solo albums that has ever resonated with me well, but we'll see if this new album might also. God is an Astronaut, Weather Systems, Kimbra, Serj Tankian, Circuline, Myth of Logic, and maybe Motorpsycho I'm also anticipating. I'm sure there will be other stuff I'm not aware of yet that also will be coming to check out this month.
I just listened to that Circe Link & Christian Nesmith album and thought it was excellent. Thank you for the recommendation! I know i have to go back to hear the old Pure Reason Revolution stuff. I think if I really like the new one, I'll be even more inspired to go back to all the old stuff.
i'm slowly checking out Jon Anderson and Band Geeks MEER liking both, but haven't heard them enough yet (less than 1 listening). and I was sent an advanced download after preordering Circe Link & Christian Nesmith I wishlisted the Simone Simons album, although not being as into Ayreon/Arjen Lucassen, I'm unsure how much time I may give it. My friend Josh with Heavy Debriefings and his gf The Metal Faerie will likely love that Fleshgod Apocalpyse album as they talk about them frequently on his podcast.
I expect Jon Anderson and Meer to be albums you'll greatly enjoy. Meer in particular. Simone Simons, I assume you'll probably find it good enough but not something to go back to again and again.
I'm not sure actually. He used to be very active and post videos regularly and also commented on many of my videos but looks like he hasn't posted a video in over a year and I haven't seen him in my comment section for a while. Hopefully he starts making content again someday!
Happy to hear it! The funny thing is I hadn't even heard of half of the bands I mention in the video a week ago. There are lots of good sites online that list upcoming new releases and I listen to advance singles for any that look like they might be interesting to me and put my favourite 2-7 of those each week on a list of albums to listen to on Spotify/Bandcamp/RU-vid or whatever streaming site they will be available on then I listen and give my first impressions. Then I learn a bunch of new favourite bands that way that I start following throughout their career and now have hundreds of bands that I'll be watching out for in the future.
There are also some great fellow RU-vidrs that recommend a lot of great music. Anything that people like Notes Reviews, Rhyme Signatures, Nathan on Shuffle, The Prog Corner, AllMediaReviewsPodcast and others like them talk about and give praise to are usually things I'll like.
hey, nice you enjoyed the new Cloud Cult. I do like it, but haven't listened to it enough yet, but I likely will try and do a review on my channel soon about it. "I Am a Force Field" is up there among many of their great tunes for sure. There were a few other releases that also came out this past week beyond the ones you mentioned. King Gizzard doing Blues Rock? I never spent a lot of time with the Fishing for Fishies release, but my feeling about KGATLW is not what it once was. A bit like Toehider. So many albums (now 27?), etc. But afa other new releases: SJS - A Sequence of Mistakes Airlands - Strange Beast Milton Nascimento & Esperanza Spalding - Milton + esperanza that SJS album I am really liking a lot, just hearing it once. Super Pink Floyd and Space/Ambient/Melancholy vibe at times. Unsure, but this could be a sleeper for me. Airlands in checking it out was spotty. They're Art Rock of a sort. I saw them open for Bent Knee years ago and liked them anyway. Milton & Esperanza is nice, mostly acoustic, jazzy of course coming from Esperanza Spalding and this Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento. They even do some orchestrated covers from The Beatles and Michael Jackson.
Thanks for those 3 recommendations. I'll check those out and see if they're for me. King Giz is so prolific. I found from 2016's Polygondwanaland to 2021's Butterfly 3000, they could do no wrong and every release was a near masterpiece for me. In 2022 and 2023 they release so many albums though (7 albums over that 2 year period) and some weren't as high quality as what they've done before but some were amazing.
Thanks. I didn't agree with that either. I was surprised by that pick but always interested to hear different perspectives. It seems even people with very similar tastes in music can rank discographies completely differently.
Thanks for the reminder about Al Di Meola. Although his output of the last 10+ years hasn't done as much for me as much of his early work. Part of it is just how much he puts out and keeping up with it. But I have enjoyed when he uses flamenco at times. Of course I LOVE a lot of his early stuff and the albums he played with Return to Forever. Great to see Ours on your list. I did a review of Rocket's Red Glare this past week and I'm really warming up to it, despite it mostly being tracks from other, recent releases. I think it works as an album, maybe better than their last S/T release actually. Given that, I would anticipate it being pretty high on my AOTY list come December. I guess we'll see, and curious where you have it.
I have to hear more stuff from Return to Forever and Ours. I'm discovering too many great bands through comments on my videos, watching other RU-vid channels that I can't even keep up! Since I listened to so many albums this year, not sure if Ours will make my list even though I really enjoyed it. There's just been so much good stuff!
Thanks! It's much appreciated to hear that from both you and Kyle from AllMediaReviewsPodcast as I enjoy a decent amount of both of your videos. You've got some slick visuals in yours with all the bar graphs that show you really put some thought into your videos as well. As a data nerd who likes graphs and spreadsheets and a music fan, I can appreciate that! I just listen to music and write a couple sentences about each album and put it in one of my tiers but I also keep some spreadsheets too. I think you'll enjoy Coming of Age.
@@AllMediaReviewsPodcast we should try to get The Rock Music Guy on a future collaborative video together with the 3 of us (or even more people if you like) if you're both interested in that. He seems to talk more about older stuff but maybe the ELP or Queen album tier list idea we had in the past could be a good topic for us if you're both interested in talking about those bands. I'm a bit hard to schedule with a toddler at home but am interested in making it happen one day if we can do it in an evening after my son's gone to bed. Shoot me an email anytime to deathbyunicornakabrennen@gmail.com if either of you have any collaborative video ideas.
I did check out the Cory Wong record that Christian was suggesting, and like I mentioned in the chat, I do really like Cory's collaboration with Dirty Loops. However, I only found this collaboration spotty. It's a bit overly orchestrated and in mostly major key arrangements. I liked a couple of the tracks, but found a lot of it a bit safe. It could use vocals; beyond Dirty Loops, I suppose the likes of Jazzkamikaze or The Reign of Kindo might falll in that category (or even Esperanza Spalding or Willow to a degree with the Jazzy-Pop with vocals while being progressive).
I checked out the latest Willow album after our roundtable and was very impressed with that. Don't know as much about Dirty Loops, Jazzkamikaze or The Reign of Kindo but now I'll have to look out for those. Thanks for the tips!
@@deathbyunicorn Highly recommend this Jazzkamikaze album that was gone from streaming for quite a while: Supersonic Revolutions ru-vid.com/group/OLAK5uy_lKUxHrFnEV2as-Ovc3tnr0MNh4NxXrCxI
Here's 4 albums from July 2024 that you might be interested in: - Vulvodynia - Entabeni: my album of the month, really did not expect a slam album to get this recognition ru-vid.com/group/OLAK5uy_moitCWmr9gimmS2BfwNRErb_ZJy2Q58ac - The Radicant - We Ascend: my EP of the month, very electronic bass heavy vibes ru-vid.com/group/OLAK5uy_nrn5dkNxpKUfWN2qA-Wl77j9X1RzhUB6M - Arka'n Asrafokor - Dzikkuh: interesting prog metal from Togo, Africa ru-vid.com/group/OLAK5uy_krS9kJvgJmspD8M_ieB0eGU8EoJvHhC20 - Al Di Meola - Twentyfour: a legacy guitarrist comes back from the brink of a heart attack ru-vid.com/group/OLAK5uy_m0LRU2VA-3ieulExZRZzxR1qzCvFKy9ws
Interesting picks. I heard the EP by The Radicant and enjoyed it. I only listened to 1 track from the Al Di Meola album so far and enjoyed that too so I'll plan to listen to the whole album tomorrow. Never heard of the other 2. Don't usually like slam but maybe I'll give that a shot. African prog metal sounds interesting though.
Dude...very good video! I am so ignorant of modern music and it's mostly bc every time I try to listen to suggested bands I come away unimpressed. Am hoping this list will prove useful. You've got to be pretty in touch to have this many albums to rank just in last 6 months. Will start giving a listen and will let you know what I think!
Thanks! If you like any progressive metal, progressive rock, metalcore or post-hardcore, this list will have something you'll enjoy for sure. I know some fans of older music don't like a lot of the newer metal that has harsh vocals so there's a bit of that on my list that you'd have to be ready for and open to but there's also a lot on my list that doesn't have any harsh vocals. I do listen to a lot of new music every week to be able to put lists like these together (over 200 albums this year already). That's the main motivation of my channel: helping people find new music they'll love. So I'm very glad to hear anyone appreciating all that listening I've been doing!
@@deathbyunicorn Have already been listening to Izz and and am a fan! Yeah, I'm not a big fan of a lot of modern music. Cooking monster vocals turn me off and a lot of prog metal sounds soulless; just being able to play instruments a thousand notes per second doesn't necessarily make good music. But you give so much good info on each release I should be able to pick and choose. Thanks again!
Ok, you’re not a fan of the ‘Turning to Crime’ covers album, but do you know the reason why Purple did it? The ‘normal’ process for Purple to make a record is to get together for a writing session (they don’t actually ‘write’ they jam) they come up with a bunch of ideas that can potentially become songs. They then get together for a second session, refine and develop those ideas further into being ‘almost’ songs. The next stage, just prior to recording, is a final session, which includes their producer, Bob Ezrin, who helps put the final polish onto those ideas, they then record the music (without lyrics). Gillan has been in all of these sessions, listening, contributing and writing down ideas for lyrics. After the instrumental tracks are mixed and completed, Gillan and Glover sit down and write the lyrics, Gillan then records the lyrics over the music. They were planning to start on a new studio album, then Covid hit..... They couldn’t tour (as they normally do continuously), they couldn’t get together for a writing session, they were in different parts of the world sitting on their bums doing nothing (like the rest of us). What do they do? They came up with the idea for a covers album, it was remotely recorded from their respective places around the world and the end result was ‘Turning to Crime’. It is what it is. Anyway..... As the world was starting to get back to ‘normal’ Steve Morse decided to retire from the band to look after his seriously ill wife, enter new guitarist Simon McBride. Purple is back recording and back on the road, and currently touring Europe. *Ian Paice, drums - age 76, since 1968 *Ian Gillan, vocals - age 78, since 1969 *Roger Glover, bass - age 78, since 1969 *Don Airey, Hammond organ - age 76, since 2002 - (Don replaced the late Jon Lord when he retired in 2002) *Simon McBride, guitar - age 45, since 2022 - (Simon replaced Steve Morse when he left the band to look after his wife who had terminal cancer, she recently passed away. Morse was in the band for 28 years, from 1994-2022, much longer than Blackmore who quit mid tour in 1993) Still making and playing good solid rock n roll! Cheers, PS, and yes ’= 1’ is a very good album too.
Thanks for sharing! It's interesting to hear the back story. I'm glad they were able to do something during covid. It would have been interesting to hear them go outside of their comfort zone and try to make an album of original music remotely. Turning to Crime is still good and worth a listen for fans of Deep Purple. For me, since it's just covers and it's just good, it's just not something I'll go back to much when compared to the rest of their output which I'd consider very good to excellent to near masterpiece in quality.
Mate, a remotely written and recorded new original material album? Was never going to happen. Why change a very successful formula that has worked well since 1968? 21 studio albums up to that point. No one in Purple turns up with a completed/written song, all of their original material comes from a live jam session of all members (everyone feeds off the energy of each other, their words, not mine), I’ve met them a few times, really nice guys! Even today they record all together, every Deep Purple studio album is actually a recording of a ‘live’ group session. It’s not like a lot of bands where each member might record separately, then put it together later. I suppose that’s part of who Purple are, they play live on stage and play live in the studio too. Turning to Crime was less about making an album for the public, but more about keeping active during Covid. Fair to say they’ve earned the right to keep doing it their way after 56 years. Cheers from Oz,
cool you're checking out Ours. They actually were on a tour many years ago (2008?) with The Dear Hunter, and I had a ticket to see that show, but the show in my town got cancelled due to 1 of the other bands on the tour, Circa Survive, had a death to 1 of the member's family. I like the new Ours album, however Alan was right in that nearly all of it are new mixes of previously released songs. Mostly from EPs though. Since you've never heard their previous records, I would recommend albums like Distorted Lullabies and Mercy certainly.
1. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime 2. Metallica - And Justice for All 3. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 4. Danzig - Danzig 5. King's X - Out of the Silent Planet 6. Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys II 7. Blue Oyster Cult - Imaginos 8. King Diamond - Them 9. Scorpions - Savage Amusement 10. Crimson Glory - Transcendence
looking to sample these tracks Izz - There's Hope! Red Handed Denial - One More Night Triton's Project - Messenger's Quest ALMO - Reconciliation Professor Caffine - That's a Chunky Vicinity - The Singularity Reliqa - Killstar (The Cold World) Turbulence - Binary Dream Loch Vostok - Children of Science Dvne - Eleonora Caligula's Horse - Mute
All great. I think you'll like them all. The only one there that I didn't love immediately was One More Night by Red Handed Denial. It doesn't give a complete picture of the variety on the album but no one song does. It's one of the more pop-sounding tracks that is more vocal centric and doesn't showcase their instrumental chops as much but it's grown on me cause it's so catchy and the vocals are so good.
Awesome. I like that one a lot too. I still need to check out their earlier work. Have you heard their debut album and, if so, do you think it's as good as Manifesto?
I'm really liking We Ascend from The Radicant, probably more than I expected. I'm also curious about the Weather Systems album that Danny Cavanagh from Anathema is behind.
Some of the songs on The Warning's Keep Me Fed had me on the fence at first, I'll admit. I'll also gladly admit that after repeated listens, I'm full-bore into the album. The six songs that were held back until Keep Me Fed was released are the ones I listen to the most, both because of unfamiliarity AND because the songs are in many ways better than the ones released earlier.
Same here. It's a bit on the "pop" side for my usual taste but the songs are all really catchy and enjoyable and they have some fun guitar riffs that keep it more musically interesting than most poppy hard rock.
I considered putting Alcest on this list but they just fell short of it for me. I think Judas Priest's release was from March rather than June but I do love it and would certainly put it on the list. I haven't listened to Wormwood and Cistvaen so I'll have to keep my eyes and ears open for those ones. Thanks for the suggestions.
Would be helpful, IMO, if you listed the albums/artists in the description with time stamps. Would allow users to see the bands/albums easily and jump to the portion of the video. Just a suggestion.
Thanks for the suggestion. I did list the artists in the description if you want to see the names but not the timestamps. I was definitely too lazy for that this time!
@@therockrollsoapbox6075 I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks! I just watched your Dream Theater video cause I'm a big Dream Theater fan and figured I'd give you a subscribe. Looks like you like a lot of bands that I love such as: Rush, Pink Floyd, Queen, Queensryche, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin. But yes I also like a lot of obscure stuff too. I've been trying to keep up with a lot of new stuff as it comes out so I can find the gems so you can probably find a lot of great stuff you'll like on my channel.
@@deathbyunicorn Yeah, I've started my channel with the bands I love the most and have huge collections. I own more music by DT than any other band; but I wouldn't call them my favorite. I like tons of music. But not like you; I mean I've never even heard of any of the bands you cited on your top albums of June. I'm older than you (58) and I feel I'm ignorant of a lot of music from last 20 years so your channel is helpful in finding new music. Will definitely be checking out more of your vids.
The Warning album I do like as well, although I'm unsure if I will like it as much as their last record Error. A lot of the songs the mix seems loud, and they do resemble Muse more more than on some of their other records. Dave Foster Band..didn't you mention before? I forget. The only other thing that came out this past week were some singles from Kimbra, Pure Reason Revolution, Paul Meany (of Mutemath), and Capital Cities. And the Toehider EP..which the song selection I really like, however the covers were pretty straight forward, which I'm unsure will lend to going back. Curious, where you are with your 2024 list? I concluded I have 36 or maybe 37 releases now, 9 of which are EPs. But there's not much of anything scheduled over the next few weeks before we are looking to make the Midseason Zoom.
I mentioned Dave Foster Band in my "Albums coming in June 2024" video for sure. I may have also mentioned them when they released Glimmer in 2023 but I don't recall for sure. I heard the Pure Reason Revolution single and liked it. Haven't heard those others yet. I've been maintaining my 2024 list as the year goes but there's a lot of releases that are really close in quality so some of the ordering is a bit of a toss up and sometimes I just pick whichever band I like more if the albums are otherwise equal. Do you have a date set for the midseason zoom vid?
@@deathbyunicorn I thought we were going to try and do the Zoom on Monday Evening July 15th? I forget, but I'm not working on Tuesday the 16th, so that was 1 reason why. 1 of those 2 days. I dunno, we probably should figure it out soon and talk to the others.
Good to hear you're checking out Pepe Deluxe. I have a huge fanboy bias, but I'vw come to conclude they're not going to be everyone's cup of tea due to the way they incorporate so many styles. And this new album and their last one are maybe a bit more schizophrenic than my favorite, Queen of the Wave, from 2012. That being said, I am really enjoying a lot of Comix Sonix, but I'm not assuming others will necessarily. It does have a lot of enjoyable moments though. Saddle That Wind, Earth Boys Are Easy, Wise Monkeys and the Devil.. The others you mentioned, I may want to check out Alcest as I know and even have 1 of their records on vinyl. Replacire I still mean to check out. I do enjoy some of The Faceless music (Akeldama especially). Pond? they sound interesting. I'll have to check them out.
All worth hearing. I'm pretty curious to hear more Pepe Deluxe. I think it's a good thing when the music is fascinating but you're not too sure about it. Usually that type of music grows on me. I felt a bit like that with HMLTD's The Worm and most music by Mr Bungle which is crazy but really fun. Maybe I should try Queen of the Wave next.
The Barock Project album is quite good. I like it more than their last album "Seven Seas" already. Sax solo in Propaganda is maybe mt favorite part. That's great you're enjoying The Crooked Fiddle Band's new album. It has a lot of great parts to it. I enjoy the bands who use strings in dynamic ways. Some of it does get a little heavy even, which reminds me a little of the great all-instrumental string group Judgement Day (or Apocalyptica, who maybe you know?). The driving Cello and violin parts. The Kind City previous record "Light Show" was a Christmas Themed release that I think was just Marshall Bolin, per "This" may be their 1st proper *band* album. But I'm glad you're enjoying some of it. I'm not sure if they will have a different singer necessarily, or at least if Marshall will stop singing in the future per he has sang in previous bands like A Series of Clicks and Beeps and Run at the Dog. He has a little bit of a Mike Patton approach to style and comedic/ironic approach. "This" has a lot of lyrics that are ironic sort of being into Death or Morbid topics, yet the songs are sort of happy and poppy in points. I saw them 1st live back in March open for Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and they also include Blake from Bubblemath who you might know? also a Minnesota-based Prog band.
I still have yet to check out older stuff by Barock Project. I don't know Judgment Day but do know Apocalyptica. That would've been cool to see The Kind City and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. I feel like I'd enjoy that show. I didn't realize they had a Bubblemath connection. I love Bubblemath!
gonna follow the template that I do when @AllMediaReviewsPodcast post a year albums list: here are 5 releases from June 2024 that I am excited about checking out: Sunburst - Manifesto Black Country Communion - V Rendezvous Point - Dream Chaser Kaipa - Sommargryningsljus Anvil - One and Only
Thanks for sharing those 5! I had 3 of them on the list already but I didn't have Sunburst. I just checked out the single, Hollow Lies, and now they're on my list cause I enjoyed that. I'm not as sure about listening to the Anvil album. I listened to the single, Feed Your Fantasy, and the main riff sounds like a slower version of Woman by Wolfmother and it was giving me really cheesy vibes. I don't know much other stuff by them though so maybe they're good?
@@deathbyunicorn Anvil used to be better in the olden days (Metal on Metal) and when they got their resurgence with their documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil. I mean it is very cheesy quasi-thrash stuff and they seem to put out the same record every single time but still an enjoyable romp. Here's one that took me by surprise today: Ætheria Conscientia - The Blossoming
I do like Akeldama especially from The Faceless, so I may want to check out that band Replacire. Dave Foster Band..I just noticed how Steve Rothery of Marillion played on at leasr 1 of his albums. You covered most of what I have, other than maybe 1 release that is Local to me, The Kind City with their debut album "This." It was released officially on Sunday June 2nd and is on both Spotify and Bandcamp. It's Kind of lyrical, quirky proggy Art Rock. Unsure how much you'd go for it, although you may like elements. Lot of vocals and horns. Sort of Faith No More influenced at times, but it's not super heavy. Although they opened for Sleepytime Gorilla Museum back in March. otherwise, it is a big month for me with titles you included. Barock Project The Crooked Fiddle Band The Decemberists Pepe Deluxe The Warning among a few others.
Replacire is solid techdeath. I don't like all techdeath generally but I like all albums The Faceless put out and Replacire scratched that itch. Nice Marillion connection there with Dave Foster Band! The Kind City sounds cool. Just listened to 1 song. I'll have to check out that album. Great underground gem there. Thanks for sharing!
Azure is clearly talented and are extremely high level musicians but its just not for me. I gave it a shot and I'm sure it is a masterwork but I just cant.
Fair enough. I don't think they would appeal to everybody. Is it the vocals that you can't get into or the instrumental side/composition? I think for many people, the vocals will take some warming up to before it clicks.
@@deathbyunicorn that's a good question. Over the past 2 years I've moved into finding instrumental versions of bands like periphery as an example and have been listening more to groups like Intervals and Buckethead mostly because I'm a guitar guy and am trying let those influences sink in. I can't do that with some bands because the vocals are so much apart of the songs they feel empty without them. Metallica being one of those examples.
you were the 1st person I noticed talk about that Sykophant album, but 2 or 3 others followed. I haven't heard it yet, but mean to. This week: Darren King - Temporal ex-drummer of Mutemath released his 2nd album within a month, the other under the "DK the Drummer" name. This album is different but still good. "Good Game" is rather electronic and catchy. I mean to checkout the Marjana Semkina album as I like her work with iamthemorning Also The Crooked Fiddle Band sent me their new album given I preordered it. A lot of it is good, very string-driven instrumental mostly. It comes out officially next week though.
Sykofant is excellent and definitely worth hearing. I think you'll like it. I think you'll like Marjana Semkina too. It's a lot more relaxed music. I plan to check out The Crooked Fiddle Band. Not sure yet about if DK the Drummer will be for me but I'll sample a song or two to see if I want to go through the full album.
Great work on the vocals on the latest Azure album Chris! As I listen to it more and more, I'm really getting even more into both the music and your unique and powerful vocal style. I loved them on first listen but they just keep getting better on repeat listens. Looking forward to more great music from Azure in the future and hopefully can catch you live someday. Keep it up!
@deathbyunicorn Really, really appreciate that! Extremely grateful that the weird variety of vocal stylising is something you dig - I know it's not for everyone haha! Thanks for putting time into digesting this release, appreciate the positivity you're bringing! Keep doing what you do!
I have the new Azure album in a flash drive in my car, but have yet to hear it. You're not alone in enjoying it though as I've seen other comments and high ratings for it. I like them, although they do tend to lose me a little at times. And the singer is a little hard to digest at times, however his performance in the song "A Sailor Will Learn" from their last record was really impressive. I may have to checkout X from Toehider, even though Doom Metal is generally not my thing overall. I still have yet to spend time with many of the other EPs actually. What also came out this week? Lenny Kravitz - Blue Electric Light Sound & Shape - Pillars of Creation I haven't heard either yet as well though. I've never heard Red Handed Denial.."One More Night" poppy? it isn't a cover of the Phil Collins tune, is it?
I see how the Azure vocalist is not for everyone. He reminds me of Hemina, Native Construct and The Kindred/Today I Caught The Plague's vocalists in how he really pushes himself to hit some intense high notes with power but also aims to be very theatrical in his delivery. Also possibly influenced by power metal, Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford. X isn't the best Toehider EP in the project for me but I think it's always worth hearing what Toehider makes. Thanks for the tip on Sound&Shape, that sounds pretty interesting for me so I'll have to listen to it. Lenny Kravitz isn't as exciting for me. I think he has some good songs but I never get too excited and I feel he is fairly average from my perspective. No the Red Handed Denial One More Night isn't a Phil Collins cover. It's just another poppy track that shares the same name. I'm not sure if you'll like them that much. Depends how much you appreciate djenty/poppy metalcore with female vocals. They have the odd progressive moment but they aren't too proggy.
of Montreal you may get into. I like things in their music, however I can't deal with Kevin Barnes their singer. Oddly, a band I love, Apes & Androids are kind of comparable to them, but the 2 singers with Apes & Androids I love. They have like 15 albums though, so if you get into them, you have a lot to check out.
I've only heard 2 Of Montreal albums so far. I like them but don't love them. I can see how the vocals would be a turn off. I may go back and check some of their other stuff out but there's some bands I think I can love that I still haven't finished their full discographies so it'll probably be a while before I decided to prioritize listening to Of Montreal. I've never heard Apes & Androids but now I'm curious.
Thanks Nigel! That Crownshift album definitely sounds like something I will like so I appreciate you making me aware of that (I just listened to the first song but plan to check out the rest tomorrow). I will check out Elvellon as well but am not as sure it will be to my taste. I listened to 1 track and the vocals sound great. I'm just not as into the Symphonic Metal sound of bands like Nightwish and Epica which this sounds like to me. I always thinks it's good but never quite excellent or exciting. I prefer prog metal, metalcore, power metal, tech death, traditional heavy metal and melodeath over the symphonic metal sound.
hey Brennan, hope your gets better. There were not many new releases for me this past week, but a few the week before (DK the Drummer and Matt Page). But there was news of new releases and announcements coming. Of course already ,there are several records coming out I'm excited about over the next few months. And likely more to come. The Bill Fisher record, I wanted-to but never got into Church of the Cosmic Skull. I forget exactly why. They sounded a little too ritualistic or something, I forget. But his solo work I haven't heard. I may want to at least check out that tune you talked about "Yell of the Ringman."
Thanks Kyle. It's a hell of a cold that I got unfortunately and my voice is still shot. Here's hoping tomorrow is better. I haven't heard DK the Drummer yet but I checked out Matt Page and enjoyed his album. For Bill Fisher, yeah I recommend checking out that track and I'd recommend his first solo album too as I find it's better than the most recent one.
Finally a channel that pays attention to progressive metal my favorite genre spheric universe experiment is another band I would recommend if you don't already know them
I have the debut of Thank You Scientist. I've always liked it enough to consider buying another album but not enough to actually have bought a second album. Periphery II is my only Periphery album, too. I need to listen to these albums again. Visions is the only Haken album I don't have of the first four. Mountain is my favourite album. I haven't heard the first two Symphony X albums. I like the band a fair bit but don't feel like listening to them often. The Kindred sounds like a band I need to check out because I am always looking for more Canadian bands. Yeah, I feel the same about Images and Words. It's as you say what put prog metal on the map. I still don't have any Tesseract. They've been on my list for years. Oh, and Protest the Hero! Great to see them at number 1! Cool video and great selection! I'm glad I have some and there are also some albums I should check out. Glad I saw this!
Everything Thank You Scientist has put out is top notch to me. I'd recommend all their albums as long as you're okay with the vocal style and their use of horns. The Mountain by Haken is amazing. I really like their debut Aquarius and think it's an underrated gem by them. But I like everything they've done. The debut Symphony X album doesn't have Russell Allen on vocals and he is really missed cause the vocalist on that is nowhere near his level of talent and the production is much rougher. I recommend starting with their second album and onwards. The first album still has some great compositions, guitar riffs, solos, etc but the vocals are hard to get into for me so it can ultimately be skipped. The Kindred and Protest the Hero are great Canadian prog acts. Maybe I could have mentioned Rush and Devin Townsend as well... And lots of other great Canadian prog talent missing from this video including Mandroid Echostar, Red Handed Denial, The Tea Party, Intervals, Alpha Galates, Casualties of Cool, Mirrelia, Driftglass, Voivod among many others
@@deathbyunicorn Adding some bands to my list there. Some of the ones you mentioned, I haven't heard yet. But The Tea Party and Voivod are in my top ten favourite bands along with Rush, and Devin is probably in the top 12. So, thanks! My list grows!
@@musicisajourney Casualties of Cool features Devin Townsend and is an interesting atmospheric country rock duo with male and female vocals. I usually strongly dislike country but there's something amazing and kind of progressive about what they bring to it. Intervals is one of the best instrumental prog bands I've ever heard. Probably my 2nd favourite after Animals as Leaders. Most of the others I mentioned are a bit more underground prog metal groups but all worth hearing.
@@deathbyunicorn I have Casualties of Cool and I like it a fair bit. Thanks to that album, I got to know Che Aimee Dorval. I think she has one of the best voices out there. Her last album, The Crowned, is like a serious, darker atmosphere pop album, but damn, she's such a good singer that I like the album.
I'd suggest getting into newer Opeth since they don't have harsh vocals and then working your way backwards in their discography to get to albums like Watershed, Ghost Reveries, Deliverance, Blackwater Park and Still Life in particular because they all have a mix of harsh and clean vocals and if you're already into Opeth's stuff with only clean vocals, it may not be too much of a stretch to start enjoying their stuff with some harsh vocals.
nice list. Kezia is fantastic and I find their best record still. Native Construct is also up there. I'll add some of my favorites: -Angra - Angel's Cry -Pain of Salvation - Entropia -Superior - Behind -In Vain - The Latter Rain -Cynic - Focus -Subterranean Masquerade - Suspended Animation Dreams -Shadow Gallery - Shadow Gallery -Soundscape - Discovery -The Faceless - Akeldama -SikTh - The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something Wild -Disillusion -Back to the Times of Splendor -Spiral Architect - A Skeptics Universe yeah doing a sophomore, 3rd, 4th albums list would be cool.
I agree I like Kezia best from PTH cause I'm a fan of concept albums. Technically speaking PTH becomes more technically proficient later in their career and their songwriting becomes smoother in terms of transitions but I like the spastic, random and chaotic nature of Kezia better even though I can see improvement over their career in other ways. I don't think they played to a click on Kezia but they started playing to a click later. Thanks for the recommendations. I've only heard Pain of Salvation, Cynic, The Faceless and Sikth from that list so it looks like there's always more for me to check out.
@@deathbyunicorn I find Kezia to be their most creative with the acoustic sections and female vocals from Jadea Kelly I think made it stand out for me. Yeah those albums are all great, you probably would enjoy most of them.
@@AllMediaReviewsPodcast Scurrilous and Volition feature Jadea Kelly doing some guest vocal appearances too. But another great thing about Kezia and Fortress that doesn't apply to their later albums is that all the lyrics are written by Arif MIrabdolbaghi and he has more fantasy, history, mythology and concept-inspired lyrics that unify everything. Scurrilous was a mix of Arif and Rody on lyrics. Rody's lyrics are more personal, literal and comedic. Rody writes all the lyrics on Volition and Palimpsest. On Palimpsest, he got a lot better at coming up with a unifying theme for all the lyrics.
I love Pain of Salvation, although I can have issues with Blast Beats when used too much/too high in the mix (Ne Obliviscaris)., but I may want to check out Loch Vostok anyway.
Ne Obliviscaris is a great example of a band with a lot of blast beats. I sometimes dislike if a band uses too many blast beats but, for some reason, I'm okay with it when it's Ne Obliviscaris cause they're so great. Loch Vostok is basically Pain of Salvation meets Ne Obliviscaris (but no violin). I recommend you give it at least 1 listen to see if you can tolerate the extreme intensity in this context.
