Style: Progressive Metal, Metalcore, Technical Groove Metal (Harsh vocals) Recommended for fans of: Meshuggah, Textures, Gojira, Car Bomb Review by: Christopher Country: Missouri, USA Release date: 28 July, 2023 So there’s this band in the metal scene, they’re called Meshuggah—you might’ve heard of them. I cannot stand them. Don’t get me wrong, Meshuggah are incredibly technically impressive; Swiss watch levels of intricacy, a level of ability and meticulousness that borders on awe-inspiring. But nothing bores me more than the monotonous polyrhythmic thunder of a Meshuggah album, the relentle ..read more

Style: Progressive Metal, Groove Metal (Mixed vocals) Recommended for fans of: Strapping Young Lad, Gojira, early Devin Townsend Review by: Christopher Country: Ukraine Release date: 30 November, 2023 Without wanting to get too cynically McLuhanesque, in the age of social media a war is only as important as its entertainment value. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which began in February 2022, brought an onslaught of militarised horror to global media, and outpourings of support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people. And then, after a while, we forgot. We have a new war to go ..read more

Style: Thrash metal, Progressive metal (mixed vocals) Recommended for fans of: Revocation, Decapitated, Gojira Review by: Francesco Country: Serbia Release date: 10 May, 2023 Dobro jutro! Quasarborn‘s nigh-unpronouncable third full-length Novo Oružje Protiv Bola (am I saying that right?) is also their first entirely Serbian language release and, being a sucker for bands singing in their native tongues, I knew I had to review it. Truly, I haven’t been able to stop listening to it despite the fact that I well know I have other reviews to write- so engaging is this album that I am stocking up on ..read more

Style: Death Metal, Prog Metal, Groove Metal (Mixed vocals) Review by: Cooper Country: Slovakia Release date: 24 June, 2022 Progressive death metal greenhorns Dvota just released their debut album Antichiromantia, and despite a few setbacks it delivers a powerful and engaging collection of songs sure to please fans of the genre. Dvota defines the formula for their music from the get-go. The opener, “Tarot”, after a quick buildup of clean guitar and synthesizer, quickly comes to feature all the progressive death metal staples in the form of chunky guitars, double bass centric drums, and a bas ..read more

Style: Progressive Metalcore, Groove Metal (mixed vocals) Recommended for fans of: Trivium, Intronaut, Periphery, TOOL Review by: Cooper Country: Germany Release date: 27 October, 2023 Of the various paths that lead to the land of progressive metal, the one through metalcore is one of the most often traveled. Weatherworn signposts of pilgrims long since past mark the long and familiar way, beginning with bands like Killswitch Engage and Bullet For My Valentine, designated halfway by bands like Trivium and Avenged Sevenfold, and ending squarely in the realm of Between the Buried and Me and ERR ..read more

Style: groove/djent (mixed vocals) Review by: Josh Country: US-TX Release date: 9 July, 2021 A short short time ago, in a scene, far, far, away, trap music began to run stale. In the midst of a creative decline, few new artists seemed to be truly pushing the envelope, instead just biting the styles of other, more successful acts. As a consequence, the genre became inundated with competency. Not quality, but competency. Songs that didn’t do anything wrong, but at the same time didn’t really do anything right. Djent now faces much the same situation, and Scattered Storm, while not that unorigin ..read more

Style: Progressive Metal, Groove Metal, Death Metal (mixed vocals) Recommended for fans of: Gojira, Alluvial, Meshuggah, Gorod Review by: Sabrina Country: Maine, United States Release date: 21 July, 2023 On the surface, this was the perfect album to introduce me back into the metal review scene as I am a longtime fan of progressive groove metal: for example, I’ve done previous reviews of the latest albums by Scarred, Hammerhedd and Polars Collide (a band which I am probably the number one fan of at this point). Unfortunately for fans in the USA, it will likely be a long time until we’ll be ab ..read more

Style: Progressive Metal, Groove Metal (Mixed vocals) Recommended for fans of: early Devin Townsend, Gojira, Strapping Young Lad Review by: Christopher Country: UK Release date: 27 October, 2023 Dark Side of the Moon—often cited as the best album ever made—is just forty-three minutes long. Thriller? Forty-two minutes. Revolver? A mere thirty-five minutes. These shorter runtimes were mostly a byproduct of technological limitations, and nowadays such brevity is unnecessary and, therefore, rarer. But perhaps we’re worse off for that; such constraints on length forced bands to be more discerning ..read more

Style: Progressive Death Metal, Groove Metal (harsh vocals) Recommended for fans of: Gojira Review by: Cooper Country: Switzerland Release date: 23 September, 2022 As a self professed Gojira superfan, I am in a constant search for new bands that sound like the band I love. As successors to the throne of pure rhythmic savagery first ruled by Pantera and most famously helmed by Meshuggah, Gojira combine massive, off-kilter riffs that pound forward like a stampeding elephant with moments of delicate, provocative atmosphere, forging one of the most distinct sounds of the modern metal landscape. T ..read more

Style: Groove Metal, Progressive Rock, Alternative Metal (Clean vocals) Review by: Mathis Country: US-CA Release date: 06 June, 2022 A strong contender for bobblehead album of the year, Waking up will have your head bouncing around without any authorization! Teravolt are the ones to be held responsible for this groove-inciting release; a progressive rock/groove metal crossover that you never knew you wanted. Complete with a percussive punchiness that rivals Muhammad Ali in his prime. Though Teravolt is inherently similar to bands like Meshuggah, Gojira, or Sepultura; I see Teravolt more as a ..read more