The Progress Report: October 2024

Welcome to the October Progress Report. We are nearing the end of the year – only one more Report left – and have a couple of highly anticipated releases this month, along with a few other quality albums to check out. From avant-garde death to retro prog, we try to cover a bit of everything again, with mixed results. As we always say, though, give each of these a listen and support the bands that resonate with you.

Ratings are on a five star scale.

Frost* – Life In The Wires (InsideOut)

As Frost* leader Jem Godfrey says, every good prog band has to do at least one double-length concept album, and here we have Life In The Wires checking off that box for the UK band. The quartet reach back in time here to evoke stylistic memories of their 2006 debut Milliontown, while at the same time pushing forward with new ideas.

In fact, Life In The Wires sort of picks up right where previous album Day And Age left off, with that album’s final track leading into this album. As expected, the band delivers some exceptionally played and written prog rock. Across eighty-six minutes Frost* never lose our attention, running the gamut from hypnotically hard-rocking to quaint and thoughtful. Life In The Wires is another super album from Frost*, and a great prog rock concept album to boot.

Rating: 4

Gigan – Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus (Willowtip)

American tech-death (that’s a bit limiting) outfit Gigan have been around for almost twenty years and Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus is their fifth full-length release – and first in seven years. “Limitless” and “mind-bending” are two phrases used to describe this album in the promo sheet, and both are accurate.

With an album name like that, and song titles such as “Square Wave Subversion” you know exactly what sound Gigan aims for and they do not diverge from that at all. Ranging from fast and technical death metal to pure avant-garde chaos, Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus will either be the most indecipherable album of the year or a shot of brilliance – it will all depend on the listener.

Rating: 3.5

Iotunn – Kinship (Metal Blade)

If you want to know more about Iotunn, look no further than our 2021 Best of list, where the Danish band’s debut was our fifth-best album (oh, and previously mentioned Frost*’s album was 12th). Access All Worlds was a superb modern prog metal album, and many of us who were fans of that album have been eagerly awaiting the follow-up.

Kinship is that follow-up, an album that explores all aspects of humanity from a prehistoric tribesman’s perspective. Kinship takes everything that made Access All Worlds great (the seamless amalgamation of prog, death, and power metal, along with Jon Aldará’s outstanding vocals) and hones the product, giving us a near-perfect blend of everything prog metal fans love. It was a close race between Kinship and Magna Mater (farther down here), but Iotunn’s masterpiece comes out on top as our pick of the month.

Rating: 4.5

Kosmodome – Ad Undus (Stickman)

Norwegian psych-prog fourpiece Kosmodome have released their sophomore album, Ad Undus. The Sandvik brothers (drums and guitar, and vocals) focus their writing on hypnotic riffs with progressive arrangements, a style that when well executed can be extremely compelling.

The six tracks on Ad Undus (a Norwegian saying similar to “everything goes south”) are all rooted in this style but present enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. There’s a lot to like here musically, and the brothers’ vocals continue to improve, making Kosmodome a band to keep an eye on in the future as they continue to fine-tune their craft.

Rating: 3.5

Mother Of Millions – Magna Mater (ViciSolum)

The second highly-anticipated release this month is the fourth album from Greek prog-metal outfit Mother Of Millions. We didn’t review their 2019 album, Artifacts here, but it has been in rotation at this reviewer’s house for the past five years. Magna Mater cranks up the heaviness and the intensity more than a notch, and Mother Of Millions deliver the best album of their career.

George Prokopiou (also of the band Poem) is one of metal’s greatest vocalists, with the ability to wring every last drop of emotion from a lyric without being cliché or overdramatic. On Magna Mater he takes this to the next level, and when you add that to the crushing, epic-sounding music and arrangements – along with the band’s trademark delicate touches on the keyboards – you are left with one of the year’s top prog metal releases, and one that comes oh so close to being our pick of the month.

Rating: 4.5

Souls Of Ambience – A 1000 Tears (Wormholedeath)

Australia’s ’70s-inspired prog rockers Souls Of Ambience give us our final release of the month, A 1000 Tears. Led by keyboardist/vocalist Greg Sneddon, the band aims to create a vintage-sounding prog-psych concept album dealing with a woman who shields her sibling from an abusive stepfather.

The concept is noble, but the execution does not give the weighty story the quality it deserves. A 1000 Tears can only be described as odd: the vocals are really too far out front in the mix considering their subpar quality, and the music is utterly forgettable with one exception: the blistering, at times outright mind-blowing, guitar solos. I had to wonder if Marek Taborsky somehow ended up in the wrong band, as his solos are of such amazing quality they really make everything else pale in comparison. A 1000 Tears is worth checking out for the guitar solos alone; unfortunately, not for much else.

Rating: 2.5