Today I’ve got something that isn’t quite a review. Rather, I wanted to highlight some albums of a particular format and genre that I think all stand as strong, unique musical experiences. If you know me, you know I’m a big fan of heavy and ambitious music. In metal, I find a transgressive and transcendental energy that can make one feel alive, and in progressive music with experimental, extended forms, I find unbound potential for musical expression and creativity. Five sizable tracks to an album is the perfect format to express a wealth of musical ideas while also insuring that no one track feels like a throwaway. So, I present to you five of my favorite 5-track progressive metal albums, each very stylistically different but all incredible pieces of music: 

Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas - Mariner (Indie Recordings, 2016)

Style: Post-Metal, Melodic 

   If you’ve been following my reviews, you may already know about this one. Cult of Luna is a seminal post metal band who work largely in concept albums exploring many ideas. Julie Christmas is a prolific heavy music vocalist with staggering range in her performance, from triumphant, anthemic clean vocals, to inhuman, ferocious shrieks and wails. Mariner is something totally its own though, transcending its collaborators. Following a narrative of space exploration through a somewhat ambiguous nautical extended metaphor, the album traces through themes of sacrifice, doubt, and perseverance. With commanding drums, warm synths and electric pianos, and a variety of well-honed guitar and bass tones, this album pounds along as if it were a march into the great beyond. Mariner is perhaps as close to pop as this style of music can be. The drums groove hard, and Christmas’ melodic sense gives each song a distinct memorability, with hooks that have kept me coming back to Mariner almost daily for over a month since first listening. 

Dreadnought - Bridging Realms (Sailor Records, 2015)

Style: Black Metal, Folk Metal, Psychedelic 

   I discovered Dreadnought through relation to Kayo Dot’s Choirs of the Eye (later on this list), and didn’t find what I expected, but did find something unique and fresh. Dreadnought are from Denver, Colorado, and in the first minutes of Bridging Realms, you can tell. Swelling deep ambience complimented by solitary saxophone and flute evoke the vast expanses and desolate wilderness of the Rocky Mountain area. This music sounds like a journey through the wild and an ode to its savage forces. Sludgy guitar tones and harsh growls are contrasted with crisp singing from a vocalist who clearly knows her diction and crystal clear piano. Psychedelia is an influence without a doubt, with warping slide guitars overtop jam-band-esque drum groove sections. In this way, this group may actually have as much (if not more) in common with progressive rock as it does with metal. The bass tone here is notably quite good, and the bassist often drives the rhythm behind the clean sections. Perhaps the realms being bridged here are those of the modern civilized world and of nature. Perhaps they are the realms of nature and some more magical or demonic. Bridging Realms is definitely good music for a Dungeons & Dragons session. 

Mastery - VALIS (The Flenser, 2015)

Style: Raw Black Metal, Grind, Thrash  

   A completely overwhelming and punishingly intricate album, VALIS takes its name from a Phillip K. Dick novel. It’s easy to see the connection with science fiction here; from the bizarre opening moments of V.A.L.I.S.V.E.S.S.E.L. and the alien electronic textures of the two interlude tracks, to the constant whiplash-inducing musical shifts, the album is definitively futurist, despite its stripped down lo-fi production aesthetic. Mastery is the one man project of a San Francisco composer who goes by the alias Ephemeral Domignostika, who is both a remarkably creative guitarist and a vocalist with an absolutely filthy, death-like rasp. The riffs on here are as numerous as they are dazzling, and for the close listeners with short attention spans, there’s nary a stale moment as the guitar changes range and playing style in the blink of an eye. Two aforementioned interludes give you just enough palette-cleansing time in between the three sonic assaults of the proper tracks. VALIS sounds like blitzkrieg in musical form. 

Krallice - Years Past Matter (Self-Released, 2012)

Style: Black Metal
 

    Okay, okay, this is kind of cheating since this has 6 tracks, but one of them is a short ambient interlude that hardly counts. One of my all time favorites, Years Past Matter is likely the most focused of Krallice’s output, save possible the distinct outlier that is their most recent album Ygg Huur. This album is one of the first that turned me on to black metal and metal as a whole, really. Krallice is part of a diverse and exciting New York extreme metal scene that includes bands such as Psalm Zero and Kayo Dot. Their particular draw is simple: Krallice has a sense of guitar interplay, form, and overall composition that few bands can match. Each of the virtually untitled tracks on this album features musical themes and progressions that I would actually feel comfortable bringing out the generally tired “metal is like classical music” trope over. Years Past Matter, in everything from its name, lyrics, art, and esoteric themes feels profoundly existential. Though largely instrumental, the moments where Nicholas McMaster - the bands bassist/vocalist - screams are some of the most powerful, feeling tortured, urgent, and even resolute.
 

Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye (Tzadik Records, 2003)

 

Style: Post-Metal, Modern Composition, Experimental, Black Metal
 

    Last but not least - in fact, most - is Kayo Dot’s debut album. Ask me about it on any given day and I’ll likely tell you it’s the greatest album of all time. Nothing does this masterwork of a studio project justice except listening to it. I was one of about sixty people lucky enough to see a rare live performance of this album last summer, and in the company of people who had travelled thousands of miles from places such as Australia, France, and Italy for just that purpose. If that doesn’t give you an idea of the quality and genius of this record, just listen. Composer and frontman Toby Driver has created a deeply layered, highly dynamic, emotionally powerful record in Choirs of the Eye. From big crescendos of fury to some of the quietest most intimate atmospheres I’ve ever heard in music, this album has breathtaking highs and moving lows, and everything in between. Just in the opening track Marathon, the bands moves through weighty hits, a contemplative euphonium solo, and a whispered spoken word part that never fails to give goosebumps. If you only take one music recommendation from me in your life, please make Choirs of the Eye. 

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Thanks for reading!

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