progressive

Evergrey – Glorious Collision

Glorious Collision is a beautiful record and with the embracing of some more mellow and melodic sounds, they’ll not only please long time fans but may find some new fans from the hard rock world coming out to shows as well.

Neverland – ophidia

For my money, I’d pass on this record. It isn’t awful but it’s really isn’t very good either. The pieces are in place for a good record but they need to find a much better guitar tone, help the singer find his niche (or write in a more comfortable key) and reign in the keyboardist.

Worm Ouroboros – s/t

Worm Ouroboros dive in without hesitation, never shy about setting themselves adrift on the musical currents they generate. On the surface, they wallow in beauty and atmosphere. But after repeated listens you can get beneath the surface, into the substrata of the songs themselves, which is where this album’s rewards really dwell.

Coalesce: OX EP

Following their post-hiatus full-length OX which was released this summer, the 7-track set is more of the same – a short collection of completely astounding music.

Barren Earth: Our Twilight

Whenever a veteran metal band undergoes radical changes, like in Amorphis’s case, a new lead singer and a more streamlined sound, even if that shift in direction is successful artistically commercially and artistically, there will always be the stubborn folks in the background bitching and moaning about how their favourite band just isn’t the same as it used to be. Well, if you’re one of those people who still gripe that Skyforger is a sellout and can’t hold a candle to Tales From the Thousand Lakes, first of all, you’re only half right, and secondly, you can give a listen to Finland’s newest supergroup, who approach Amorphis’s classic, folk-infused progressive doom sound as if nary a day has passed since 1994.

Adrien Begrand dissects the debut release by Finnish progressive death metal supergroup Barren Earth.

While Heaven Wept: Vast Oceans Lachrymose

If you want to hear passionate music played by dedicated musicians that have been reworked and reworked again and again into perfection (some of the tracks go back as far as 95), the final results are proof that this will be one of my absolute faves of 09 and possibly one of the greatest melodic doom metal albums of our time.

Opeth: Watershed

With 2008 proving to be a stellar year for great releases from veteran bands, no one album stands out so clearly from the pack as this, the newest offering by Sweden’s Opeth.