Tag Archives: Prog Metal

Friday Morning Metal – Green Carnation – Sanguis

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What in Green Carnation? Here’s some super prog from Norway’s own Green Carnation. The song is Sanguis, off Part two of Prog Bards Epic Album Trilogy™, and that’s a fantastic phrase right there. These guys have been progging all over since 1990, with themes of life, death, sorrow, and introspection. Sanguis does seem to play in those themes. Also their drummer’s shirt is buttoned all the way up. He looks like a server at a fancy restaurant, not a drummer. Maybe that’s how you can tell they’re a professional prog® band.

The song kicks off with some organ vibes before dropping into the main melody. It’s pretty cool to see a band prog rocking with an organ instead of a keyboard. But a keytar would still be epic. The vocals are big and clean, and with the way the guy is moving his hands around I bet he’s like an opera type singer too. Oooh and sometimes he pivots to a growl, that’s neat. There’s a pretty noodly solo at the halfway mark, not like crazy noodly but definitely fun and technical. The chorus is pretty floaty, not like much of the stuff I’ve posted recently, but it’s a pretty big and epic 7-minute prog fest.

The video itself is primarily on a sound stage, but sometimes they make it look like it’s snowing/raining blood? I guess that’s the Sanguis part. Also a lot of strobe lights, so if that is no damn good for you maybe listen to the song on Sportify or scroll the video off the page? The lead singer looks like Santa giving a Ted Talk, too.

Friday Morning Metal – Borknagar – Winter Thrice

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Happy Friday, here’s some proggy folky black metal care of Borknagar. These guys have been singing about paganism and nature and whatnot since 1995. They’re from Bergen, but not Kneurgen, near the Joergen Fjords. Hmm. Kneurgen, that’s in the Klargen Province, near the Biburgen River. Now correct me if I’m wrong. Their annual rainfall varies from about 40 inches in the winter to about 200 inches in the summer, and their chief export is modular furniature. I did a report on Sweden in the eighth grade.It was really hard, I stayed all night on it. Then the next day, in gym class I was on the minitramp and I got diarrhea. I really wish I hadn’t told you that. Given that it’s wicked cold in much of the northern climes, Winter Thrice seemed like a good song to share.

The song kicks off with a quiet melody before the blast beats blast your face off and the song starts in earnest. I think there are four vocalists in this band, three singers and one growly dude. Growly dude gets going a couple minutes in, I think he’s singing about how it’s so cold it wrecked his voice and now he needs a chamomile tea. All the vocalists are pretty great, and fit into the folky metal vibe of the band.

The video bounces between the band playing in a cabin of some sort and clips of a very cold and frozen over lake & town. Their room does look very cozy as a contrast to the tundra. I would much rather hang out indoors. Given their robust vocalist count, it’s fun to see the indoor wide shots. One singer will be singing, and the other three are just kinda sitting there like goofs. I wonder what they do during the live performances. Maybe they hang out off to the side and get tagged in like it’s survivor series or something.


Friday Morning Metal – Novembre – Your Holocene

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Happy Friday! Here’s a celebration of the month of Novembre by the band Novembre. These guys are from Italy and have been kicking ass since 1990. Not much of a shockre to see a 35+ year old band play this tightly. Encyclopaedia Metallum claims they’re Prog Gothis/Doom/Death Metal. That’s a wide net to cast in terms of metal sub-genres.

The song wastes no time getting to the lyrics, which seem to covre the loss of a relationship or a loved one fleeing? I mean, the lyrics are right there, I should probably read them. But they do sound kind of like the singer misses someone and struggles to remembre how they look. I really enjoy the drummre’s technique, very interesting filling out the rhythm without sitting too hard on blast beats. The guitarist is a solid noodlre during the solo toward the end, with a big soarre of a riff before the song wraps up.

It’s a lyric video, so not much to riff on there, but the roiling clouds and whatnot do look pretty ominous. I tried looking for standard videos, but the songs feature more growly, death metal adjacent vocals. I guess that’s why Angry Metal Guy said they were doom/prog? Because this song sounds pretty proggy to me. This song is intriguing to me compared to the othres I found. So go give it a listen!

Friday Morning Metal – Alter Bridge – What Lies Within

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Turns out this band is 3/4 of Creed. I heard a thing where they formed the band they didn’t realize it was going to be god rock and they got disappointed, so I guess this is their attempt to be a solid prog rock/metal act. And they’re pretty solid. Turns out the singer also sings in Slash’s band, he’s got solid pipes.

The song kicks off like an early 2000s borderline nu-metal or I guess 21st century American Metal vibe, kinda industrial but once the song gets going it sounds like pretty by the numbers prog rock. They do sing about their open eyes, but not open arms. The pivot from chuggy but kinda slower verses to a pre-chorus breakdown, to an aggressive chorus is interesting. Not necessarily the thrash and speed metal stuff I normally post, but I do dig it. The vocals at certain points sound like the song could fit into a rock opera well. And then there’s a proper soaring and noodly guitar solo to really lock it in.

The video is a samurai looking person fighting off a zombie horde. Or maybe a viking? Regardless, it does have a Dethklok kind of vibe to all the brutality, and you can’t go wrong with being brütal. I’m not sure if it’s a stylistic choice or it’s AI, but there’s something in the way the animation moves that makes me think it might be AI. I hope it’s not. It’s bad enough they’re making fake bands to stuff into Spøtify, they don’t need to crap everything else up with AI.

Friday Morning Metal – Serpent Rider – Matri Deorum

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Oooh weird proggy metal with a lady singer saying what sounds like a bunch of Latin. This week it’s Matri Deorum from Serpent Rider. This band’s from Los Angeles and pulled their name from a Manilla Road lyric, which can give you a good vibe on what they’re putting out.

The song kicks off with some operatic singing, like she’s trying to channel the oracle at Delphi or something. I know she’s saying actual stuff, but the Latin really makes me think of that video game Sacred 2 – Fallen Angel, featuring none other than Blind Guardian. Combined with the tone of the music, it’s a little foreboding and fun. The heavy syncopation during the guitar solos reminds me of some of Slough Feg’s work, too. Legit solos all around. The song closes with the singer harmonizing with one of the dudes in the band, and kind of ends abruptly, but it’s still pretty legit.

It’s a lyric video, so you can follow along to all the Galilean and Patrimonious and Romulean things going on in there. When they got to the Romulean part I really thought they were singing about Star Trek. That’d be pretty rad. I think I did a Friday Morning metal a while back about a Star Trek themed band. Gotta check them out again.

Hoc igitur cantu fruere, deinde tuo proximo oraculo gratias agere fac. Vel Iovi taurum immolabis.

Friday Morning Metal – Avantasia – Against the Wind

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Big bombastic music from Avantasia inbound! Operatic Metal Super Group Avantasia, including Kenny Leckremo from H.E.A.T., released a new song off their upcoming album “Here Be Dragons,” which is a great name for an album. I guess these guys were formed by the former singer of Edguy, which is pretty cool. I used to dig on Edguy a ton, and the vocalist was a big part of it. Unless the vocals in this track is Kenny Leckremo, which it could be. Never heard of the guy, but he’s a vocalist so there’s that.

All in all it’s pretty solid song, full of soaring riffs and frenetic drums. The chorus does give Edguy vibes, so now I can’t unhear that. Going against the wind has to be tough, gotta worry about your hat blowing off and all sorts of crap potentially flying into your face. The breakdown transitioning into one of the noodliest guitar solos I’ve heard in a while is fun, and kind of a kick restart into the song. Also the bit before the coda totally sounds like the part in the opera where the whole cast comes out and sings in unison about how they’re all going their way or something.

I do look forward to the whole album, maybe it’s a concept album about sailing into unknown dragon infested waters and having to go against the wind to reach Valhalla or something.

Friday Morning Metal – Myrath – Into the Light

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Ooooooh Tunisian power metal! I’m pretty sure only two people read these anymore, and one of you prefers power/melodic/grandiose metal over thrash so hopefully this is right up your alley.

Myrath is straight out of Tunisia, and got started in 2007. Wikipedia says they started in 2001 as X-Tazy, but that band name sounds like a boy band.

The video is a live performance, and I hope they play the west coast soon because the stage is beautiful, there are dudes with fire, and there’s a magic floating table! A triumphant magic floating table!

The singer gives off some solid Steve Perry vibes, and he fits in with the total vibe really well. He also does some fun mic flipping, can’t pass that up. The band is really tight, and the song is bombastic and magic. Were I a pro wrestler, I’d want to come out to this song. Enjoy!

Friday Morning Metal – Orden Ogan – The Things We Believe In

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Orden Ogan hails from Germany, pumping out proggy power metal with kickass vocal harmonizing and big guitar solos. Their new album “To the End” came out last week, and it’s been pretty great to listen to. I haven’t heard too many metal bands that incorporate flute, violin, and multiple vocal parts while still sounding like great power metal. Usually they tend to go for the bombast and sound a bit more operatic, and I start to tune out. Orden Ogan does a fantastic job to layer these musical parts on a strong metal base, keeping me interested.

Here’s the video for “The Things We Believe In.” It has a great, big sound, like a great battle cry. Or montage while the rag tag group of soldiers prep for the onslaught of the horde or something.