Album Reviews

Guitar wizard Manuel Barbará invites the listeners to experience his instrumental sound worlds	A concept album for fans of beautiful melodic, yet sophisticated prog, telling the imaginary story of Rhode
With their "cave" record, the heavy psych/progrock trio presents a special album, visual and sound-wise	An atmospheric piece of finest instrumental prog by VULKAN guitarist Christian Fredriksson
The concept behind this excellent album by the Lebanese progact is based on a true story	With release No4, the band offers honest, powerful music in best heavy metal manner
Mind-blowing progmetal with thought-provoking lyrics, thrilling guitar work, and a rhythm section on fire	Dive into the Ukrainian mythology, told with symphonic (melodic) death metal by two powerful singers
With a mesmerizing 2nd album, the French proggers offer a conceptual counterpart to their debut	Progmetal at its finest from Sweden, dealing with personal, social and spiritual topics
Beautiful melodies alternate with sophisticated, yet accessible instrumental parts	The Finnish band comes up with an amazing debut packed with passionate, pure rock'n roll
On their second album, the quartet from Texas offers genre-bending, horror-themed metal	With a little bit of horror and a little bit of hope, the Swedish quintet offers dark, melodic metal
An international sci-fi progmetal project, inviting the listener on a wild ride with highly technical guitar playing	Powerful debut EP by this Canadian quintet: serious musicianship meets mind blowing vocals
Three outstanding, instrumental debuts in an incredible variety: groovy, virtuoso, experimental	Impressive melodeath from Singapore, telling about events that took place in the 18th century in Bavaria
On their second album, the Greek quintet offers groovy, heavy rock with thoughtful lyrics	With their 5th album, the Greek powermetal band celebrates 10 years of making music together
Three instrumental releases for fans of sophisticated guitar playing, offering a wide variety of styles	On their 2nd EP, the Canadian death metal band melts technical precision with groove and melodies
Melodic epicness, mixed with lots of shredding and a good pinch of Viking madness	With their third album, the Italian quintet wanders between metalcore, melodeath, and progmetal
With their third studio album, the Swedish proggers take the listener on an amazing and intense ride	An album like a ray of sunlight coming through the clouds - Amazing AOR with some musical surprises
A truly multi-national record, with lyrics inspired by the events of a year that turned our world upside down	ULTHIMA from Finland introduce themselves with a solid melodeath debut (@Tuonela Magazine)
Inspired by natural forces, they take the listeners on a journey through real and rough emotions	Progressive neoclassical powermetal from Chile. Fast, virtuoso, melodic - Hear their Silent Call
An album as unique as its title, progmetal at its finest from Greece, and my AOTY2018	Three instrumental EP's for fans of virtuoso guitar playing, all telling their very own stories
Excellent first effort with seven mainly instrumental songs, progmetal from the US at its finest	From progrock to death metal and back. Jump on this amazing musical trip through space
The trio comes up with high energetic songs, wandering between party-thrash and more serious topics	How about some thrash/groove metal from Mumbai? Here we go with the debut of BLOODKILL
EPHEMERALD offer epic symphonic death metal straight from their hearts (@Tuonela Magazine)	On this debut album, MARIOS POLITIS tells his story with an amazing mix of rock, blues and folk
A prog masterpiece with countless musical and emotional turns, beautiful and brutal in one. My AOTY2020	Passionate prog / powermetal with symphonic elements, great melodies, and varied songwriting
Fantasy fan? Dive into this colourful, symphonic journey across the universe to a land called XIA.	Great debut album by this powermetal quintet from Greece, 22 years after their formation
An emotional, progressive concept album about a man suffering with Alzheimer's Disease	With Duality, DEFECTO prove that they're still musically untamed (@Tuonela Magazine)
Impressive debut of a talented, young keyboarder from Australia, playing modern progmetal	Great progmetal from Canada, take a seat and enjoy the ride Beyond the Exosphere (@Tuonela Magazine)
An impressive concept album, that tells the story of man who is searching for enlightenment	Amazing proggy debut, dealing with a man's self-destruction in modern society (@Tuonela Magazine)
Expressive debut album: Great riffs, thought provoking lyrics, and a drummer on fire! My AOTY2019	Australian instrumental cyber metal, with a "Mad Max meets Resident Evil" inspired story
Instrumental progressive (tech-death) metal, for fans of sophisticated guitar playing	This new metal duo invites you to join them on a Viking journey, steeped in a deep and dark lore
If you like your metal with expressive vocals, varied songwriting, and a pinch of Viking madness	Swedish heavy progrock with mesmerizing melodies, great rhythmic, and thoughtful lyrics
Familiar with KILGORE and their singer Jay Berndt? Here is some new heavy Rock'n Roll with him	Impressive debut album from this Finish quintet, thrash / death metal (@Tuonela Magazine)
Humorous quintet, offering catchy, modern progmetal, with djent driven rhythmic, and clean vocals.	Melodic powermetal with epic keyboard sounds and catchy melodies (@Tuonela Magazine)
With her first solo album, Noora Louhimo takes the listeners on a very personal journey (@Tuonela Magazine)