Welcome to Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week. Seven brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
A big doff of the old proverbial hat to Norwegian prog quintet Rendezvous Point, whose eco-driven Don't Look Down won last week's Tracks Of The Week. A respectable secidn place to fellow Norwegian art rockers Dim Gray in second and Austrian guitarist Waxamilion in third place.
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it?
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it?
The idea is to watch the videos (or listen if it's a stream), enjoy (or not) and also to vote for your favourite in the voting form at the bottom of this post. Couldn't be easier could it?
We'll be bringing you Tracks Of The Week, as the title implies, each week. Next week we'll update you with this week's winner, and present a host of new prog music for you to enjoy.
If you're a band and you want to be featured in Prog's Tracks Of The Week, send your video (as a YouTube link) or track embed, band photo and biog to us here.
BLACKBRIAR - MOONFLOWER (feat. Marjana Semkina)
Dutch symphonic rockers Bklackbriar have hooked up with Iamthemorning's Marjana Semkina for their brand new single Moonflower, the video for which evokes images of Sheridan Le Fanu's lesbian vampire classic Carmilla, once so notably imagned by Hammer Horror as The Vampire Lovers. The track is taken from last year's A Dark Euphony album and the band will support prog metallers Kamelot throughout Europe this October.
"Moonflower tells a love story between a female vampire and a mortal girl and transports you to a bygone era where darkness and desire intertwine," says Blackfriar singer Zore Cock, who appears in the video with Semkina. "It's inspired by the 19th-century gothic novel Carmilla, a timeless story that predates even the infamous Dracula. The song features a guest songstress Marjana Semkina, who I think is the most perfect fit for making this Moonflower an ethereal, haunting, and dark duet.”
TRIFECTA - STUPID POP SONG
Nick Beggs, Craig Blundell and Adam Holzman are back with more prog fusion on a second Trifecta album The New Normal which will be released through Kscope on April 12. The delightfully jaunty Stupid Pop Song is from the upcoming album, perfectly suited to Nick Beggs' sense of fun and with a video created by his daughter and Beggs Sister Willow. The New Normal also features guest appearances from Alex Lifeson (Rush/Envy of None) for additional guitar on Once Around The Sun With You and Theo Travis (Steven Wilson) on saxophone for insectoid grooves of Daddy Long Legs.
“Stupid Pop Song was written for my daughter Willow who had a band for a while and was looking for material," Beggs explains. "I wrote it in the car one day whilst thinking about her musical journey. It obviously has a different narrative and irony when sung by me which is what happened in the end owing to the fact her band split up. I played it to Craig and Adam who both thought it would work well for Trifecta, but at the time I was unsure. They kind of talked me round after playing with the arrangement in their studios. I think it worked out rather well."
ESOTERICA - FIREFLY
UK prog metal sextet Esoterica featured in some. of the very earliest issues of Prog Magazine, but we've not seen much of them for a while. However the band are back with brand new single Firefly, and will be releasing a brand new album later in the year. The song is richly atmospheric and the video is something else! Created using the latest advancements in Unreal Engine, Metahumans, Move.ai, and LiveLink, the video immerses viewers in a virtual world resembling a computer game. A young protagonist navigates a mysterious forest, guided by a luminous firefly, on a quest to confront the end-of-level boss - a cyborg version of Esoterica's lead singer, Tobias Keast.
"After over a year in the making, we're so happy to finally be releasing Firefly," the band proudly state. "It's been a huge amount of effort, involving a massive team of people. The song has something completely magical about it and I know the video is going to blow people away, it's totally unique."
TERAMAZE - BLACK SOUND
Prolific Australian prog rockers Teremaze don't rest on their laurels! The band, led by guitarist and vocalist Dean Wells, have released no less than five quality albums over the past five years - count them: I Wonder (2020), Sorella Minore and And The Beauty The Perceive (2021) Flight Of The Wounded (2022) and Dalla Volta last year! The pulsating Black Sound is a standalone single, although to be honest, we wouldn't be at all surprised if there was a new studio album waiting in the wings!
"When you treat the ones around you without fear of consequence, you only set in motion the inevitable destruction of your demise," says Teramaze vocalist Nathan Peachey. "Black Sound explores the emotional turmoil of living a life only caring about one thing, yourself."
ADVENT HORIZON - WATER
US prog rockers Advent Horizon released their sixth studio album A Cell To Call Home in 2023 and have just released this 'live in the studio' video for their track Water, the first of several such videos the band plan to release. The melodic quartet are also planning local live shows but also have one eye on performing further afield.
"Over the past 6 months, we have been overwhelmed and honoured by the number of fans who have asked if we will be playing in Europe, South America, Central America etc... anytime soon. We very much hope that we can make it outside of the USA in the very near future, but in the meantime, we figured we should at least put together some live videos to give everyone a taste of what our upcoming live shows will look/sound like. We hope our fans will accept this humble token of our appreciation to them, and help us spread the word about our music so that we can get out to see them in person soon!"
KAMELOT - NIGHTSKY
US prog metallers Kamelot released their thirteenth studio album The Awakening through Napalm Records last year and the band head out on a major US tour next month, the Kamelot: Awaken The World Tour 2024, with fellow symphonic rockers HammerFall, Ad Infinitum and Seven Spires. NightSky offers something g a little more atmospheric and less bombastic from the US quintet.
"This one is a favorite of mine to play live - we can't 'til April for the upcoming tour," enthuses bandleader and guitarist Thomas Youngblood, while singer Tommy Karevik adds: "NightSky is about the invisible ties that extend well beyond this life and echo into the next."
ORNAMENTAL - METHASTASIS
German psych-rock collective Ornamental will release their first studio album, Verwandlung Im Schlaf, through Pink-Tank Records on April 9. The band, who have been hailed in some quarters as Germanic counterpart of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, originally formed as a solo project of Sidney Jaffe (Arcane Allies, Burnpilot) and evolved into a quartet with Jonas Hehemann (Burnpilot, Tv Strange) on bass, Rouven Bienert (Tv Strange, Ruins) on guitar and synths and Lennart Uffmann (Brandmann) on the drums.
Alongside the band's driving yet melodic prog-infused psych there's plenty of motorik beats from the band to keep Krautrock fans happy too.
