| 2012 |
| Kamelot Silverthorn | 4.0 |
| Loraine An Autumn Evening | 4.0 |
| Galneryus Angel of Salvation | 4.5 |
| Hammock Departure Songs | 4.0 |
| Alberto Rigoni Three Wise Monkeys | 4.0 |
| Prototype Catalyst | 2.0 |
| Spheric Universe Experience The New Eve | 2.0 |
| Mono For My Parents | 5.0 |
| Big Big Train English Electric | 5.0 |
| Threshold March of Progress | 4.5 |
| Katatonia Dead End Kings | 4.0 |
| Toundra III | 3.5 |
| Mystery The World is a Game | 4.0 |
| Aortes Falling Motions | 3.0 |
| Jakarta Project Beauty Lies in Lover's Eyes | 3.5 |
| The Contortionist Intrinsic | 3.5 |
| Tourniquet Antiseptic Bloodbath | 3.5 |
| Antiseptic Bloodbath kind of sounds like just another Tourniquet album when we were expecting something more extreme and risky from this Christian technical thrash metal standby. The group has refined their formula and musicianship, especially in vocalist Luke Easter's energetic, confident performance, has branched out lyrically as well by tackling various aspects of theology and spirituality and delivering a deserved ode to Tyke, the famously abused Hawaiian circus elephant, and delivered a crunchy but clean mix, but the bass is nondescript and the heavily compressed mastering is reprehensible from an experienced band and producer dedicated to producing quality metal productions. I expected a little better from Tourniquet this time, but it's not bad and remains recommended. |
| The Flower Kings Banks of Eden | 4.5 |
| Wang Wen 0.7 | 3.5 |
| Circus Maximus Nine | 4.0 |
| Headspace I Am Anonymous | 4.5 |
| All Too Human Juggernaut | 3.0 |
| While significantly less "progressive" than All Too Human's previous releases and leaning strongly towards modern metal with traits often dreaded by prog and/or metal purists, such as gang shouting and groove-inflected riffs, the musicianship is still carefully calculated (drummer Chris Lucci is more notable than ever), new vocalist Gordon Tittsworth obliterates his predecessors, the constantly brooding darkness throughout the recording morphs each song into its own entity, and there is a much greater sense of cohesion and originality within Juggernaut's slimmer borderlines. For those proggers who want odd time signatures and technical chaos, there are tracks with those as well, but as merely another facet of this Corpus Christi quartet's new and improved sound. Ten years was worth the wait. |
| Distorted Harmony Utopia | 4.5 |
| Leah Of Earth & Angels | 3.5 |
| Teramaze Anhedonia | 3.5 |
| While slightly homogeneous, AnhedoniA is an impressive tag team of brutal riffage, vocals ranging from the smoothly catchy hook to the feral screaming, inventive interplay, and socially aware lyrics. Some wider tempo, stylistic and tonal contrasts would probably help Teramaze's overall sound more than hurt it, but in the progressive thrash genre, AnhedoniA is well above average. |
| Colobar Behind The Veil of Oblivion | 3.5 |
| This Bulgarian progressive project, the country's second major prog project after the better-known Pantommind, delivers a debut brimming with artistic talent in many diverse musical colors and the songwriting skill to stitch them together into an intoxicating journey. Colobar freely embraces jazz fusion and Bulgarian folk music as vital components of its style, even more so than the heavy metal crunch left to the background beyond the energetic opener "Change of Ages," and creates refreshingly organic compositions, touching on nouveau riche bands such as Haken and old money bands like Angra and Threshold while sustaining complete distinctiveness. Singer Carl Sentence's Euro-theatrical timbre sometimes comes across as flat, somewhat lessening the impact of the pictorial, even spiritual lyrical content (maybe it's the singer-for-hire syndrome), and given the organic production elsewhere, the dry, sterile drum sound is rather disappointing; there are few remaining criticisms, as Colobar handles risky musical territory while rarely missing a step. Strongly recommended for 2012. |
| 7 Horns 7 Eyes Throes Of Absolution | 4.5 |
| Anathema Weather Systems | 4.5 |
| DragonForce The Power Within | 4.0 |
| Dreamscape Everlight | 2.5 |
| So generic it even sounds like other generic prog metal bands; bland, repetitive riffs, generally hackneyed songcraft, and an excessively forward vocalist pull Everlight down into the depths of mediocrity. I've heard two Dreamscape albums, and this will be my last. |
| Suspyre Suspyre | 2.5 |
| The Great Gamble Book 1 | 3.5 |
| If These Trees Could Talk Red Forest | 4.0 |
| Audrey Assad Heart | 4.0 |
| Tetrafusion Horizons | 3.5 |
| Much more coherent, intense, accessible and polished than Altered State, and still carries the band's unique charm, eclecticism and sense of intoxicating harmonies. Highly recommended for 2012 prog, and it's free! |
| Jakarta Project Geographic | 2.0 |
| A nice conceptual idea, but executed poorly: entirely faceless music, lacking feeling and any characteristics of good post-rock, from dynamics to tension and atmosphere. It doesn't cost anything but time, but even the 25 minutes you would spend on this isn't worthwhile. |
| Hemina Synthetic | 3.0 |
| Transcend The Mind | 4.0 |
| 2011 |
| Aesthesys Camera Obscura | 3.5 |
| Soul Secret Closer to Daylight | 3.5 |
| Theocracy As the World Bleeds | 5.0 |
| Lance King A Moment in Chiros | 4.0 |
| Haken Visions | 5.0 |
| I've heard all eight tracks by now; though not in order, I can satisfactorily rate it. This might be the best CD of the year. |
| Coldplay Mylo Xyloto | 4.0 |
| Lunatic Soul Impressions | 4.0 |
| Myrath Tales of the Sands | 3.5 |
| Voyager The Meaning of I | 4.0 |
| Redemption This Mortal Coil | 4.5 |
| Subsignal Touchstones | 4.0 |
| Anubis A Tower Of Silence | 3.5 |
| Gungor Ghosts Upon the Earth | 4.5 |
| Arch/Matheos Sympathetic Resonance | 4.0 |
| Dream Theater A Dramatic Turn of Events | 4.0 |
| Anubis Gate Anubis Gate | 4.5 |
| Work of Art In Progress | 4.5 |
| Iona Another Realm | 3.0 |
| Communic The Bottom Deep | 4.0 |
| Eumeria Rebel Mind | 4.0 |
| Riverside Memories In My Head | 4.5 |
| City and Colour Little Hell | 4.0 |
| Moonlit Sailor Colors in Stereo | 3.5 |
| Wolverine Communication Lost | 4.5 |
| Alberto Rigoni Rebirth | 4.5 |
| While highly eclectic, drawing from jazz, blues, classical, electronica, progressive rock, hard rock, and pop, "Rebirth" possesses a stunning unity of vision around the concept of that same name. Rigoni's BASS is front and center, and his melodic, reverberating style is refreshing and creates entirely unique, pictorial compositions. If you're a bassist of any style, do NOT miss this release, and yet any musician or music fan, even the casual one, can enjoy this album. |
| While The City Sleeps Back When We Knew | 4.0 |
| Parachute The Way It Was | 4.5 |
| Lost in Thought Opus Arise | 4.0 |
| Explosions in the Sky Take Care, Take Care, Take Care | 4.0 |
| Amaranthe Amaranthe | 4.0 |
| Believer Transhuman | 4.5 |
| League of Lights League of Lights | 4.0 |
| Cynthesis DeEvolution | 4.5 |
| Images of Eden Rebuilding The Ruins | 4.0 |
| Twinspirits Legacy | 3.5 |
| Koloss End of the Chayot | 3.0 |
| Joseph Magazine Night Of The Red Sky | 3.0 |
| A Thousand Shields Portrait | 3.0 |
| Andromeda Manifest Tyranny | 3.5 |
| Big Big Train The Underfall Yard | 4.0 |
| Greylevel Hypostatic Union | 4.0 |
| 2009 |
| Koi In Tomorrow Hid Yesterday | 2.5 |
| Citadellion Adventurers of Taeloth | 3.0 |
| toe For Long Tomorrow | 3.5 |
| Animations Reset Your Soul | 3.0 |
| Miseration The Mirroring Shadow | 3.0 |
| While Heaven Wept Vast Oceans Lachrymose | 4.5 |
| Scar Symmetry Dark Matter Dimensions | 2.5 |
| Pelican What We All Come to Need | 2.0 |
VERY disappointing. Pelican need a rawer, less crisp production, and they just can't play post-hardcore like Rosetta does. Pelican is a loose band - this is so tight that there is next to no passion in the performances, and the songs go absolutely nowhere half the time. BORING.
The vocal experiment on "Final Breath" is abysmal...get a real singer. Isis wouldn't sound as good with a "real" singer...Pelican needs one if it wants to use vocals, unlike the other instruments. The presence of vocals would be an epic moment in Pelican music, so a clear style would convey this sound properly.
Please do not try this again. You used to be so great... |
| Russian Circles Geneva | 3.5 |
| Edgend A New Identity | 3.5 |
| Redemption Snowfall on Judgment Day | 5.0 |
| Evroklidon The Flames of Sodom | 3.5 |
| Guilt Machine On This Perfect Day | 4.0 |
| Voyager I Am the reVolution | 4.0 |
| Cormorant Metazoa | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Endgame | 4.5 |
| Twinspirits The Forbidden City | 3.5 |
| Subsignal Beautiful & Monstrous | 4.0 |
| Persefone Shin-Ken | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Black Clouds and Silver Linings | 3.5 |
| Riverside Anno Domini High Definition | 5.0 |
| Seventh Angel The Dust of Years | 4.0 |
| IQ Frequency | 3.5 |
| Alberto Rigoni Something Different | 4.0 |
| Spheric Universe Experience Unreal | 3.5 |
| ISIS Wavering Radiant | 4.5 |
| Anubis Gate The Detached | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Crack the Skye | 4.5 |
| Mono Hymn to the Immortal Wind | 5.0 |
| Pantommind Lunasense | 4.0 |
| Believer Gabriel | 4.0 |
| Persona Non Grata Shade in the Light | 3.5 |
| Hourglass Oblivious to the Obvious | 4.0 |
| Callisto Providence | 2.0 |
| Post-metal with mostly clean vocals is a slowly growing idea; the potential problem is neutering the music so much that it becomes a mess of nothing, and Providence is mired in generic, meaningless chords, song structures with no direction, poorly orchestrated transitions into the rare and ineffective heavy sections, and a vocalist who just isn't well-suited for this type of music. The title track avoids these problems by building towards a dramatic finish with Callisto's signature cryptic, poetic spiritual lyrics, but perhaps this piece is the only selling point of the album. I look forward to hearing another band try an album like this, but they'll have to succeed where Callisto fail at creating captivating musical journeys. |
| Kari Jobe Kari Jobe | 2.5 |
| Red (USA) Innocence and Instinct | 4.0 |
| David Gallegos Mi Rosa Blanca | 4.0 |
| Kalisia Cybion | 3.5 |
| Aeon Zen A Mind's Portrait | 3.0 |
| Shadow Gallery Digital Ghosts | 4.0 |
| Silent Lapse Birthright | 4.5 |
