
Epitaphe Showcase Their Progressive Death Metal on ‘III’
III may have little in common on the surface with Epitaphe’s early death/doom, but that history is precisely what makes their current direction work.

III may have little in common on the surface with Epitaphe’s early death/doom, but that history is precisely what makes their current direction work.

The familiar Mastodon is still roaring on Marrow Deep, though there are some new gears slipped into the engine, discovering how strange the band can become.

Loathe changed the face of metal six years ago. With a new sound in tow, are they still capable of reaching those heights with A Stranger to You?
Mastodon’s Leviathan is a concept LP inspired by American novelist Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Think of it as sludge metal’s answer to Dark Side of the Moon.
Tool’s Berlin performance drenched us in their esoteric lyrics, kept us spellbound under Keenan’s shamanistic delivery, and held us captive to enormous body horror imagery.
After Tool whapped us upside the head with Undertow, you knew you’d never listen to that hairband boom-bap with a straight face ever again.
The best progressive rock albums are profoundly ambitious and forward-thinking, music that’s immense, expansive, and mind-blowing, with dramatic elements.
Closure/Continuation captures and rejuvenates the cerebral and melancholic mood that’s Porcupine Tree’s signature, but uncertainty hangs over the proceedings.
Dream Theater’s Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence probably never had a chance at besting predecessor Scenes From a Memory, but it nonetheless found the quintet sustaining their creative peak.
The ongoing pandemic led to a brilliant year in the best progressive rock albums. Many artists translated their 2020 hardships into artistic gems.
The lengthy evening provided a communal celebration of both Between the Buried and Me’s whole catalog and the return of live music in general.
French metal quartet Gojira introduce new wrinkles in their sound on Fortitude without abandoning their origins.