I keep hearing more and more about the burgeoning Greek metal underground, and the mere fact that an avant-garde act like DAKRYA exists is promising. This may satisfy the appetites of those that have been waiting on bated breath for the new uneXpecT album.

Formed in 2007, HAKEN is a virtuosic progressive rock/metal band from London, England, comprising some of the country’s finest young musicians. Featured in the band are members of To-mera and Linearsphere.

Leprous – “Tall Poppy Syndrome” released April 28, 2009 on Sensory Records Norwegian quintet’s brilliant debut album of experimental progressive metal. They’ve got a lot of momentum behind them. Vocalist/synthist Einar Solberg was hired for Emperor’s 2006-07 reunion shows, and the whole group recently performed as Ihsahn’s live band––a daunting task indeed. Stylistically similar to Opeth, their explorations are mostly successful, delving into lounge swing (2), funk (3), spoken word (7), and even a Beethoven-cum-black metal recurring riff on “Not Even A Name” which relents to jazzy jaunts and mellow moments. They never let their inventiveness get ahead of [...read more]