Welcome to Prog's Tracks Of The Week. Eight brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
Congratulations to newly formed prog supergroup Temic (they feature former Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida and Neal Morse Band guitarist Eric Gillette long with Mararton 22 singer Fredrik Bergersen and Shining drummer Simen Sandnes) who romped away with last week's TOTW, followed by Beatrix Players and The Emerald Dawn.
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.
So get watching. And get voting at the bottom of the page.
TREVOR RABIN - PUSH
Push is Trevor Rabin's second single to be taken from his eagerly anticipated new album Rio, his first new vocal-led album for over 30 years. The bright, uplifiting new song features plenty of fleet-fingered guitar playing from Rabin and some truly spirited vocals - well in fact Rabin plays almost every instrument on every track on the album, which he recorded at his Jacaranda Studio in Los Angelws - the very same studio where Yes recorded 1994's Talk album!
“For this song I was thinking of the horror of politics and politicians," Rabin expalins. "Once Vinnie Calaiuta played drums on this, it inspired me to redo some of the instrumentation. Vinnie‘s performance lifted this song beyond what I imagined. I utilised the strings at the end of the track to start the ARW live shows.”
VOIVOD - FIX MY HEART (2023 VERSION)
Fix My Heart originally appeared on Voivod's 1993 album The Outer Limits, although this new version is taken from the Canadian prog metal pioneers latest album Morgöth Tales, out now via Century Media Records, which saw the quartet re-record a number of songs from the band's celebrated back catalogue, as well as the brand new title track, and the album also features involvement from previous bassists Eric 'E-Force' Forrest and former Metallica member Jason Newstead.
“It’s always the highlight of our live show when the audience claps with big smiles all round," says guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain. To me it's about keeping hope and focus towards a better future, moving on, leaving the past behind and exploring new worlds within. "I'm not afraid to live".”
A.A. WILLIAMS - WITHOUT YOU I'M NOTHING
Classically trained post-rocker A.A. Williams has offered up a cover of Pacebo;s Without You I'm Nothing as her latest single, which is neither taken from her most recent As The Moon Rests album (2022) or her lockdown covers project Songs From Isolation (2021), but has been released a s new, standalone single as she prepares to embark on an extensive US tour with Sleep Token.
“When I first discovered Placebo as a teen, I felt as if I’d found a world just for me," Williams explains. "Barely a day went by without their songs in my headphones, their explorations of angst, frustration and alienation speaking to me like nothing I’d heard before... Simultaneously brand new and familiar, I felt that I’d been understood for the first time, all the while being fed with musical styles I wasn’t familiar with - glam, goth, electro and punk were all introduced to me through Placebo’s melancholy lens... I’ve dreamed of covering a Placebo song for years. I think it always had to be Without You I’m Nothing, a song of longing and loss that for me will always feel current and relevant, as someone who always felt that human connection was the key to happiness - and as an outsider looking in, as someone uncomfortable in their own skin."
AGE OF DISTRACTION - A GAME OF WHISPERS
Age Of Distraction is a studio project formed by This Winter Machine guitarist and songwriter John Cook, who has also enlisted the likes of Ghost Of The Machine/Nova Cascde vocalist Charlie Bramald, Philip Stuckey (Stuckfish) Mark Gatland (IT, Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate), drummer/keyboard player Dom Bennison (Last Motion Picture, ex-This Winter Machine) and pianist and vocalist Ruby Jones (The Exotic Ices Project, ex-Big Rooster Jeff).
A Game Of Whispers sees Bramald at the microphone and is the third single the band have released. Age Of Distraction's debut album is due for a physical and digital release in early 2024
"Age Of Distraction blends progressive rock and metal influences with a modern, multi-layered production style to achieve a fresh and heavy signature sound," explains Cook.
MARY LATTIMORE - HORSES, GLOSSY ON THE HILL
American harpist and composer Mary Lattimore will release her latest album, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada', through Ghostly International Records on October 6, from which comes her second single, Horses, Glossy In The Hill. The song began life as a sprawling harp solo piece written to accompany a fashion show in a garden.
"It morphed into something else once I added layers and layers to it." Mary says of the new single. "It started to remind me of an image of anxious horses before a storm - dark shiny animals, green grass, heavy clouds forming, clacking teeth.
“When I think of these songs, I think about fading flowers in vases, melted candles, getting older, being on tour and having things change while you're away, not realizing how ephemeral experiences are until they don't happen anymore, fear for a planet we're losing because of greed, an ode to art and music that's really shaped your life that can transport you back in time, longing to maintain sensitivity and to not sink into hollow despondency.”
ZAHN - APRICOT
Back for their secind appearance in TOTW are Berlin's psychedelic kraut/noise rock outfit Zahn, who will release Adria through Crazysane Records on November 24. Apricot is the second single to be released from the album, and the band feature ex-The Ocean member Chris Breuer, Nic Stockmann (Heads.) and Felix Gebhard (Muff Potter, live Einsturzende Neubauten). Adria is the bands second full-length release, following their self-titled debut in 2021.
"Being in a band often entails profuse sweating, whether it's under the stage lights, lifting heavy gear, sitting on a sweltering bus without air conditioning or the anxiety-induced perspiration before a performance," the band state. "For many rockers, being intoxicated is a vital element of a show. With Zahn we're approaching this in a different way – we’re pursuing an altered state of consciousness by pushing ourselves to the limit in a sauna – Apricot is a sober yet sensory and psychedelic sauna experience."
HAUNT THE WOODS - THE LINE, PT. II
It's something a bit more reflective from Cornish alt.prog quartet Haunt The Woods this time. The band can hit home with maximum impact, as their excellent Fever Dream single showed, but with The Line, Pt. II they show an accomplished maturity in their songwriting and it boasts a splendid guitar solo from Phoenix Elleschild and some impassioned singing from Jonathan Stafford.
"The Line, Pt. II is a reprise of the themes covered in our first EP The Line,"the band say. "As we grow older, society and the unrelenting struggle to survive seems to drain the colour out of life, leaving a grey, monochromatic existence. Perhaps if we reconnected with the beauty of life and had the time to find peace of mind, the colour would return. In glimpses it does."
SOEN - HOLLOWED
Swedish-based prog metallers Soen have taken a heavuer approach with their brand new studio album Memorial, which is released through Silver Lining Music on September 1. New single Hallowed reflects the grandiose side of what the band can offer musically, and features singer Joel Ekelöf duetting with Italian singer Elisa to maximum effect.
“Hollowed is a song about moving away from the place and persons that have been your home," says Ekelöf. It’s also the first time we ever have had a guest appearance on one of our albums and the turnout was more than successful. Elisa is such a talented singer and she truly made this song reach the emotional intensity that it deserves.”
