Welcome to Prog's all-new Tracks Of The Week. The premise 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 i n the voting form at the bottom of this post. Couldn't be easier could it?
We'll be bringing you Prog's 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.
Hats off to French Nordic folk collective SKÁLD whose atmospheric video for the equally atmospheric Troll Kalla Mik (They call me the troll), got a huge 41% of the vote last week, followed by UK prog rockers Threshold for Haunted with The Hayley Griffiths Band coming in at a respectable third for Melanie.
Now get voting on this week's selections...
Circles - Reckoning
Australian prog metallers Circles have streamed their latest track, Reckoning, which is taken from the band's recently released EP The Stories We Are Afraid Of | Vol. 1. A powerful slice of anthemic prog metal, it shows the band, who recently reverted to a three-piece following the departure of bassist Drew Patton, on particularly fine form.
Oak - Dreamless Sleep
Amazingly, Dreamless Sleep is the very first music video from Norwegian prog quartet Oak. The song is taken from the ban's latest album, The Quiet Rebellion Of Compromise which has just been released through Karisma Records. The new album addresses the delicate theme of mental health and suicide. The video, starring frontman Simen Valldal Johannessen in a vulnerable position deep within a Norwegian forest, reflects the theme of the album and illustrates the duality and chaos taking place.
Lyrre - North Star
Lyrre were founded by former Eluveitie hurdy-gurdy player, Michalina Malisz, and her husband Piotr Martuś, and North Star is a dreamily atmospheric offering that boasts an equally cinematic video - more woods, you won't be surprised to hear! North Star combines ethereal vocals with heavy guitars and Malisz’s signature hurdy-gurdy shreddage. The production, created by Noah Sebastian of Bad Omens, gives the track an immersive cinematic and melancholic vibe - perfect for dark Winter evenings.
PLANK - Three Seascapes
Manchester prog trio PLANK return with their first new music for eight years, with the mesmeric underwater video for Three Seascapes. It's taken from the band's upcoming album The Future Of The Sea, the follow-up to 2014's Hivemind, and will be released on January 27. "Future Of The Sea is a celebration of the power and majesty of our oceans and how humankind is destroying them," the band explain.
Nepthisis - In The Shadows
Coming from the darker, more gothic end of the prog spectrum are Nepthisis, whose rich sound creates a suitable haunting melody for the suitably creepy and mysterious In The Shadows. The song is featured in the new Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell film Bones And All, which has been described as "a cannibal love story, albeit more like one from Brothers Grimm."
Aura - Promises
Italian prog quartet Aura mix anthemic progressive rock with a more subtle underlying post-rock vibe in this lyric video for Promises, mixing odd time signatures and dynamic tempo changes, dreamy melodies, heavy guitars, and clean vocals. The track is taken from the band's most recent album, Underwater, which has was released in September through My Kingdom Music.
Havemayer - Moonlight
Berlin post-rock quartet Havemeyer will release their debut album Slacker through Crazysane Records on Slacker" on March 3, from which is taken Moonlught, a jaunty guitar-led piece of ear-friendly post-rock full of chiming guitars and vaguely 60s style psych vocals, with a suitably hazy video. The band feature former members of German LoFi outfit Die Nerven.
Ivory Gates - Behind The Wall
Ceretainly at the heavier end of the spectrum come Brazilian prog metal quartet Ivory Gates, who have just released brand new album Behind The Wall through German label Green Bronto Records. The title track switches from brutal heaviness to passages on intricate musicianship with an impressively shot video.
Gondhawa - Go! Go! Sinay!
You'll probably have as much luck trying to figure out what French psych-prog trio Gondhawa are going on about in this video for Go! Go! Sinay! as you will what they're actually singing abut, considering they write in their own made up language, although Kobaïan this is not! There's no denying that this ten-minute slice of garage psych is as much fin as the video however. Go on, take a trip...
Illumishade - Elegy
More music from members of Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie, this time it's singer Fabienne Erni and guitarist Jonas Wolf, who create a much more prog metal sound that's bound to find favour with fans of symphonic prog metal bands such as Nightwish, Within Temptation and Epica. The band released their debut concept album Eclyptic: Wake Of Shadows in 2020 and Elegy represents the start of the bulid-up to their as-yet-untitled second album.
