PROGRESSIVE METAL

DOM LAWSON buckles up for a delve into the darker, heavier side.

Ingrina’s Siste Lys (Medication Time) was recorded in lockdown and is a disorientating and claustrophobic trip worthy of these dreadful times. Blurring the lines between monolithic post-metal and seething, lo-fi shoegaze scree, the French quartet seem driven by a profound sense of urgency, or possibly just a collective desire to deafen people with distorted guitars. Either way, the end results are deeply heavy and strange.

Many bizarre things take place near black metal’s extreme outer limits, but Druon Antigon are arguably operating even further out, lacing their vicious but intricate assaults with waves of mindexpanding electronics, fetid ambient churn and detours into suffocating black holes of noise. In its own terrifying, cosmos-threatening way, Desontstijging (Onism Productions) is a striking and immersive introduction to a bold new talent.

Few prog metal fans would question death metal legend Chuck Schuldiner’s right to be considered a heavyweight of the genre. A collaboration between Russian metal crew Buicide and a symphony orchestra,

DeathOrchestra’s Symphony Of Death (deathorchestra.bandcamp.com) brings the late Death mastermind’s most progressive moments (and brutish anthem Pull The Plug) vividly back to life in instrumental form, embellished with some stunning orchestral arrangements. A noble endeavour, executed with class, precision and all due respect to the great man himself.

Asgeir Mickelson has played drums with countless Norwegian prog and metal luminaries, including Ihsahn and Spiral Architect. It turns out that he’s also a mean guitarist and songwriter, as showcased on Veil Of Secrets’ superb debut Dead Poetry (Crime). With ex-Tristania vocalist Vibeke Stene’s ethereal tones ensuring multiple waves of ghostly majesty, Mickelson provides a monumental doom metal backdrop, rich with evocative atmosphere, progressive detours and moments of acoustic fragility. Sophisticated and gloriously dramatic, it’s a debut of great distinction. Drummers, eh?

At the more unhinged end of the prog metal spectrum,

Autocatalytica have been dropping bursts of sanity-defying math metal for a decade.

Their latest is Powerclashing Maximalism (autocatalytica.bandcamp.com), an aptlynamed cacophony of hyperspeed jazz-metal syncopation, unfathomable mazes of riffs and soaring, prog-tinged melodies that appear from nowhere and slap the listener for their bewildered impertinence.

Ostensibly a black metal band, Urfaust have long since left Planet Grim and embarked on a wild, cosmic voyage into unimaginable darkness. Teufelsgeist (Van) begins with Offerschaal Der Astrologische Mengvormen; an extraordinary, 10-minute psychedelic synth rock symphony with an underlying rumble of Lovecraftian dread. The rest of the album is even more unsettling. Only space cadets with strong stomachs need apply.