2nd concept album of Norwegian progressive rock band AVKRVST. Two years on from their spellbinding debut 'The Approbation', AVKRVST are presenting their second and most formidable album to date: 'Waving at the Sky' takes the band's compelling sounds and pushes them further towards progressive perfection. A dark and devastating concept record about real life events, it is a spiritual successor to its predecessor, and a huge leap forward on every conceivable level. The album's hazy, unsettling narrative is based on the harrowing events that took place in rural Norway when Simon Bergseth and Martin Utby were children: The seven tracks are inspired by a gruesome family tragedy about abuse that is as dark as it gets.

Sixteen years and five albums after the Pennsylvania band’s formation, progressive death metal progenitors Rivers of Nihil are upping the ante with their 2025 self-titled album Rivers of Nihil. Traditionally, a self-titled record can signal a return to basics and/or a fresh beginning, and in 10 powerful songs, it’s clear that both those factors are in play. Founding bassist Adam Biggs became the band’s new lead vocalist/bassist in 2023; the same year marked the appearance of additional guitarist Andy Thomas (ex-Black Crown Initiate), whose vocals also play prominently on Rivers of Nihil. Producers Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland at Atrium Audio captured the new dynamics across more than 50 minutes of music…

Nightmares have never sounded so beautiful! Swedish grandeurs of melancholic heaviness, Katatonia, return with Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State, set for release on June 6, 2025 via Napalm Records. Once again, the Stockholm-based unit masterfully navigates the tightrope act between nocturnal darkness and Scandinavian despair while subtly weaving a sense of hope into the listener’s heart. Since emerging in the early nineties, Katatonia has projected a beacon of light for the forgotten and the lonely ones, offering solace to those willing to lose themselves in the band’s immersive soundscapes. From their roots in death-doom metal to the post-metal entity they embody today, their art remains as haunting as ever. Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State marks the next step in Katatonia’s evolution, building upon the foundation of their previous album, Sky Void of Stars (2023)…

So you think you know Arjen Lucassen, huh? Towering Dutch prog rock polymath? The man behind the super successful prog rock conceptualists Ayreon? Not to mention his prog metal offshoots Star One and Guilt Machine? Enormous overarching concept albums about space and time, packed to the hilt with special guests that read like a who’s who of modern day progressive rock? Records that take as long to conceive as they do to record? That Arjen Lucassen? Well, think again…
"Golden Age Of Music", the latest album to feature Lucassen’s not inconsiderable talents, may also feature stellar musicianship and killer tunes, but there is no storyline that takes place far into the future in the far flung depths of space. Nor do the album’s 11 tracks come courtesy of an unending list of guest artists…

After more than 20 years, Nightingale's celebrated fourth full-length, "Alive Again", is available again, remastered by songwriter/frontman/producer Dan Swanö (Opeth, Katatonia, Oceans Of Slumber).
Originally released only on CD in 2003, “Alive Again” starts the build-out of Nightingale's harder rock tendencies as they bridge '70s rock, AOR, prog and metal. The group's international profile also saw them pull in friend Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One) to guest on "Falling". “Alive Again” features stand-out tracks "Shadowman", "The Glory Days", "Shadowland Serenade" and the 11-minute saga "Eternal".

With a career spanning more than three decades, composer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen has firmly established himself worldwide as driving force in progressive rock. While best known for his rock opera project Ayreon, the multi-talented Dutchman also regularly embarks on musical side projects such as Ambeon, Guilt Machine and Star One. These projects all explore different aspects of Lucassen's musical personality. Lucassen strives to keep a consistent cast of vocalists for Star One rather than mixing it up with the ever-changing vocal line-up that characterizes Ayreon. For "Victims of the Modern Age" he reunited the stellar cast of lead vocalists from the first album, “Space Metal” (2002): Russell Allen (Symphony X), Damian Wilson (Headspace, Threshold), Floor Jansen (ReVamp, ex-After Forever), and Dan Swanö (Nightingale, Second Sky, ex-Edge Of Sanity)…

For the 20th anniversary, Arjen Lucassen remixed the audio to 21st century standards. He made it clear that it's a 'remix', not a 'remaster', saying "Remastering takes 2 hours, this remix took me 2 months!".
Into the Electric Castle is an epic prog rock opera from Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen. The sci-fi story centers around eight strangers brought together into a dimension of no space and no time. The characters in the story are played by varying lead singers, including former Marillion frontman Fish. The supporting cast is a who's who of proggers, which translates into superb musicianship. The story is standard sci-fi fare, but winds up being quite effective with the accompanying score. The massive coordination of such a large project is admirable, but to pull it off with such impressive results is stunning…

Sleep Token continues right where they left off with Sundowning, showing overall improvement as a band. Much like the previous record, this album's sound is pulled in combatting directions, resulting in a band that has still failed to define their sound. Because of this, few songs stand out. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts though, as This Place Will Become Your Tomb offers enough aural goodness to be enjoyable start-to-finish.
Enigmatic British band Sleep Token combine post-rock, post-classical, and post-metal tropes with soulful indie pop vocals into a blend that sounds like nothing else. They released their innovative debut album, Sundowning, in 2019 and found mainstream success two years later with the U.K.-charting This Place Will Become Your Tomb. The anonymous, masked collective unveiled their third full-length effort, Take Me Back to Eden, in 2023…

A multifaceted, charting Swedish unit that has incorporated elements of goth, doom, black metal, and sleeker prog rock into their sound.
Considered by many to be one of Sweden's most prominent metal bands, Katatonia's long, storied career has seen them shift from a rough, sludge-like doom metal sound to a more streamlined approach that embraces prog rock, assonant vocal harmonies, clean vocals, and polished production to their now-accessible brand of Gothic rock. Emerging in the early '90s, the group cycled through personnel before settling into a cohesive lineup in the 2000s. They found commercial success with the release of 2012's Dead End Kings which, like subsequent efforts The Fall of Hearts, City Burials, and Sky Void of Stars, charted in over ten countries.

The Devils Orchard (Live At Rock Hard Festival 2009) is a live gem an exclusive cd album that came with the September 2011 issue of the German Metal Hammer magazine. It has an advance copy of the album version (from Heritage) of The Devil’s Ochard, which was still a week or so from the albums release. The album clocks in at about an hour, making it as long as a full-length album. While the sound of the live recording is not quite as sharp as those of Opeth’s other live albums, it’s much better than bootleg quality, as this is basically an official release, although a very limited one. The physical cd is high-quality, with a beautiful cover and a booklet that opens up to a great two-panel photo of Opeth onstage at the 2009 Rock Hard Festival…

After a period of inactivity since 2007's The Blue, which involved the departure of longstanding member Giuseppe Orlando, Novembre returns with URSA, a new set of potent and poignant tracks. The album effortlessly blends soothing, epic, melancholy and intense moods and represents a high point from one of the originators of the atmospheric Death/Doom Metal scene.
Headed by founding member and writer Carmelo Orlando (with a reinvigorated musical alliance with Massimiliano Pagliuso), the line-up is completed by Fabio Fraschini (previously bassist on the Materia album), and David Folchitto on drums. Anders Nystrom from Katatonia makes a special guest appearance, adding his own unique 'cold' touch to the album's single track Annoluce…

When Opeth released Heritage in 2011 - the wonderfully indulgent, somewhat unfocused exercise in prog rock aesthetics - some longstanding fans were offended because the band had abandoned death metal. Truthfully, they had been exploring prog in fits and starts since 2005's Ghost Reveries. Pale Communion completes the transition, proving that Heritage was not only a next step, but a new beginning altogether. Vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt has obviously been listening to loads of prog in the interim - ELP's debut, Deep Purple's In Rock, early King Crimson and Eloy, National Health, U.K., Bill Bruford's early solo work, Pär Lindh, and even jazz fusion. Produced by the singer and mixed by Steven Wilson, Pale Communion states its ambitions outright. Opener "Eternal Rains Will Come" explodes with knotty, labyrinthine organ (from new keyboardist Joakim Svalberg) and Martin Axenrot's skittering, propulsive drums…