Progarchy.com interviewed Rylee McDonald of Advent Horizon earlier this month (on Monday, May 4th, also known as Star Wars Day, which fits well with the epic sonic vibe of prog: “May the Fourth Be with You”). 

Advent Horizon’s brilliant new prog album, Falling Together, is released for this weekend, starting on May 15, 2026. 

Our conversation with Rylee dove into the story behind all the songs in incredible detail. Many thanks to Rylee for his time and his thoughtful explanations. 

This is a very rich prog album that you do not want to miss. Progarchy recommends that you buy this five-star album Falling Together today. We hope that this interview serves to enhance your enjoyment of it.

Progarchy: I was pleasantly surprised when the record company sent over a copy of your new album. I confess I wasn’t familiar with your band, but I was delighted when I listened to it. It was, it was, it was amazing. It was so good. I couldn’t believe it.

Rylee: Nice.

So I have this high quality task of having to go back and listen to all your old albums. I haven’t done that yet. I’ve just been enjoying the new one.

Well, thank you.

And it’s a pleasure to talk to you about it.

Well, thank you, man. I’m excited. And yeah, the new one, there’s a lot to dig into there. So certainly take your time before you go backwards in time.

Well, right away, the album begins with a 19-minute track that is amazing. The first thing I thought, when I was hearing it, was how high quality the production is. So tell me about where it was recorded, how was the recording and mixing and engineering done? Because the sound is definitely above average. It’s an amazing sounding album.

Well, thank you. First of all, I’m excited to hear you say that. It was, so this album was all recorded at a studio here in Utah called Cold House Studios. And it was kind of co-recorded and produced between myself and my good friend Zach Boorman. And so we pretty much just locked ourselves in Zach’s studio for about 5 months of last year.

January through May, non-stop. It was like three, four days a week, for five months, just chipping away at it piece by piece. And yeah, I have a lot of experience with studio work. I’ve spent a lot of time recording, producing, mixing albums for artists. So I’m a fairly seasoned audio engineer, but Zach is an absolute master. He’s just incredible. He has ears of gold, man. Everything he touches sounds so good. So yeah, it was a fantastic experience working with him and his studio and just really fun and gratifying to be in a creative environment where we can just experiment all the time. And, you know, any time one of us would say, hang on, wait a second: I think it’d be really cool if we added a Mellotron here, or if we added an extra guitar harmony on top of this guitar solo, or whatever. It’s fun to be able to just have the ultimate creative freedom to let anything happen.

Well, I couldn’t believe it when I heard the album. I was thinking, how have I not heard of these guys before? It was obviously my fault (to have overlooked Advent Horizon) because the sound was just so top-notch. There’s no substitute for experience and expertise. And clearly both you and Zach are highly talented in that regard.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And I’m interested to hear your take on our last album before this one, when you have a chance to listen, A Cell to Call Home, because that one was 100% produced in my basement, in the room that I’m currently sitting in. And it sounds really good. I do think our new album is a significant step up, but I’m interested for you to hear the difference between the two, between Basement Advent Horizon versus Studio Advent Horizon.

Thank you. Well, I look forward to it. But it seems as if in music, musicians are always getting better and better. So, it was a pleasure to be introduced to you in what sounds like you’re operating at the peak of your powers. 

I’d like to think so. I would love to think that that’s the case right now.

Well, take the 19-minute opening track, “In a Lone and Dreary World.”. It has so much variation. From harsh vocals to clean vocals to distorted guitar tones to clean guitar tones. It seems like there’s a surprise around every corner. Even, suddenly, there are female vocals.

Yeah.

So who is the female singer in your band?

So that would be my wife, Kristen. And she is, she is now, I think we can finally officially say, she is an actual member of this band. It’s been, it’s been fun, kind of seeing her gradually come into the fold with this group and become more and more of an actual participating member collaborating with us. So, Kristen and I met in high school, and we met through music. The first time I ever saw her, she was singing at a high school open mic. And I just fell in love with her voice instantly, and soon after fell in love with her as a person. And we’ve kind of been together ever since, since we were 16 years old, basically. But it’s interesting that we had never performed together until our last album, A Cell to Call Home. That was the first time in our relationship of, you know, having been together for 15 years, that we had ever actually performed as a couple. And it’s been really cool. 

So, Advent Horizon, a little history backstory for you, and for those who don’t know, for a long time, we were a four-piece band. It was myself, a bass player, Cason Wood, our drummer, Mike Lofgreen, and then we have a fourth utility member. Originally, it was Levi Benjamin Shell, and then more recently, since 2015, Grant Matheson has become absolutely indispensable to us. So, we’ve been this four-piece group for years and years, but I have this bad habit of writing music that my baritone voice doesn’t want to sing. And so, when I’ll be just down in my basement in my studio, dinking around with ideas in Pro Tools, there are times where I’ll come up with a vocal melody and I’ll try to sing it and go, nope, that doesn’t work for my voice.

And so I’ll yell, hey, Kristen, can you come down here? And she’ll come down and I’ll set her in front of the microphone and say, just humor me. Could you record this part for me really quick? And every time, as soon as she sings it, it’s like immediately, oh my gosh, that’s how it should sound. Your voice is perfect for this. And so gradually over the years, there have been more and more songs that incorporated her vocals, kind of just as a like, as the default option, like she was available and conveniently, she’s also incredible. And yeah, so it took us a while to admit openly like, okay, she’s actually a member of the band. But we’re to that point now and I’m proud to say it. 

That was a very long answer for a very short question. Sorry about that.

No, I’m happy to hear all the details and I’m glad that she’ll be singing more and more on the albums, because your voice is amazing, but so is hers. The Advent Horizon website has Grant and Cason and Mike listed, but Kristen is not listed as a band member. It has the pictures of the four of you. You’ll have to get the record company to update that.

We need to fix that. And that’s actually our bad. Grant and I handle all the website design together, but it’s tough because we are still an independent band. We’re actually not signed. We don’t even technically have a record label at this point. We have a press agent and we have a team of people helping us out.

But it’s one of those many things where, when you’re an independent band, you handle all of your own web design, all of your own advertising, all of your own, you know, everything falls on you, and you end up with so many jobs on your shoulders that it feels like spinning plates, and you’re jumping back and forth like, oh, the website’s out of date. Oh, our social media is out of date. Oh, we need to do more videos. 

Ah, it’s crazy. So we’ll get around to fixing the website sooner or later, I promise.

Thank you. So, Inside Out is just distributing the album?

I don’t think Inside Out is in any official capacity involved with this record. You would have received it through Royal Avenue Media, which is Roie Avin. Roy is our press guy, our PR guy. And so he’s been graciously helping us get the word out about this album, and I believe it was through him that you received the record. 

Yeah, it was from him, so I assumed it was on Inside Out. I didn’t look closely.

Right, because he does so much for Inside Out, right? You’re not the first person to assume that. And you know, who knows, maybe this is a foot in the door for us with Inside Out. We would certainly be interested in working with them, but the offer has not yet been extended. So here we stand as an independent band.

Well, someone should sign you and promote you as widely as possible, because your music is excellent. Tell me about the first track, “In a Lone and Dreary World.” What is the story there? I’m still becoming familiar with the album. I’ve only listened to it about 10 times, but it’s so rich. It takes a while to get into everything. Why are there two voices? Is this a story told from one point of view or from the point of view of two different people?

Yeah, that’s actually a really good question. First of all, I have to comment on, you said I’ve only listened 10 times, and that right there is a testament to how awesome progressive rock is. Is it not? That, I mean, if we were talking about any other genre, if we were talking about country or pop or whatever, 10 times would be all you need to hear every… I mean, three times would be enough to catch most of what’s in an album, right?

I agree. I agree. Exactly.

But it’s a beautiful thing that we are working in a genre where it is expected that you will listen 10, 20, 30 times to an album just to get to know it. So awesome!

Yeah, and you hear new things on the 10th listen.

Right, there’s always more to dive into. I just… I love it. That’s why I’m so happy in this genre, with this community of people. But yeah, so as far as the story of that first song, “In A Lone and Dreary World,” that song, and actually the whole album really, is kind of a personal journey.

For myself and my wife. We both grew up in very religious households, very religious communities. And while we had amazing childhoods and wonderful families, both of us, we have together gradually fallen away from organized religion over the last decade.

And so there’s a lot of personal experience there. I don’t think either of us harbor any, like, incredible negativity towards religion; but it’s just, there’s been a lot of learning and personal growth, and understanding ourselves, that has happened over the last decade. So, the story of the album is that essentially. It’s our personal introspection on what we have gone through as a couple, and how that whole experience has shaped where we stand in our lives, but also has helped us grow together as a couple in this shared experience that we’ve had.

That certainly comes across in the lyrics. It seems to be a love song where you’re singing to each other. And then the track ends with a repeated phrase, “Saved and sound, saved and sound.” Not “safe and sound,” but “saved and sound.” And I was wondering, what does that phrase mean, in your understanding?

It amazes me that you’re the first person who’s asked that. Like, I don’t even think any of the band members ever asked that when I wrote that lyric, because I don’t know why. Nobody’s ever asked. But, so, for me, there’s a lot of word play going on in the lyrics of this whole album. Not just the lyrics, but the song titles, the album title. Like, the album title Falling Together is a little bit of like a, you know, when you, when people leave a religion, it’s often said that they’re falling, You know, falling from grace, or falling, or whatever. So, the album title is Kristen and I are “falling together” away from religion towards the lone and dreary world of the earth, the world of man, you know. And so, there’s a lot of, like, imagery and symbolism, and a lot of it is subtle enough that I think it has to be explained before people are like, oh, that does make sense. But yeah, so, “saved and sound” is just another one of those where there’s a lot of, like, kind of tongue in cheek, like, using religious phrases, but in a way that, like, almost flips it to where usually you would say, like, when I found God, I have been “saved.” But, in this case, like, I’m using the phrase “saved” as, like, for me and Kristen, our relationship.

I don’t, I mean, this is all, this is conjecture and I, like, this is maybe not a great thing to say, but I don’t honestly know if we would have lasted as a couple, had we not made this journey together. And so, we have been “saved” through this mutual experience that we’ve had in our own weird way.

And that’s why there’s the whole, like, “when I’m with you, all else seems to pass to the side.” Like, ultimately having us, us being together as a couple, having each other to get through this life together, that’s, at the end of the day, what really matters to us.

That’s lovely. The thought I had was that because you don’t have any hard feelings towards your upbringing, the “saved” part is still there, but the something new added is the “sound.” The “sound” of the two of you making beautiful music together. The “sound” is the solid ground that you feel that you’re standing on now.

Wow.

And the title of the song, now that I’ve heard your explanation, the title of the song seems to be ironic. You know, our former congregation, or whoever, would say that now we’ve departed into “a lone and dreary world,” but ironically, it’s the opposite.

Yeah, and that’s exactly the intent. I’m glad that you got that. And I love what you said about the sound being representative of us making music together. That’s beautiful. I hadn’t even considered that before. That’s amazing. I’m going to start telling people that that’s how I intended it. I’m stealing that. Ha ha ha!

Well, no, it’s the beauty of art is that the richness of it is a gift. You’re not fully conscious of what’s being produced, but you’re offering it. And then, many things can be found there, even by you yourself later on. I also thought there was an ambiguity in the album title. Things could be “falling down,” as in: “falling apart”; or, things could be “coming together,” all the pieces are falling together.

Yeah, like a puzzle piece. And that’s, there’s so many ways. I’ve always loved album titles that have so many multiple meanings, you know, like, I mean, classic example, like Moving Pictures by Rush, right? And I love titles that could be perceived in multiple ways and the artwork helps to show how it can be perceived multiple ways. So yeah, that’s, I mean, I do not make any claims of this being anywhere close to as much of a masterpiece as Moving Pictures is, but that was a little bit of an inspiration to me there.

Well, every song is amazing. “Faith’s Window” has a witty line. I’m trying to remember how it goes. “Faith is a window that we can’t look through,” if I got that right.

You got it, yeah.

And then when it speaks about, “but I’m addicted to you,” who is the “you” that you’re speaking of?

So that song is actually, I mean, it’s that, first of all, that’s my favorite song on the album personally. That’s the song that, it just hits me the best. I’ve, now this is two questions in a row that I’m answering with Rush references, but I’m a massive Rush fan. So that song…

You’re allowed!

For me as a vocalist, and also as a producer, it just feels like 80s Rush. It feels like Power Windows-era Rush in certain sections to me, and it makes me so happy. So, like, it speaks to me, like, sonically, but also lyrically. It’s intensely personal. It’s a little bit about…

I’m trying to say this: I’ve struggled a little bit explaining it, because it’s kind of a touchy subject for a lot of people, but it’s morality as it applies to religion, specifically, sexual purity. And that, growing up in a religion, in a religious environment, where you are told that you must keep yourself pure, and expression of love is something that should be limited until marriage, and all that kind of stuff. And not that I don’t believe it’s good to be, you know, to be moral, and to decide for yourself what your code of morals are, but I do believe that there can also be harm done when that message is taken too far.

And it’s kind of my way of trying to work through all of that in my own head of, like, how important is that purity, and at what level does it become obsessive to say you have to be pure until a certain point, but then after that point, anything goes as a couple; you know, it’s like, there’s just a weird line to walk. And when you grow up in a religious environment where you are being told, these are your morals, rather than being told, you need to find for yourself what your own morals are, that I believe can be harmful. And I think that’s where I’ve, where I’ve ended up with all of that. So, the addicted to you was kind of, like, talking about wanting to find ways to express love, but feeling limited, and feeling constrained, and feeling like I’m not allowed, or I should be cautious about my expression of love.

That’s fascinating. I understand the song better now. And it does strike me as a favorite, because it’s so generous and open-hearted. It seems like the critique of religion comes in more on track four, “Past Life Parable.” There, there seems to be, if I’m remembering correctly, there’s criticism of practitioners of religion whose morals don’t match what they preach. Do I have that right?

Yeah, I think so. The way I describe that song is, that is kind of my, it’s my internal thoughts, which remember, all of this, all of these songs, as critical as they may sound, ultimately, it’s just me trying to work through my own thoughts on everything. And my thoughts are changing. And it’s possible that, you know, years from now, I’ll look back on these songs and go, oh, man, I was way too harsh.

But on “Past Life Parable,” I was kind of working through my feelings on positions of power within the world and how a lot of people, we as humans, have this tendency to take people’s word, without proof of them actually delivering what they say they’re going to deliver to us. And that applies in religion, obviously, that’s the context here for me, but I think it’s a universal theme that also applies to careers, to relationships, to politics, to all sorts of areas of our lives where we will give over our time, our money, our mental and physical energy to somebody who says they’re going to provide us whatever, eternal salvation, or they’re going to make our country a better place, or they’re going to whatever. We have this tendency to say, sure, I’ll give everything to you, without any proof beforehand. And it oftentimes turns out that we are just being used for political gain, religious gain, power, you know? So that song is kind of, like, my way of working through all of that.

So, the reference to “bread and wine,” if I understand, has to do with a critique of people who practice a communion ritual, a ritual that should be an expression of love and community, but that, in the telling of this song, has become a cover-up for people with questionable morals. So what the meal should be celebrating as a coming together of humans is actually a cover-up, or something like that.

Yeah, I could see it that way. I think there is an element of that. There’s also an element of, it’s interesting, because there’s a phrase within the Mormon religion, which is where I was raised, “moderation in all things.”

And I think that’s, probably, kind of a common phrase that’s used across a lot of religions, but that’s, my experience was, in church as a child, I was told, like, moderation in all things is important. And I have over the years come to understand that that rule, moderation in all things,

should also apply to religion. Religion can be a good thing that can bring people together, that can create a beautiful community, that can lift the world up. But when taken to its extreme, when you become addicted to the divine, it can tear apart the world. It can be something that divides us, something that creates an “us versus them” mentality in the world. And so that’s, a part of what I’m saying in the song, is that, like, that “flying high on bread and wine, addicted to the divine,” is just me saying like, hey, you’re taking a beautiful thing too far.

Right, and you’re becoming a fanatic. That makes sense. I used to go to graduate school with a fellow who, one of his sayings was, “Moderation in all things, including moderation.” That would be his toast.

Yeah. Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. I love it.

Well, you said that “Faith’s Window” is your favorite track. I would say my favorite songs, I can’t pick just one, they would be those three in a row, “Faith’s Window,” “Patience,” and “Past Life Parable.” They just flow together so beautifully. And I love those giant chords in “Patience.” There are points in the song where those giant chords just float in the expanse. Makes me think of Pete Townsend on “Baba O’Reilly,” just letting the big chords hang in there and ring out.

Oh yeah. Totally, totally. That’s a big influence on me. And it’s entirely possible that I was unconsciously channeling Pete Townsend in those moments. Because now that you say it, it’s like, whoa, that’s like so similar. Very cool.

Yeah, Pete meets Power Windows.

Yes, exactly. There’s Pete with more reverb.

And the “Patience” lyrics are very witty too. You’re coming to a consciousness of your own strengths and weaknesses.

Nice. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I yeah, I mean, and so, “patience” as it applies to that song, that’s simple. That song has the least lyrics on the album. It’s just a couple of verses with like a repeated refrain, right? And that’s, that song is really just, like, me. That one’s a little bit less religious in its messaging. Honestly, that’s probably the only song that I would say isn’t

really about religion. It’s more about me. It’s kind of like an introspection on my own tendency to jump at opportunity without really thinking. I’m a very, like, ambitious, driven person. I will work myself to the ground if I have to, to achieve what I’m looking for, what I’m aiming for.

Which has led to a lot of successes in life, but it has also worn me down at times. And so that’s, kind of, just me trying to remind myself to not get carried away.

Interesting. I think it is related to the religion, because that sort of character can be invested in religious practices, maybe prematurely, or beyond the bounds of prudence, and then discovering, wait a minute, I’ve been passionately rushing into all this and maybe I shouldn’t have gone that far because these people are a little bit questionable. I don’t know.

Yeah, that’s fair. That’s a fair assessment. Yeah.

And then there’s “Gravity, Part One” and “Part Two.” I think “Part One” is just an instrumental prog-fest.

Pretty much, yeah.

But then what is the metaphor of “gravity” about? I haven’t cracked the code on those lyrics yet. What’s that song about? “Gravity, Part Two”?

I, that song is a little bit, out of everything on the album, that one is the most ambiguous in its lyrics. There is meaning there. There’s definitely, especially there are certain phrases in the album, in that song that have significant specific meaning to them.

As far as the reference to “gravity,” there are, there’s a couple of things. First of all, “gravity” can mean multiple things, right? Gravity can be the thing that holds us down to the earth. It can be, and therefore also metaphorically through religion, can be a thing that holds us down, that holds us back from reaching the heights that we could otherwise attain. Gravity can also mean, though, like, the “gravity” of the situation, right? You’re dealing with an intense thing that really needs to be considered before jumping into it. So, there’s the first verse ends with “gravity is stepping out of a window just to find that you float away.” And that phrase is using both meanings of gravity in a way, because like gravity is like is the metaphor for religion for me that was holding me down.

And once I’ve let go of that, I can step out of that window of faith, the faith window that I can’t look through. I can step out of it and fly up to heights that I hadn’t been able to reach as a human being before. But also, that is, the situation of letting go of religion and experiencing the freedom of flying, is a, it’s a manifestation of the “gravity” of the situation that I’ve been through, if that makes sense. 

It does, it does. That is the most striking line in the lyrics. And so, it sat with me. Haven’t been able to figure it out, but you explained it so beautifully.

So then in the second verse, the second verse ends with, “gravity is what holds us together.” We are one when we’re all afraid. And I’ve kind of turned the meaning of the song a little bit away from my personal, like, letting go of my past, and that being the thing that allows me to fly.

I’ve turned it from that, to kind of a little bit of a critique, and the rest of the song ends up being this, a critique on how fear is used as a point that unites people. And this happens for control.

Right, for control. It’s a tool.

Tool for control, right? And so, “gravity,” when you can create these “grave” situations that people are afraid of, when they’re afraid of the other, when they’re afraid of the other group of people that they don’t understand, and they divide themselves, that unites this group of people. And that’s the whole, like, creating situations of “gravity” is a way to control people, and those people feel like they’re one because they’re all afraid, but really they’re separate.

That’s lovely. So, if you let go of the fear, you can fly.

Exactly, exactly.

And the last track, “Animals.” Of course, the song title makes me think of Pink Floyd immediately, especially when it’s an acoustic guitar-driven track.

You’re not the only one: myself, myself included.

Why does the album conclude with that song? What’s the meaning of it?

That song is… Well, first of all, I’ve always liked… I’ve always appreciated albums that end with a more thoughtful song rather than going out with like a big epic climax crescendo of all the craziest solos. I much prefer endings of albums that make you sit and think after the album’s over. You know, so going back to the Rush example, Rush loves to do that.

They love to put these ending tracks on albums like “Between the Wheels” on Grace Under Pressure, like “Mystic Rhythms” on Power Windows. They love to end the albums with these songs that make you sit for four or five minutes after you finish listening and just take a breath, and go: “Whoa, what did I just, let’s think about this,” you know? So that’s kind of, like, the first thing is, that I wanted to end the album with something that was a little more, like, introspective and atmospheric, and kind of put you in a pensive mood. But also, that song is about kind of the end of the road, the end of life. And I’ve always felt like, religion at its core, while it can be used for a whole lot of other things, the fundamental reason religion exists is to explain our purpose in the world, and what happens after this life, right? 

And when you remove yourself from a religious setting, you have to go through a whole lot of thought about, okay, what is my purpose in this world then? If I wasn’t put here by a God, if there isn’t some grand plan for my existence, then what is my purpose in this life?

And that’s something that I think a lot of people get very down about. And it’s also something, it’s a reason why a lot of people spend their lives choosing to push their way through,, and stick with a religion because they’re afraid of the alternative. And so for me, “Animals” is kind of my thoughts on life and the fact that I don’t know what the purpose of life is, but I’ve come to a place of peace with that, because the world, while it is a lone and dreary place, with a lot of suffering, a lot of fear, a lot of bad things that happen, it’s also an incredibly beautiful place. And there’s so much diversity, and culture, and beauty in nature. And whether we as human beings have been put here by a God, or whether it was just luck of science and biology, either way, are we not incredibly blessed that we get to experience this world? And should we not, instead of focusing on what happens after this, should we not just appreciate and enjoy the wonder of the world that we get to experience?

Rylee, thank you so much for taking this time to meet with us today. And I appreciate you going a few minutes beyond our scheduled time to give us that explanation of “Animals.” 

Thank you. Oh, no worries at all. Happy to talk.

I think you have to go to your next appointment, because I saw a door open in the background.

That was actually my dog walking into the room. Maybe he’s reminding me it’s time for his walk appointment. 

Well, thank you. I think you’ve found your calling. I would say your calling in this world is to make beautiful music. You add so much beauty, and this album is going to be on my Top 10 List because it’s such an incredible surprise to discover music of such high quality. So, it’s good to meet you, Rylee. Thank you again for taking time to talk to us.

Thank you so much, Chris. This has been an absolute pleasure. Really appreciate you taking the time to check out our music. Thank you.

I hope we’ll meet again, maybe live in concert.

That would be amazing. I would love that. I would love that.

Advent Horizon is:

Rylee McDonald – Vocals, guitars, keys, percussion
Mike Lofgreen – Drums, percussion, screams
Cason Wood – Bass, fretless bass, synthesizers, electric and acoustic pianos, organs, hand claps
Grant Matheson – Vocals, keys, guitars
Kristen McDonald – Vocals

Additional musicians:

Zach Boorman – Guitars, pianos, synthesizers, backing vocals, percussion
Doug Robinson – Supplemental guitar on In a Lone and Dreary World
Cressa and Griffin McDonald – Background vocal ambience on Animals

Recorded and mixed by Zach Boorman
Produced by Advent Horizon and Zach Boorman
Mastered by Jens Bogren
Artwork by Travis Smith

The astonishing thing about Brass Camel (2026) is that it is not just another iteration of what the band has previously been. Instead, there is a remarkable transposition into a higher sphere of musical achievement.

It’s as if the band only partially showed themselves on earlier releases. Brass (2022) had a fascinating blend of funk and prog, which soared especially on “Last Flight of the Vulcan.”

Camel (2025) continued crafting the longstanding trademark funk sound of Brass Camel, but with even longer prog forays on the jaw dropping “Zealot” and “Another Day.”

But it’s on Brass Camel (2026) that the band Brass Camel has now realized a full expression of what they were painstakingly working towards on earlier releases.

This album is such a definitively upper echelon achievement that, despite the precedents of the earlier releases, it still feels unprecedented every time I listen to it.

From song to song, note to note, it has the magical actualization of pure perfection. I keep asking myself: What would one wish were different about this album, in any way? The answer is: Absolutely nothing. I am unable to find a single thing to quibble with or to criticize. Because the album is, quite simply, perfect.

Let me explain. Or rather, illustrate with an example. I won’t draw upon comparisons to some of the most famous classic rock albums, even though I believe this album in itself constitutes irrefutable proof that Brass Camel has given us a release that is one for the ages.

This album, in its pure perfection, reminds me of the experience of Big Star’s #1 Record. That’s an album that never became widely known by a mass audience, but that will forever be legendary for anyone with taste who ever hears it. In the same way, Brass Camel is just like that. Even if it never becomes an album that conquers the world by selling tens of millions, it is still an album that is so beautiful and perfect that I pronounce it legendary. From this moment on, it is destined to be a number one record in the hearts of those who are lucky enough to hear it.

Brass Camel is a release that is so entirely unexpected for me, despite my familiarity with the band for many years now. Its shocking perfection feels to me like hearing Big Star for the first time. How can a record be so amazing? We cannot say how such magic happens. No algorithm will ever be able to bottle it. But when the conditions are right, and the musicians are committed to every note as if their lives depend on it, such thrilling albums can arise and surprise us all.

The analogy to Big Star is not perfect. This is not Brass Camel’s first album, as was #1 Record. Nor is the music comparable in genre. But I feel like the analogy fits in more ways than it does not.

The band comes up with a sound that is distinctively its own. They have a trademark sound, in spite of their obvious debts to others for inspiration and example.

They craft a whole idiosyncratic genre that seems to be fully inhabited only by their own inimitable selves. The band has a musical ethos that is what gives the whole album its pristine perfection. The joy of the music itself for its own sake resounds in every note. So, you see that my analogy relies upon a feeling: the awareness of something special, something legendary, being birthed.

“You’ve Got Time” gives me sensations of early Yes along an alternate timeline, as its chirpy staccato vocal rhythms invite me to imagine Jon Anderson and his confreres singing along.

If there were ever a sonic actualization of what going into hyperspace sounds like, it’s how drummer Wyatt Gilson fires up the faster-than-light hyperdrive at a minute and a half into “What Are You Going To Do,” and takes the whole band flying off on the highest velocity thrill ride possible.

“Why Bother” makes it clear that you are listening to a legendary album. It takes inspiration not just from Queen but also from the Beatles, I would say. It would fit comfortably on side two of Abbey Road. It’s a song so perfect that it takes your breath away every time you listen to it. The song itself is the answer to its titular question. Why bother? Because a song like this makes life worthwhile. And the impossible work that it takes to make the impossibly perfect happen is worth all the bother in the world when this is the result.

“Can’t Say We Didn’t Try” has astonishing musical acrobatics that are a perfect match for its musical subject matter: a daring attempt to make a special plane fly again.

“Ice Cold” finishes off the first half of the album (the first five tracks) with the greatest realization yet of Brass Camel’s trademark hard funk sound. One could say that the whole first half does the same, because despite the many prog flourishes throughout, the prime focus of the first half feels to me to be the perfection of that trademark funk blend.

But my favourite half of the album is the second half, because the last five tracks are somehow more perfectly prog than anything else the band has ever done, despite the conventionally short song lengths. Again, it’s the musical ethos that is indescribably realizing a musical perfection with a prog focus that were have not heard before realized in such a beautiful way.

“Careful What You Wish For” is sonic storytelling of the most engrossing sort. Every detail matters, and it’s all effective. Aubrey Ellefson’s keyboards paint a masterpiece of a picture.

“Everybody Loves a Scandal” is absolutely incredible and defies description. Its wit and good humour is blended with deadly serious and uncompromising musical excellence. It also has the most magnificent bridge, which you can hear ramping up just after 3:11 minutes into the song. Its emotional cadence is positively cathartic and a truly magic moment that cements this album’s status as legendary.

My favourite track is “Catch Us If You Can” because it is the most unrestrained prog shred-fest. Listen to the unbelievable two minutes ensuing after 2:57 into the song. You cannot hear it and deny that Brass Camel is unquestionably one of the greatest bands ever. After hearing this, I just threw my hands up in the air and declared them my new favourite band.

“Last Call” unfurls its musical treasures so slowly and majestically you almost forget it is a terrifying song about the worst madnesses of a civil war. But its magnificent tension and pacing has me feeling that this could easily be a track on the legendary Genesis album Foxtrot, as I imagine the Peter Gabriel of that era singing it. Its musical potency is truly gripping. Daniel Sveinson’s electric guitar solo puts the icing on the cake, making it sound like Brian May’s guitar tech showed up to flip a switch on Daniel to have him inspire us all to throw peace signs in the air.

“This Is Goodbye” ends the album with a perfect union of funk and prog as it tells the true-life tale of undersea disaster. Curtis Arsenault’s deep-diving bass lines are a prog fan’s dream come true. The whole band follows along for another amazing adventure.

With Brass Camel (2026), concluding an epic quest, Brass Camel has brought back for us a priceless treasure: an unforgettable album of inexhaustible wealth that repays every listen. With this album they invite us to join the legend and the adventure. Here is a band that sounds like nobody else but themselves. It gives me joy to tell as many people as I can about them.

Read our fifteen-day coverage of its release for more details about Brass Camel as found on Progarchy.com.

Brass Camel, Brass Camel (2026) ★★★★★ A+ 10/10

For more than two weeks now, Progarchy.com has been covering the mid-April release of Brass Camel (2026), a truly stunning album.

Our full album review will conclude our cycle of coverage tomorrow. Spoiler alert: We love it! ★★★★★ A+

For today, let’s review the past fifteen days of coverage all in one post, in case you missed any of it:

Progarchy.com celebrates the Album Release Day (April 15): “Brass Camel” (2026)

Album Release Day (April 15): “Brass Camel” (2026)

Daniel Sveinson on The Backstory to “Brass Camel” (2026)

The Backstory to “Brass Camel” (2026)

Aubrey Ellefson on The Making of “Brass Camel” (2026)

The Making of “Brass Camel” (2026)

Terry Brown: Mix Engineer on “Brass Camel” (2026)

Terry Brown: Mix Engineer on “Brass Camel” (2026)

Brass Camel track #1: “You’ve Got Time”

Brass Camel #1: “You’ve Got Time”

Brass Camel track #2: “What Are You Going to Do”

Brass Camel #2: “What Are You Going to Do”

Brass Camel track #3: “Why Bother”

Brass Camel #3: “Why Bother”

Brass Camel track #4: “Can’t Say We Didn’t Try”

Brass Camel #4: “Can’t Say We Didn’t Try”

Brass Camel track #5: “Ice Cold”

Brass Camel #5: “Ice Cold”

Brass Camel track #6: “Careful What You Wish For”

Brass Camel #6: “Careful What You Wish For”

Brass Camel track #7: “Everybody Loves a Scandal”

Brass Camel #7: “Everybody Loves a Scandal”

Brass Camel track #8: “Catch Us If You Can”

Brass Camel #8: “Catch Us If You Can”

Brass Camel track #9: “Last Call”

Brass Camel #9: “Last Call”

Brass Camel track #10: “This is Goodbye”

Brass Camel #10: “This is Goodbye”

The recording process: “Brass Camel” (2026)

The recording process: “Brass Camel” (2026)

For the past two weeks we have been highlighting the superb lyrics on Brass Camel (2026), giving the band commentary on each one of the album tracks.

Stay tuned for our own full album review. But for today, to conclude our cycle of insight into the album, here’s Daniel Sveinson of Brass Camel (electric guitar and vocals) on the recording process that the band went through for this epic release:

Through woodlands, through the valleys (thanks Gordon Lightfoot), across the plains and the Canadian shield, it took five short days for the Camel caravan to barrel from our “Camel” album release party in Vancouver on April 19th to sold out shows in Ottawa and Montreal. With bus problems including a tire blow-out along the way, there was no shortage of drama on the long drive out but we made it in one piece and had a fantastic weekend where we got to test-run some of the new material on the Friday and Saturday before driving to Uxbridge on Sunday where we set up at the Chalet. The studio, run by David Chester, is a unique and special place. Inspired by Le Studio — the legendary lake-front studio in Quebec’s Morin Heights where artists such as Rush, The Police, and David Bowie recorded — it is a residential studio; the band stays on site and that means more time to make music. In fact, Rush spent years using the Chalet as a home-base where they could hole up to write and rehearse. It’s rural, charming. and inspiring. 

            All set up on the Sunday evening, we began recording the album early on Monday morning. With Kevin at the helm as engineer, we laid down bed tracks of my guitar, Curtis’ bass, and Wyatt’s drums for ten songs in two days – we really wanted an album that felt ‘alive’ as we find so many modern art rock/prog rock/technical albums feel almost soulless in their quantising and editing and whatever else gets done in the name of chasing perfection. All those thousands of hours spent on stage together over the past three years helped us to play together in a different way than we had (in-studio) before. It was fun and it was also a different experience than we’d had before because, being on a farm and not in a noisy downtown corridor, the Chalet A-room has a massive plate glass window that looks out over a beautiful field and forest grove. We’ve all recorded in many studios with many different bands but this was the first time where we had natural light and lovely pastoral scenes to take in while playing. There were foxes and lightning storms (which you’ll hear on record) and gorgeous sunny days and frogs chirping and it all played into the great atmosphere that informed the recording process. Having Kevin onboard was fabulous — he is a wise sage in the control room and was able to offer buckets of great useful input and feedback as we were tracking. We’ve never worked with a producer before (Ben Kaplan is credited as co-producer on “Camel” but this was requested due to the post-production work he was keen on rather than pre-pro/in session advice that one might think of in the classical rock-production sense) and having someone whose vision clearly aligns with ours being there to assist in steering the ship towards the finish line was fantastic. He made some suggestions that had major positive impacts on the tracks.

            Once beds were done, we spent the rest of our time at Chalet tracking a multitude of keyboards and guitars. “Camel”’s 12 minute closer “Another Day” may have had a 3-minute Minimoog solo (sorry prog fans, this new album does not) but Brass Camel has far greater claim to being a keys-driven record, be it grand piano or Rhodes or Clarinet D6 —thanks Ben K!— or Oberheim bass bombs. Aubrey really came into his own on this record in terms of having his instrumental voice clearly defined and there is a chordal fullness to this album that, in my opinion, isn’t found on the first two. We had a blast choosing tones and instruments and even tracked the intro to “Everybody Loves a Scandal” on a real 17th-century-style dual manual French harpsichord handmade by luthier Craig Tomlinson — sure, we could have used a sample, but what’s the fun in that?

            After 8 days in the studio (with a weekend of shows in between) we were back on the road to complete the tour home. Kevin flew into Vancouver where were finished up the recording with vocals, guitar overdubs, and various other bits of foley and percussion. With a record ready to mix, we just had to find the right fit!

And then the mix was done by none other than Terry Brown!

Read all about it on Progarchy.com.

Today we are highlighting even more of the superb lyrics on Brass Camel (2026), continuing with our two-week band commentary on each one of the album tracks. We will conclude this week with our own full album review.

Here’s Daniel Sveinson of Brass Camel (electric guitar and vocals) on the tenth track of the album, “This is Goodbye”:

Our first album “Brass” starts off with a song called “First Contact.” 

It’s been the plan for some time to title the third album “Brass Camel” which would conclude the “Brass”—”Camel”—”Brass Camel” trilogy,

and I got thinking that I’d love to conclude the album and three-album-arc with something along the lines of “Farewell” or “Goodbye.”

We listen to a lot of Gordon Lightfoot when we’re driving across Ontario

and I remember being surprised to find out that the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk in 1975, only a year before the famous Lightfoot song came out.

Not every disaster song is about something that happened a century earlier!

I’m no fan of the billionaire class, as the lyrics demonstrate, but like seemingly everyone else in the western hemisphere my news cycle had been taken over by the Titan submersible catastrophe in late 2023.

There was a lot to unpack —

the un-relatability of being able to take a pleasure-trip to such an inhospitable place,

the foolish cockiness and disregard for others’ wellbeing displayed by the Oceangate CEO,

the suspense of waiting to know if peoples’ loved ones were going to be recovered

or whether they had been liquified by deep sea pressure…

it was all interesting stuff

and that’s what inspired this song about deep sea disaster. 

Relevant lyrics:

“No creature comforts

more like pigs in a sty

call it a chance for rich folks to spend a few hours walking in the shoes of you and I

like poor Aegeus, a proper burial at sea

in the form of a fine, powdered mist

too small for the eyes to see

pulverised matter takes the places of triumphs and hopes and dreams

so long

this is goodbye”

Today we are highlighting even more of the superb lyrics on Brass Camel (2026), continuing with our two-week commentary on each one of the album tracks. We will conclude this week with our album review.

Here’s Daniel Sveinson of Brass Camel (electric guitar and vocals) on the ninth track of the album, “Last Call”:

The darkest song on the album, and the simplest.

We have a tendency to pack in a lot of notes and chords and changes into our tracks, and I wanted to challenge myself to write a dead simple song — great excuse to lean into some big Oberheim chords if nothing else!

Lyrically it came about after reading about civil war in Syria.

I recalled having read Shelby Foote’s account of the U.S. civil war years ago (fascinating but long and dry), having watched Hotel Rwanda not long before.

One thing that stuck with me is the period of seeming inevitability in so many civil wars — where both politicians and the populace know that things are tense but don’t know just how quickly things will unravel when the last straws are plucked.

It’s a terrifying thing to think about and it inspired “Last Call.”

Relevant lyrics:

“Board the doors

there’s no-one left to trust

your neighbours wave to you at dawn

and cut you down by dusk

the lines are drawn

those old ties come apart

you give in to the hatred that festers in the dark

and you won’t see the life until it’s buried in your heart

last call

we’ll fade to black

the dream is dead

there is no turning back”

If you listen to only one track on the new Brass Camel (2026) album, make it this one: “Catch Us If You Can.”

The greatest two minutes of prog that you will hear this year begins at the three-minute mark of the song. Enjoy it at maximum volume! We’re talking YYZ-level greatness here.

Today we are highlighting even more of the superb lyrics on Brass Camel (2026), continuing with our two-week commentary on each one of the album tracks. We will conclude this week with our album review. (Spoiler alert: The amazing solos break on “Catch Us If You Can” makes it our favourite track!)

Here’s Daniel Sveinson of Brass Camel (electric guitar and vocals) on the eighth track of the album:

This song, without a doubt the most “prog” song of the album, was written at the last minute, days before we went out on tour.

Throughout the past couple of years, we’ve done very few cover songs in complete form, but we have thrown in lots of short snippets from songs that really tear it up such as Gino Vanelli’s “Brother to Brother,” Al di Meola’s “Elegant Gypsy Suite,” or Rush’s “La Villa Strangiato.”

Before heading out on tour I was thinking it would be nice to write our own piece that turns up the shred-dial so we can play a fully original set while still letting loose with some more technical material.

This one was written in a morning, fueled by espresso and a deadline.

The intro to the song had given me spy-movie vibes, so I doubled down on that with a set of lyrics about espionage, subterfuge, and the recent political tensions inspired by the current stateside administration, and filled with allusions to the War of 1812.

I’d hate to imagine a scenario where the U.S. invades Canada or annexes it by other means.

Militarily I’m sure we’d be walked over in hours or days, but the decades to follow would be a nightmare; can you imagine how difficult it would be to prevent infiltration?

Us friendly liberal Canucks would surely make the Viet Cong seem like fuckin’ Teletubbies.

We look the same, we sound the same, we share so many customs… catch us if you can.

Don’t put us on a list, U.S.A. This is a work of fiction.

Relevant lyrics:

“Don’t you recall feeling the breeze blow

watching the sky glow above the fog

burning timbers of the big house

looks like it’s lights out in the navy yard

two people of the same face

vying for the same place

but one don’t belong

effortless amalgamation

sabotage

infiltration

you should have known after the first time

that once again we’d draw a hard line

and slip right through your hands

catch us if you can”

We are continuing this week here at Progarchy.com to highlight some of the superb lyrics on Brass Camel (2026), with commentary on each one of the album tracks, and then we will conclude with our album review.

Spoiler alert: we consider the bridge on “Everybody Loves a Scandal” to be a truly magnificent highlight on the album! (Navigation tip: it starts at around 3:33 into the track.)

But for now, here’s Daniel Sveinson of Brass Camel (electric guitar and vocals) on the seventh track of the album:

AI — what a can of worms, isn’t it?

This song, the very first that Aubrey and I co-wrote, came about while talking about AI music and visuals and the ethical conversations around them.

We write and we play our music without any computer assistance, but when the tech was first coming out we would start many of our poster designs with AI and then use a drawing tablet to turn them into our own thing.

For us, a broke indie band, it was the first time where we could afford to present unique graphics for each and every show.

As far as we were concerned, musicians have been dealt one “get used to it” after another over the past decades — first drum machines, then sampling, and then downloading, and then streaming.

We saw a tool that could give us a leg up and we used it for a while. We stopped because:

A) we do work very hard to play/write/scheme up original ideas and didn’t want someone seeing a poster that AI had a part in making and then assuming we write music the same way, and

B) the ethical/environmental arguments against it are compelling enough to not want to touch it.

But having once made what we thought were valid justifications for the use of the technology led to the concept for this song.

When Aubrey and I got together to try writing one-on-one, we thought “let’s write a song written from the point of view of someone who does write their music entirely with AI and is absolutely unapologetic about it.”

By the end of the day we had this song demoed out and it’s one of our favourites on the album because it intentionally covers a lot of different styles, and in the end “the humans win.”

For the music video, we constructed a robot costume and recorded an entire music-video-within-the-video to tell a story of a robot who is suffering from writer’s block so it “prompts” the humans to make a song.

Relevant lyrics:

“There goes the genie

he’s off on his way

the papers said “get back in your bottle”

and he said “not today”

It’s mighty cramped

and you know there’s a chance

that Asimov’s in his grave spinning (the record)

cause you know that he approves

so how about you ignore the words

why don’t you get down with the groove?”

We are highlighting some of the superb lyrics on Brass Camel (2026) all week long here at Progarchy.com, with commentary on each one of the album tracks.

Daniel Sveinson of Brass Camel (electric guitar and vocals) comments on the sixth track of the album:

Who doesn’t love a scary story?

I read about the myth of the Leeds/New Jersey devil and it provided me with lots of visceral imagery — a human baby who transmogrifies into a vicious winged beast right there in the delivery room, surprising and terrifying everyone except the baby’s own mother who predicted this fate for her unwanted 13th child.

I thought “Fuck it, let’s write a spooky song.”

Relevant lyrics:

“The mother on the table

cackled as she knew

her prayers had been answered

and were all coming true

the priest in the corner

trembled and clutched his chest

as this paragon of evil

hewn from living flesh

confronted the indignities of infancy by rising to his feet

be careful what you wish for, Mrs Leeds“