Portland-based instrumetal metalurgists in Increate will release their debut album titled “Void” on February 3rd. The quartet sat down for an interview with Progarchy and we discussed what it looks like to create music in the band. Make sure to pre-order “Void” from Bandcamp.

What made you go for the name Increate?

Johannes: I got the idea from the book series: “Urth Of The New Sun” by Gene Wolfe. When I found that the definition is “existing without having been created”, it was all over.

How do you usually describe your music?

Zev: Shreddy, psychedelic, heavy.

Dustin: Instrumental progressive metal to someone who isn’t familiar with all the subgenres. In actuality I think it’s instrumental technical death metal merged with progressive metal and jazz fusion. In other words, combine our main influences: Soreption, Meshuggah, Fallujah, Animals as Leaders, and Cynic and you’re getting close. We also take heavy influence from HP Lovecraft and many of the song titles are references to his stories.

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Nothing is more challenging in music than new names in a genre, especially if there are great guitar solos. Progressive rock, just like its title, as a genre always remains thirsty for something new.

Farwatch is one of these bands that brings that challenging taste to the scene. Great guitar solos, female fronted vocals and little passages that are always between prog rock and metal. Their new work “Transmigrated” was released last month, so it falls into the category of late-great 2016 releases. Musically, especially with those sudden rhythm changes, prog-specific drums and great guitar solos, we are “confronted” with influences by some of the genres greats: Dream Theater, Haken, Rush. The album gets a bit of a gothic vibe courtesy of the vocals. Another courtesy of vocals — there is somewhat fairy atmosphere in the way of Blackmore’s Night.

Different than usual with its own character. That is how I would describe Farwatch’s “Transmigrated.” It knows the ways to your ears.

You can get a copy of “Transmigrated” from Bandcamp here.

With the amount of records being released in the present era, ranging from the bedroom to high-class studio productions, it is quite a challenge to satisfy my hunger for music lately. Most of this has to do with the fact that the music being released today lacks sincerity. Maybe I am stuck badly to the old-school understanding of rock music, but even though I try so hard, it happens quite a lot that I cannot understand and enjoy the modern music. The sound of 1970s is my comfort zone.

Althea from Milan, Italy could be described as a true progressive rock metal band with touches of metal here and there, offering well-thought melodies, interesting vocal arrangements, and passages that connect the dots that are quite enjoyable.

The album opens with “Regression from Regrets,” which after a short atmospheric intro shows that Memories Have No Name has a lot to offer. With often changes, Althea distances themselves from delivering just a pure, lifeless showcase of technical proficiency, something that these guys definitely have, but rather presents the work that is alive, dynamic and above all, interesting.

References to various stylistically different artists can be heard in Althea’s music. Their explorations within Anathema’s or Porcupine Tree’s melancholia speak of that, but the band is not afraid to delve deeper and expand their horizons. As Melodies Have No Name flows by, a listener is taken to a sound-trip that gets more metal-esque. Each of the songs on the album has its own personality, and labelling this record under a single genre would do this band a lot of injustice. As an example, “Paralyzed” is a very classic rock oriented song with addition of Opeth-ian vibe. “Revenge” channels Dream Theater, while “Halfway of Me” is somewhere between the mentioned US prog veterans and Rush. And that is just a small piece of what Memories Have No Name delivers.

To summarise, Memories Have No Name is a record largely based on the progressive rock genre channelling many different elements. This is a true epic, both in length and amount of quality material, which requires quite a few listens to get into it. How far Althea are ready to go? Time will tell. But for now they are on the right path.

Visit Althea on Facebook.

Merkaba is a new instrumental ambidjent project that emerged in 2016. Led by Louis Goodwin, this one-man band produced the self-titled debut EP which includes nine tracks. We asked Louis some questions about the record, and here is what he had to say.

Alright, first thing is first. Before we dive into all the music stuff, how’s life?

Life’s good! Writing plenty of riffs, practising a lot, learning a lot. Things are chill!

Speaking of new music, you have an EP. What can people expect from “Merkaba”?

A strange mix of really heavy stuff and really light stuff. I can’t seem to decide what part of the “Djent” subgenre I’m most going for with Merkaba, whether it’s the really heavy Meshuggah, Glass Cloud or Monuments kinda thing, the more metalcorey Born of Osiris and Veil of Maya stuff, the jazzy Animals as Leaders, Plini and later Intervals influences, or super ambient stuff like Tesseract, Skyharbour or David Maxim Micic. One moment it could be a super heavy riff like the breakdown in “Sonder”, the next it could be the jazz/proggy, clean chords in Interludes I and II.

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Anakdota is a progressive rock band from Israel who this year came up with the release of their debut album titled “Overloading.” The band admits that they make “highly intensive, ears demanding and jaws breaking music.” Pianist Erez Aviram spoke with us about the meaning behind the band’s name, the writing process, “Overloading”, and more.

What made you go for the name Anakdota?

Lots of brainstorming, we searched for a name to describe our music. By definition, an anecdote (Anekdota in Hebrew) is a tale which usually contains a comic twist or a message. We added our own comic punch line in the name itself, we misspelled the word so it shows “Anakdota”.

How do you usually describe your music?

Our music is like a really fast japanese super high tech train driving through beautiful enormous fields of tulips.

What is your writing process like?

Painfully slow. Satisfying though. Usually Erez Aviram (Piano guy) writes all the material including the arrangement but the parts are given new life by Guy Bernfeld (Bass) and Yogev Gabay (Drums) and they add their own ideas to the mix. Then we press “Randomise” in Cubase and hope for the best.

Who or what is your inspiration, if you have any?

Daily life, lots of stuff going on every single day. Emotions and thoughts which you never seem to notice too much, but they exist and present all the time. So that’s my inspiration mainly.

What is your favourite piece on the “Overloading” album?

We all have different favourite tracks, but mine (Erez Aviram) would have to be track no’ 4 “Mourning”. It’s a soft ballade sung by Ayala Fossfeld and she really does a great job delivering these painful lyrics, it moves me each and every time I listen to it.

What makes “Overloading” different?

Different from what? I believe it is new and that it was never done before, mainly because it’s us and we’ve never existed before. Sure, we’re influenced by lots of music, old and the new, but I can assure you that this album is something you’d want to listen to at least a couple of times just to understand it and really let it get inside you.

What should music lovers expect from “Overloading”?

Nothing and everything. Expectations ruin everything, it’s better you’d be surprised.

What kind of emotions would you like your audience to feel when they listen to your music?

All the emotions they want to have but I think everyone would like to discover new feelings and sensations they never had before. I strongly believe music has the power to do so.

Which do you like most, life in the studio or on tour?

Never went on tour so life in the studio for me!

Pick your three favourite albums that you would take on a desert island with you.

An album with a toothpaste, an album with a sleeping bag and an album with a satellite phone.

https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2741213045/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/

Ten songs on a debut album by Italian metallers As A Conceit, will give you exactly 40 minutes of something that is brutal, complex, heavy, noise and hardcore with a slice of melody. Imagine The Dillinger Escape Plan with peaces of less complex stuff but more melodic metal parts and you got As A Conceit.

I don’t know how to describe this kind of music but I can imagine where the term/genre ‘noise’ made its entrance. I can also understand that a lot of people can’t take this longer than one minute. But I still wouldn’t describe it as noise. They use these melodic, ‘listenable’ parts in it. That just give you the few, but very needed seconds, to take a breath and protect you from mental damage.

Still, I’d rather see the balance between the melodic metal parts and the brutal noisy complex parts a bit different. Yes, it’s very impressive that they can play it this tight and well controlled. I also think that it’s great to play. But the fact that it takes this much energy to listen to it. A bit less complex would be great, but hey, isn’t that just a matter of taste…

Elarcos is a new name on the progressive rock scene. The band from Montevideo in Uruguay works as a quintet, comprised of talented musicians who crafted an amazing release with their full-length debut “Tecnocracia.” Their flirting with jazz fusion and singing in Spanish make for an unique listening experience. To make it even more interesting, the title song on the album is a 27-minute monster, a real prog epic.

What made you go for the name Elarcos?

Well, this was a little complicated. Actually is a words game, and it doesn’t means nothing. Some years ago we was called ‘CODA’, then we wanted to change it, and then ‘Elarcos’ appeared.

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Italian proggers Althea are set to release their new album titled “Memories Have No Name” in January. The band spoke for Progarchy about the new material.

What made you go for the name Althea?

This is an old and very random story. You have to know that we are very bad at naming things and before coming up with the name Althea we played under a number of fancy fantasy names. At some point, we decided we needed to set a proper name for the band and we simply opened an English dictionary and the first word we picked up was Althea. We liked it and we named the band that way. It was very random and only after we realized the meaning behind the name (Althea is a Greek goddess).

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To Die Elsewhere is a metal band hailing from Salem, Oregon. The group set out to craft a very honest, direct and personal sound through the use of compelling melodies, aggressive riffs and thundering rhythm sections.

The music featured within their recent release Whispers, is a powerful blend of heavy sounds and gritty textures that blur the lines between Djent, Metalcore and progressive music with an aggressive edge. The stunning artwork designed by Taylor Bates (New Melody Art Design) does a great job at offering a visual interpretation of the sound of the band. Dark and faded, with glimmers of light and a very impressive natural geometry that adds some sophistication to the sound of the band.

The album features 13 explosive tracks that are ablaze with fire and energy, from opening tune “Day I” up to the album’s closing composition, the self-titled tune on the record. “Mask of a Judge” is probably one of my favorite songs on this release, with a really explosive drum intro that dives into some of the most powerful and expressive riffs featured on the entire release. Another track worth mentioning would definitely be “Unfinished”, which begins with a really cool drum groove, to burst into a very heavy sonic assault. These Oregon musicians set out to create a very cohesive album, with songs that stand out on their own, as well as in their “pack” ensemble.

Listen to the album on Bandcamp.

Guamskyy is an instrumental progressive rock/metal project managed by guitarist and composer Christian San Agustin, who is about to release an album titled “Seven Parallels” on December 20th. In an interview for Progarchy, Agustin tells us about his project.

What made you go for the name Guamskyy?

I came up with the name as my Xbox gamertag! Me and my buddies back in high school added “skyy” to the end of a name we’d pick. Because I’m from the island of Guam, it was only fitting for me to choose that name, with my friends agreeing with me. Fast forward from there to a couple years ago with my first EP release “Journey Home” and needing a moniker, there was no better choice.

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