Ahead of the release on August 6th of Excellion’s new EP, Unsean, the band have launched a teaser video showcasing all the tracks from the five-track release. See it below.

“For ‘Unsean’ we took a different approach totally; it is our first work since we established ourselves in Mexico City. We’re all sharing the same home right now, so it was a new interesting way to write music for Excellion,” commented backing vocalist and bassist Adrian Vilbel. “We were all involved in the moment when someone had an idea and he just called the rest of the group, and just like that, suddenly we were working on a whole song right there. It didn’t matter if it was late at night or too early in the morning, it has been a fun ride and we’re really proud of the results we’ve gotten.”

The title of the EP, Unsean, is not a typo but rather a wordplay. As singer and guitarist Frozen Chava explains: “There seems to be a lot of people that believe it’s a typo and well, it’s definitely not, but we expected that too when we decided to name our new work like that. It’s actually a word play where we used “Unseen” and at the same time “Sea” because that’s exactly the concept behind this new music. We humans actually know more about the space than the sea, it’s shocking that we only know about five percent of this vast amount of water on the Earth’s surface and that’s something to reflect about. There is a lot of mystery and things to discover down there, so yeah, that’s what UnSEAn is really about.”

Speaking about the creative process that informed Unsean, guitarist Frank Markz said: “We’ve always wanted to express the way we feel at the time when we focus on writing something new, so this was no exception. Actually it has a lot to do with the changes that were happening with our lives. We were moving to a new city, we were adapting ourselves to this new life, there were a lot of things we didn’t know at the moment and had to learn the hard way. The list can go on but I think you got the point by now, so we focused on looking for something to reflect those feelings and that’s how the “UnSEAn” project was born. That’s why you can see a Lion with horns under the water for the cover art — there’s some strange life form learning to adapt itself to a completely different environment, one that he or she isn’t used to.”

Drummer Omar Avley added: “To tell the truth, it has been an interesting concept to work on and we believe there will be a lot of people out there who will identify themselves with the same story. We really hope you guys enjoy these songs.”

Unsean is out on August 6th; check out the teaser including all five tracks off of the EP. 

Unseen Track Listing:

1. Unsean Pt. I: In Search of Infinity
2. Unlucky Charms (feat. Fernando Obregón of Joliette)
3. The Courier
4. Diablo Jr. (feat. Jose Macario Tovar of Arcadia Libre)
5. Unsean Pt. II: The Heart of the Sapphire

Excellion online:

https://www.facebook.com/excellionband/

https://twitter.com/excellionband

https://instagram.com/excellionband

http://soundcloud.com/excellion

https://www.youtube.com/user/ExcellionBand

Finnish progsters Trauma Field released one of the most pleasant releases of 2016 that I’ve listened on quite a few occasions so far. Their second album, “Changing Tides,” is certainly a great addition to the melodic, more melancholic spectre of the progressive genre.

Jaakko Pessu (vocals, guitars) and Antero Jokinen (keyboards) answered my question about their work. Head over the band’s Bandcamp page, hit the play button and enjoy reading this interview while “Changing Tides” takes you on a journey through vast.

What made you go for the name Trauma Field?

Jaakko: Trauma is a powerful and somewhat scary word. The name can make you wonder, what is a trauma field and how does it look like. And then you have a picture in your head. At least that’s how it worked for me in the beginning. Also it describes our themes well. Trauma field is inside ones head, and that’s where we dive on our albums.

How do you usually describe your music?

Jaakko: Atmoshpheric, melodic and somewhat progressive. The goal is to deliver emotions and feelings and to do that, all tools and spices can be used.

What is your writing process like?

Jaakko: I usually get a small idea from somewhere. It can be a melody, a riff or a chord progression. Immediately after that I try to recognize the feeling in it. That feeling is the guideline to make the rest of the song and the lyrics. But of course every song and every process is different.

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

Jaakko: I find inspiration from everywhere. Usually it’s other music, but it can be a movie, a photo, etc. The lyrical theme of Changing Tides is the progress of growing and maturing through good and bad days. I have thought about these things for a couple of years now and it was kind of natural to mold these thoughts into an album.

What is your favourite piece on the “Changing Tides” album?

Jaakko: My personal favourite is High Tide. It was fun and painless to make and contains some elements I’m really proud of, like the use of the theme melody in different time signatures. The best thing about this album is that everyone has a different favourite.

Antero: My favourite piece changes from time to time but I have to say I’m very happy to have a proper ballad on the album! I mean Hope For Rain of course.

What makes “Changing Tides” different?

Jaakko: It is a combination of easy and complex things. The melodies are clear and easy to follow, but there’s more in the songs. I hope that a listener wants to hear the songs again and again to hear and understand new things.

What should music lovers expect from “Changing Tides”?

Jaakko: A musical journey to yourself. Everyone should think these themes at some point in their lives. Musically it’s full of feeling and emotion to dive into.

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

Jaakko: Depends on the song. Most of the time it’s some shade of melancholy, but there’s always a positive side to it. I’m small, but I matter. Today it rains but the sun will shine tomorrow.

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

Jaakko: We have never been on a longer tour, but I guess the studio wins. It’s nice to try different ideas and hear the music form in front of you. You can never hear it quite the same while playing.

Antero: We would like to have a some kind of tour of course but sometimes I wonder how some bands can do it for almost two years straight.

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

Jaakko: Today’s choice would be: Boxer by The National, New World Shadows by Omnium Gatherum and Appeal to Reason by Rise Against. An album for each mood.

Antero: I have to say Unia by Sonata Arctica because the album is so complex  and you can find new things in it on every listen. Other two might be Once by Nightwish and Addicted by Devin Townsend Project.

Check out Progarchy’s review of “Changing Tides” here.

Trauma Field is an progressive metal group hailing from Jyvaskyla in Finlad, who recently released their second full-length album “Changing Tides.” All songs (as well lyrics) on “Changing Tides” were written by singer and guitarist Jakko Pessu. The album was recorded between 2015 and early 2016 and was tracked by the band and Joonathan Jaakownaho, who also did the mix.

Welcome to the beautiful nightmare world called “Changing Tides.” With a very focused release to the band’s opus, Trauma Field created an album that has all the potential to push them into upper echelons of charts.

As “outsider” as it feels, “Changing tides” is something that masses can easily identify with. It rather feels as a band with the drive and unfettered ambition to create a standalone marvel which not only awakens the ghosts and cliches from alternative and progressive music’s pompous pasts, but it entirely adds its own voice. And Pesu’s voice is intelligent and familiar, his cold grandiosity spreads out like wildfire as the album plays out.

The opening, title track is going the furthest in imitating feelings of desolation. “Aeons,” “Black Haze,” and “Reborn” are the sharpest-sounding tracks on “Changing Tides.” There is everything here to make Trauma Fe

Field big — ethereal melodies, soaring melodies, and a bombastic sense of “epic” that makes the band’s sound both memorable and powerful.

“Changing Tides” covers a wide range of emotions. There is great songwriting, great performances and an epic quality that is rarely found in alternative rock. Trauma Field have a way of magically turning a quintet into the sonic equivalent of a rock orchestra, and giving strength and bite to their music.

Is this band going to meet a criticism from metal fans? Unfortunately, yes. They are very progressive based, which many would consider a far cry from actually being prog. While there is definitely a feeling that Trauma Field are never going to be full-out prog band, they incorporate prog music into a more accessible songwriting style that is enjoyable, although the music tends to flow in a depressing direction in terms of style and feeling. The band integrates progressive (innovative) ideas into a more accessible sound. But that also doesn’t mean that this is mainstream. It is simply a marriage of two schools of music, and there are certainly enough strange ideas in the music to keep the album fresh for many listens.

In general, Trauma Field have impressed me with their songwriting. They succeeded in making an album that is dramatic, bombastic and larger than life from start to finish. “Changing Tides” is one of the nicest discoveries in terms of new music in 2016.

“Changing Tides” is available from Bandcamp here. Like Trauma Field on Facebook.

Ethereal aural doomers from Rome, Rome In Monochrome, recently released a three-track EP titled “Karma Anubis.” The band’s guitarist and singer Gianluca Lucarini had time to answer couple of questions for Progarchy.

What made you go for the name Rome In Monochrome?

A friend of mine, Max Varani (ex singer in my grindcore band DEGENERHATE), created this monicker. I immediately loved this name, because it was very representative for the music we played, plus, we are from Rome and we adore black and white. That’s why ROME IN MONOCHROME.

How do you usually describe your music?

We named our music Ethereal Aural Doom, but we don’t like very much using tags to describe our music. We prefer to describe it like an unique blend of doom, postrock, darkgaze and drone.

What is your writing process like?

Me and Valerio (singer), we are the main composers of the band, it all starts with a guitar riff, then the lyrics and finally the song title. After that the structure of the track has been defined, it is arranged and finalized by all the members of the band in the studio.

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

We are daily inspired by everything… talking about our music influences, Katatonia, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema are main and undeniable influences but also slowcore, post rock and shoegaze influences are present in the sound of ROME IN MONOCHROME.

What is your favourite piece on the “Karma Anubis” EP?

Mmmm… Hard to say….I am desperately in love with all the three songs in “Karma Anubis.”

What makes “Karma Anubis” exceptional?

This should ask the people who bought the CD, I’m very curious to know it.

What should music lovers expect from “Karma Anubis”?

Expect a journey through an ethereal, blinding sea of pain, a whiteout of grief, a descent into a maelstrom of caressing void. Buy the limited edition digipack and join the cult of the absence of colour.

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

We would like our fans could feel their heart beat when listening to ROME IN MONOCHROME.

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

Tour life, of course. We are planning some gigs around the Europe for the next year, so stay tuned Monochromers.

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

Only three albums?! What a hard question! Let me see…

1) THE SMITHS – “Meat Is Murder”
2) ALCEST “Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde”
3) OPETH – “Damnation”

Follow Rome In Monochrome on Facebook.

Mexican prog metal band Vitruvius, fronted by Dulce Robles, released their sophomore album “Above The Silvered Sky” in March this year. Dulce and guitarist Oskar Villarreal sat down with Progarchy for an interview where they talked about their sound.

What made you go for the name Vitruvius?

Oskar: Bjorn, former bassist came up with the name “Vitruvius Robot” kind of a cyberpunk concept applied to music in an effort to represent the merge acoustic instruments with electronic textures, but then we took the Robot out because it was too long and hard to remember, I’m also a big fan of Roman architecture myself but the main reason is we think the name sounds cool haha.

How do you usually describe your music?

Dulce: A mix of a weird bunch of styles put together by Oskar.

Oskar: Haha, thanks Dulce I’m glad you like our weird music, but I would say it’s not only me, we’re all accomplices, the concept emerged from all of our twisted minds, and Dulce’s abstract lyrics.

What is your writing process like?

Oskar: About the writing process I can say Inspiration can be misunderstood by a lot of artists, it’s not something that comes to you while you’re watching TV or drinking in a bar, it’s sitting on your butt with your instrument or your pen/notepad while your buddies are partying, you suck it up and play the hell out of it until you get a good groove/riff/progression/verse and then make a second part that has something in common harmonically/rhythmically/lyrically then maybe think about instrumentation, a chorus, an intro, an interlude, an instrumental section an ending and then make it all work out together, or lose the love for a part that doesn’t fit in the context, sometimes that can be frustrating, but you can’t let that discourage you because that’s when things start going south, you just ignore that part and come up with a different idea that fits in, or in the worst case scenario dump the whole song and start over without looking back. The consequence is after a while you have tons of material you can choose from and then magic happens, this is basically how this album came to life, hard work and paying no attention to negative comments unless we consider it to be relevant to the final product but always sticking to our original ideas.

Dulce: Some songs start with a simple phrase or subject that leads to two or three whole sheets of paper in my notebook. I show them to the guys, ask their opinions, pick the most interesting phrases that contain the “feels” and adapt them to the music. I give them some sound, ask for more opinions. Sometimes they just come out how we needed them on the first try. We record, Nothing stays until we all say “Yes! That’s what we want!”

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

Dulce: The “who” would be anyone we have (and haven’t) interacted with, situations around those relationships (family, friends, lovers, ourselves… even politicians!). And “what” could go from any moment we have lived (or wish we had lived) to some shocking news we’ve read.

What is your favourite piece on the “Above the Silvered Sky” album?

Dulce: This kind of question makes me think of a parent deciding which one of their children they love the most…

I would say Silvered Sky, because it came out flowing so simple and easy and it ended up so beautifully complicated. Gust of wind because we dared to do something “out of OUR box”. The truth because we touched a topic so relatable for anyone who follows their passion no matter what. Forgotten smiles because it opened some doors we probably didn’t think existed.

Oskar: My favorite without a doubt is Heaven or Hell.

What makes “Above the Silvered Sky” different?

Maybe the difference could rely on how we hand crafted it note by note from the beginning to the end, with no third party producers, mixing engineers, or other external influences but the mastering engineer, we conceived this album with all our hearts, even though it’s hard to be 100% satisfied with what you do, (we wish we could have done certain things better and hopefully we will next time) we’ve had some really good comments from people who have been beside us since day 1 and also from people that was never involved in the process, that certainly gives us motivation to continue moving forward and working harder. If in the future that makes a tiny difference in the history of music, if what we have done touches, inspires or improves someone in any minimal way, then maybe we can say this album is “different”.

What should music lovers expect from “Above the Silvered Sky”?

Dulce: very different tastes in music blended together into some sort of entertaining hearing exercise.

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

Dulce: I’d be satisfied to know someone actually felt something while listening to our music.

Oskar: All of them!!!, Anger, happiness, sadness, fear, love, hate, etc…except from boredom haha.

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

Dulce: I would say life in the studio. But hectic schedules and travelling from time to time are also fun as hell.

Oskar: I think it all depends on what we’re doing, both are essential for the life of a rock band but we’ve particularly spent maybe 50% of the time in the studio, 35% in the rehearsal room and 15% on stage or so, I as a producer consider myself a total studio geek, I love my toys and the trial and error until it gets as close as possible to what’s in my head and that can’t be done in a live scenario.

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

Dulce: I don’t think I would survive on a desert island with only 3 albums.

Oskar: it depends if I was stranded on a desert island I’d be more worried about what I’m gonna eat and what’s not gonna eat me lol, there’s priorities in life man! plus my ipod or cd player is gonna run out of batteries the first couple of days, and if it was a vacation trip to a desert island I think all I’d want to listen to would be the sounds of nature.

Pay a visit to Vitruvius on Facebook.

Now this one is definitely in my comfort zone. The Last Colour play a style of powerful, on moments atmospheric Progressive Metal, with Post-Metal interspersed into their sound too. In a bid to continue with my ever continuing broadening of horizons I decided I’d give this a look over for review.

The Last Colour are the kind of band I wouldn’t have touched a few years ago, and those who listen to the more conventional styles of Metal can safely give this one a miss from the get go. However, those who are attracted to bizarre and abstract strands of Metal are going to want to read on.

The Last Colour’s style is a suffocating mesh of jangling, and atmospheric guitars. Their pacing is a slow burning type, and their songs are not too long, yet ever growing. A spiralling, haunting trudge through dank mires, their riffs claw out the speakers like skeletal branches; constricting the listener and dragging them into pits of despair. The guitar tone isn’t too overbearing. The drum work is excellent, with tasteful use of cymbals and drum fills. The bass also has a good degree of room to breathe here on Beautiful Apocalypse which is just great.

The band is at their best as the album flows. A tumultuous journey on “The Race Against The End” that spans over five minutes, and drags the listener right to the heart of The Last Colour’s nightmare world. The album cover is absolutely perfect for the music contained, with rather simplistic drawing which when observed carefully explains more.

A bizarre, and sometimes horrifying release, The Last Colour create their atmosphere well. I’d say fans of the style are going to be in for a treat with Beautiful Apocalypse.

Visit The Last Colour on Facebook and Bandcamp.

Italian metal band Judas The Dancer have just released the third video in the serious of video singles taken from their upcoming EP “Post Pop Violence” due in September. In an interview for Progarchy, bassist and singer Nicolo Cavallaro and guitarist and singer Marco Paltanin tell us what is it like to be in the band, but also inspiration and more.

What made you go for the name Judas The Dancer? 

Nic: We firstly wanted to call ourselves Motaro (the Mortal Kombat character half horse and half man). When Marco heard that he just said “Yeah! Why not Dylan Dog at this point?!” And I said “Dylan not for sure… But Judas Dancer is good!”… We added the “the” just because is so cool…

Marco: I vividly remember we didn’t want to move in circles for days or weeks, awaiting divine inspiration. We solved it briefly in a twenty minutes-chuckle-chuckle-discussion. I guess it could have been something cheesy such as “Baywatch” or fucked-up like “The Bully Bumblebee has a crap, pronto” (Mr.Pickles please, don’t sue me if I steal from you). We were lucky we agreed on Judas The Dancer before anything tragic had happened.

How do you usually describe your music? 

Nic: We call it “Post Pop Violence”. And I think there’s no best ways to describe it.

Marco: To me it’s a bastard son of a threesome: metal, funky and a dirty rock. But I wouldn’t trust the way I see things, if I were you. There’s much going on in the songs so yeah, we prefer to describe the mood of our music, instead of its genre. “Post pop violence”, that’s our Klaatu verata Nicto, if you know what I mean.

What is your writing process like? 

Nic: For the EP we started from ideas during jams or rehearsal and than we worked on them. The new music is coming out from recorded ideas and than we arrange together. But if some big producer wanna join us to make big money we’re open to proposals…

Marco: Writing together in the rehearsal room was a really convenient approach when we were defining our sound. After all I wouldn’t be honest if I pretended we knew what we wanted to play from the start. We never knew our whole life actually. Now that we work on pre-recorded stuff it’s amazing, because there’s intense agreement and everyone knows exactly how that idea should be evolved. There’s not a song similar to another, of course. But they’re all Post Pop Violence.

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

Nic: All the things happening in this world are potential inspiration. But they have to be very stupid or enjoyable to join Post Pop Violence.

Marco: The Almighty’s Cloak of Invisibility. The guy is so good at hiding under It, He may even convince me He doesn’t exist.

What is your favourite piece on the “Post Pop Violence” EP? 

Nic: Every song has its own history, for many reasons… But I would probably say “Maradona Talking Heads!”

Marco: Probably “Along Came Lilì”. I had grown sick and tired of listening to it… but I must confess I enjoy so much playing it live, in all its pimpin’ majesty and length, that’s the best of the lot for me.

What makes “Post Pop Violence” different?

Nic: Post Pop Violence is having interesting arrangements keeping the song listenable and letting ALL the people enjoy it. It’s like playing proggy music into an Irish pub or at least this is what we want to do with JTD.

Marco: The freedom to play whatever you like but never compromising on accessibility on behalf of the listener. When we’ll manage to play before traditional country, pop, chill-out, dubstep, brutal metal audiences without them brow-furrowing, seeing them adapt to your music and enjoy it, the mission of Post Pop Violence will be complete.

What should music lovers expect from “Post Pop Violence”? 

Nic: 5 different song (plus 1 cover) but just one single mood.

Marco: Well, I have a bunch of trademarks to sort out to answer this. “We snatch the hidden depravation in listenable music”. “Shape of a puppy. spirit of a murderer”. “The poltergeist of commercial music”. Enough pearls for today, I don’t want to squander it all like a boozer.

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

Nic: we just want people to enjoy our music however they see fit. We have heavy parts, we have choruses, we have funky stuff… Wanna mosh? Just mosh! Wanna sing? Just sing! Just enjoy every feeling we share with you!

Marco: It’s in the name. I wanna see them dance with metal like the whole world had become a rubbish tip disco. That’d be something.

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

Nic: Personally, I like to film videos… Ahah! Tour or studio is both good. I like to play my music and if I can do it it will surely be awesome.

Marco: The studio is the place your ideas take shape. They somehow connect to the flesh and still surprise you, long after you thought you had grasped them for good. I like that part. The stage though is the only place where you can really measure the energy of those ideas. I like that feeling too.

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

Nic: Between The Buried And Me – Colors, Ihshan – Arktis, Huey Lewis and the News – some double CD greatest hits or something like that… Sometimes you just need to smile and relax..

Marco: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – Of Natural History, Blind Guardian – Nightfall in Middle Earth, Death – The Sound of Perseverance.

Judas The Dancer are on Facebook; follow them for more news.

Some albums show their beauty right from the beginning, other albums must be listened to from the beginning to the end before you can truly appreciate them. Vitruvius’ “Above the Silvered Sky” belongs to the latter group. After the short piano-driven intro “Prelude,” the album continues with “Heaven or Hell,” which is a splendid contribution to the world of melodic progressive metal with fusion elements. Combine that with the charismatic vocals of Dulce Robles, and you get something very interesting with this release.

There is a development throughout the album. The next song, for instance, is still fast paced but it adds on melody even more, as Robles is beginning to sound a tiny bit more melodic which befits the song quite well. After that another super fast beginning, but this time with some slower parts thrown in for variety. And yes, said variety makes the song much more enjoyable than it would be otherwise.

The things get slowed down with “The Maze” which beginning hints somewhat theatrical approach by the band. After a while the electric instruments begin to kick in, but the song is still slow which is nice for a change. Robles introduces a bit of operatic singing, and the tempo changes from classic prog metal to the already mentioned fusion.

What to think of this? The label “Prog” fits the album due to its variety, and the addition of fusion motifs certainly contribute to it. The vocalist, for instance, experiments with all sorts of ways of how to deliver her lines, and she does it exceptionally well. The same goes for the differences in pace. You get a nice mixture of slow- and fast-paced tunes which showcase the band’s skills. This all makes the album unpredictable, and that’s something good.

Get “Above The Silvered Sky” from Bandcamp and support the band.

“Zeolite” is an EP release by Australian technical/progressive death metal act Zeolite. The EP was self released in February this year. It’s the successor to the band’s two singles: “Earthmover” (2014) and “Astringent” (2015).

The music on “Zeolite” EP pretty much continues th technical/progressive metal style that has been traced with the mentioned releases. Zeolite are still pretty unique sounding within the genre because of how they combine technical/progressive death metal parts with atmospheric (at times ambient) heavy parts. The technical level of playing is high, the sound production clear and powerful, and the songwriting is strong too.

The EP features 3 tracks and a full playing time of 30-odd minutes. “Seligman’s Curse” and “Brath of Kaiser”, which bookend the EP, are both in the style described above while “Seneca the Younger” and “The Dramaturgy Perspective of a Theorist” showcase that the band is no stranger to deathcore and brutal death metal. Growls of Fraser Mainwaring are convincing and intelligible. The higher pitched screams also work to great effect. Guitarist Patrick Haas and bassist Lucas Tolputt create huge wall of sound. The remaining part of the rhythm section – drums are programmed, and although they are done excellent I hope that the band will find a drummer for their next releases.

Overall “Zeolite” shows a lot of talent and potential with this EP. Let this release serves as a promise for an even better full-length release. Excellent job!

Listen to Zeolite on Bandcamp.