We’re only five months into the year, but Witherfall has just released this weekend what definitely seems mostly likely to claim the title of the prog metal album of the year. The classic heavy metal album of the year has already been claimed by Judas Priest in March, with their untoppable Invincible Shield. The closest rival to Witherfall’s melodic death metal excellence that I can think of so far this year is Unleash the Archers, who gave us their amazing new disc Phantoma in early May. 

With so many great new albums in 2024, it’s hard to pick favorites, especially with Neal Morse’s The Dreamer—Joseph: Part 2 from January still wearing the crown for prog epic of the year, and Big Big Train claiming prog album of the year in March with The Likes of Us. So I’m just going to declare a seven-way tie for the best albums of the year-to-date, and then proceed to explain below my rationale for giving upper-echelon placement to Witherfall’s Sounds of the Forgotten:

Prog Metal AOTY: Witherfall, Sounds of the Forgotten

Classic Metal AOTY: Judas Priest, Invincible Shield

Metal Epic Concept AOTY: Unleash the Archers, Phantoma

Prog Epic Concept AOTY: Neal Morse, The Dreamer—Joseph: Part 2

Prog AOTY: Big Big Train, The Likes of Us

Glam Metal AOTY: Sebastian Bach, Child Within the Man

Doom Metal AOTY: Pallbearer, Mind Burns Alive

Okay, let’s talk about Witherfall. Witherfall gathers together a stunning array of talent: guitarist/songwriter Jake Dreyer, vocalist/songwriter Joseph Michael, bassist Anthony Crawford, drummer/percussionist Chris Tsaganeas, keyboardist Gerry Hirschfeld, and studio-only drummer Marco Minnemann, whom you may be familiar with from The Aristocrats, Jordan Rudess, and Steven Wilson, not to mention Witherfall’s superb previous album, Curse of Autumn (2021). I’ve been following Witherfall’s underrated audio excursions from the very beginning. I count this as their fifth album, taking its predecessors as Nocturnes and Requiems (2017), A Prelude to Sorrow (2018), the substantial EP Vintage (2019), and Curse of Autumn (2021). 

Their latest album is their greatest album—Witherfall’s Sounds of the Forgotten (2024), which I like to think of as built on a spine of seven epic, nicely prog-length tracks:

“They Will Let You Down” [Track 1 (5:59)]

“Where Do I Begin?” [Track 2 (6:30)]

“Insidious” [Track 4 (6:47)]

“Ceremony of Fire” [Track 5 (7:32)]

“Sounds of the Forgotten” [Track 6 (5:23)]

“When It All Falls Away” [Track 8 (6:39)]

“What Have You Done?” [Track 10 (10:19)]

Even if you wanted to pin down Witherfall as melodic death metal, you’d have to admire the perfect pacing along this seven-song spine. The songs alternate between the more demented death forays and the more melodic metal earworms: “They Will Let You Down,” “Insidious,” “Sounds of the Forgotten,” “What Have You Done?” are the four darkest of the spine tracks, whereas the highly melodic, multi-layered vocal choruses of the others pull you into singing along every time (“Where Do I Begin?”, “Ceremony of Fire,” “When It All Falls Away”).

The other three tracks on the album are clearly intros or outros to that seven-track spine, which is evident simply from their time lengths:

“A Lonely Path” [Track 3 (1:33)]

“Aftermath” [Track 7 (1:31)]

“Opulent” [Track 9 (2:45)]

These three snippets are characterized by brief but effective instrumental evocations of mood and atmosphere and by half-sung word paintings by vocal frontman/songwriter Joseph Michael, in which the other half of the vocal timbre is spookily spoken or growled. “A Lonely Path” offers a seamless introduction into “Insidious,” whereas “Aftermath” seals “Sounds of the Forgotten” with a suitably harsh coda. “Opulent” starts off with a nice instrumental break before the final epic “What Have You Done?” as Jake Dreyer dazzles us with more Spanish-style guitar licks, but Joseph Michael also returns at its end with more dramatic vocal narrative.

It’s impossible not to be floored by the band’s instrumental virtuosity. The central track in the seven-song spine, “Ceremony of Fire,” thrills me to no end with its soloing section, because the emotions I feel during that excursion parallel the excitement I once felt when I first heard the guitar-bass-drums interaction on some classic Rush tracks. The ecstasy induced by the guitar-bass-drums interaction on “Ceremony of Fire” is consolidated by the track’s sudden tempo change and downshifting into Joseph Michael’s magical bridge. That magic lasts right to the final notes, with concluding guitar and organ chords that invoke the heights of musical mysteries. If hearing one song will get you to buy the album, this is the winner.

But while all the musicians contribute to making this Witherfall’s most astounding album, it is perhaps Joseph Michael who leaves me with the mightiest impression here. Yes, it was Jake Dreyer’s guitar playing that drew me to the band, since it is rare to find such shredding talent anywhere that also deploys itself in service of unusually brilliant songwriting. But with Sounds of the Forgotten I have to declare that Joseph Michael is the one who has now stepped forward and truly achieved his own personality. By “personality” I mean that, no matter who he may remind you of here and there, he has a distinct voice that has attained an incomparable individual incarnation. Some examples of iconic musical personalities: Ozzy, Dio, Rob Halford, Chris Cornell, Freddie Mercury. When you hear these guys, they sound like themselves. Same with Joseph Michael, who I would venture has joined the pantheon with this latest performance. The range of what he does on this album is quite something to hear. Screams, shrieks, growls, whispers, howls, layered choruses, he does it all. He’s thereby the perfect frontman to epitomize Witherfall’s overall chameleon-like musical abilities.

I’d advise ordering the CD direct from DeathWave Records, which was created by Witherfall headmen Joseph Michael and Jake Dreyer. I did, and it was most gratifying to receive the CD in the mail in advance of the official release date, along with a bunch of extra goodies like snazzy art and band photo postcards, a band name sticker, and an Anthony Crawford Witherfall guitar pick.

The disc doesn’t have a bonus track, but maybe it will eventually be released with the cover version of Aerosmith’s “Kings and Queens” that the band unveiled earlier. If I could advise the band, I would tell them to release a full album of covers, including their own past covers. The thing about Witherfall’s versions is they put their own stamp on the songs and they morph them into their own delightfully demented renderings. What’s the point of doing a cover if you don’t unexpectedly transform the song into a new reward? Witherfall knows the secret to making a good cover. Witness their contrarian takes on Boston’s “Foreplay/Long Time” (from the Curse of Autumn era) and Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” (from the Vintage era). I say we need more. In the meantime, enjoy one of the best albums of the year: Witherfall, Sounds of the Forgotten. ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ = 10/10 = A+.

It’s been worth the wait. Moon Safari is back with the equivalent of a prog double album. It’s got a killer single with “Emma, Come On,” and it’s got a killer epic with “Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse,” and it’s got everything in-between.

I’m not kidding. This album has everything but the kitchen sink, with all kinds of tiny details that show a true love for the craft. There’s a sax solo on “Forever, for You”, groovy time signature changes on “Between the Devil and Me”, an effective spattering of 80s synth drums on “Blood Moon”, and an hilarious soundalike Van Halen synth part on “198X”.

But if you want big, then three out of the nine tracks are over ten minutes long. You get more than you bargained for, making this the ultimate prog bargain of the year. It’s like a decade’s worth of music-making and music-enjoying all on one disc.

The album is endless joy and endless fun. Come on, Emma, and prog on with Moon Safari. What a great way to close the year. See you in 2024!

District 97 released their greatest album yet in 2023. It was a magnificent leap skyward into the upper echelons of the prog stratosphere.

From start to finish, this is a perfect album, showcasing every strength in the band. First and most obvious are the vocal skills of Leslie Hunt, which have never been better.

But everyone shines as her vocal effect radiates outwards. Take her vocal duo with guitarist Jim Tashjian on “Mirror,” which is extremely powerful and emotional in its force. Alternatively, the track “X-Faded” shows she can achieve powerful effects even with understated singing.

It seems like every song explores new and different realms, such that this is a rich record that repays repeated listens. Especially to savor the integral contributions of Tim Seisser on bass and Andrew Lawrence on keyboards to Leslie’s vocal tapestries.

Most impressive to my ears is the new sound to Jonathan Schang’s drum kit. It’s like he’s been studying the timbres of Bill Bruford most carefully, because that’s who his drumming reminds me of on this record. Everything he does is perfectly controlled and wonderfully musical in effect.

Most remarkable is the fact that “Deck is Stacked” even includes a drum solo (to complement the song’s lyrical theme about never compromising musical vision in spite of a heartless and rigged music industry): Schang’s drum solo is never boring (even though 99.99% of drum solos eventually are); instead, it is unbelievably so musical and so inventive and so beautiful that it holds up after repeated listens as the consummate work of art that it is.

Hearty congratulations to District 97 on this magnificent achievement in 2023! We are eternal fans after Stay for the Ending. The final track, “The Watcher,” seals the deal on District 97 being able to command the heights of prog metal for the year.

Tanith delivers with sci-fi and fantasy lyrical themes galore on their epic retro-metal quest, Voyage. Vocalist and Bassist Cindy Maynard steals the show with her lead turn on “Mother of Exile,” but every track is a standout. If you aren’t pumping the air by “Falling Wizard,” there’s no hope for you.

Don’t overlook this album, because it’s a hidden gem from 2023. Russ Tippins supplies tandem vocals with Maynard that give this band a unique flavor. Together with Keith Robinson on drums, they invoke the greatest traditions of rock trios. Excelsior!

This metal album will thrash you into a good mood if you can handle it. “Unborn” and “Siphon” are two particularly bone-crushing tracks that deliver supreme heaviosity that you can rarely get elsewhere.

But everything here is so much fun, and there’s something for everyone. You just have to like smart and wry heavy metal at its best.

Be sure to play “Memory Hole” as you fight back against the oligarchs’ attempts to erase history. The closing track, “Setting Sun,” is good, but not as show-stopping as “Bandages,” which closed 2017’s War Moans. Okay, so what; you’ll just have to go get that album too, and play them both back-to-back.

Neal Morse does it again with his best release of 2023, the first installment of his Joseph epic based on the story in the book of Genesis. Potiphar’s wife steals the show, sung convincingly by Talon David. But everyone rocks out thoroughly, orchestrated by Morse to unbelievably even greater effect than usual. The jaw-dropping guitar solo at the end of “Wait on You” by Eric Gillette is worth the price of admission alone, but you’ll be glad you came for the whole show. Can I get an amen?

Superstar guitarist Joel Hoekstra created a magnificent showcase this year for his skills on the solid rock album Crash of Life. With vocalist Girish Pradhan fronting the songs, it’s a remarkable display of virtuosity and supreme song-craft. The title track “Crash of Life” is particularly memorable. But the whole disc is superb from beginning to end.

At last, Trevor Rabin makes a long overdue solo album. The big revelation here is just how much Yes owed to Rabin for rejuvenating them back in the 80s. So much of that dynamic songwriting is echoed on Rio, along with a wealth of musical ideas that get stuffed into its ten songs.

There’s more going on here than a hundred songs on ten albums by ordinary artists. “Push,” “Paradise,” “Thandi,” and “Egoli” are particular favorites, but there is nothing second rate anywhere on this disc. It’s an abundant supply from a musical genius that repays repeated listens.

This one was a real surprise. A novelist tells the story of a fictional band from the 70s. Then it gets made into a documentary drama on Amazon Prime as a mini-series. But the actors performing as a band make a bunch of killer songs that become an irresistible album.

How unlikely is it that art imitating art takes on a life of its own? This “fake” album is better than most of the real albums released in 2023. It’s as if the pretense of fiction freed the actors and musicians and artists to dispense with all negativity, so that they could celebrate all that is good and glorious in rock music.

So many favorite tracks here, but would it kill you to try “Kill You to Try” from this album? You might never look back from looking back.

They say the third time’s the charm. But the third album from The Winery Dogs is more than just charmed, because we have already heard undeniable magic on their first two albums. This time, however, we witness a truly jaw-dropping breakthrough.

What is worth noting here is that we have been given a solid album with ten songs that strongly lock together. They flow inexorably, as the coherent whole of what I believe will eventually be recognized as a classic album, one even better than the merely rave reviews it has already been getting. Its magnificence gets more and more impressive with each further listen.

On previous releases, I found myself picking out favorite songs. The range of the band’s material was stunning, and while all of it was impressive, there were still standout tracks that clearly rose above the rest. On the debut, for me those were: “Elevate,” “I’m No Angel,” “Not Hopeless,” and “Regret.” On Hot Streak, they were: “The Bridge,” “War Machine,” “Devil You Know,” and “The Lamb.”

But on this release, rather than pick favorite songs, I can only pick out favorite moments within the songs. Because every track is a standout, I love them all, and I cherish those detailed special moments that each one of them contain for the dedicated listener.

“Xanadu” and “Mad World” were the two pre-release singles, which led us to expect more of the same Winery Dogs virtuosity from their earlier albums. Their magical ability is to bring Richie Kotzen’s guitar and Billy Sheehan’s bass and Mike Portnoy’s drums together in astonishing acrobatic coordination, a higher realm of musical motion which only the true greats can access, like Alex and Geddy and Neil on “Free Will.”

Yet while we get more of such magic, we also get interesting new details on this album, like the startling jazz chords in “Mad World” or the unusually intriguing lyrics to “Xanadu” which shift and change even with the musical repetitions of the chorus. Kotzen’s impassioned vocals seem to be taking an accusation (living clueless in Xanadu/Malibu) and flipping the accusation around as a badge of honor to be worn, as Kotzen makes it clear he (and the band) doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.

With that declaration of independence, and with their secession from the world’s madness, The Winery Dogs then shift direction and reveal the first two tracks to have been something of a head fake. “Breakthrough” seems to me like the kind of killer radio-friendly track that a record company would demand as the first single. But, as track three, it comes as an unexpected twist after the clever “business as usual” first two tracks.

With this twist, the album launches into the upper echelons of the most classic of classic rock territory. The punchy power chords of the chorus invite air guitar participation. Both the riff and the vocal phrasings unexpectedly remind me of Saturation-era Urge Overkill, which I found to be a delightful and obscure surprise.

“Rise” astonishes with its complexity and soulfulness, as the band continues it third-album ascent, now conducting cakewalk “business as unusual.”

But it’s “Stars” that veers off into truly delightful prog territory. Sheehan supplies a steady bass pulse for Portnoy and Kotzen to go completely bonkers around. Kotzen demonstrates beyond all doubt that he is one of the greatest of all time on this track, because his guitar solo lasts for a minute and forty seconds of such insane, imaginative, and inventive sounds that it’s unbelievable. The song enfolds all this into such a satisfying and catchy groove, it marks an outstanding conclusion to a staggeringly impressive Side A.

But the album’s B-side is astonishingly equal in achievement to the A side. The kickoff, “The Vengeance,” has one of those cathartic Kotzen vocals (like “Regret” or “The Lamb”) whose emotions are equalled by the intelligence of the lyrics (which wisely affirm that it is the weak, not the strong, who need revenge).

This track illustrates well my thesis about each album track having additional small but memorable details: here, it is the helicopter-like synth-sounding pattern which leads into each chorus, and I call it “synth-sounding” because it somehow bleeds into what sounds like a guitar. It’s a truly magical transformation, and such a thrilling little detail, yet I have no idea how it is done, but it excites the listener to no end each time it is heard.

As if that were not enough, “The Vengeance” also has more Urge Overkill overtones, with those little “ooh ooh ooh” background vocals that remind me of the musical positivity of “Positive Bleeding.”

“Pharaoh” levels the listener with a heavy riff that knows just when to hold back and also just when to smash, all while Portnoy builds pyramids with massive slabs of pounding drums.

And then there’s no respite, as the following track, “Gaslight,” delivers a musical imitation of a gaslighting assault of craziness. Its boogie blitz comes charging out of the gate with more notes per second than the human mind can possibly count. All you can do is try and shake your tail feather to keep up.

Perfectly timed for breath-catching, “Lorelei” is a slow, bluesy 6/8 waltz. It’s the type of song that would function for a lesser band as a filler cool-down track at album’s end. But for The Winery Dogs, this become merely the penultimate track, and yet another one that they use to confound listener expectations.

Sometimes nothing is more boring than a blues guitar solo, but Kotzen convinces us that we have not heard it all before, as he plays his solo lines with such feeling that we find ourselves amazed. Not only that, when he sings on the chorus, he soulfully adopts such unusual phrasing that I am reminded of Steve Perry 80s Journey. The song unexpectedly wormholes me on a journey into a magic world of nostalgic teenage school dance waltzes.

The epic final track, “The Red Wine,” begins by seeming to deliver on the promise of the album opener’s Rush-word: “Xanadu.” For the first eighteen seconds, “The Red Wine” sounds like classic Rush. I did a double-take the first time I heard those bars, and had to look again at the song name, which for those moments I thought was actually: “The Red Star.”

But after those opening flourishes, “The Red Wine” makes an abrupt stage-left turn and turns into a funky and groovy dance-along track, replete with a sing-along “party time” chorus. We even get a verse imagining senior citizens playing air guitar with their canes, as the whole world falls under the spell of The Winery Dogs’ live music.

Happily, the track ends back in Rush mode, as the camera pans up (or so I imagine) from the outside dance party, up past the patio lanterns, and then ascends into the stars as the band turns again into the Rush of the opening half-minute. We get a mellow cosmic cool-down to end the album, as the band invokes the atmospherics, yes you guessed it, of Rush’s classic “Xanadu” mood. Billy’s bass is the last one sucked into the Cygnus X-1 black hole, but it beams back a cosmic echo, advising you to buy this album and find your way to the Dogs’ dance party.

Confounding the cynics, Kotzen and Sheehan and Portnoy are clearly not just a super-group of super noodlers. With this album, they demonstrate they are one of the greatest bands to have ever rocked the Earth. With III, they leave their paw print in the pavement, preserved for all time, in the pantheon of the Rock of Fame.