It's Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week! Seven new and diverse slices of progressively inclined music for you to enjoy.
Back after a two-week break, we're happy to remind you that Chilean prog quintet AIsles won the last TOTW with their latest single Blue Skies, pushed all the way by proggy folk rockers Steeleye Span, and with Chimpan A in third place.
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it? The idea is to watch the videos (or listen if it's a stream), enjoy (or not) and also to vote for your favourite in the voting form at the bottom of this post. Couldn't be easier, could it?
We'll be bringing you Tracks Of The Week, as the title implies, each week. Next week we'll update you with this week's winner and present a host of new prog music for you to enjoy.
If you're a band and you want to be featured in Prog's Tracks Of The Week, send your video (as a YouTube link) or track embed, band photo and biog to us here.
ARJEN LUCASSEN - GODDAMN CONSPIRACY
Dutch prog polymath Arjen Lucassen has hit upon the cheery idea of what might happen if we were told an asteroid would impact Earth, killing us all in five months time! That's the premise of his latest solo album, Songs No One Will Hear, which is released through InsideOut Music on September 12. It's an intriguing, if slightly perturbing concept, but fortunately Lucassen's emphatic music helps guide the listener through!
“That’s right… the new single Goddamn Conspiracy from my upcoming solo album is a sharp contrast to the very emotional previous single We’ll Never Know," says Lucassen. "But by now, with me, you know you can expect the unexpected. Goddamn Conspiracy takes a semi-humorous look at all the conspiracy theories out there—flat Earth, fake moon landings, and now, in this concept, people who think the asteroid isn’t real. Conspiracy theories are a hot topic in this unsettling age of AI and misinformation, where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know what’s real and what’s not. Enjoy the ride!”
AURI - BLAKEY RIDGE
Having both drunk with, and watched Troy Donockley perform, at The Lion Inn in Blakey Ridge, a 16th-century pub located at the highest point of the North York Moors National Park, we're well placed to know the hold it has on Donockley's heart. That is none more evident than this delicious slice of atmospheric folk prog from Auri, the band Donockly features in with his Nightwish bandmate Tuomas Holopainen and the latter's wife, Johanna Kurkula. Auri's third album, III – Candles & Beginnings, is out today through Nuclear Blast.
As Troy says, "Can the remote, isolated, back of beyond feel like home? Is the middle of nowhere the middle of everywhere?
The sun is setting.
The moon is rising.
The night is coming.
The Lion is waking...
We'll meet you up on Blakey Ridge."
SOMETIME IN FEBRUARY - A SAFE HAVEN
Recently wrongly accused of being a metal band with growling vocals on the Prog Letters page, a quick listen to A Safe Haven shows that US instrumental prog trio Sometime In February are no such thing! Technically gifted, however, they are, and the North Carolina band recently released their latest studio album, Where Mountains Hide, via InsideOutMusic/Sony Music. The band play ArcTanGent festival this weekend, their first ever UK show, and return to the US for ProgPower Festival in September.
"A counterpart to Hiding Place, and an epilogue to Where Mountains Hide, A Safe Haven is the bookend to Sometime in February’s current cycle," the band comment. "Written and recorded as a proper trio, we feel that it takes its time with still, sombre moments, but we absolutely make time to have fun and highlight our funky and heavy tendencies. It’s a fitting and satisfying conclusion to the Mountain Era, and we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate our first trip across the pond as a band than to share this with everyone!”
AMORPHIS - DANCING SHADOW
Finnish doomy prog quintet Amorphis can be many things to many people, often over the space of one album. So it is with upcoming album, Borderland, which the band release through Reigning Phoenix Music on September 26. Their last single, Bones, was a rampaging prog rocker which only went and won TOTW! From the same album comes this breezy slice of goth-laden prog pop, a summer anthem for those still clad in black no matter how hot it is!
“The working title for Dancing Shadow was Disco Tiger," laughs guitarist Esa Holopainen. "Musically, it represents catchiness and hooks that have been familiar elements within our music for a long time. Sound-wise it came out pretty fresh and even modern. I bet this song will shake your legs on the dance floor - in a disco, of course!"
“With Dancing Shadow, we stepped into completely new territory," adds Drummer Jan Rechberger. "For a band with over three decades behind us, that kind of reinvention feels meaningful.”
CONNOR KAMINSKI - BLOODLINE
Young hotshot guitarist Connor Kaminski continues to impress. Fresh from his collaborative EP with fellow prog guitar whizz Keyan, Kaminski has released Bloodline, featuring vocals from Sordid Pink's Aleksandra Djelmash. It's taken from his own debut album, Tapestry, due for release September 5, and which shows he's got a good grip in writing songs as much as he has knowledge of his fretboard.
"Sometimes there's topics in music that you can convey without words, and sometimes there's topics you can't," says Kaminski. "Bloodline is one of those, and it's a very personal track for me. It's all about not knowing my origin story, where I'm truly from, and not having much of a clue as to the origins of my name. It features one of my favourite vocalists, Alex Djelmash, and she really shines and brings this track to life. I wanted her to be the focus, and I couldn't be happier with the final result. I think Bloodline might just be my favourite track on the album."
ROYAL SORROW - BLOODFLOWER
It's all tempestuous rhythm changes and a Middle Eastern vibe for Finnish prog rock trio Royal Sorrow on latest single Bloodflower. The track is taken from the band's upcoming debut album, Innerdeeps, which will be released through InsideOut Music on September 26. The Finns are appearing at ArcTanGent this weekend and have an album launch show at Euroblast in
“A dark meditation on lust, addiction and consequence – our new single Bloodflower is a visceral track about the fallout of bad choices," the band say.
“Bloodflower is a tragedy and a poetic metaphor, a bloom both beautiful and deadly, representing something you desired deeply but that consumed you in return. When redemption seems to lie beyond your scope, will responsibility bring the much-desired bliss?“
IO EARTH - BODY & SOUL
Body & Soul originally featured on IO Earth's third studio album, 2015's New World, their first to feature (then) new vocalist Linda Odinsen, who replaced Claire Malin, and in turn, would be replaced by Rosanna Lefevre, only to return to the band for 2023's Sanctuary. The song looked at the blurred lines between reality and simulation in the digital age, backed with a haunting violin refrain, melded with crashing guitar chords and Odinsen's stunning vocal delivery. With its message more apt than ever, the band have created a brand new video for the song.
"We wrote Body & Soul years ago, but today, its future has arrived," the band say. "AI, bots, and algorithms now shape our reality, making its message more urgent than ever. The video explores a future—already arriving—where human presence feels optional, and machines take over our roles, our voices, and even our stories. In a world overflowing with generated truths and manufactured lies, Body & Soul asks: what can we still believe, and what have we already lost to the code?"
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