Wednesday, March 22, 2023

2021's Best Prog Epics and Mesmerics

These are my favorite songs of over nine minutes in length from 2021 studio releases:

Masterpieces:
1. "The Darkness"(10:03) - RACHEL FLOWERS - (20/20) = 10.0
2. "Tergeste"(9:00) - ACCORDO DEI CONTRARI - (20/20) = 10.0
3. "This River"
(9:04) - SHAMBLEMATHS - (20/20) = 10.0
4. "Walking Up That Valley" (10:45) - NEEDLEPOINT - (19.75/20) = 9.875
5. "Void in Virgo (The Nature of Sacrifice)" - KAYO DOT (19.5/20) = 9.75
6. "The Further We Go the Deeper it Gets, pts 1-6" (12:05) - GIANT SKY - (24/25) = 9.60
7. "Queen of Wishes" (12:40) - CICCADA - (24/25) = 9.60
8. "Bruise" (23:45) - BATTLESTATIONS - (47.5/50) = 9.50  
9. "Kingdom of Color" (9:11) - SOUP - (18.25/20) = 9.50 
10. "Hushed" (10:44) - CALIGONAUT - (19/20) = 9.50
11
. "Heng" (26:00) - NOVO GORDIANO - (47/50) = 9.40
12. "Feel" (11:56) - RACHEL FLOWERS - (23.5/25) = 9.40
13. "4 Steps Back" (11:56) - MANNA / MIRAGE - (18.75/20) = 9.375
14. "Fortitude" (10:08) - LIFESIGNS - (18.75/20) = 9.375
15. "Emperor" (14:36) - CALIGONAUT - (28/30) = 9.33
16. "Lighter Than Air" (19:34) - CALIGONAUT - (36/40) = 9.25
17. "The Further We Go the Deeper It Gets (Part 7)"/"Breaking Patterns" (10:50) - GIANT SKY - (18.5/20) = 9.25 
18. "Nydised" (9:25) - BATTLESTATIONS - (18.5/20) = 9.25
19. "Holoceno" (10:34) - PAPANGU - (18.5/20) = 9.25 
20. "Season of the Bitch" (9:32) - ELECTRIC ORANGE - (18.5/20) = 9.25
21. "Swarm Days" (9:34) - JAVIER MIRANDA - (18.5/20) = 9.25
22. "Carta de Gaia" (13:05) - KANT FREUD KAFKA - (23/25) = 9.20
23. "And I Stood Transfixed" (15:07) - EMERALD DAWN - (27.5/30) = 91.67
24. "Contacto" (10:45) - CAST - (18.25/20) = 9..125
25. "As The Waters Rise" (9:34) - KONOM - (19/20) = 9.125
26. "Knucklecog" (9:56) - SHAMBLEMATHS - (18.25/20) = 9.125
27. "Take Me Away" (11:48) - RACHEL FLOWERS - (22.75/25) = 9.10
28. "Hold Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand" (12:22) - MONO - (22.75/25) = 9.10
29. "Tremor" - BATTLESTATIONS - (77/85) = 9.059


Other Very Good Songs:
"Landscape to Order" - Mister Robot - (18/20) = 9.0 
"Part of Me" - Sylvan - (18/20) = 9.0
"Forsaken Innocence, Pt. 1" - Drifting Sun - (18/20) = 9.0
"Forsaken Innocence, Pt. II" - Drifting Sun - (27/30) = 9.0
"Uppenbarelser" (21:13) - Agusa - (36/40) = 9.0
"Dissolution" - smalltape - (36/40) = 9.0
"Ascending Forth" - black midi - (18/20) = 9.0
"Histoire Diffuse" - Alco Frisbass - (18/20) = 9.0
"Dredging to the Higher Plane" - Cast - (18?20) = 9.0
"Sagobrus" - Agusa - (44.5/50) = 8.90
"Totem" - Diagonal - (22.25/25) = 8.90
"UR-" - Accordo Dei Contrari - (17.75/20) = 8.875
"Discworld / Projector" - Glass Kites - (17.75/20) = 8.875
"Colours of Continuity" - Pale Mannequin - (17.75/20) = 8.875
"Leviathan" - Glass Kites - (17.75/20 ) = 8.875
"My Baby Just Scares for Me" - Kant Freud Kafka - (17.75/20) = 8.875
"Sélénite" - Alco Frisbass - (17.75/20) = 8.875
"White Skies" - Inner Prospekt - (17.75/20) = 8.875
"Kill the Orchestra" - Frost* - (17.75/20) = 8.875
"Never Seen / Future Shock" - Between the Buried and Me - (17.75/20) = 8.875
"Bear Ye One Another's Burdens" - Compassionizer - (26.5/30) = 8.833 
"El Acantilado" - Kant Freud Kafka - (26.5/30) = 8.833
"Altitude" - Lifesigns - (26.5/30) = 8.833
"Human Is Hell (Another One with Love)" - Between the Buried and Me - (17.75/20) = 8.833
"The Great Harvest" - Konom - (44/50) = 8.80
"Day and Age" - Frost* - (22/25) = 8.80
"The Ascent" - Emerald Dawn - (39.5/45) = 8.778
"Atlantic Cable" - Big Big Train - (26.25/30) = 8.75
"Dementium" - Drifting Sun - (17.50/20) = 8.75
"Voz de Metal" Kant Freud Kafka - (17.5/20) = 8.75
"State of Mind" - Javier Miranda - (17.5/20) = 8.75
"Inertia" - Pale Mannequin - (17.5/20) = 8.75
"The Knight and The Ghost" - Inner Prospekt - (17.5/20) = 8.75
"Not a Goodbye" - Sylvan - (17.5/20) = 8.75
"A Welcome Change" - Konom - (17.5/20) = 8.75
"The Days of Our Lives" - Javier Miranda - (17.5/20) = 8.75 


Also considered:
"Beyond" - Fragile - (39.25/45) = 8.722
"Kou" - Nodo Gordiano - (43.5/50) = 8.70
"The Return" - Mister Robot - (17.33/20) = 8.667
"The Golden Ring of Time" - (26/30) = 8.667
"King of the Country" - Drifiting Sun - (17.25/20) = 8.625
"The Awakening" - Emerald Dawn - (17.25/20) = 8.625
"Soul of a Hundred Lives" - Inner Prospekt - (34.5/40) = 8.625
"Jord III" - Jordsjø - (17.25/20) = 8.625
"Le Mystère du Gué Pucelle" - Alco Frisbass - (17.25/20) = 8.625
"Chameleon" - Antony Kalugin - (34/40) = 8.50
"Feeling / Nothing / Into the Black Hole" - Elisa Montaldo - (21.25/25) = 8.5
"Revolution in Limbo" - Between the Buried - (17/20) = 8.5 
"Colors Fade Away" (9:58) - Electro Compulsive Therapy - (17/20) = 8.5
"Quicksand" - The Sun or The Moon - (34/40) = 8.5
"Space Travel Agent" - The Sun or The Moon - (17/20) = 8.5
"Turn Around Slowly" - Mostly Autumn - (21/25) = 8.40
"The Pilgrimage" - Evership - (16.75/20) = 8.375
"Broken Stone" - Giant Sky - (16.75/20) = 8.375
"Waves of Sound" - Monarch Trail - (16.75/20) = 8.375
"Epipsychidion" - Kayo Dot - (25/30) = 8.33
"Pretty Frypan" -Krokofant - (20.5/25) = 8.2
"Megalopolitana" - Monarch Trail - (24.5/30) = 8.167
"Yours and Mine" - Fragile - (24/30) = 8.0
"Crownshine" / "Allthetime - Evership - (16/20) = 8.0
"Big Heavy Thing" - Krokofant - (16/20) = 8.0
"Graveyard Star" - Mostly Autumn - (20/25) = 8.0
"KV62" - John Holden - (32/40) = 8.0
"Five Flat Pennies" - Krokofant - (15.5/20) = 7.75


Not Yet Reviewed:
"Not Afraid, Pt. 2" - Neal Morse Band - (/40)
"The Tower" - Evership - (/20) = 
"From Trunk to Tail" - French TV - (/20) = 
"Solace" - Fovea Hex - (/40) =
"Is Lanza Light & Given?" - Fovea Hex - (/45) = 
"Beyond the Years" - Neal Morse Band - (/60)
"Ameotoko I" - Azure - (/20) = 
"The United Debased" - Motorspycho - (/20) =
"The Transmutation of Cosmoctopus Lurker" (10:55) - Motorpsycho - (/20)
"The Alien (9:32) - Dream Theater - (/20) = 
"Sleeping Giant (10:05) - Dream Theater - (/20) = 
"Awaken the Master (9:47) - Dream Theater - (/20) =
"A View from the Top of the World (20:24) - Dream Theater - (/40) =
"This Order & Coucou Sèlavy - Ho Gettato mio Figlio da una Rupe perché non Somigliava a Fabrizio Corona (Senza Valore #10) (12:11) - (/25) =
"InSonar - Nyama - Gettarsi Oltre (Senza Valore #13) (10:10) - (/20) = 


Just missing the cut (too short; less than 9 mins. in length):
"Apollo" (7:55) - BIG BIG TRAIN (- 14.5/15) = 9.67
"No Man's Land" (8:41) - CICCADA - (18.75/20) = 9.4375
"I Offered You the Moon" (7:51) - NEEDLEPOINT - (14/15) = 9.33
"On Hold" - LEPROUS - (14/15) = 9.33
"The Old Man and the Butterfly" - CICCADA - (14/15) = 9.33
"Out of Swords" (8:42) - GIANT SKY - (18.5/20) = 9.25
"Receptor" (8:45) - BATTLESTATIONS - (18.5/20) = 9.25
"The Auguries" - MONO - (13.75/15) = 9.16


*Bold print denotes songs that have risen into my pantheon of All-time favorite "epics."








1 comment:

  1. I've been reading your reviews regularly for the past couple years. Thanks for doing these. I'm super picky when it comes to music and don't have a lot of time, but I've found that I like a lot of the music that you rate highly, which is a big deal to me.

    I also wanted to ask if you'd ever heard of the criminally unknown group "Fistfights with wolves." Its a Zeuhl / avant / jazz fusion group that is not on progarchives. The haunting vocal harmonies in their relatively simple song "muad'dib" make my hair rise, while the complexity of the Bone Script album (2019) gets my heart raising. You might appreciate them. They are definitely pushing boundaries.

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