More progressive rock album releases from 2025. These are albums that are well worth your investment of time while not, in my opinion, belonging in the masterpiece discussion. Some of these releases were interesting enough to inspire me to write reviews, some only earned song ratings, many are included because they've been listened to, judged "worthy" of serving notice, but just couldn't get me excited or engaged enough to warrant the effort of a full review. I apologize. But, as I said, I chose to include them because I deem them interesting enough for you, my readers, to know about them and know that I recommend that you might listen to them yourselves in order to form your own opinions. Lord knows I am well aware that there are as many different musical preferences as there are humans; I do think that I know music that might interest others.
(albums earning ratings scores between 88.99 and 87.50)
LET SEE THIN Machine Called Life
Line-up / Musicians:
- Łukasz Woszczyński / vocals
- Przemek Kaźmierski / drums, percussion
- Michał Dziomdziora / bass
- Paweł Wężyk / keys
- Maciej Włodarczyk / guitars
2. "Divisions" (6:37) a pleasant enough start only gets better at 3:30 when the band pauses, slowly resets, and then slowly, deliberately builds a more satisfying motif--one that captures that same compelling relentlessness that the previous song benefitted from. Nice. (8.875/10)
4. "How" (4:50) more great modernized Simple Minds sounds, chords, and structures given enough 21st Century special effects and other tricks to make this song a rather enjoyable and even somewhat refreshing journey. Łukasz' voice is buried just perfectly within the thick walls of sound to make it palatable--the distracting effect of his accented pronunciation of the English notice hardly noticeable. Plus, they give the instrumental elements more attention (and volume) including an awesome heavily-reverbed piano beneath and in-between it all. (9/10)
6. "Treadmill" (5:29) yet another song that feels as if it is rooted in the sounds and stylings of the 1980s techo/New Wave era of music but has been updated with heavy bass, heavy guitar semi-power chords, more broadly-amplified low-end of the drums, and a few more sound and engineering tricks and choices. The synths, however, are derived straight from sounds that emerged with the New Wave era. Again, the piano play helps a lot. Also the "bigger than life" drums--and great melodies (softer vocal delivery). (9.125/10)
Total Time 44:18
88.73 on the Fishscales = B/four stars; an excellent, eminently enjoyable album of interesting heavy progressive rock music. Check it out for yourselves: you may find yourself loving this. There's definitely consistently great atmosphere and mood here.
MOGWAI The Bad Fire
Line-up / Musicians:
- Stuart Braithwaite / guitar, vocals
- Barry Burns / guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals
- Dominic Aitchison / bass
- Martin Bulloch / drums
2. "Hi Chaos" (5:24) sounds like good ole fashioned Post Rock with a rock construct (ABABCAB) instead of slow-build, cresecendo, dénouement. (8.75/10)
3. "What Kind of Mix is This?" (4:11) an interesting mix of individual instrument sounds that is squeezed into one more ABABCAB construct. (8.75/10)
4. "Fanzine Made Of Flesh" (4:34) some 1980s New Wave in this one makes it sound like late-1970s fledgling New Wave. Pre-New Order New Order (no: not Joy Division; Cure-ish New Order--or perhaps OMD, Modern English, or Echo & The Bunnymen). Kind of cool if this were 1979. (8.875/10)
5. "Pale Vegan Hip Pain" (4:24) this one sounds like classic early 2000s Post Rock from the likes of Mono or Red Sparowes. Decent but rather simple and unsophisticated. (8.75/10)
6. "If You Find this World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others" (7:22) and I thought the previous song was simple and unsophisticated--sounded like early MONO! Little did I know that this was coming next! Really great build up and brain-annihilating crescendo. (Those crashing cymbals are among the loudest I've ever heard.) The long aftermath is a little unusual: a bit like walking around the streets of Hiroshima a year after the bomb. (13.375/15)
7. "18 Volcanoes" (6:18) vocals! And they're pleasant, melodic, and even dream-poppy! Again: not what one might expect from a Post Rock band--more like something from RIDE, SLOWDIVE, or even The Pale Saints. The weird guitar (or synth?) sounds are cool. A top three song for me. (8.875/10)
8. "Hammer Room" (5:16) interchangeable piano and guitar arpeggi are interwoven giving this the feel of something light and upbeat from NORTH SEA RADIO ORCHESTRA or a collaboration between 1970s Brian Eno and early XTC. Or DIF JUZ! Another top three song. (8.875/10)
9. "Lion Rumpus" (3:33) more New Age sounds and melodies driving this one despite the weird industrial screeches and gratings renting the sonic fabric in the second half. (8.75/10)
10. "Fact Boy" (7:02) floaty cutesie stuff meandering around the sonic field while a Crimsoninan Gamelan-like mathematical weave propels the cart along the ribbon of undulating highway. Nice but not enough to make me want to come back. (13.25/15)
Total Time 54:44
IQ Dominion
Line-up / Musicians:
- Peter Nicholls / lead & backing vocals
- Michael Holmes / guitars, producer
- Neil Durant / keyboards
- Tim Esau / bass, bass pedals
- Paul Cook / drums, percussion
2. "One of Us" (3:10) nice Paul McCartney-like acoustic guitar play opens this, setting down the balnket over which Peter Nicholls will sing his "Blackbird" like vocal. Too bad for the entry of the synth wash chords at the one-minute mark: the guitar and voice duet was fully sufficient. Nice work Mike and Peter! More of this! (8.875/10)
3. "No Dominion" (6:25) bombast and the familiar instrumental sound palette we all know and, supposedly, love from 1976-77 GENESIS albums, A Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering. while Peter Nicholls sings about something in the same monotone and ploddingly-pace vocal delivery as . . . always! The ending of the song is quite odd as instead of a buildup to a long instrumental passage with its crescendo and (more) bombast--as it definitely feels as if its going--it just fades out. Mid-phrase. As if the engineer, producer, or band said, "No! No! Enough of this!" and then slid down the volume paddles on the console of the soundboard! Since I don't hear lyrics (they're just another instrument in a song's weave), I can't comment or critique the song based on message, but in terms of exciting, refreshing, or innovative music? There is none here. (8.6667/10)
4. "Far from Here" (12:44) a construct that very quickly lost my attention--receded into the background as "another one of those." The sonic landscape is too thick and murky, the drumming too proscribed and rote, the main chord progressions too homogenous, and the few solos or individual performance breakouts too mashed up within the confines of the wall of sounds' overall murk. And Peter Nicholls melody choices are too borrowed (I hear so much of Jon Anderson's Yes vocal melodies in this song). Even the plaintive piano-based finale is just . . . dull. There is nothing I can store or retrieve from this song for future recalll--nothing that even remotely draws to want to try to do so. Before I can even ruminate if I could do this better--what changes I might make--I have to back up and realize that I would never even deign to give my time such a project. (21/25)
5. "Never Land" (8:16) I like the simplicity and near-spaciousness of the opening four minutes of this. Then the shit flies: watered down post-Hackett Genesis, gnarled and scuffed by distortion, overly-thick synth walls, and unnecessary bombast. At the same time, I do find myself, for some as-yet undetermined reason, inexplicably sympathetic to this one: the overall effect of the simplistic, straightforward "pop" chord progressions has an endearing emotional effect on me--one that is quite reminiscent of the way PREFAB SPROUT's "Desire As" has always held me under its spell. Thus, despite my inclination to negate this as a standout representative of progressive rock music, I like it! It makes me feel good! (18/20)
Total Time 53:08
88.07 on the Fishscales = B/four stars; another solid and fairly consistent display of NeoProg mastery from one of the sub-genres' oldest and most consistent artists.
STEVEN WILSON The Overview
Mr. Wilson's 2025 offering shows his return to science and space perspective themes as well as a return to the kind of music he was making in the early years of his Porcupine Tree infancy: the Pink Floyd and Beatles-inspired stuff before his collaborators became as important to the music as his own ideas and inputs.
Line-up / Musicians:
- Steven Wilson / vocals, guitars, keyboards, sampler, bass, percussion, programming
With:
- Adam Holzman / keyboards
- Randy McStine / guitars, b vox
- Craig Blundell / drums
- Willow Beggs / vocals
- Andy Partridge / lyricist (1)
- "No Monkey's Paw" (1:59) - opens with electronica vocal, sounding like Steven's attempt at a James Blake song. Not bad! (4.375/5)
- "The Buddha of the Modern Age" (2:26) - Paul McCartney-sounding piano, cymbal play, chant-proclamation vocals delivered at first via solo voce but then with banked full "world" choir. (4.375/5)
- "Objects: Meanwhile" (6:31) - harkening back to Steven's "current events" perspective songs with acoustic guitar strumming, piano chord hits, big synth and guitar chords and Steven's astute and poetic observational commentary over the top. Randy McStine's microtonal guitar play in the instrumental section, pedal steel guitar beneath the second verse. Macho-bass leads the way into a heavier motif in the second half of the instrumental passage. Then strumming acoustic guitars, synth and piano inputs resurface for Steven to continue his observational rant. (8.875/10)
- "The Cicerones / Ark" (3:42) - a mathematical weave of arpeggiating piano and guitar guitar chords peppered with bouncy synth and distorted electric guitar flourishes leads into this slow build motif over which Steven & Co. chant a list with repetitious urgency. (8.75/10)
- "Cosmic Sons of Toil" (3:00) - continue the bouncy (fast-oscillating volume control) synth chords only add chunky jazz bass, sophisticated syncopated drumming, complex chord progressions, and solos from rhythm guitar (Steven), lead guitar (Randy), keyboard (Adam), and some pretty awesome bass and drum play. This is pretty fresh: not unlike the genius Steven was trying to express on Grace for Drowning. (8.875/10)
- "No Ghost on the Moor / Heat Death of the Universe" (6:00) - opens with deep space synth before Steven (or some other male voice) joins in with a high falsetto voice at 0:30. Steven's normal voice (sounding a lot like Steve Hogarth) proceeds over "Sky Moves Sideways" echo snare beat and synth washes. Randy McStine microtonal infinity guitar solo in the third minute is interesting and unusual. Pink Floyd/Radiohead "Subterranean Homesick Alien" sound and chord palette rises to dominate the fifth minute as Randy's guitar goes Frippertronic. I like it. (But then, I loved "Sky" and "Homesick Alien.") (9/10)
2. "The Overview" (18:27) :
- "Perspective" - trip-hoppy instrumental space music with astronomy science facts & distances being recited over the top. Steven is using a lot of very familiar sounds, chords, and chord progressions (from his own previous works).
- "A Beautiful Infinity I" - strumming acoustic guitars with Steven singing over the voice. Again, so much of this we've heard before in Steven's previous works; the effects, the voice styling, the guitars, the Pink Floyd chords, the Beatles/XTC sound effects and engineering techniques.
- "Borrowed Atoms" -
- "A Beautiful Infinity II" - Some of this even goes back as far as "The Sky Moves Sideways" and "Every Home Is Wired" and "Stars Die."
- "Infinity Measured in Moments" - the coolest movement of the suite with its syncopated rhythm pattern, layered synths, guitars, and choral vocals. There feels some originality in this mélange. I love the presence/use of ukelele/mandolin and banjo!
- "Permanence" - space ambient synth chords that sound like the sexy love music Vangelis put in his Blade Runner soundtrack. Even the love-time sax is fitting. Just waiting for Barry White's voice to enter to narrate the foreplay.
Total Time 41:44