10. Tesseract – War of Being

Tesseract are well-known for their brand of spaced out progressive metal, and their inscrutable concept albums. With War of Being, Tesseract have created another thematically profound sonic experience that would be hard to imagine coming from anywhere else. They are truly masters at what they do.

9. KNOWER – KNOWER FOREVER

I’m late to the party with KNOWER, who are a recent personal discovery. But as a big fan of artists like Thundercat, and DOMI and JD Beck, KNOWER fall right in the pocket of stuff I’m into. What I really liked here were the occasional forays into a style that is reminiscent of the classical works of Aaron Copland. I haven’t heard a band do something that scratched that itch since Emerson, Lake & Palmer. But here, it feels so urban, novel, and trendy.

8. Origami Angel – The Brightest Days

This mid-atlantic emo duo barely have a miss yet, and so-called mixtape “The Brightest Days” continues to show us that, with each release, Origami Angel manage to peel back to another level of maturity as both songwriters and instrumentalists. 

7. Jizue – Biotop

With the release of “Biotop”, the Kyoto-based Jizue top even their impressive 2020 effort “Seeds”.  Piano player Kie Nizomiyo often steals the show, but I also think guitarist Noriyuki Inoue has never sounded better with the quartet. Here, he pulls from breadth of guitar techniques and styles ranging from jazz to post rock, and helps drive forward the band’s unique to new levels.

6. OK Goodnight – The Fox and the Bird

If anyone saw an all-time great progressive metal concept album dropping by a relatively young band in 2023, it sure wasn’t me. But OK Goodnight just have so much going on in their favor – they’re virtuoso-style players who happen to have an eye for not just art, but storytelling, and they’ve got a leg up thanks to the legion of fans that vocalist Casey Lee William’s brings with her from her work with the Netflix anime series RWBY.  I hope they can continue to grow in to one of the most exciting bands in the world of progressive rock and metal.

5. Kendrick Scott – Corridors

With Corridors, jazz drummer Kendrick Scott delivers tightly woven work poetry that poses questions about the various doors and hallways of our lives, especially in the context of COVID lockdowns. That kind of thoughtfulness makes Corridors such a special album to return to again and again – not just for the great music, but also for the sort of meditation it invites. 

4. Slowdive – Everything is Alive

Having recently undergone a deeply moving experience playing the video game Pentiment, I recognized the labyrinth on the cover of Slowdive’s newest release immediately as something that carried a special significance. Born from grief, “Everything is Alive” is like the labyrinth itself – circular, haunting, beautiful, and, whilst born from grief, ultimately triumphant.

3. Covet – Catharsis

I was as worried about anyone when Covet’s original – and founding – rhythm section decided to dip out of the band earlier this year. I’m still not sure what was going on there, or why that happened. But regardless, both Catharsis and Covet’s subsequent tour under the new lineup proved to me that, without a shadow of a doubt, Covet are still here to stay, and have lost not a single step under the direction of Yvette Young, who is, at this point, a generational guitarist.

2. Haken – Fauna

Haken were an early interest of mine, but “Fauna” is the first time since the delightful “Aquarius” that I’ve felt they have really lived up to the challenge of being more than a typical progressive metal band. I credit the return of Peter Jones on keyboard. On “Fauna”, I hear more than just Dream Theater inspiration and djent riffs.  Instead, I get all that, but also some genuine nods to electronic music, nu jazz, and even pop.  Haken are the best band in progressive metal right now – and now we’ll see what Dream Theater can do with the return of Mike Portnoy.

1. Explosions in the Sky – The End

For me, Explosions in the Sky will always be synonymous with how I think about the core post-rock sound. Twinkly guitars weave around each other in the service of simple but tasteful melodies. Sometimes this is heightened by an electronic element, other times it’s contrasted by the sound of a distorted telecasters breaking up a loud fender amplifier. For a long time now, Explosions in the Sky have been off the radar of tastemakers and alt-music enjoyers in general. But for me, they’ve never gotten old, and if End is truly the last thing they ever do as a group, I sure know that I’m going to miss them.