And here are some albums you might've missed

[Psychotic Symphony]

I'm always fishing for new (and old) releases that may have passed me by.

Alter - Mirrored Thoughts https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=O ... T_3ZueEtD0
I thought I was familiar with prog/power from the vintage year of 1997. This sounds like nothing else that was popular that year in the same genre. This is some tasty prog power with a definite thrash influence. It kind of reminds me of Factory of Art but with a vocalist who leans more towards the Metal Church side of things. Sooooo, maybe a bit like early Eldritch if they had more of the taste for thrash?

Armed Cloud - Torque https://youtu.be/_qL2q71EH_E
Those who wanted their prog metal from 2020 to be a bit speedier and with an ass-kicking keyboardist look here! Singer is adequate but could be better. Still hard to argue with the strength of their music.

Lovewar - Soak Your Brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIictf72WLc
You can officially add this disc to the list of "great albums inspired by King's X". Or maybe Saigon Kick. Yeah I don't know they got a bit of both and I think they squeak closer to Atomic Opera from the holy trinity of Houston metal more than anything else. A definite hard rock influence is there though.

Alcest - Spiritual Instinct https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69fnUZhV8SI
The original blackgaze artists. Or post black metal. Or is it post-black metal with a hyphen? All I know is this sounds A LOT like Falkenbach to my ears. Also if you want some mild hilarity go check out the precursor genre "shoegaze" original story of why it was called that. It also reminds me of that one-and-done Atoma album which I think was a hit with some people here.

Show Me A Dinosaur - Plantgazer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y3l137hJwQ&t=123s
Yeah, more blackgaze. It's not for everyone. It's not even for me, really. But I can't help but be absolutely transfixed by the transcendental nature of that wall of sound at the right moment.

Chaos Over Cosmos - The Unknown Voyage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TefvH__wYsk
Labelled as an EP but it's over 52 minutes so it must be a prog EP. It's not, well, not really. Have you heard the awesome amazing power metal band Keldian? Okay well it sounds like them if they went a bit more epic and symphonic. What is weird tho is that the next EP they released was actually of EP length (14 minutes) but they made it black metal, which worked too! I much prefer this album (yes, album, LP).

Alter Bridge - Walk The Sky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsO-Tkq6hPg
I don't remember liking these guys. Did they turn into epic metal when I wasn't looking? The modern hard rock thing is going strong too, but their scope sounds expanded to these ears. Well this is astonishingly good and it slipped me by in 2019/2020.

[Kez]

You need to revisit Alter Bridge. They are VERY good. Not just the last disc, either.

[Nos]

Alter Bridge - Walk The Sky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsO-Tkq6hPg
I don't remember liking these guys. Did they turn into epic metal when I wasn't looking? The modern hard rock thing is going strong too, but their scope sounds expanded to these ears. Well this is astonishingly good and it slipped me by in 2019/2020.

They're definitely good. I liked the album a fair bit, but I find it hard to listen to them for hour-long stretches, since Myles' voice can be quite shrill.