NucleustTerra Cerebral

I was waiting for Australia to fall back in love with heavy prog. Waiting like a kid knowing there’s chocolate after only a few more mouthfuls of tofu and pumpkin. Australia has its share of fine prog, don’t get me wrong. But new blood in the out-there prog vein of Alchemist, Vaudvixhl, and Alarum is harder to find. What begins as a Killswitch Engage or Machine Head tinged approximation of metal (screams of shove it up your ass, natch), the Perth metallers go full tilt on the prog type ish that proggomaniacs blow a prog load for. Straightforward thrash pounding through Nothing Is Real But Death will draw in the long-hairs while Quantum Umbrella will give the flannel-wearing thick-glasses set something to ponder. Crushing, Of Man and Tree and its deliberate rhythmic shifts make their musical moves near impossible to predict and all the more intriguing.

Straightforward thrash pounding through Nothing Is Real But Death will draw in the long-hairs while Quantum Umbrella will give the flannel-wearing and thick-glasses set something to ponder.

Taking cues from Between the Buried and Me, drenching their sky-punching riffs in torrents of synth strings, Loss of a Dearest imparts a painful, redemptive feeling other bands would fall flat on their face trying. In prog, the trick is for bedroom-instrumentalists to coalesce as fearsome songwriting units. It’s hard avoiding the trap of pipping other great guitarists at their own posts. As smooth and subtle songwriters, these Perth prog metallers are more than accomplished. Metal fans that lean towards melody, prog, and heaviness who yearn for a departure from the ordinary will revel in Terra Cerebral.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Loss of a Dearest, Quantum Umbrella, Of Man and Tree
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Alarum, Trials, Voyager

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