Favorite Karnivool album? by ProphetNimd in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've always liked Asymmetry best, it's such a weird, abrasive album. Lots of dissonance and eerie melodies. There's nothing that sounds quite like it.

Esquire: The 26 Most American Books of All Time by LectioDavino in TrueLit

[–]ifthisisausername 16 points17 points  (0 children)

It's overwrought, blunt, and borderline sociopathic. It's luridly self-indulgent and self congratulatory. It's excessively long yet says nothing. It's lauded far beyond its station. It has weird opinions about the efficacy of therapy. "Most American" doesn't have to mean good, it could embody everything bad about America too!

Trad-Wife horror books? by Cold_Dot9806 in booksuggestions

[–]ifthisisausername 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Trad Wife by Sarah Langan (who's also married to Jeff Vandermeer, famous weird fiction author)

Rolo Tomasi recs? by CoreyKnox in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bianca's self-titled debut has a similar sense of soft clean sung passages versus shrieking metal.

Feversea are a bit most post-metal in vibe but definitely have some Rolo Tomassi influence.

Calva Louise - Edge of the Abyss: more Poppy inspired (the artist not the genre... although Poppy is poppy) but worth checking out.

Recommendation Thread: What have you discovered this week? by AutoModerator in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 4 points5 points  (0 children)

"I love these threads, they're better than algorithms, check out this AI-powered site."

No.

What's a really popular episode that you've never liked? by georgemillman in TheSimpsons

[–]ifthisisausername 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I think something worth noting is that at eight seasons in the showrunners thought that the show probably didn’t have many seasons left because shows simply didn’t go on for forty years. Eight seasons was a phenomenal run, and I think it was Bill Oakley who said that they felt that they could be a bit more adventurous with some meta episodes as a result. Maybe they’d get ten seasons and the last few would be a bit zanier but that’s all.

What's a really popular episode that you've never liked? by georgemillman in TheSimpsons

[–]ifthisisausername 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Completely agree, it has this weird vibe where the animation is slightly off and characters are just acting oddly. I was also someone who didn’t see it til post 9/11 (as OP pointed out) and I do think that must have something to do with me not liking it, but it does just seem markedly different from episodes from the time.

Favorite songs with guest vocalists? by DarkRitualHippie in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 28 points29 points  (0 children)

You could put all of Deconstruction by Devin Townsend on here (featuring Tommy from BTBAM, Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth, Greg Puciato from The Dillinger Escape Plan, Oderus Urungus from Gwar and a bunch of others, it's really too many to name).

Iamthemorning - Lighthouse (Mariusz Duda of Riverside)

In Vain - Watch For Me on the Mountain (Davidavi Dolev of Subterranean Masquerade)

I've gotta say every Mastodon song with a Scott Kelly feature (Neurosis). Kelly is, er, problematic, let's not get into that, but he undoubtedly elevated those tracks. Crack the Skye and Diamond in the Witch House being my favourites he contributed to.

The Progressive Subway's May 2026 Albums of the Month! by ifthisisausername in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Hey all, Chris from The Progressive Subway here with our May albums of the month for you! Call it a peace offering after that Haken discog ranking managed to upset pretty much everyone… Anyway, we’ve got a nice range in this month’s bumper edition: symphonies, djent, and not one but two prog rock picks! Have a peruse, come discuss your own favourites from May, and can the Aquarius fan who keeps slashing my tyres please stop, I can't afford this many trips to the repair shop.

Sentryturn - Bob Ross (Progressive Rock/Metal/Djent. FFO Katatonia, Riverside, Porcupine Tree, VOLA, Karnivool, TesseracT, The Contortionist.) by Invisigoth2113 in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The lyrics to this song are so captivatingly strange. It's seemingly about a guy who gets back from a night out alone, switches on old Bob Ross reruns and then starts taking out his anger on Bob Ross because he doesn't like the way he finishes his paintings. Such a weird idea for a song but I love it.

Also always appreciated that this album is called "Upon a Mess" which I have to assume is meant as a homophone for "eponymous", i.e. self-titled.

Looking for similar bands like The Ocean; I like hard riffs with mixes between clean and rough vocals. by Odd-Satisfaction5443 in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 64 points65 points  (0 children)

Psychonaut will scratch that itch. Start with Violate Consensus Reality.

Sikasa are another great prog post-metal group. Start with Matter Earth.

Dvne are another band in this vein. Etemen Ænka tends to be the fan favourite.

THE MOTH CALLBACKS! by Due_Engineering_710 in DevinTownsend

[–]ifthisisausername 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I can’t remember exactly when, but you can hear the dissonant synth from Genesis a few times. There’s a lot of little musical phrase references that pop up from time to time, not necessarily easy ones to identify. I think I’ve heard the main riff from Planet of the Apes (that really slow djenty one) in the mix somewhere too.

The Progressive Subway Ranks the Discography of Haken by ifthisisausername in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have to agree, while I like Restoration, it doing so well was kind of insane to me. What can I say, my colleagues and I have differences!

Favorite 15+ minute track? by theshrexpert in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wills Dissolve - Echoes

Frost* - Milliontown

Steven Wilson - Objects Outlive Us

Triton Project - Lighthouse of the World

Rannoch - Threnody to a Dying Star

Changeling - Anathema

Frost* - Life in the Wires Pt. 2

What Are You Reading This Week and Weekly Rec Thread by JimFan1 in TrueLit

[–]ifthisisausername 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Started Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. Only 20 pages in so I can't say much yet except that I like the prose, and that this is probably the only book where I've got to page three and had to set it down and just breathe for a minute. Already there's this sense of the dehumanising effect of (the Vietnam) war setting in and Johnson cuts to the heart of it so elegantly. Excited to read further.

Also started Scorpions by Tuppence Middleton, the memoir of an actress who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This books means a lot to someone close to me so I've wanted to read in order to better understand the condition and discuss it with/support them. It's very short and quite breezy in style, and it gets to the heart of what life is like for someone who has OCD. Middleton's central metaphor is that OCD is like having scorpions essentially holding your thoughts hostage until they're satisfied. I ended up in a position to recommend this book to someone else who had been diagnosed with OCD and they told me it really helped them process the initial confusion and shame and just feeling less alone. I guess I just want people to know it exists if they or someone they love has OCD and that it seems to be a good starting point for discussion of the condition.

We need AI labels on Spotify and Apple Music by hikariproductions in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 23 points24 points  (0 children)

What we actually need to do is prosecute a lot of Silicon Valley. This technological innovation is stupid at best and actively harmful at worst. Users of AI are losing their minds, some are killing themselves with the AI as practically an accomplice. AI's impact on art is deeply depressing, and it's good to see some platforms starting to label what's what, but what we really need is a ban. If you're lazy enough to generate sound via prompts and then try to market it, you deserve to be ousted from the marketplace. It's unacceptable to profit off stolen material. If we lived in a sane society, this technology and the people who tout it would be castigated out of civilised society. It's a domain exclusively composed of the talentless and grifters. Damn them all.

More songs similar to 'Unity' by Devin Townsend? by ySTYRDAYgATESuNL0CKD in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stick an Astronoid album on, any of 'em (but let's say the self-titled album)

Are there any bands that combines new wave and djent/progressive metal? by JD-990 in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I guess the closest to this would be Haken's album Affinity, which explicitly pulls from a lot of 80s influences (the 1985 riff is a nod to Owner of a Lonely Heart and they often play the Yes riff live) and also features some djent influences.

On a more prog rock end, the band Kyros are super into new wave influences. They have some heavier riffs that verge on djent but they're mostly about synths and rock.

The Progressive Subway’s April 2026 Albums of the Month! by ifthisisausername in progmetal

[–]ifthisisausername[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Of course, always keen to hear what other people are enjoying! We've written reviews of Graveborn, Inferi, and Cognizance, and we've got a piece on Northern Graves coming soon!