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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

The Oxford Coma Morphine EP Review by Gary Hill I can definitely see people arguing about this landing under progressive rock. Honestly, I hear enough prog in this to make the connection. Sure, it’s very heavy and dark. Things like Dream Theater and King Crimson are audible influences, though. Besides, this clearly progresses rock music. Whatever you call it, though, I like this set. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2014 Volume 6 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

InfraStatic (Thanks Uncle Sam) Atmospheric elements create a noisy space rock kind of backdrop. A spoken voice lectures about the mortality of the human condition. This segues directly into the next piece, serving more or less as an instrumental introduction.

My Riad This fires in heavy and fierce. Still, there are some rather proggy elements at play here, too. In some ways, this feels like a cross between Dream Theater and The Deftones to me.

Tradition Noisy and ferocious, the bass line on this reminds me of Primus. The music is more extreme metal in a lot of ways. That said, there are some sections that land this closer to something like modern King Crimson.

Grindstone The bass line on this really drives it. The cut is much mellower and more melodic. I have zero problem landing this piece under progressive rock. It’s one of my favorite tunes here. It’s heavy and dark, but also incredibly dramatic. It does get into more extreme metallic territory later in the piece, though. The instrumental section later in the piece has both classic rock and prog elements built into it.

Morphine Although this is angry and very heavy, there are still some things here that are more creative and experimental.

Black Balloons Mellower, but still dark, this is a more melodic number start to finish.

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