Memo to so-called "progressive" bands: the 90s are long gone. Please stop trying to sound like early Dream Theater - that was 15 years ago and they did it better than you ever will. Oh, and outer-space fantasy artwork has never looked good, nor has it ever signified experimentation or progressiveness in music. Please stop using it. Read more

Variously labeled math metal, tech metal and other such vague and indescriptive titles, Melbourne's Five Star Prison Cell have released one of the most intricate, brutal, confronting, challenging and downright awe-inspiring jaunts of the year with Slaves Of Virgo. Read more

The moment you open the exquisite packaging that envelopes the debut release from Tasmanian progressive rock band The Third Ending, it's obvious this isn't your typical independent album. Read more

Have you ever noticed how Planet X, Derek Sherinian's solo work, and to a lesser extent some of Virgil Donati's solo work all sound the same? It's obviously very common for bands to sound similar from album-to-album, and also accepted for one's solo work to have at least something in common with their output in their full-time band, but only in extreme cases do we see a band, made up of people who have no connection with the members of another band, so closely emulate them. Read more

Chaos Theory are a Melbourne band who, eight years ago, grew out of playing Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy and Metallica covers and began writing their own material. Read more

The Mars Volta should not be popular. In a world flooded with collections of two-minute-long bursts of cookie-cutter emotion and half-hearted re-hashings of times gone by, it's staggering to know that an album as sprawling and immersive as Frances the Mute is able to find a significant audience. Read more

Tasmania, and indeed Australia, is not well known for its atmospheric progressive metal offerings. Dave Caswell, however, wants to change all that - and Transcend is a step in the right direction. Read more