Toe Hider is a one-man studio project by Michael Mills of Melbourne prog wunderkinds Template. With equally-sized tips of the hat to Queen and cartoon theme songs of the 1980s, if you're a sucker for prog rock done old school (from 70s King Crimson to 90s Dream Theater), Toe Hider is certainly for you. And if you're like me and have moved on from your days as a Dream Theater fanboy, Toe Hider is definitely for you too. It'll make you remember why you fell in love with prog in the first place.

Read our review of Toe Hider
Listen to Toe Hider on MySpace

With the launch of their latest EP just last week, Melbourne rock band Rook have flagged their intention to move away from the safety of grungy alternative rock and into more progressive, colourful territory.

What Add Colour lacks in length, it more than makes up in passion, energy and creativity. Rook will hit the road nationally with Dead Letter Circus and Melodyssey throughout the rest of 2008, so now is the perfect time to get acquainted with the next big thing in Australian heavy rock.

Read our review of Add Colour
Listen to Rook on MySpace

Our first featured artist from the fertile musical breeding ground that is Perth, Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving create a delicious blend of prog, rock and jazz into a fusion not often heard in Australia.

As our review of their EP Tiny Fragments says: "They've created an EP that takes metal, funk, jazz, post rock, prog rock/metal, moments of electronica and mixes it all up in a way that really finds each part complimenting the next."

Read our review of Tiny Fragments
Listen to Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving on MySpace

Blending the dark intensity of Tool with the atmospheric electronics of Massive Attack, Sydney's Nucleus put a unique spin on the often-explored alternative rock genre. Circumvolution is their second EP and a must-have for any Australian music fan, but where they really shine is in a live environment. Catch the circus at Nucleus' EP launch on August 9th at the Excelsior in Sydney, before they venture south to Melbourne for two shows at the end of August.

Read our review of Circumvolution
Listen to Nucleus on MySpace

Strange name, stranger artwork, brilliant music. The Rex Wicked are a progressive art-rock band from Melbourne who incorporate piano, cello and traditional rock instrumentation in their imaginitive and dynamic music. Their self-released debut EP The World Could Turn Around is brimming with epic, pompous compositions that evoke comparisons to Muse's pre-Black Holes era, a brilliant sign of things to come from this young band.

Read our review of The World Could Turn Around
Listen to The Rex Wicked on MySpace

Australia has had its fair share of great ambient instrumental rock bands in the past, but leading the push into new territory is Sydney's sleepmakeswaves. Their debut EP in today already walks tomorrow was hotly anticipated by all quarters of Sydney's music scene before its release, but it still managed to exceed expectations.

Read our review of in today already walks tomorrow
Listen to sleepmakeswaves on MySpace

Regulars of the OzProg forum will already be familiar with Sleep Parade as one of our hosted bands, but if you don't know who Sleep Parade are by now, prepare to be amazed. Despite a regular touring schedule (I'm pretty sure they were the support band for every gig I went to in 2006-07), their debut album Things Can Always Change seemed to take a lot of people by surprise. But with the prized support slot for both Cog and Porcupine Tree, if things stay on the same trajectory everybody will know who they are by the end of 2008.

Read our review of Things Can Always Change
Visit Sleep Prade's hosted forum on OzProg

Instrumental Melburnian rockers Mushroom Giant have released two EPs and a full-length album in under two years. Their latest album Kuru is a musical journey exploring themes such as death, evolution and cannibalism recommended for fans of Mono, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and ISIS. But it's in a live setting where their brilliant soundscapes really come to life - they launch the album in Sydney on April 5th at the Excelsior with OzProg favourites sleepmakeswaves, Meniscus and Los Alamos.

Read our review of Kuru
Listen to Mushroom Giant on MySpace