Hello Metalheads! This is John back with another album review for you! Today I being to you a really great progressive album called The Great Architect from Subterranean Lava Dragon which came out on January 23rd, 2025. I originally heard about this new band via a death metal Facebook page and kept tabs on them. When I started hearing tracks I knew this would be a must listen and very high ranking album.
This is one hell of a “heady” album. By this I mean the rhythms and harmonies are all over the place which typically one wouldn’t see outside of prog music. There are quite a few key changes, advanced chords and crazy time signatures galore. For music nerds like myself these catch my ear all over the place. This also makes from very dense listening experience and it can take many listens through to decipher every detail. I have gushed many times about my love for stuff like this!
I reached out to Connor McNamee who is the vocalist for the band. He sites Meshuggah, Periphery, The Faceless and Opeth as some of the bands that every member is into(or was into at the time of writing this). He also stated that Ethan McKenna is the main mastermind behind this album. He and Nick “Nickbass” Shaw did contribute on the writing of this album though! I can definitely hear all of those influences on this record in one way or another. This entire album was actually written just about a decade ago, this fact totally blew my mind when I found this out.
The Great Architect(the track) really caught my ear as soon as I heard it the first time. It’s the shortest track on the album but packed full of good stuff. It starts off with this really noodling and melodic riff, this is juxtaposed by a couple of chuggs or chords. This kind of had a Periphery sort of vibe to it, meaning that is fun, djent filled and kind of technical. The drumbeat is all over the place while this is going on and the vocals are mid harsh vocals with higher ones coming in as well. This rather heavy and intense texture continues before the bottom falls completely out with just a guitar sets up the structure of the next passage. This happens at the 2:40 mark, then the full spectrum of sound comes back using the same chords and frame that the guitar played out before. After this there is a guitar solo that just absolutely shreds. The guitar underneath this just “Djentifies” the chords from before making them choppy and rhythmic in nature. This makes it sound heavy and brutal as all hell almost as a breakdown with the sound separation it creates. Then to end the track they return to one of the previous sections but end it off with a flourish.
Bleed the Throne is my favorite track on the album and it is the longest and the finale. There are two different sections I would like to specifically point out. The first one at the 2:50 mark is this really cool frantic technical section. The guitars start off with a melodic yet angular sounding riff, the drums come in with an almost thrash inspired beat. Then the drums create a halftime feel with the vocals come in with a high pitch shriek. Meanwhile the whole thing has a really good groove! One of my favorite things in this track is the chord progression they use during the last section! The singing over top is pretty tame but with a purpose. Then a guitar solo starts as the key changes. This is such a nice guitar solo, it shreds but also has some beautiful moments. This whole thing sounded so cool I actually figured out the chords on my keyboard by ear.
I know it’s only February, but this is the best album I have heard with a progressive label so far into the year. This is an easy 10/10 and will be in constant rotation for some time. I look forward to anything that the members of this are a part of for sure. Heavy prog heads like myself will enjoy this immensely! As always links to the album and the bands socials will be posted below. Don’t forget to buy this album if you truly love it like myself!!!
https://www.facebook.com/share/1D7TBwXheE/?mibextid=wwXIfr
https://www.instagram.com/subterraneanlavadragon
https://subterraneanlavadragon.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-architect
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