When Indianapolis-based progressive metal project Pentrilox announced "Apotheosis: The New Frontier", I genuinely didn't expect to be handed a literal digital antidepressant. But here we are. Operating entirely out of their in-house production studio, this independent outfit utterly rejects the exhausted, dystopian sci-fi tropes we've all been choking on lately. Instead, they’ve engineered a massive, heavy sonic blueprint for celestial optimism. https://open.spotify.com/album/1lXMirFmYCFLZ8CJ8LJGfi?si=oXWz-hzbSV-i2MNymOiwDA The physical force of...

With the arrival of Pandemonium's debut single, "Dalí", it feels as though someone has cracked open a geode on the studio console and let the crystalline chaos spill out. Billed as “pan-dimensional pirates,” the trio of Maffmatix, Claire Ray, and Charlton Banks deliver a sound that feels both ancient and beamed in from a strange future. It’s built on the sturdy spine of boom-bap,...