Prog from the 2010's

[Art Rock]

Hi! Back after a long break from this forum (I've been active on Talk Classical).

In this thread, please post some of your favourite prog albums from the past decade.

L'Enigma Della Vita (Logos, 2014)

L'Enigma Della Vita is the third studio album by the Italian Progressive rock band Logos. I have not been able to listen to the first two, but prog lovers who have rate them "good", but considerably lower than this one. For sure, this is a masterpiece, which I rank far higher than the most famous seventies' prog albums from Italy. The compositions are excellent, full of melody and interesting instrumentation, and sung in Italian (fortunately) by Luca Zerman, who has an ideal voice for this repertoire. A real unknown gem. Especially noteworthy are Venivo Da Un Lungo Sonno, Alla Fine Dell'Ultimo Capitolo, N.A.S., Completamente Estranei, and most of all the brilliant 10-11 minutes epics In Principio and Pioggia In Campagna.

 

[Art Rock]

Disconnected (Airbag, 2016)

Disconnected is the fourth studio album of Norwegian progressive rock band Airbag. No further developments, this is pretty much in the same style as their first three albums, with Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree as main influences. But the songs are great (perhaps even better than before), the musicianship excellent and the sound outstanding. I love the general melancholic feeling of the album, enhanced by the vocals of Asle Tostrup. At the moment this is their least popular album at the ProgArchives site, but I love it. Best songs: Killer, Slave, and Disconnected.

 

[Art Rock]

The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) (Steven Wilson, 2013)

The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) is the third solo album by British musician Steven Wilson. It is generally seen as his homage to the progressive rock greats of the seventies, from King Crimson to Genesis, and his best solo album. I would not only concur with that, but I'd even choose it as one of the three best albums of the century. Every song (all dealing with supernatural themes) is great, but even better than the others are The Watchmaker, Drive Home and The Raven That Refused To Sing, three of my all-time favourite songs.

 

[Prog Head]

I'm not fond of both, PT and SW.

 

[Art Rock]

Resistance (IQ, 2019)

Resistance is the twelfth studio album by the British neo-progressive rock band IQ. It is a double CD with a playing time of 108 minutes (the average song length is about 10 minutes). More importantly, it is another top notch neo-prog album, largely in the style of its predecessors, but with more hints of progressive metal at places - and a killer church organ sound in one track. It is generally seen as one of their very best, and I concur with that. Quite an achievement given that it's been 36 years since their debut. Consistently high quality throughout both discs, but some of the best tracks are Rise, Alampandria, If Anything, For Another Lifetime, Fire And Security, and Perfect Space.

 

[Art Rock]

Luciferian Towers (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, 2017)

Luciferian Towers is the sixth studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It follows quickly (for their standards) after the less impressive Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress of 2015, and marks a welcome return to form. Although not as good as their first two amazing albums, this one is still a gem of post-rock. One critic even called it "the band’s most melodic and powerfully positive-sounding album to date." There are still drones, but they are less dominating than before, and with Anthem For No State (in the AllMusic review defined as "the Godspeed equivalent of a Spaghetti Western score, with a lonesome, tremolo-inflected guitar intro and a lengthy, triumphant conclusion"), they explore new territories.