Last Chance to Reason is on my list of songs to post! I’ll always be an Exoplanet stan but was very glad to see Mike and Jordan join.

Ooh, unfamiliar with them. Man, I can't even remember when I started with Contortionist, but too good a joke not to run with.

Scale the Summit was incredibly instrumental (ha, get it)

Nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd! They were good live. Instumental. Instru-djental?

I decided to move from small town Midwest for their Guitar Craft program.

Damn, that's commitment. And I'm sure the source of thousands of stories. : )

Looking through my 2025 list surprised me. I only added 25 albums to my permanent library and may yet prune a few of those. Apparently Tomarúm’s newest ended up in both Black and Prog folders lol.

No comment. My SO probably wishes I only added 25 albums. It was.... more. Between the prog, the djent, the math, the post, the gaze, the atmoblack, the melodeath, the gaze... /me shakes fist at bandcamp friday.

Thanks for reminding me to evaluate my seeding folder! There’s another 25 albums from last year in there that I need to listen through again. Honestly, kinda hard to give a more comprehensive 2025 list until I give those another chance but I can throw a few standouts at you.

Count me in for the ride! It's been a good list (again, ask my wallet), but I know stuff will come in out of nowhere. Search bandcamp for "Seventeen Years to Hatch an Invasion". Just came across that. Damn. Listen to that whole album. Not metal, but damn.

I’ve been on a Ukrainian BM kick thanks to White Ward and a sense of solidarity.

Slava Ukraine! Good on you for doing that, I know I've upped my listening of compatriots from there the past couple of years to help out monetarily. I liked that WW album from a few years ago, but haven't kept up.

Auratom’s Kamenari was great, but my favorite find thus far is Labyrinthus Stellarum; HIGHLY recommend checking out their whole discography.

Oh, hey, I've listened to that! Okay, yup, atmoblack with cosmic synths and harsh vocals. God, it's so hard to narrow this down. The Tomarum reminds me a bit of Cynic in spots, and the An Abstract Illusion's synths almost make up for all the screaming. (And now I see there's an instrumental version of Woe... hmmm...)

Subterranean Lava Dragon was a Prog standout for sure. BTBAM has maintained Favorite Band status for nearly 15 years at this point (shout out Rock Band for including Prequel to the Sequel) and The Blue Nowhere landed in the top half of their discography pretty quickly.

I'll have to try that first one, not familiar with them. And I need to sit down both with the BTBAM and the new Steven Wilson. Mixed luck with both of their last album or two, but both have been highly regarded

I’ll get back to you once I evaluate more albums!

I'll be here! Personally, I'd drop a new post - we need all the conversations we can get in here. : )

I’ve heard of but am largely unfamiliar with RSS feeds; I intended to look into them further but never got around to it. Keeping up with new album releases sounds like the perfect impetus to dive in. Any tips? There's multiple ways to roll it (anwhere from browser extensions to docker containers to mobile apps), but the concept is the same: most sites (that aren't social media) have an invisible feed of all their articles, updated automatically. The RSS reader just looks periodically and tells you what's new. You become your own algorithm - do you like that site that posts once every few months? You'll see the post within a day or two. Site updates 3 times a day? It'll queue them up, and so you always have something cool to read while walking the dog. I tell people I follow 300 web sites and they look at me like I'm deranged. No, I just only read the new stuff, it's not like I'm spending my time going between tabs or sites, it's just a scrolling list of articles. If you're on iOS I like NewsExplorer ($5 once for iphone, syncs between devices and is essentially its own server, and will even allow you to lurk R and the /r/'s without giving S any money), otherwise there's a bunch out there - I used to use Feedly and enjoyed it, but this seems to work better for me.