Back catalogue: Progressive Rock

Review: Originally released in 2008, Phantom On The Horizon is the grandiose, progressive rock worshipping high concept EP from Washington based math-rock indebted post-hardcore heroes The Fall Of Troy. Initially abandoned following the leak of early versions in 2004 on what has since been dubbed The Ghostship Demos EP, the band would finally get over this setback and bang out the entire project in secret over October of 2008 before dropping it the very next month. Renowned for its epic, lengthy pieces segmented into chapters like all good prog concept records, the work stands as solely unique from the majority of the trio's remaining output, bridged in the gap year between 2007's instantaneous Manipulator and the more melodic alt rock of 2009's In The Unlikely Event. Utilising an array of guest musicians adding elements of keyboards, violin, cello and glockenspiel for that extra proggy flair, while featuring guest vocal appearances from the likes of Fear Before's Dave Marion as well as both Ryann Donnelly and Jonah Bergman of Schoolyard Heroes, the mini-epic 5 tracks clock in at a 37-minute runtime detailing story of a Spanish galleon meeting with a ghost ship from another dimension. A true outlier gem conjuring a Venn Diagram intersection between early noughties sassy post-hardcore and timeless 70s indebted prog absurdity.

Review: Oakland, California. Present Day. Although you might not believe it when you hear it. Justin Pinkerton, or Futuropaco, certainly knows how to drop a red herring, conjuring a cacophony of psychedelic funk-jazz-rock stuff that feels like it has always been here but is brand new, and implies it took a full entourage locked in sweaty jam to realise what is really a one-man-band triumph. Hone in squarely on the rhythmic aspect to understand the core strength. Those drums, and those drum solos, seem to invoke percussive legends without demanding you listen for 20 minutes to their patter and thud. The guitars lunge and drive and chug with the intent of early metal or slo mo druggy electronic dance. And the melodic elements veer from disorientating crescendo to the best of the Spaghetti Western scores.