Vargton Projekt – ProgXpriMetal

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Ask any fan of rock or metal and chances are they enjoy at least a little bit of prog music. Intelligent, unpredictable and unfathomably talented musicians have been amazing music listeners for decades now, and whilst the genre has a certain image of appealing to ageing men in their 50s, it still has a very big role to play in modern music – especially metal. That being said, it really is difficult to say whether or not Vargton Projekt’s hefty ProgXpriMetal quite fits into the progressive metal fold (as its title would suggest), or is simply a monstrous explosion of progressive creativity. The album’s staggering 18 tracks certainly sit closer to the latter, a highly creative album that owes much more to the works of Frank Zappa than it will any progressive metal band. That’s perhaps to be expected with at least one former Frank Zappa co-conspirator on board (drummer Morgan Ågren of Mats/Morgan Band). There are some pieces here that nudge slightly into Pagan’s Mind territory, but they are few and far between. Likewise Björn Jansson’s vocal delivery (on the songs he does sing on) does have some similarity to ex-Therion singer Mats Levén. However, this is mostly an instrumental prog album, with the project’s members grooving out for the majority of the album’s running time. At no point does this record become tedious, despite its long run time, and all the compositions are genuinely interesting and well composed. This being said, the project does feel lacking in personality or excitement. This mostly sounds like several incredibly talented musicians coming together and jamming. In that sense, its a terrific success, but one can’t help but feel that this album lacks anything truly meaningful to say. It comes across as slightly faceless, a near anonymous collection of musical pieces that flow gently in the background, and then flow gently away as softly as they come. That makes ProgXpriMetal enjoyable; it does not, however, make it something you really need to own.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Progressive, Quick.Play Reviews, Vargton Projekt