The post-djent prog metal landscape is fertile ground in the year 2025. With the likes of Haken, Tesseract and Between the Buried and Me going from strength to strength, and the world-conquering monolith that is Sleep Token selling out arenas worldwide, there’s never been a better time for fans of complex time signatures and ten minute instrumentals.
Add to the fray: Scotland’s Ihlo, now on their second album and ready to make a dent in the burgeoning UK scene. The band have taken six years to record a follow up to debut Union, and the time has been well spent honing their craft. While that album was a perfectly enjoyable, if somewhat safe slab of progressive metal, Legacy is a different beast entirely. This is a band far more confident in their art, and far more willing to take risks; with a sound heavily influenced by Tesseract in particular, but with great big dollops of electronica thrown in. These are songs firmly in the metal sphere, yet there are memories of pumping dance halls flowing through their veins. Each track is built like a trance anthem; once they suck you in, they are not letting up until they are done.
Case in point: opener ‘Wraith’, which begins with some gentle synths, before eventually growing to a whirlwind of howls and chugging riffs. Vocalist Andy Robison is the star here, his range impressive; multiple times he seems to reach a crescendo, only to somehow reach even higher. Later, on ‘Cenotaph’, he even has a chance to show off his lower range with a series of aggressive yelps. Phil Monro and Clark McMenemy – on guitars and drums respectively – have their moments to shine as well however, most notably on ‘Source’, whose glitchy menace eventually gives way to a selection of crunching riffs. The trio all get a chance to show their chops through the album’s lengthy runtime.
The rest of the album follows a similar pattern; ‘Mute’ initially feels quite laid back, before eventually giving way to a long apocalyptic outro. Themes of paranoia and technology-based dread echo large throughout, leaving the album with a dark, oppressive tone. It all builds to the twin epics of the title track and ‘Signals’, a suitably epic exhalation to round the album off on a euphoric note.
As an album, Legacy is a great success. With only short interlude ‘Storm’ shorter than five minutes, and most tracks closer to seven, it is a veritable feast for fans of progressive music. Dark and menacing, yet bleakly addictive, it showcases a band blooming into their talent, with a sound that is uniquely theirs. Lets hope Ihlo can find their place in an already crowded scene.
