Brutal Prog.

Hey everybody I'm back.  I've been progging around a lot recently, searching the outer rim of the vast and complicated world of forward-thinking music and I stumbled upon something pretty crazy.  There are a pretty well-known group of bands who have been classified as something new called "brutal prog".  The term was coined by Weasel Walter of the Flying Luttenbachers, one of these bands.  Here's a quote from him regarding the music:

"I find the prog term ideal because it states clearly that it's music that moves forward, at least in theory," Lai explains. "I'm not speaking of fairy tales or extended guitar/Hammond-organ solos mixed with some Mozart references. I'm only talking about the most basic meaning of the term. We have no qualms about claiming King Crimson as an influence, and a lot of other prog bands, including Henry Cow, Magma, Univers Zero, Etron Fou, Frank Zappa, etc. I personally like all the classics to some degree, including Genesis, Yes, ELP – they all have some very strong points and have made some very exceptional music along with some other stuff that really sucks, big time. [But] all these bands have laid a great foundation to work from and a method in exploring song structure, technique, and sound that is generally left untouched in rock music."

It's been said that this entire new wave of bands can be credited to the song "De Futura" from Magma's Udu Wudu.  It's considered an entire new genre of progressive music because there are quite a few number of bands who follow the guidelines to it and take part in it.  A lot of these groups are already huge cult favorites in indie and underground music for bringing progressive tendencies back.  A lot of this music is critically acclaimed beleive it or not.

Brutal prog bands are a new wave of hypercomplex instrumental prog groups.  If I can explain their main influences it would be something like King Crimson, Magma, Ruins (maybe the first brutal prog group), technical metal, free jazz, and experimental music.  Some of them are even influenced by video game music.  They're not just post-rock, post-punk or math rock groups, no... they've scrapped all commercial value.  They all share an extremely progressive vision.

Brutal prog groups are usually stripped down and oddly "instrumentated?" instrumental groups.  A few of them are only two people.  Melodic and rapidly moving compositions make out a lot of these bands' sound.  Here are some band examples (I'll get as much as I can):

Orthrelm

Orthrelm are a guitar and drum duo.  Their only noticable influence would be Magma.  They sound like Magma, Extreme Metal and Avant-Jazz.  They play extremely intricate instrumental music with only a guitar and drums.

The Flying Luttenbachers

This band consists of a few players, most noticably two drummers.  Their influences are listed above and most notably include Albert Ayler, Peter Brotzmann, Captain Beefheart, Ornette Coleman, Magma and John Zorn.  They play an intricately harsh music similar to John Zorn's Naked City.

Hella

Hella is also a guitar and drum duo, who recently toured with proggers The Mars Volta.  They play intricate compositions that can be defined as controlled chaos.  They have a real quirky video game-like quirky tone and are similar to Orthrelm.

Upsilon Acrux

Jazzy prog rock in the vein of King Crimson.

Lightning Bolt

Bass and drums duo influenced by Ruins and Boredoms.  Harsh noise and jazzy proggy melodies make up their infectious but bizarrely unique sound.

There are more bands but these are just a few examples.  Look them up and hear for yourself.  These bands aren't just noise rock, and they aren't just kinda proggy punk, it's full-blown progressive music for the new age.  I believe that new avant-prog and new Zeuhl artists all fit under this umbrella as they share these same qualities.  Brutal Prog, should we get cracking on this?  I'll happily take care of all additions and keep updating on new finds as I'm very much into these bands.

Please consider and take care!