Progressive music, an infinite art of forging new paths through the audio sound-scape. I love bands that truly break the barriers, and create challenging and beautiful music in the process. I apologise; many acts, pioneers of rock, metal, jazz, blues and classical will not be presented in this article, since I am going to focus on the modern movements which have touched me in a grand way. I will be exploring the dirty twists of Zu, the genius of Cynic, the cross-genre brilliance of Opeth, the static shockwave of Black Sheep Wall, and finally the mystical winds of Kayo Dot. I would strongly encourage you to check all of these bands out, and will provide links at the end of my article to samples of each group's music.

Zu

Recommended Album; Carboniferous

Progressive music is one thing, avant-garde is almost another entirely. The glisten on the spearhead of modern progressive music, avant-garde is pure experimentation; non conventional, totally unsuitable for radio, and oh so challenging. Though the combinations of non traditional instruments and setups may not always work, amongst the coal there are a few rubies. Enter Zu.

What makes a band? A solid percussionist, a tidy vocalist, a little heard bassist and a guitar-jockey? Perhaps a release a year for half a decade until they fade from the public eye?

Fourteen albums, two of which are live, and a line up consisting of a drummer, bassist and a baritone saxophonist, Zu are totally atypical to the modern band stereotype. Signed to Mike Patton's Ipecac label, Zu experiment beyond traditional music, adhere to no true genre (A recurring theme throughout this article and appropriately so, since these fusions are where much progress lies) and raise a sceptical eyebrow to any who try to pin down their sound.

Though this may all sound like an unbearable combination, such is the visage of all acts who could one day be at the forefront of a much greater genre. Tribal drumming, twisting bass lines and distorted saxophone solos? Who knows, these could be the standards of the future.

www.myspace.com/zuband

Cynic

Recommended Album; Traced In Air

Unlike the massive output of Zu, Cynic have only ever released two albums. The first, Focus, combined death metal, jazz and robotic vocals to create one of the most difficult but clever albums of the old death metal scene. The band then broke up, and recently reformed, and with them came Traced In Air, and though strong tones from the old album remain, the progress is

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