I'll forgive you if your reaction to that title is "who the hell is Alarum?" but I am here to fix that mistake; in a better world, you wouldn't even need to ask it. Alarum have been in operation for 25 years (!), cleaving always true to their dedication to the lost and arcane art of progressive metal that draws more from technical thrash than it does from progressive rock. As a result, their strain of progressive metal is heavy and punishing, even as it draws various influences from jazz, jazz-fusion, thrash, death metal, and more. The latest iteration of Alarum's journey is actually already out in the form of Recontinue, which dropped on November 8th. However, I really wanted an excuse to write about it so here we are, with the premiere of the band's music video for "Zero Nine Thirty".
This track is pure Alarum, equal parts humor, prog, thrash, and jazz, all elements co-mingling to create a ride in a half. I absolutely love the track's structure, as it hops from the downright mean combo of the main riff and the harsh vocals to jazzy breaks, elderly people headbanging, and epic, sweeping, progressive guitar solos. Somehow, like during the rest of their career, Alarum keep it all together with an exquisite eye for composition, leaving just enough tidbits from the track's musical theme across the disparate parts for them to be intelligible as one track.
If you like what you're hearing, you really ought to check Recontinue and the band's previous released, Circle's End, from 2020. Both conjure forth a different image and approach to progressive metal that is sorely needed and are just fun and exciting albums in their own right. You can grab both on the band's Bandcamp.