Tagged exist

The progressive metal "scene" has become more and more insular over the past decade or so as it's risen to prominence. While the higher profile has lead to more diversity among bands who can reach an audience, as with additional size comes additional bulk, the definition of "progressive" has become blurrier as more bands incorporate elements from the sound into their toolkit, forcing the genre to define itself by contrast. Complexity, self-seriousness, "enlightenment" and a gratuitous focus on music theory and pseudo-intellectualism have become pervasive. While the counter-movement of doubling down on "ignorant", more streamlined music has also fostered, it's become easy to be stuck between two extremes. As such, being able to find music that doesn't stick to tropes has become increasingly difficult. Enter Exist, a progressive metal band that's almost anti-prog. They take the intricacy of bands like Cynic and their predecessors in Death and combine it with sarcastic disrespect towards prog conventions. The end result is their sophomore release, So True, So Bound, and it's a clever combination that is confusing in an intriguing way.