Progmetal or progressive rock, to me it is the genre of exploring new possibilities. How progressive can you be if your next record sound exactly as the one before? No matter how complex your music is? Take for instance Dutch metallers Delphian, they have just released their second album Unravel. It has a different approach and is less complex than debut album Oracle. But does it make them less progressive?

 

'Starting to Unravel' is quite representative for the rest of the album. An album that consists of more straightforward metal. But with a kind of riffing that makes you grab towards the nearest air guitar you can get a hold of. It is not that radically threw out every element from Oracle. A track like 'Focus on Acid', starts of with a great intro where singer Aniek Janssen shows once again her great flute playing. 

Both guitarists haven’t thrown out the art of the guitar solo either. It is filled with great guitar playing, just listen to the passages in'Hidden'.

The closing song of the album, 'Air', is my personal favourite. The ten-minute song has a guest appearance from singer Leon Brouwer of local Enschede band The Barstool Philosophers. Starting of as a ballad with Janssens'  powerful voice accompanied by the piano, it evolves into a duet. Heavy riffing sets in many multiple changes in this song, so that it never gets boring during its ten minute run.
 

Most other media talk about that Delphian has lost their way. The biggest metal magazine in Holland even wrote about almost losing faith in them. And that surprises me a lot. Because I'm sure if more people going to like this record than their first one. It is a real catchy album and I almost can’t wait for their next album to come out. This quintet is on the rise.