On the 11th March 2018, something short of ground-breaking was announced on the social media outlets of one of the world’s most renowned progressive metal groups. Tool had entered the studio to record what has become their now fabled follow-up to 2006’s 10,000 Days. While this news has become a revelation and an answer to many a collective prayer (or keyboard warrior whinging, depending on how you view it), Maynard himself put on record at Metal Hammer’s Golden Gods ceremony that the new Tool album will most likely see the light of day in 2019. Affirmation is one thing, and commitment another, and while 2019 is just around the corner, chances are that will be the absolute bare minimum Tool’s global cult following will have to wait for a new sonic masterpiece. One more year after the twelve of relentless internet hyperbole and immeasurable anticipation that proceeded it, is surely doable, right?

Instead of preparing for what may end up becoming a mass exodus from the workplace on the day that album is released, and following the unexpected success of this article’s predecessor, The Soundshark has put together ten more bands from the underground, worthy of your time, until the musical gap has been bridged by the band themselves. To touch upon briefly from previous feedback, you won’t find Karnivool on this list, or any other list on this site themed similarly, as while not entirely known around the planet at present, they’ve had large enough worldwide success to be able to tour anywhere they see fit, which surely evolves beyond underground status.

Semantics aside, let’s begin:

Cog

Speaking of Karnivool, when they get excited about a band reforming, you should pay attention. Alive and kicking since 1998, but with minimal success outside their native Australia, this progressive rock trio from Bondi Beach have been linked stylistically to Tool, especially on their sophomore album Sharing Space, but their craft switches between hook-heavy postcards from everyday life and sprawling paintings awash with angst and atmosphere. Stronger than ever after six years away, Cog is currently recording their first album in a decade after two warmly received new singles, they’re back to assert their unique and unforgettable rock cavalcades to a new generation of listeners.

Five of their best:

Real Life
My Enemy
Are You Interested
Bird Of Feather
Altered States

www.facebook.com/COG-12878803369/
www.cog.com.au/
cogaus.bandcamp.com/

Ceterum

Another band on this list now coming back together after a lengthy hiatus from performing, Ceterum are a powerhouse of polyrhythmic magnificence, effortlessly combing powerful riffs and dizzying drum patterns, with vocal melodies that both soothe and soar, and an infectiousness trained medical professionals should be wary of. Not to mention that their towering sound can also be ushered into otherworldly ambience, and why their album Fathom never struck gold becomes utterly baffling. Years after their inception, the spreading influence of music streaming has gifted them a growing audience, and they hope to reignite the spark that got them started.

Five of their best:

The Architect
Paramnesia
Aurelia
Imbue Élan Vital
Sidewinders

https://ceterumband.com
www.facebook.com/ceterum/
www.twitter.com/CETERUMband

Riviẽre

Perhaps the youngest band on this list, but by far the greatest conjurers of atmospheric intensity from a performance standpoint, this quartet from Toulouse released undeniably one of the sleeper hits of 2017, quietly gathering critical acclaim from all corners of the globe. Their music has moments of absolute calm and sound mind, only to have it tussle with frequent inner turmoils and outward emotional outbursts, all role-played spectacularly with just two guitars, a bass, drums and some truly mighty vocal hooks. A technically proficient sledgehammer of the spirit if there ever was one, Riviẽre are an incredible evolution of the progressive metal blueprint, you need to hear.

Five of their best:

New Cancer
Golden Wounds
Satin Night
Binary Love
Yosemite

www.facebook.com/riviereband
www.twitter.com/RIVIERE_band
music.basickrecords.com/album/heal

Catchlight

Another of France’s progressive music present, Grenoble’s Catchlight recently rereleased a remastered edition of their debut Amaryllis, doing greater justice to their skills as compelling musical narrators. In essence a tale of the only hope for mankind, this dynamic five-piece are masters of mood-shaping, switching from foreboding to melancholy to outright defiance, with an arsenal of unforgettable riffs to hand, an often volcanic vocal performance and show-stealing stabs of synth that make the experience a tenfold more immersive. Distinct and downright impressive, Catchlight are a premier musical unit, naturally destined for greater success.

Five of their best:

Long Night
Eclosion
The Awakening
Chrysalide
Amaryllis’ Fall Part 2: Imago

http://www.facebook.com/catchlightmusic
catchlightband.bandcamp.com

Boil

Boil are repeatedly referred to Denmark’s incarnation of Tool, though their discography shows their tastes to be a little more eclectic at times. Steering towards a more mainstream metal sound towards their 2013 demise, the Aarhaus metal troupe always maintained a progressive nature to their music, leading to some seminal musical journeys, rousing and mesmerising in equal measure. Certainly connoisseurs of the quiet-loud dynamic and building to a triumphant crescendo, Boil balanced beauty and ferocity expertly in their nine year tenure, that reverence in their homeland was all the more deserved.

Five of their best:

Quiet Hours
Vindication
Bound
So Many Men
Redefine

http://www.facebook.com/boilmusic
https://www.discogs.com/artist/2124633
boil1.bandcamp.com

The Chant

Finland’s The Chant bare far more musical similarities to those akin with gothic rock circles, but the latter half of a decade on, their maps of melancholia are awash with deeply moving, progressive tendencies that any Tool fan could accommodate. Boasting a hypnotising choir of incredible vocal talent, and texturally rich compositions of gloom and heartache, it’s so easy to understand why many have submitted to their spellbinding songcraft, their 2014 odyssey New Haven being such a strong, absorbing listen from beginning to end. Never afraid to sonically explore either, The Chant is more than a name, it’s a mindset, and their intoxicating incantations should be so much more than underground phenomena.

Five of their best:

Earthen
The Black Corner
Will You Follow?
Playwright
Drifter

http://www.facebook.com/thechant
http://www.twitter.com/TheChantBand
thechantlfr.bandcamp.com

Family

These New York sludge-throwers sound something like the marriage of Clutch’s theatricality, Mastodon’s vigour, and Tool’s sharp eye for the conceptual, and their union is, utterly formidable, to say the least. Where Family succeed is their innate ability to wring a remarkable sense of groove out of their music, while remaining fixated on brute force and keeping a compelling narrative. Not to be discouraged that they have gone radio silence on social media, if you enjoy encounters of the extraterrestrial and dystopian futures, while accompanied by the soundtrack of a prehistoric brawl, then this modern metal menagerie is for you. Family slays? You’re goddamn right they do.

Five of their best:

The Dark Inside
Bone On Bone
Daddy Wronglegs
Illegal Women
Bridge & Tunnel

www.familyslays.com
http://www.facebook.com/family.slays
http://www.twitter.com/familyslays
familyslays.bandcamp.com

Order of Voices

Bringing the sounds of Seattle via Sheffield, in what can be described as an aural shockwave, Order of Voices may be one of the UK’s best kept secrets. Brooding, slow-burning yet combustible at will and bridling with white hot soul, these gentlemen weave an evocative tapestry of progressive grunge-soaked ambience, with hooks galore and a keen ear for infectious riffs in tow. Boasting the kind of pained grace and strength in songwriting that somehow landed airplay in the House of Commons, this enormously talented five-piece seem to have only scratched the surface on their potential, and between both their albums is music iridescent and dying to be brought into greater light.

Five of their best:

For Me
Don’t Falter
Long For Air
Hand In Hand
Burn Black Light

www.orderofvoices.com
http://www.facebook.com/orderofvoices
http://www.twitter.com/OrderOfVoices

Dead Soul Tribe

Devon Graves is somewhat an enigma. Known predominantly for his vast stint as the frontman of cult progressive metal showmen Psychotic Waltz, their dissolution caused him to shed his stage moniker of Buddy Lackey, and began the birth of the darker, introspective, Dead Soul Tribe. A far more deeply nuanced soundscape saturated the raw bombast he was known for over a decade, with tribal rhythms, hushed melancholy, prominent rumblings of bass, and an omnipresent shadow tainting Devon’s ethereal cries, coalescing into a sonic palette, grittier in every conceivable way. Dormant since the turn of the new decade, their five albums leave an astonishing variety of blackened textures for any curious listener.

Five of their best:

Some Things You Can’t Return
A Stairway To Nowhere
Spiders And Flies
Why?
Flight On An Angel’s Wing

Wikipedia
Amazon

Temple of Thieves

Admittedly an ashamed non-addition from this site’s original list, Temple of Thieves are the sum of everything that makes Tool and A Perfect Circle such beloved, masterful bands. Formed by former members of Nile and Cryptopsy, their switch to an alternative rock formula ushered in a realm of cryptic, intensely engaging lyrical composition, stadium-sized choruses, heart-on-sleeve instrumentation, and effortless style and execution that screams ‘next big thing.’ Melodic, in parts atmospheric and others electric, note after note delivered with nothing less than full throttle, Temple of Thieves have the weaponry to succeed and passion in every payload, but have yet to pay off. Hopefully that sophomore album materialises sooner rather than later.

Five of their best:

Species
Umbilical
Parasite
End of Misery
Poison The Well

www.templeofthieves.com
http://www.facebook.com/templeofthieves
http://www.twitter.com/templeofthieves

So that was another ten bands to mull you over until Tool inevitably release their new album. That’s eighteen bands to give a chance to, in the hope of finding at least one to strike a chord with anyone reading this. If you missed the original eight bands, then you can read that here. Failing that, the new A Perfect Circle album was exquisite, but you more than likely know that already.

As is the nature of what this site does, there will absolutely be even more bands out there to consider, so if the album does get delayed further, place your bets on there being a part three of this series. And if you do like or enjoy the content this site produces, then please feel free to like, follow, or subscribe to the site to never miss a thing:

http://www.facebook.com/IAmTheSoundshark
http://www.twitter.com/The_Soundshark

Also, the lovely gents over in Sümer, originally featured on the first article, put together a Spotify playlist of songs curated from the piece, feel free to listen and send them loads of love too: