Progressive Thrash/Death Metal is a genre or two that I have usually avoided like the plague. This is down to the term Progressive, which conjures up images of Rush fans, all sitting around discussing how far superior they are to every other band or artist who has ever dared exist, and that the rest of us are philistines who simply don’t understand the “genius” of 20-minute passages where nothing fucking happens. This is the kind of nonsense that makes me want to grab an axe like a rampaging barbarian, start removing heads from shoulders, and scream: “You dumb fucks never heard Jimi Hendrix???”
What? I have anger issues.
Anyhow, I will go out of my way to avoid anything with the tag Progressive attached to it, no matter the genre, but when those lovely people at Imperative PR sent me Infinite Measure, Finite Existence by Jester Majesty, I figured I’d give it a spin and probably fire back an email reading: “Sorry, not my thing.”
But as you sit here now, dear reader, gazing at this unholy rant, you already know how that turned out — because I’m not only reviewing the album, I’m telling you that I really enjoyed it. Against all odds. Against all instinct. Against all common sense.
From the the first track proper, Human vs. Machine, Jester Majesty make one thing immediately clear: they’re not the kind of prog band who disappear up their own arses while arguing about tempo grids. There are no smug detours, no indulgent “look how clever we are” sections, no 12-minute piano interludes written solely to impress a bloke in a Dream Theater hoodie. Instead, what you get is focused, aggressive, tightly wound metallic chaos delivered by musicians who know exactly how much complexity to unleash without ruining the momentum.
The riffs are the first thing that command attention. They don’t wander — they attack. Angular, sharp-edged, unpredictable enough to keep you guessing, but always grounded in the kind of Thrash ferocity that makes your neck move whether you want it to or not. There’s a delicious tension at work here: the songs twist themselves into weird, delightful shapes, but never lose the primal punch that drives the whole thing forward. Jester Majesty know how to bend genre rules without stepping on their own dicks.
Vocally, the performance is a fucking storm. At times equal harsh, commanding, emotionally charged without ever slipping into melodrama. There’s real conviction here — the kind of vocal delivery that feels lived-in rather than pasted on. Every roar hits like a blast of hot air from a furnace door being kicked open. Every phrase is unleashed with purpose.
Then we have the drums — easily one of the album’s biggest strengths. Technical? Yes. Showy? Never. The drummer (or drum machine, as I can find zero information about whoever may have been sat on the throne) shifts between tight Thrash patterns, Death Metal heaviness, and progressive flurries with absolute confidence, but always keeps one foot on the gas pedal. Even the trickiest passages remain firmly aligned to groove, which is where so many progressive bands fuck it right up. But here? Everything feels measured, intentional, locked into the spine of each track with bolts and nails.
And let’s talk about those guitar leads.
Good lord.
Fluid, expressive solos that elevate rather than distract. There’s melody, there’s fire, there’s actual emotion bleeding through the strings — the kind of lead work that’s clearly technical, but in a way that enhances the song instead of competing with it. When a solo hits, it arrives like a streak of lightning through the chaos, illuminating the whole song before dropping back into the shadows.
What really sealed the deal for me, though, is the songwriting. This is where so many progressive bands stumble — brilliant ideas thrown into tracks with no structure, no direction, no fucking point. Jester Majesty do the opposite. Their compositions feel like journeys. Twisting ones, sure. A little deranged, absolutely. But coherent. Each song builds, mutates, and resolves with intention. You can hear the thought behind every transition, every shift in tempo, every sudden explosion of violence or melody.
And beneath all the cleverness, all the shifting rhythms and weird turns, there’s something even more important: heart. This album isn’t sterile. It isn’t academic. It isn’t progressive for the sake of ticking boxes. It’s heavy metal crafted by humans with real passion, frustration, fury, and craft.
By the time Infinite Measure, Finite Existence reaches its closing moments, I realised something rare: this is the kind of album that could convert sceptics like me. It has the intelligence of prog, the teeth of Thrash, and the muscle of Death Metal — without the ego of any of them.
Infinite Measure, Finite Existence by Jester Majesty will be released December 4th via Xtreem Music.
CHOICE CUT: The Curse of Majesty
BLACK METAL ARCHIVES VERDICT: A razor-sharp fusion of Thrash aggression, Death Metal weight, and progressive ambition — executed with zero pretension and total conviction. Jester Majesty didn’t just win me over; they fucking impressed me.
