Alright, RMR’s pickup of progressive pieces has been slow in 2025, to put it mildly. So, better start late than never. Spotlight on, pointed directly on the Dutch act Traversus. Navigate is their newest EP, and it’s a strange animal. Not weird in any confused way, but it takes some chutzpah to mix Hard Rock with Progressive Metal and a ton of Gothic Metal in the fray. That’s dangerous waters with a lot of unseen reefs to navigate through.
And whilst not going there outright, Traversus navigates pretty closely to the likes of Haken and early Leprous. And that leads to pretty outstanding progressive vibes that gave me pause. The Gothic Metal thing kinda sits athwart the solemn rock and prog efforts. And the trap is yet again the storytelling that’s out of bounds to the point of rendering all that technically astute musical prowess boring. It’s one of the dangers of the gothically tainted. A thing that bothered us well into the past. And all bands yearning for its subdued melancholy need to run the gauntlet of keeping the right balance between senslessly meandering about their lament and actually making sense of it.
Traversus here are dangerously teetering on the edge of this abyss they must not disappear in. The title Navigate may well be an omen of sorts. The band has got the goods on astute progressive vibes, no contest. Yet, the integration of their Gothic urges doesn’t sync all that well yet.
Let’s see what they produce with that upcoming full-length record and then judge. Until that happens, we’ll be waiting.
Label: Self-Released | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 12 September 2025