Work has me under the gun so I’m going to cheat a bit to talk about the wonder of progressive/avant-garde/death metal hybrid machine Papangu, whose sophomore album Lampião Rei takes an abrupt left turn from their already weird and wonderful debut Holoceno in 2021. The outfit, hailing from João Pessoa, Brazil are brazen and utterly heartless when it comes to smashing genres together, juxtaposing jazz breaks next to death metal next to traditional Brazilian rhythms and straight up 70s prog from the Canterbury scene. It’s a case of had they gone the full prog route I would have been happy; had they stayed completely metal I would have been just as happy. But in this mixed incarnation I’m bowled over.

So how am I taking a chaste on this one? Well, I already spoke about the band and album at length when I presented it as my candidate for the September Album Of The Month over at Nine Circles. It lost, but we all know in our hearts the way the band tackles the heavy on tracks like “Boitatá (Incidente na pia batismal da Capela de Bom Jesus dos Aflitos)” and highlight “Oferenda no Alguidar” are fantastic, and they highly individualized approach to progressive rock is a cry above the pablum that my colleagues offered up (I kid…maybe). I also featured Lampião Rei in my wrap up of September albums, and since they’re my words (and my co-editors there are aware lol) I present them to you below:

I wish I could claim credit for discovering Papangu, the Brazilian progressive/avant-garde metal (kinda?) outfit on my own, but I have to thank your own Zyklonius for that with 2021’s fantastic Holoceno. The band stretch even further from their metal roots with Lampião Rei, which is tickling my prog nerd brain more than any “progressive” metal band in recent memory. The organ and keyboards scream the 70s in a way many modern bands could only dream of, and the guitars syncopate with the rhythm and percussion that recalls bands like Gentle Giant and Genesis and the whole jazz/rock fusion movement more than any bands with “metal” in their description. And yet, the metal is there, in the vocals and the way some of the arrangements drive very, very hard. If after the three-part “Acende a Luz” suite you’re not convinced there’s probably no hope for you. Not to fear, though…I’ll be playing this enough for everyone.

In the podcast I admitted at the time that the album seemed somewhat front-loaded. Listening now I’m just as enamored wirth the more straight up prog, jazz, and latin elements that pervade tracks like the outstanding “Sol Raiar (Caminhando na Manhã Bonita)” and the fusion inherent in “Maracutaia” before it veers sharply into insane metal. This is a collection of musicians who really know their musical history, and Papangu breathe that knowledge into every song on Lampião Reiot only one of my favorite .

Not only one of my favorite albums of the year, but certainly one of the most varied and interesting. Get on it if you’re looking for something really different in your prog OR your metal.