delving – All Paths Diverge
Release Date: 23rd August 2024
Label: Stickman Records / Blues Funeral Recordings
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Rock, Instrumental, Psych Rock.
FFO: King Crimson, Dream Theater, Tangerine Dream.
Review By: Andy Spoon
I wanted to write this review as someone who’s not traditionally a fan of this genre, so please take that into account when reading. I probably won’t “get” the nuance that devoted fans of psych and prog rock would get. Instead, I wanted to come with the approach that as a fan of metal music, I wanted to enjoy All Paths Diverge (APD) from the “cheap seats” and see how I might be able to reflect on its overall message, meaning, execution, and analyze the quality of its general value to the metal community. That being said, I think that delving is something that all metal fans ought to consider for its grooves, the fun, and the technical goodness that comes from the proggy-goodness.
Generally, I only listen to prog metal, or psych/stoner metal as singular genres. Delving seems to be a blend of the two. There is a good amount of 1960s psych rock a la King Crimson’s 1980s work, particularly from Red. There is plenty of the psych element on this album to get your head bobbing. Think of mountainous reverb, deleted guitar hooks and arpeggios with a lofty synth backing, or pads that create veils of sound. I love the patterns of arpeggios that come from the synthesizers, creating layer upon layer of background groove for the band to jump in and accent.
While I don’t partake in the mind-altering substances these days, I can absolutely see this as being a treat for the expanded mind, as the general sound is deeply-complex, while also being easy to listen to. I remember in my stoner days, there were some psych or prog acts that became hard to follow because of the extreme depth of the track. Delving seems to keep their offering just above that proverbial point, such that the sober as well as the altered consciousness could really appreciate the overall message of the music. I felt this was extremely apt on track 3, Chain of Mind.
If you are a fan of the psychedelic genres, which include bands like Tangerine Dream, you’re gonna like this stuff as well. There are strong hints of influence by the ambient genres as well, which are peppered-in between the proggy moments. This is a complex listen that has up and downstrokes between tracks. There are some impressive jamming interludes, but there are also forays into the ambient tunes. I remember listening to my first Mike Oldfield album as a teenager, wondering how entire movements on albums worked. Delving clearly doesn’t mind allowing you to go through the exact same thing as you are led through the tracks. The entire second half of the album feels like an entire other EP in speed and tone.
Overall, I really enjoyed this album. I would absolutely play it again and again while I was working, studying, or even working out. This is the type of music that remains interesting, but also allows the listener to get some of the proggy-goodness that tends to appeal to the heavy metal crowd. While there is no intensity to speak of in regard to the material that extreme fans will like, I think that there are few bands that bring this level of talent and song-direction to the prog scene. Most of the music that I experience on the prog scene tends to avoid musical continuity, leaving only shredding in its place. Few artists in these genres really want to make an album for the sake of producing a coherent piece of musical art. Delving gives me the opposite impression. 
(3.5 / 5)
