THE VICIOUS HEAD SOCIETY – Call Of The Void
Release Date: 24th July 2026
Label: Crime Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Metal
FFO: Vaden Plas, Dead Soul Tribe, Evergrey, Witherfall, Nevermore.
Review By: Eric Wilt
Progressive metal is hard to do well. For every Dream Theater or Haken, there are numerous upstarts who try to put their spin on the genre only to fall short of their lofty goals. Writing prog metal is not for the faint of heart or for the moderately talented. With all that goes into creating a prog metal song—the odd time signatures and complex rhythms, the virtuosic technicality and ambitious song lengths, not to mention the intricate stories and themes, etc.—it takes a special group of people to create a prog metal album that will stand up to the standard bearers that have come before.
Enter The Vicious Head Society. I had not heard of the band until their sample song came in my email. I listened to it for about 25 seconds and knew I had to review it. While not quite as complex or as technical as a Dream Theater, The Vicious Head Society’s new album, Call of the Void, is filled with solid heavy metal songs with lots of catchy melodic riffing, impressive instrumental performances, and a singer whose voice fits perfectly over their songs. While more than capable of pushing the songs to the limits of speed and technicality, The Vicious Head Society focuses on writing songs that are heavy, catchy, and melodic. Comparisons to Vaden Plas and Dead Soul Tribe are probably more apt than the aforementioned Dream Theater and Haken. The eight songs on the album may not win any awards for number of notes-played-per-second, but the quality song writing and solid performances will easily lift Call of the Void to the top of prog metal lists this year.
Progressive metal is definitely difficult to do well, but The Vicious Head Society is more than up to the challenge. Not only will this album please fans of great prog metal, but it will also offer much to fans of heavy melodic metal too.
(4 / 5)
