Coyote Man - Prosthetic Memories

Coyote Man – Prosthetic Memories
Release Date: 14th August 2026
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Instrumental, Post-Rock, Prog, Sludge, Cinematic, Progressive Metal.
FFO: Russian Circles, Mastodon, Deftones.
Review By: Mark Young

You review one absorbing set of cinematic instrumental music and it’s like the floodgates have opened, with Coyote Man dropping their latest full length album of progressive metal. I know that in the past I have been less than complimentary about instrumental music, and I feel that I should try to qualify that before diving into this. My beef is not with instrumental albums, or instrumental bands as my review of Mountainscape last month shows (it has exploded onto my AOTY list, by the way). I don’t necessarily mind them, it’s when an instrumental track seems shoehorned into an album, often arresting the momentum built and sometimes killing that album dead.

So it is refreshing that having pressed play, Coping Mechanism, and by extension the band have understood the brief and basically dropped a banger. It has a build where they have decided to let it burn brightly with a super blend of the dark and light. It is like a game where you are on rails (the cart sequence from Resident Evil 4 for example) where it runs forward, constantly moving without halting, ascending upwards in a constant burst of energy. It is exactly what any album should have – a statement opening blast. War Hatchet (I hope they forgive me for saying this) has an 80’s vibe to it, I think its that combination of synths and guitars, but if you imagine that the brightly lit sound changes to a more contemporary one showing that they don’t like to stay for too long in one spot. What it does mean is that they are two for two here, played with an energy and verve that is always welcome. Zealotry completes this hat-trick, bringing in an industrial flavour, admittedly in a slight way and the first three show that they can rage with anyone, at least in terms of writing and arranging heavy music that moves you.

They avoid any sense of repetition with Interpreting Dreams. Its build takes things back a step with an almost summery feel in its first cycle. Even when they dial the heaviness back in it still has that light touch to it and it doesn’t suffer because of it. It’s still an engaging piece of work that matches the opening trio in the way it has a beginning and end, one where it develops in satisfying ways. Holographic Heirloom, on the other hand, didn’t engage me as much as the others, but Inadequate comes in and shows that maybe their better material has a heavier edge to it. It has all the technical flourishes you could want, overlapping rhythms and like elsewhere, strong, and emotive lead breaks that any aspiring guitarist would be happy to be able to play. And then we are at the end with Faith In A Burning Room, with guest vocals from Chris Pacific. And, yes, it’s quite a jarring thing when you hold it against the rest of the album. I don’t know if it fits, personally I think that closing with something that was in keeping with the rest i.e. no singing would have been better, but that is just me.

All told, the earlier tracks shade proceedings, they are that little bit more vital in the way that they land. I’m being a bit picky, because each of the songs has its own style to it. It’s another band that manages to make instrumental music inviting by avoiding any missteps for the most part. It zips along at a fair old pace, and for fans it would be quite the purchase.