Mass of Amara’s Earth-puncturing rhythm section contrasts sequences of clean singing. That contrast, with synths and glitches for atmosphere, is what melodic progressive metal is made of.

The young San Antonio band self-released their second EP, "Through the Ether," in June 2024.

This music isn’t for me, but I appreciate the song “Ascended.” The verse riff is the album’s coolest. Then savage parts come one after the other.

The rhythm section, with the low-end guitars and bass punctuating the drums, brings the highlights.

Melodic progressive metal like this sounds highly produced and stripped of silence and raw energy. The clean singing is not a character telling a story; the singers close their eyes and try like hell to hold the notes and make the rest more marketable.

Taste: there’s no accounting for it.

The band says this: “The inspiration behind the EP title, ‘Through the Ether,’ is derived from the infinite unconscious that we can tap into in a time when we are ready to heal a part of ourselves, as well as to acquire information about what we are capable of."