In their second release, A2Z² (Metal Blade Records, June 6, 2025), prog-metal outfit A-Z proves that veteran status doesn’t mean resting on laurels; it means refining the tools of your past into something newly vital. Built around the core of Ray Alder and Mark Zonder, the band traces its lineage to Fates Warning, Warlord, and Redemption, but carves out its own progressive identity with songs emphasizing compositional clarity, emotional pacing, and ensemble trust. This is an album designed for listeners who crave songs with shape, depth, and destination.
“Nothing Is Over” makes a statement from the first downbeat. Its structure shifts through evolving textures and intensities, foreshadowing the album’s compositional ethos: every section serves the narrative arc. This is prog not for indulgence, but for storytelling. The song flows with a deliberate pace, changing soundscapes as if moving through a sequence of emotional tableaus, preparing the listener for a record built on motion and meaning.
On “Reaching Out,” A-Z reveals how songwriting can feel cinematic without ever sounding overwrought. A mid-tempo groove anchors the track, but it’s the harmonic and textural evolution as guitar overlays, keyboard colors, and shifting vocal phrasing gives it weight. The chorus opens expansively, offering contrast to the drive of the verses. Across repeated cycles, the song introduces new instrumental parts and varied vocal treatments, culminating in a dazzling tutti section that ties the journey together. Each return of the chorus feels earned, emotionally deeper than the last, a testament to thoughtful compositional pacing.
“Learning to Fly” channels energy through progressive architecture. From the palm-muted guitars in the verses to the rising vocal lines and rhythmically layered choruses, it’s a structure of building momentum. The elongated chorus melody and dynamic lift in register contribute to the song’s triumphant feel. Alternating from four-on-the-floor steadiness to double bass drum intensity in the verse adds interest and propulsion, keeping listeners engaged without sacrificing drive.
One of the album’s greatest strengths lies in how these seasoned players operate as a unified creative force. Alder and Zonder’s longtime partnership (dating back to their Fates Warning days) lends rhythmic and vocal cohesion that grounds the ensemble. You can hear the trust in how their parts interact, never overlapping, always reinforcing.
Guitarists Nick Van Dyk and Simone Mularoni have distinctive stylists. Both demonstrate an uncanny sense of when to support and when to lead. Their writing and phrasing lock in seamlessly, particularly in transitions like the interlude of “Reaching Out” or the climactic chorus returns in “The Remedy.” Jimmy Waldo’s keyboard work adds dimension and connective tissue, especially in moments where guitar distortion gives way to open harmonic space.
This is not a band of soloists battling for space; it’s a songwriting machine, each player contributing to a shared sonic identity. Their guiding philosophy of “the song, not the individual” manifests in every arrangement.
While A2Z² wears its influences proudly, it never succumbs to mimicry. Echoes of classic prog metal comes from Fates Warning’s complexity, Redemption’s harmonic logic is present, but so too are nods to AOR melody-making à la Styx or Journey, especially in the choruses of tracks like “Learning to Fly.”
Importantly, this album pushes forward. Tracks like “The Remedy” show how modern prog metal can be emotionally direct while remaining structurally intricate. Its introspective lyrics are supported by syncopated riffs, harmonic modulation, and frequent groove changes, all executed with precision and restraint. The result is not nostalgia, but continuity: a forward-facing entry in the evolving prog-metal canon.
Lyrically, A2Z² walks the line between personal vulnerability and broader emotional themes. “The Remedy” dives inward, but the arrangement ensures that introspection is amplified by the music’s own shifting moods. The tension and release, lyrically and musically, are paced with narrative intelligence. Elsewhere, universal themes of resilience, disillusionment, and transformation recur in chorus hooks and post-solo climaxes.
A2Z² is a triumph of Progressive Metal songwriting, a demonstration of what happens when experienced musicians prioritize craft, connection, and cohesion. It avoids excess, embraces depth, and honors a lineage without being beholden to it. This album is for music fans interested in long-form song structure, emotional pacing, and band unity as a compositional engine.
By