People of the Sun: People of the Sun (digital outlets)

Out of New Plymouth, this heavyweight trio of Joseph Anderson, Djordje Nikolic and Tom Scrase don't want for ambition with this debut album which opens with a slow heartbeat and taonga puoro then moves into the relentless, steadily building acid rock on the eight minute Lisurgen.

These announce an album of real substance from accomplished musicians who ride the line between punishing metal and progressive rock, melded together on the searing intensity of The Seed.

But there's also much more here than that: Elders is an atmospheric piece over compellingly subtle percussion which has subtle influences from Maori chant and pays respect to the spiritual power of nature: “The silent air, the burning earth, the mother’s hand, restless inside, the warrior’s dance, as always was the body’s call, restless inside of older sounds and keener sights, of beating hearts, restless inside . . .”

And after a brief and quiet guitar instrumental interlude the album moves into high gear again with Sky, a widescreen and distorted nine minute rock ballad designed to fill even the largest auditorium: “Been tryna hold these parables on my breath. Pulling closer to every piece, to be tidal and move with the wind again. Feel the rhythm in everything.”

After summoning up the metaphorical and mystical aspects of nature and mythology, the epic Last Song (Keep Burning) – which starts quietly and then becomes a maelstrom – offers some sense of resolve (“Break, little wave. Take your pain, hold it gently. Let it move you through the fray”) and a conclusion: “Fate pulls so violently like before, like each time around pulls us down again through the storm again. Hold on to the fray, burn another day. Love is deathless. Love is boundless.”

This is Big Issue stuff, universes and myths imploding under the weight of portentous lyrics.

In recent years – through the agency of people like Steven Wilson – a metal-edged prog-rock has returned to the frontline and People of the Sun sit comfortably in that company.

Widescreen industrial-strength prog-metal. Serious.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here