MOUNTAIN CALLER have released their jam of a follow-up to "Chronicle 1: Truthseeker" with "Chronicle: Prologue," an amazing heavy, progressive instrumental EP that bleeds right into its predecessor, if listening back-to-back. First off, I have to say that I'm a sucker for poetic lyrics and great vocals, so I don't listen to a lot of instrumental music. However, this EP really grabbed my attention from the start and didn't let go. The music is just so interesting and intricate that it didn't matter much to me that there were no vocals.

The first song "Something Stirred From Beneath the Rubble" begins quite mellow with the guitars; but my favorite thing about this song is how it builds. The drums come in quietly to join up. Things start to increase and become more intense until finally at around 3:20 into the song a heaviness fills the space. The guitars resonate and the drums become more deliberate and exciting. "Beyond This Black Horizon" is my favorite song on the EP, opening with the most catchy, funky riff. The sound goes back to being mellow and vibey for a while, but this band loves to build their sound and leave you waiting for the big moment. They play back and forth between their mellow sound and their hard rock tones. This song actually gets quite doomy around 4:40 where they slow things down, but keep it heavy, finishing out with a slow, dragging, intense sound.

The final song "Stripped Of All But Purpose" starts off the softest, but is probably the most doomy sounding song on the EP. I love how MOUNTAIN CALLER has managed to combine progressive hard rock with doom to create something this catchy with so much musical skill. I love how they play between soft and chill to heavy and intense. My favorite section of this song is at about 2:30 when everything starts to speed up and get groovy. This EP has the perfect mix of progressive rock with some doom metal elements. It's like the band got together to jam but did so very very well. All I wanted was more.