It’s whenever we take a dip into the world of any music that can be considered progressive that it really does feel like we could get literally anything given it can go in virtually any possible direction with the variations in direction and overall tone being able to change in an instant. Plenty of bands out there try their best to follow a common string throughout their records in order to have a stream of followable consciousness that is more than enough for what the listener can latch onto as they go through the record at hand. And then, we get bands like Others by No One that throw everything associated with such as it’s with the full-length follow-up to the wondrous debut that was “Book I” that “Book II” blows everything right out of the water.

After entering this record with a thought that turns out not to be the case, I simply must say something upfront for anyone who had already heard Others by No One with their flavorful debut EP: this effort really makes it feel like an entirely different band altogether. For those who have never heard from this act before, the results should be relatively the same if I’m honest since it is for the utter entirety of “Book II: Where Stories Come From”, all 75 wild minutes of it, that the listener is well and truly thrown for a unique progressive experience that feels like an aural incarnation of raw art in its most frenetic form as it never stays in one place for longer than a minute at most, constantly bewilders the listener, and is a downright task to absorb at times. It’s such that it feels practically schizophrenic in many of its moment given how many point-heel turns that Others by No One makes at any given moment whether it be in a 10-minute excursion of unfettered imagination or small, humble interludes that last barely more than a minute at times, and it’s in between all of that in which the pure undeniably stunning musicianship of this immensely talented band comes together far better than it probably should given the dozens of moving parts just to make for one minute, yet it’s every one of those 75 minutes that feels downright rewarding to hear and fascinating to behold. Extremely few bands have been able to come even close to what Others by No One has crafted here for a vastly unique creation that will never be duplicated for all that it delivers with the only comparable work in all of reality being the possibilities of our dreams when we close our eyes but it’s even then that they seem mundane when falling into the ever-shifting and gorgeous realm that “Where Stories Come From” arrives in all of its untouchable, encapturing glory.

Just talking about it in any words, no matter how flamboyant or colorful they may be, isn’t enough to do this record justice for it is the very whole of “Where Stories Come From” that is the truly stunning epitome of a work that must be heard in order to be believed for the very definition of “progressive” doesn’t feel inclusive enough to cover this record. It’s in every possible and feasible way that Others by No One has crafted a work that can well and truly be called by one thing only for it is one of the highest definitions of it that I’ve ever seen throughout metal, rock, and everything else beyond: true, raw, capturing art.

LISTEN to “Book II: Where Stories Come From” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Others by No One on Facebook here.