SINGLE REVIEW: Mile Marker Zero – Best Is Yet To Come

Mile Marker Zero are back once more to show even the titans of progressive rock just how it should be done

Back in 2018, Connecticut five-piece Mile Marker Zero dropped the best progressive rock album you’ve probably never listened to. ‘The Fifth Row’, a sweeping, grandiose parable of uncontrolled growth and unrestricted artificial intelligence, is one of the finest records in the genre, with the band’s signature sound blending Coheed & Cambria with Stewart Copeland’s video game soundtrack work.

It’s soaked in 80’s and 90’s nostalgia, yet fiercely modern in its themes and production, brimming with life and character. And since that record, it has been a long, long wait for more original material from the band, the odd Christmas release aside. Now, with ‘Best Is Yet To Come’, that long-awaited new era of MMZ has finally arrived, and it is glorious.

This seven minute behemoth of a prog rock track is a multi-phased beast that harnesses those core aspects of MMZ’s sound, whilst embellishing it with further musical experimentation, pushing the band into new sonic territory that they embrace with passion and vivacity.

The track escalates with a rapturous opening that builds exponentially before sprawling outwards into a groovy passage marked by fast, punchy riffs and hand clap rhythms. Rousing choruses bloom with a certain 80’s movie soundtrack melodrama, as thick bass lines wind their way around huge percussive beats.

Vocalist Dave Alley sounds as brilliant as ever, his vocals delivered with a fantastically theatrical energy that is impossible to not find wonderfully charming; there’s some real vocal power too, with compelling melodies often delivered with impressive belted notes.

The track builds to a final breakdown section that goes just hard enough to get you moving, acting as the ultimate payoff for this length listen. As such, ‘Best Is Yet To Come’ ends up feeling like the perfect gift to both newcomers of MMZ, and old listeners; a display of what they are capable off, and a seven minute long ‘thank you’ to those who had stuck around waiting for more.

’Best Is Yet To Come’ is a return six years in the making, and it is a track worth every moment of that wait. Mile Marker Zero are back once more to show even the titans of progressive rock just how it should be done. And if that title really is true, then 2024 is certain to be a great year for music.

For Fans Of: Coheed & Cambria, Rush, Porcupine Tree, The Dear Hunter, King Crimson

(And also yes, Stewart Copeland’s work on the Spyro the Dragon soundtrack – you’re gonna have to trust me on this one – Ryan)

Follow the band on social media below:

Instagram // Spotify // Twitter // Bandcamp