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August 2025

• Strangers: Boundless
• Jack The Joker: The Devil To Pay In The Backlands

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Jack The Joker:
The Devil To Pay In The Backlands

Modern Progressive Metal

4.0/5.0

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Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 18.08.2025 | Released: 22.08.2025

Formed some 13 years ago, Jack The Joker hails from the northeast coast of Brazil. They've dropped two independent releases in their native country: 2012's In The Rabbit Hole and 2016's Mors Volta. Now, nine years later the quintet arrives with their third and latest album, The Devil to Pay in the Backlands, produced by Angra's Adair Daufembach and picked up by Italy's Frontiers Music for international exposure.

Jack The Joker

Of the band and their latest album, the label explains: What sets Jack The Joker apart is their ability to incorporate traditional cultural influences from their homeland, infusing elements of maracatu, forró, baião, and frevo into their sound. Their music draws inspiration from the iconic Brazilian novel of the same name, navigating the metaphysical backlands where human will clash with the raw forces of nature.

With a rather large brush stroke, I would describe Jack The Joker's music as modern progressive metal, largely due to their heavy riffs, percussive and demanding rhythm section, uneven mixture of clean and dirty vocals, and complex, yet accessible, composition style. Not knowing what the native musical styles of "maracatu, forró, baião, and frevo" are or sound like, I can't say whether their incorporated in the arrangements, but I'm sure they are. While listening I was greatly impressed first by the arrangements, and then the musicianship, especially bass lines and terrific guitar solos. To that end, my top picks from the album were You (Where I Belong), Sun, XV, and the closing and longest track, Hope.

All said, Jack The Joker's The Devil To Pay In The Backlands, fans of modern progressive metal will be easily impressed by their creative and technical songwriting and impressive musicianship. Recommended.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Jack The Joker's The Devil To Pay In The Backlands, fans of modern progressive metal will be easily impressed by their creative and technical songwriting and impressive musicianship. Recommended.

Support the artist, click the link below to buy the album at Amazon (US site) in your favorite format.

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Three decades on and still going strong is the iconic progressive rock band, The Flower Kings, founded by veteran multi-instrumentalist and composer Roine Stolt. Since 1994, The Flower Kings have been known ... [ Read More ]

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