Location: Brighton, London
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Prog rock, math rock
Full length: Something Deeply Hidden
Format: CD, digital, vinyl
Label: The Lasers Edge
Release date: April 10, 2026
As an album title, “Something Deeply Hidden” somehow suits a band that spent fourteen years pushing to be heard. Through that time, Poly-Math has experimented with multifaceted progressive rock in pursuit of recognition. Hailing from the United Kingdom, a country long renowned for artists who reshaped popular music, they may be one of prog’s most promising contenders.
Since 2013 they’ve fused intricate musicianship with rough-edged, borderline metallic guitars, maintaining the clarity and sophistication of early Genesis, Yes, Rush and King Crimson. Their momentum is finally paying off, with their new album serving as a significant breakthrough from relative obscurity. The band dives deeper into heaviness, inventive scales, complex progressions, unconventional time-signature shifts, atmospheric textures, and ideas rarely explored. Whether releasing singles, EPs, or albums, they avoid sameness in favor of forward thinking.
What distinguishes from modern prog and math rock is their ability to capture not only the technical precision and musicianship of classic acts but also their mystique, allowing their instruments to channel it without relying on lyrics.
Mimicking the approaches of the bands mentioned above would only contribute to what some writers perceive as idleness in modern prog. But I've heard several comparisons between this band and the US prog band The Mars Volta who are known for their experimentation, conceptual albums and energetic live shows. Drawing from free jazz, hardcore, and psychedelic rock, they craft music that balances tension and flow seamlessly in their sonic landscape.
With similar creativity, Poly-Math reconstructs prog by integrating elements of math rock, post-rock, jazz, metal, and various other influences throughout their music. Guided by producer Mark Roberts they refine their style of jazz-prog to appeal to fans of heavier music while elevating its complexity. In doing so, they provoke thought with musical ideas rooted in the “many worlds” theories Sean Carroll discusses in “Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime.” Roberts, risking his reputation as a writer, makes an effort to answer longstanding scientific questions and reconcile theories long at odds with each other.
Combining deep reflection with a dynamic process of generating and evolving ideas, Poly-Math embodies Roberts' multiverse theories through a blueprint that makes unpredictable syntheses succeed. Breaking away from traditional prog conventions, the band emphasizes groove-driven bass with funk influences and jazz-inspired drum beats and fills, complementing the fuzzy overtones, heaviness, atmospheric textures and eccentric harmonies in the guitars.
The guitars and drums accompany the groove/funk heavy bass through each time change without skipping or indicating that they are changing their approach to fit the new time signatures. The transitions are quite natural, and the instruments don't lose their presence when new sounds are added to expand the mood with elements you wouldn't expect.
The break in the middle of "One/Two/Three/Four Body Problem" is one example, where everything stops to make way for an industrial guitar interlude reminiscent of Voivod's guitar sound, an interlude gradually allows the other instruments to reenter the picture. "No Such Thing as Now" is another example, starting with a mellow yet bizarre series of progressions, building in intensity until it picks up midway through with a generous amount of percussion.
“Spectral Dis/Order” has the tightest balance between heavy bass, percussion, inventive lead guitars, and stronger transitions between jazz fusion and heavy prog, with metaphorical moods provided by background keyboards. Referring again to Carroll's "many worlds" theory, this song comes the closest to illustrating how many different realities exist simultaneously in the multiverse Carroll hypothesizes.
"Terror Management Theory" is the final release of kinetic energy, where the band takes their formula into the coldest, darkest territory. Transitioning at the midpoint to a funky bassline with some Black Sabbath-esque blues and haunting keyboard effects, the track makes way for a lengthy, mesmerizing guitar solo that evolves into a duel between guitar and keyboards, holding your attention until the song degenerates into noise and all genre barriers are melted away.
"Something Deeply Hidden" demonstrates how much Poly-Math has pushed toward total creative freedom after fourteen years, growing far beyond the drive for recognition that has fueled them since they started. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Tim Walters: Guitar
Joe Branton: Bass
Josh Gesner: Keyboards
Chris Woollison: Drums
Ben Harris: Additional guitar on “Terror Management Theory”
C A Walters: Additional music on: “The Universe as an Engine”
Track list:
1. The Universe as an Engine
2. One/Two/Three/Four Body Problem
3. No Such Thing as Now
4. Euthyphro Dilemma
5. Spectral Dis/Order
6. Chronostesia
7. Terror Management Theory
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