Canadian progressive rock duo Crown Lands have made a career out of operating as a two-man army, subverting the law of physics that dictates you need more than four hands to sound like a 1970s stadium act. On their latest release, Apocalypse, multi-instrumentalist Kevin Comeau and drummer/vocalist Cody Bowles are back doing what they do best: honoring the holy trinity of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart!
Side Note:And at least they’re honest with their worship... Photo from the Crown Lands Facebook page with the caption “We got to celebrate our APOCALYPSE release day with our favourite band in the world. So happy to catch a glimpse of @geddyimages and @thereallerxst doing what they do best! Hope you guys enjoy the new record. Can’t wait to see you on the road fellas!! ”
While the comparison of Crown Lands to Rush is inescapable, I truly believe they are NOT mere copyists and are forging their own path through the prog rock wilderness, even if they are using maps prepared by Alex, Geddy and Neil years before they were even born.
To fully appreciate Apocalypse, one must look at the band’s recent evolution. In 2025, the duo threw a bit of a curveball with Ritual I & II, a largely ambient, instrumental project that traded their signature labyrinthine time signatures for new-age soundscapes. It was an admirable detour, but Apocalypse sees the band steering the ship right back into the stormy seas of full-throttle progressive rock. More impressively, the record functions as a narrative prequel to their 2023 album Fearless, expanding on their complex sci-fi lore while taking sharp, earthly jabs at corporate greed and systemic injustice. Produced by industry heavyweights David Bottrill and Nick Raskulinecz, the album strikes a deliberate balance between crushing heaviness and polished, radio-friendly hooks.
Ultimately, Apocalypse cements Crown Lands as the premier torchbearers of a genre that many cultural forensic scientists declared dead decades ago. By anchoring their vintage sonic sensibilities with modern, socially conscious themes, the duo avoids becoming a mere tribute act. It turns out the end of the world sounds pretty great, provided you have a couple of virtuoso Canadians soundtracking it.
While the shorter tracks like “Foot Soldier of the Syndicate” and “Through the Looking Glass” offer punchy, tightly-wound bursts of heavy prog, it is the sprawling, 19-minute closing title track, “Apocalypse,” that easily stands out as the album’s crowning achievement.
Singling out a 19-minute song as the “best” track on a record might feel a bit like praising a marathon runner simply for refusing to stop moving, but “Apocalypse” earns every single one of its 1,141 seconds. Built incrementally from instrumental whiteboard sketches, the song avoids the common prog-rock trap of feeling like a disjointed collage of leftover riffs. Instead, the movements melt seamlessly into one another, showcasing the band’s technical maturity. Bowles’ soaring, high-register vocals hold their ground against Comeau’s dense wall of Moog bass pedals and double-neck guitar wizardry. It is a masterful distillation of Crown Lands’ past, present, and future, proving that their detour into ambient music actually sharpened their sense of patience and pacing.
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