Saris–Project: Off World (2026)

Details

Produced by Derk Akkermann, Henrik Wager, Marek Arnold, Martin Schnella. Editing and pre-mixing by Marek Arnold. Editing, mixing and mastering by Martin Schnella. Drum recording by Martin Schnella and Jimmy Keegan. All songs written and composed by Derk Akkermann and Henrik Wager. Lyrics by Henrik Wager. “For All Mankind” written by Derk Akkermann, Henrik Wager, Friedbert Leschny, Oliver Krampe; Lyrics by Henrik Wager.

Released 2 May 2026.

For fans of: Genesis, Dream Theater, Camel, Kansas, Saga, Nightwish, Magnum, Yes.

Bandcamp | Spotify | Website | YouTube

Band

• Vocals, backing vocals – Henrik Wager
• Guitars, keyboards – Derk Akkermann
• Guitars – Martin Schnella
• Bass – Lutz Günther
• Saxophone – Marek Arnold
• Drums, percussion – Jimmy Keegan

Tracks

1. Off World (06:36)
2. Mamucium (07:39)
3. For All Mankind (06:43)
4. My Pocket (03:42)
5. Is Anybody Out There (07:12)
6. Surrounded (12:06)
7. The Bounty (07:43)
8. Fill Me With Emptiness (05:14)
9. Wish it Away (11:05)
10. Time is Killing Me (05:33)

Review

Sometimes an album creeps up on you and quietly rearranges your expectations. SARIS’s Project: Off World (2026) is one of those albums.

SARIS is a German progressive rock and hard rock band from Bochum, with roots reaching back to the early 1980s and a sound shaped by melodic, symphonic rock.

An immediate disclosure: singer Henrik Wager is a friend of mine. We sang together in a choir back in the late 1980s, so when I saw his announcement on Facebook that his Germany-based progressive rock band Saris – styled SARIS – had released a new album, I was curious enough to head straight to Bandcamp.

What I heard, and promptly bought, surprised me completely.

Project: Off World (2026) has been playing on repeat in my head ever since. I even woke up this morning with the chorus to “Off World” (track 1) circling round my brain, which is usually a good sign that an album has got under my skin.

There are progressive rock bands that seem determined to prove how clever they are, changing time signatures, keys and tempos so often that the listener is left standing at the side of the road, watching the tour bus disappear into the distance.

SARIS is not that kind of progressive rock band.

This album is complex, yes. It is epic, dramatic, elaborate and ambitious. But it never feels self-indulgent. It takes the songs where they need to go without losing the listener. More than that, it scoops you up and carries you with it.

“Off World” (track 1) opens with an upbeat riff and a sense of lift-off. Within 30 seconds, Wager’s voice is already guiding us into the album’s world, although the uncertainty in the line “Tell me where to go, ’cos I don’t know!” gives the song a lovely human tension. It is grand and theatrical, but not cold. There is vulnerability beneath the scale.

One of the things I have always admired about Wager is his voice. His tenor is strong, smooth, emotive and seemingly effortless. There are moments across this album where I found myself thinking, not for the first time, how extraordinary he would sound singing with Dream Theater or Queen.

“Mamucium” (track 2) keeps the energy moving, opening with beautiful keyboards before blooming into a soaring saxophone line. That saxophone is one of the album’s real strengths. It gives the music a different emotional colour, adding warmth, height and a slightly unexpected texture to the symphonic rock setting.

“For All Mankind” (track 3) is rousing and emotional, driven by pleasingly chugging guitars and lifted again by those soaring saxophone lines. It feels like the album widening its scope, moving from personal uncertainty into something more communal and cinematic.

Then comes “My Pocket” (track 4), and this is where the album really pierced me. The pace drops into something more ballad-like, but there is nothing lightweight about it. The melody is gorgeous, immediate and deeply affecting. I have to confess this song has moved me to tears on most listens. There is a Dream Theater-like emotional quality here, from the vocal line to the guitar solo, but it never feels like imitation. It has an almost timeless quality, as though the song has always existed somewhere and SARIS simply uncovered it.

“Is Anybody Out There” (track 5) opens with a Celtic-flavoured melody and pulsing bodhrán before the orchestra joins and the whole thing begins to rise. Wager’s vocals sound urgent and impassioned here, and the track has that wonderful progressive rock ability to feel both ancient and futuristic at once. Earthy percussion, orchestral sweep and rock dynamics all push against one another in a way that feels alive.

“Surrounded” (track 6) is the longest track on the album, and it earns its length. It opens with a cappella vocals before giving way to a gentle keyboard pad, then slowly builds through layers of melody and instrumentation. Around a quarter of the way in, there is a distinctly Yes-like keyboard figure, later joined by spoken vocals and, further in, a slow, emotional guitar solo. There is a bit of everything here, but it still feels shaped rather than stitched together.

“The Bounty” (track 7) opens with pizzicato strings and becomes another carefully controlled build. Guitars and keyboards interweave while the drums rumble and roll beneath them. There are toms, trills, orchestration and sudden turns of movement. It feels less like a song in the conventional sense and more like a staged adventure. Then the guitar solo arrives, soaring in a way that feels almost theatrical, as if the spotlight has suddenly found it.

“Fill Me With Emptiness” (track 8) begins with a 70s-sounding keyboard tone, and by this point the album is clearly starting to draw earlier musical themes back into itself. It feels like the threads of the whole work are being pulled together. The closing vocals are urgent, almost pleading, and then the song stops suddenly, leaving that urgency hanging in the air.

“Wish it Away” (track 9) feels like the penultimate movement it is. Familiar themes return. You can sense the conclusion approaching. Vocals and backing vocals interweave beautifully, crafting a melody that lifts emotionally before the guitar answers and carries that feeling forward. Towards the end there is a definite early Genesis-inspired passage, which feels entirely appropriate, not least because Henrik does appear to be slowly morphing physically into Peter Gabriel!

And then “Time is Killing Me” (track 10) opens quietly and gently before becoming the album’s triumphant finale. My heart genuinely soars when I hear this track. It is one of my favourites on the album, although the ending always leaves me slightly bereft. Wager’s multi-voice vocals chant “Killing time / Time’s killing me” until everything falls suddenly into silence.

And that silence matters.

Because after the final notes of Project: Off World (2026) disappear, I do not feel as though an album has merely ended. I feel as though the world has shifted a little.

The production deserves real praise too. For an album this layered, it could easily have become cluttered or exhausting. Instead, it sounds huge but clear. The guitars have weight, the keyboards have colour, the orchestral elements have scale, and the vocals sit at the emotional centre of it all. It feels like an expensive rock concert fused with musical theatre, but with enough grounding to stop it drifting into excess.

If I have a criticism, it is small. There are one or two moments that do not land quite as powerfully for me, including the abrupt close of “Time is Killing Me” (track 10). But even there, I am not sure I would want the band to tidy it up too much. Part of the emotional effect of this album is that it does leave me wanting more.

Conclusion

I did not expect Project: Off World (2026) to affect me as much as it has.

I came to it curious because Henrik is a friend. I stayed because the album is glorious.

This is melodic, symphonic progressive rock with heart, muscle and emotional intelligence. It is ambitious without becoming alienating, theatrical without becoming hollow, and technically impressive without losing sight of the song.

I have listened to it every day since I bought it. It has stayed with me in that rare way some albums do, not just as music I enjoyed, but as music that seemed to meet me somewhere deeper.

It speaks to my heart, mind and soul.

Review score: 100%

Video

Disclosure

I am a personal friend of Henrik Wager, singer, songwriter and lyricist in SARIS. I checked out the band’s new album on Bandcamp when I read Henrik’s announcement on Facebook that it had been released. I’m not being paid to review this, and I purchased a digital copy of the album to review. Many thanks to Henrik Wager and to SARIS for creating fresh, exciting new progressive rock.