Don't Count On It Reviews

Vielikan - A Trapped Way For Wisdom (2010)

2012-01-31T13:39:00.000-08:00

Band: Vielikan
Country: Tunis, Tunisia
Style: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Independent

I realize that this album came out a little further back than what I've been covering recently, and rest assured I don't plan on covering any other albums from 2010 this year, this was an album I needed to cover. If only to just break out of the rut of 2011 releases that back up my computer and desk, I needed to cover something that didn't come out last year and needed to get done before I cover anymore releases from this year. What better way to do that than to cover a band I had never heard of and had heard nothing about before they sent me a message.
About three or four years back, before I had really gotten into black and doom metal, I was huge into the whole prog-death scene and religiously looked up any band that had that tag attached to it. In recent years, my interest in that genre has dwindled away, since most bands have failed to leave any sort of last impression on me, besides the already known Opeth, and a couple of others, so I've kind of glazed over any release that has/had come out that had been described as "progressive death metal." Strangely enough, even when I was really into the genre, I don't recall ever coming across Vielikan before they sent me a message. It seems a bit odd to me that I don't think their name ever came up in my searches for proggy and experimental death metal bands, you'd think I would at least remember the name if they did come up. Even though I was hesitant, I checked it out, and it was exactly what I needed to hear from a band that's called progressive death metal.
It might be a bit presumptuous of me to say this since this is the band's first full-length record, but I do think these guys have the potential to match groups like Opeth in terms of songwriting abilities. Sonically, there's definitely a link from the sound Opeth have pioneered and where these guys are on here, but Vielikan seem to take plays from the likes of Atheist and Meshuggah as well. Though it is noticeable on the first two tracks, it becomes obvious on Zero Affection that these guys are more technical than perhaps a good portion of bands within this sub-genre of death metal, though they never go overboard into sounding like they're wanking off on their instruments. Granted, that's not to say the band don't have their moments of simplicity and being derivative, within the same track I just mentioned, there band close out the track with a rather bland sounding riff that sounds like it could have come out of any metalcore bands playbook. I know I've said this in the past, and it remains true, but I love it when I can hear the bass player in a band and on here the bass definitely has a place within the band that isn't just adding extra low-end. Tracks like Black Marsh and A Trapped Way For Wisdom definitely stick out for not only being great songs, but having interesting bass playing that is a bit jazzy at times and deserves to be heard. I should also mention that despite the technicality showcased on some of these songs, there is never a moment where that overtakes songwriting and melody, a song is never about showing how many notes you can play in five seconds or that kind of mindset, it's all about the song, and that's where these guys succeed more so than most other bands attempting this.
If you've been searching for a band that fills in the holes between Opeth, Meshuggah, and Atheist all dwell, this is what you should seek out. I'm very glad to see there are still bands that can still do interesting things even after most of my interest has faded from a genre and bring new love to the genre. This album gets a very high recommendation from me, if you're into forward thinking metal, this is a must for you.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: A Shelter of Flesh In The Void, Black Marsh, A Vertiginous Fall

Double Review: UR & M.Todd/L.Kerr

2012-01-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

UR - Clandestine Meeting Park (2011)

Band: UR
Country: Genova, Italy
Style: Noise/Drone
Label: No Visible Scars

As someone who has a fondness for atmosphere in music, whether it be natural or man-made/manufactured, I do think that it's a trait that does help make music more engaging. A genre that appears to lack that trait, it a lot of what I've heard, is noise music, if only because it's so focused on intensity and blistering chaos that it removes everything else. From the brief descriptions I've read of this Italian trio, I'm hoping that this might be a change.
When you put this album on, it's a rather odd experience. At times it can feel like, at least for me, I woke up in some sort of industrial factory in the future. It's not a pleasant environment and it's rather dark outside. Visually, it's not all that enticing, but the music is surprisingly engaging. I found that despite the harsh manifestation of the sounds, there was an atmosphere, look above for what I had hoped for, that kept the soundscapes from feeling dull and repetitive. The ambiance in the background keeps things feeling dark and brooding despite the rather abrasive nature of the noise that takes up most of the foreground. What I rather like about these two songs is that despite how industrial and hellish both tracks sound, they never feel cold and isolated; instead they have a certain charm and warmth to them that I had not expect, especially since there is an atmosphere at work here.
I think it's quite a solid piece of work that does a good job at fusing intensity with brood atmospherics. I think it's quite good and well made noise that is certainly one of the better things I've heard come out of the whole industrial noise scene/genre/thing. It's a very niche sort of sound but if you enjoy this sort of stuff, I think you'll enjoy this quite a bit, like I did.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: II

M.Todd/L.Kerr - Beyond The Threshold (2011)

Band: M.Todd/L.Kerr
Country: Englewood, Colorado/Mansfield, Texas
Style: Dark Ambient/Industrial
Label: No Visible Scars

What can be said about a collaboration between two artists working within relatively abstract genres and deciding to make that collaboration abstract as well. The idea of two artists coming together from noise, from what I understand, genres and wanting to make something a bit less noisy, I can get that concept. I was a little worried about how this would end up sounding however because it does seem like this idea is one that I've been coming across quite a bit within the noise and dark ambient communities.
The eight tracks that make up this album are composed of exactly what I was talking about above, dark ambient soundscapes. In my head, I guess I kind of assumed that this would be based more or less in the industrial side of things but instead each of these tracks evokes a more shapeless atmosphere that morphs and moves around throughout its length. A lot of the sounds used throughout each track lends them to be more abstract and anthropomorphic than a lot of other dark ambient artists I've heard, at times recalling bits of what makes Lustmord a king of the genre. I don't want to give the idea that this is totally devoid of industrial elements though, because there are moments on here where a "harsher" and more "gritty" edge can certainly be heard from within the ambiance. But to be fair, the whole thing does have a sense of coldness that I wouldn't have expected from either side of the sonic spectrum from where this thing is coming from. It's that sort of isolated factor that does make this record stick out among other rather bland dark ambient records.
I think it's a decent record that would be a good addition to anyone in the market for some rather cold sounding ambient music. I do refrain you from listening to this record in the car or when you're in a more crowded environment as it can, and most likely will, fade into the background where you forget you even had it on. I'd say it's ambitious enough to be interesting but not as groundbreaking as I've heard it was, still worth checking out though.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: 1, 5, 8

Scowl - Demo (2011)

2012-01-29T16:25:00.000-08:00

Band: Scowl
Country: Brooklyn, New York
Style: Grindcore
Label: Independent

Despite not making it onto my list last year, I did think that grindcore had a pretty solid run last year, and when I was sent this EP I had no reason to question that. I knew as soon as I got this that it was going to be good (just a feeling) and I'll tell you right now I wasn't wrong. In my searches for demos, or where people have sent me demos, I can't recall ever getting or finding one from a grincore band before this one.
What more could you ask for from a grindcore record more than five songs that just tops seven minutes in total. These five songs deliver the punishing intensity of grindcore with the atmosphere of a sludge outfit. It's a cool idea that I haven't heard done all that often before and I think that it allows the band to kind of cross a divide between the sludge and grind genres and find a sort of middle ground where fans can meet. The blues riff that comes in at the end of Manipulation was a little surprising as the rest of the album dwells more or less within the realms of grinding crust or dirge-like sludge. My only real complaint with this release is that I found the snare drum to sound a bit too flat and it stuck out a little too much for me. I was a little worried that because this is a demo, the production would have made this sound sloppy and muddy sounding, luckily, this is not in that vein, it's not super polished, but every player can be heard clearly.
I expected this to be good before I ever pressed play on it and I was right in my assumption (for once) and it did not let me down. At times it might veer too much into sludge for my own personal taste, which is fine, a band's got to be as original as they can these days, but it's by no means a fault. If you like grindcore, hardcore, crust punk, or even sludge to an extent, I don't think you'll be disappointed with this demo.
Overall Score: 5.5
Highlights: Nine, Moribund

Second Family Band - Twelfth Night Reunion (2011)

2012-01-28T23:23:00.000-08:00

Band: Second Family Band
Country: Madison, Wisconson
Style: Psychedelic Folk/Freak Folk
Label: Brave Mysteries

I'm a fan of folk and psychedelic music, the former has probably been more present than the ladder, nevertheless, I was very interested in this album once I first found out, stylistically, what kind of record it was. Upon looking up the band I only realized that they had released about a dozen-plus releases throughout their existence, so this is my introduction to the band. This is another review that's been quite a while coming, as this has been a difficult one to really digest.
Ok, admittedly, despite my love of 60s and 70s psychedelic and progressive music, folk rock, jazz-fusion, and whatever else was more likely to be used as an accompaniment to a psychedelic drug back then, freak folk is a sub-genre that I have yet to explore deeply. Though I am certainly no stranger to improvisational music, I can't say that I've been the biggest fan of everything that I've come across (though when a lot of it has come from the avant-garde work of John Zorn, that probably isn't saying a whole lot). As far as how I feel towards this album though, as I have probably listened to this one at least twice as much, on and off of course, I'm still quite mixed towards it. Since I don't always have the time to sit down and listen to an hour-plus long album, I end up listening to sections and/or songs from it either when I have the time or in the car, which, incidentally, is not the best place to listen to this album by the way, so I've had various experiences from thinking it was simply amazing and trippy to finding it absolutely boring and very tiring. I can't deny that because most of these songs end up topping ten minutes, and since there is relatively little structure in them (to my ear), it can become tiring at times.
Now, what I've come to understand as freak folk, avant-folk, and similar genres of more-or-less free-form folk music is that it's performance varies from band to band. On this release the band bring a variety of ideas, as well as instruments, to the table and use them to varying degrees of success. Personally, I found the more psychedelic Feast of St. Nicholas I & VI to kind of be a standout in terms of how the band utilized their instruments because it was a very fluid track that was well paced from beginning to end and was very easy to get lost in. I also feel that it's probably the best embodiment of the sound of this entire release in that there are moments that are more in the vein of folk and country music but it also trails off into more trippy drones and ambient passages closer to its conclusion. In my opinion, the other four tracks on here may exhibit similar themes, but never really end up as well rounded as that one track does.
With over half a dozen listens right now I can still find it hard to try and get through this record at certain times, it's very mood oriented listen for me. I can't listen to it if I'm feeling too happy or sad or angry but very neutral. It's not an easy record to get into and trying to get into it can, at times, feel like you're just beating your head against a wall, but if you have an interest in this sort of music, you will be rewarded. No one said avant-garde music was meant to be easy, and this album is proof of that, at least to me anyway.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Feast of St. Nicholas I & VI, Twelfth Night Reunion

Grand Central - 01 EP (2011)

2012-01-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

Band: Grand Central
Country: Paris, France
Style: Punk Rock/Hardcore
Label: Hellvice/Vicious

I've had my punk credentials mocked for being quite picky when it comes to groups that I find actually interesting, but there really isn't anything I can do about that, I like what I like. I don't claim to be some sort of expert on punk music, but I certainly know that a lot of what I hear does feel rather trite and inconsistent, both in songwriting and intensity, and I'd like to hear at least one of them in a punk act. So let's cover some punk.
When I see the tag "punk'n'roll" I'm inclined to roll my eyes more so than the average genre name only because the two are more similar than a lot of other genre fusions, plus it just sounds silly. So, when I saw that tag attached to this debut EP from Grand Central I did roll my eyes and prepared myself for the worst; what followed me pressing play surprised me. With My limited knowledge of punk music, I had yet to hear a punk band that took so much from blues, or at least stoner rock/metal as this group. The band certainly maintain a punk aggression, as well as some of the more trademark vocals and chants, but what really got me was the riffs. I never expected a punk band to embrace blues riffs as much as what is demonstrated on here. Though I find the chorus of You Fuck, We Don't... to be rather cringe worthy, the other three songs on here are solid and have some really solid riffs. Every song is also pretty damn heavy as well, which surprised me as well, I didn't expect the rush of adrenaline that hits when these songs get going.
I had rather low expectations coming in because of the whole "punk'n'roll" tag, which I still think sounds stupid, but I was very impressed by this. Despite being only four songs long, and under fifteen minutes total, I think it's a solid debut and one that should win over more than a few fans who've been awaiting a good fusion of punk and rock. If you like punk or stoner rock, definitely check this band out, I don't think you'll be disappointed with it.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Beautiful Loosers, Hollow (The Dead Man Song)

The Beautiful View - Life Is Beautiful (2011)

2012-01-26T10:16:00.000-08:00

Band: The Beautiful View
Country: Chula Vista, California
Style: Alternative Rock
Label: Requiemme

This was an album I felt like I had to cover, I don't know why, but I had to, maybe subconsciously. This is a style of music I'm not usually into or interested in but I just had to give this band a shot. I don't intend to cover a lot of these sort of bands again but if I do end up covering more of them, this'll most likely be the first.
I don't think it'll come to anyone's surprise that this album isn't exactly my sort of thing. The Beautiful View manages to essentially blend a mixture of various sounds from a bunch of different groups, the ones that stood out to me were Modest Mouse, The Strokes, and maybe a bit of Explosions In The Sky later on in the album. Granted, I can say that of those three bands I'm really only a fan of Explosions In The Sky, with the others being more of less bands that I was exposed to thanks to friends of mine in high school. Needless to say, the sounds on this album aren't exactly ones that I'm a fan of. The reason I even checked out the band was because I heard The Horseman and I thought that it was a pretty solid Modest Mouse kind of song, so maybe the rest of the album would wind up being somewhat similar to it. While there are certainly other songs that recall that sound, the rest of the album veers way too far into territory that just winds up sounding extremely bland and radio-friendly.
What I do have to say, in a positive light, about this album would have to be that the production is rather well done in my opinion. The band comes across sounding a bit more rough and distorted than a lot of other indie rock acts that I've heard due to the flourishes of feedback that are used in songs like Bells or Alphabet Judges that manage to color the backdrop of the song just enough to make them interesting. The guitars also have more of a bite than many other indie rock acts I've heard as well as bass lines that actually accentuate the song. They really aren't original ideas in any way, but they work well together and manage to make the songs at least worth listening to from start to finish, which is something I can't say I find all that often from groups that sound like this.
While this wasn't exactly my sort of album I didn't think that it was terrible, it had its moments and I'm sure people who like mainstream music will be more keen to enjoy this than I am. At it's very best it's decent, but otherwise it's just sort of there for me, nothing special or extraordinary in any way. Check it out if you find indie rock pleasing otherwise it's not exactly something that I'd recommend to regular readers of this blog.
Overall Score: 6
Highlights: The Horseman, Mercy Is A Cold Shower, Here She Comes

So Wrong - So Wrong (2011)

2012-01-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

Band: So Wrong
Country: Los Angeles, California
Style: Gothic Rock/Post-Punk
Label: Antifiesta/Burger

Let's talk about a record that I've had the opportunity to sit with for quite some time. Despite always knowing that I was going to cover this, it has taken me a lot longer to finally decide to talk about it than I preferably would have liked. But now that I've had this record for a while and have sat with it deciding how I feel about it and, obviously now that it's posted, I'm ready to talk about it.
Despite just being under twenty-five minutes in total, I've had to sit with this record for about a month now (obviously I have been listening to and have covered various things as well) but I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about this record. This has really been one of the few times that I've felt so conflicted with my feeling towards an album. It's not even that this record is so complex or dense that it took that long to pierce through it, but it was the songs themselves that put me into a rather awkward position. These eight songs, in my opinion, run the gambit from being really well and interesting to just plain annoying, and unfortunately, it starts off with the worst song on the album in my opinion. I'm certainly not opposed to having simplistic or immediate hooks in a song, but the title-track, So Wrong, just annoyed me to no end. In my mind there's a very fine line between being catchy in the sense that you can't stop thinking and tapping your foot, or humming, whatever you may do, and being catchy in the sense of just being grating and headache inducing, and that song lands more within the ladder than the former. I'm perfectly aware that others should have no problem finding this song catchy, but I just couldn't get past that irritating hook.
Beyond that opening song, I do feel like the album only gets better. In a sense, I would say that the album is divided down the middle, because it's on vinyl anyway, with the first four songs being more up-tempo poppy songs that are quite immediate and catchy and the last four songs being darker and more melancholic sounding, which I preferred. In my opinion, while the band certainly do pop decently, I had it in my head that the band were more of a goth rock band and this was before I even listened to the album, so that's kind of what I wanted. When the band go dark, they do post-punk pretty well and the songs are more engaging and less hook driven. It's also a lot more atmospheric and cold sounding, which even if they weren't being as atmospheric on the rest of the songs, I wish they had at least kept the chilling nature of a song like Under The Moonlight. I prefer the darker side to the band, what can I say, if you happen to like the band being more poppy, good for you.
I don't want to give the impression that this album is bad, far from it, I guess I just personally wish it was more or less what I kind of built it up to be in my head. Pretty much every song is catchy in some way and I do believe that the album has a pretty wide appeal to it, whether your into goth rock or post-punk or just regular pop rock or pop-punk even. I give these guys a lot of credit for trying to be really poppy on one end and really dark and atmospheric on the other, I just would have preferred more of the latter to the former.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Mufasa vs Scar, Take My Breath Away, Under The Moonlight

Matt Maverick - Outsideness (2011)

2012-01-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

Band: Matt Maverick
Country: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Style: Surf Rock
Label: Already Dead Tapes

Let me set the record straight that I'm about as clueless as anyone about modern surf rock. Give me my experimentalists Secret Chiefs 3 who dabble in the genre on their records or an old Beach Boys or a Dick Dale record and I could probably tell you what they sound like, but I make no claims that beyond that I'm in no way up to date on the genre whatsoever. When I was sent this release though I was a bit put off by the fact that it was a surf rock release, I was still very interested in it. I'm taking a chance on this because like I said, I'm not really a huge fan of this genre.
Depending on what your perception of surf rock happens to be will definitely impact what you think of this record. Unless you happen to be rather well versed in that genre this definitely fits in snuggly within the surf rock and rockabilly genres, I expect that if you are more well versed and invested in those genres you'll let me know. But what's on these thirteen tracks is, essentially, solid, rather upbeat sounding tunes, most of which are instrumental. In order to really describe the sound of this record I guess I could sum it up with another made up genre called "basement surf" because essentially these are short, little, lo-fi tunes that jam out their idea for two or three minutes and then move on. It's by no means complicated stuff on here but they're, for the most part, well written tunes that are immediate and catchy.
Because most of these songs are instrumental, the melodies do have to be good, and like I said above, most of them are really catchy. I think it's worth noting that, and this will be obvious for people who happen to listen to quite a bit of surf rock and rockabilly music, but all the instruments have their place in the sound and nothing is really lost on here because of the lo-fi production. It's great because the guitar, which for the greater majority of the record, carries these songs melodically, but the bass and organ lines are well utilized in certain songs as well. If I had to complain about this record though, it would be that the drums, on certain songs, can sound a bit like someone is just tapping a rhythm on a table. That, along with some of the more noise breaks that are placed on here as well, make up the only real faults on the record in my opinion. Matt's voice on the songs where he sings, Eric Burdon and Black World being two of the handful on here, isn't even all that bad, granted it's closer to him just speaking melodically, it fits with the songs in question and only bring a voice in to reinforce the songs memorability.
I mean, when I first decided to review this, I have to admit that I was a bit worried about it because being described as a surf rock/rockabilly record did kind of put me off it at first. It was nowhere near as bad as I had kind of imagined it being, despite not really being a style I listen to all that often, it's a solid piece of work. I don't see any reason why you wouldn't like this if you enjoy the surf rock/rockabilly genres or even more bedroom singer-songwriter albums.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: The Creature, Jungle Justice, Eric Burdon

Pyrrhon - An Excellent Servant But A Terrible Master (2011)

2012-01-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

Band: Pyrrhon
Country: New York, New York
Style: Technical Death Metal/Mathcore
Label: Selfmadegod

Whatever happened to the technical death metal subgenre? I'd like to know who said it was ok for every band to pretty much start sounding the same, I wanna know who to place the blame on. I don't mean to offend anyone here (cause there are quite a few bands that I like within that subgenre with several putting out albums later this year) but I don't think anyone can really say that ideas have not been rehashed over and over in the last decade, leaving a lot of the originality in the genre to fall away. Though I initially ignored this record from Pyrrhon, it's about time I cover it.
When I initially blew off this album it was because no matter what I had read about it, which incidentally was mostly good, I had it in my head that it would be "just another tech-death album" with nothing I hadn't heard before. After listening through it several times I can say that while my initial idea of the album may have been right to give me caution, it should not have made me stay away from this. To be quite frank, this is a tech-death album without question, and some of the ideas really aren't original, but in pretty much every other regard I was incorrect. Whilst moments of this do cross over into modern Necrophagist or Origin territory, the majority of this album stays in a much more dissonant and chaotic realm. There've been comparisons to the likes of Gorguts and Atheist, which I totally hear in here, but I'm more keen to listen to a group that sounds closer to those bands than the ones that basically shred for minutes at a time and call it a riff. The spastic tendencies that help to define this band's sound can often cause them to cross over into mathcore, which I'm more than happy to accept as a part of their sound as well.
I have to say something that might get some people's feathers ruffled here but I think it has to be said that in the mathcore genre, and I'd even say bands that were first starting to do the whole metalcore thing when it was first emerging did this to an extent as well, dissonance and frenetic tendencies were accentuated more within a band's sound. Melody is all well in good, but I think to call yourself a technical band, you should at least bring a little bit of that into your sound, or at least that's what I believe. So I give more credit to Pyrrhon because they make use of quite a bit of that in these songs, hear Idiot Circles for instance, and make it sound interesting and good. I await more bands that have the balls to go as far into the realm of chaos and disharmony as these guys have. Beyond that, there were a couple moments on here where things slowed down and even mellowed out, which appears to be an idea, again, a lot of band's within this subgenre don't appear to understand or be able to get their head around, because when this thing mellows out, it works for the song because there's a rising tension that allows the heavier sections that follow to be that much more powerful. Honestly, it's not that original or groundbreaking idea, but these guys know what they're doing and are obviously years ahead of what a lot of bands, especially newer bands for that matter, appear to be doing.
This is what I wish more bands would be willing to do with their sound if they want to call themselves original and not just another tech-death band. The willingness to just go each and every where they can really comes through in a positive way and gives this album extremely replay value. Gimme a band like this over another Necrophagist and Origin clone any day, these guys know how to make songs interesting and worth listening over and over. In the end, interesting and creative bands will always prevail over clones for me, thus, this band is a winner.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Idiot Circles, The Architect Confesses (Spittlestrand Hair), Flesh Isolation Chamber

Esgrotum - 2010 Demo (2011)

2012-01-24T02:41:00.000-08:00

Band: Esgrotum
Country: Brazil
Style: Raw Black Metal
Label: Independent

After my review for the Earthling demo last week, the person who sent me that album sent me this demo of their band. When you look up this release, there really isn't a whole lot out there, if any if it's the release that I think I'm reviewing. It's the type of album that even if you look up, you'll get a bunch of stuff that, in all honesty, is pretty gross and disgusting.
This is one of those weird demos that didn't really tell me anything based on the cover of it. So, what can you expect? What you can expect from this is a wierd mix of raw, blown-out black metal mixed with traces of blackgaze/post-black metal clean sections and melodies. A lot of the album manages to pull off this sound passibly, but there are moments where the band try to incorporate too many elements into a single section and everything just turns into a mess of noise, My Enthusiastic Shivering of Freedom for instance. I have to say in complete honesty that I found about half of the vocals on here to be just terrible. Now don't get me wrong, the main style in which they're done is a pretty traditional scream, but they'll occasionally break into a weird, high-pitched moan that just became instantly grating and annoying. In addition to that, most of the vocals sound like they were recorded through a walky talky due to how distorted most of them end up sounding.
It's decent, but not great, and it definitely needs work. There are ideas that would work better if the production was a little less raw, but then again, there are ideas that would work better if the band just rid themselves of their more atmospheric leanings as well. Where ever the band decide to go in the future there are definite improvements needed, but I do still recommend trying to get a hold of this if it sounds interesting.
Overall Score: 4.5
Highlights: His Act of Despair, Because of The Satanist

Badblood - Badblood Demo (2011)

2012-01-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

Band: Badblood
Country: Los Angeles, California
Style: Blackened Hardcore
Label: Independent

As soon as I saw this demo I knew it would be good, just based on the description I had read for it and the cover itself. Sometimes simplicity, in the case of an album cover, can be the most eye-catching thing and can take you away from tons of other crazy album covers. It was just one of those cases where it just had to be great and I had pretty expectations for it.
Wouldn't it be great if all bands that made had any inkling of an influence from hardcore sounded like they had any passion in their music? Personally, that's one of the few things that appeals to me about the genre, the passion that I can feel from the music, and as I've said before, I don't find it all too often anymore. Sure, an album can certainly still be fun and interesting, but I don't know if I'd want to listen to a hardcore album that doesn't have any passion in it. So what's one here then you're probably asking yourself right about now. Well, you're getting a pretty brooding blackened hardcore record with a lot of sludge in the mix as well. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, despite their corpse-paint wearing appearance, the music in these four songs doesn't ever really tread into black metal all that often. It's a record that even at its soft, though I don't think that'd be the best word to really describe this record, you can just feel a rising tension that's just bursting at the seams to get loose, hear Crutch. It's moments like this that make me love the genre and make me want to put my fist through a wall in excitement and joy. It's just got that extra punch and grit to it as well that gives it a very rough and in-the-moment kind of vibe (not improvisational though) and I feel that each player just lets everything hang out and isn't holding anything back in these songs.
Not a huge fan of hardcore, still, but it's records like this one that make me interested in seeing where the genre will go because as long as there are still bands like this putting out quality material, I'll keep listening. I know it's not gonna be for everyone but I strongly urge you to check this demo out if this at all sounds enticing to you. Not really blackened, but still very good sludgy hardcore nonetheless.
Overall Score: 5.5
Highlights: Our Baptism, Crutch

Uzala - Uzala (2012)

2012-01-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

Band: Uzala
Country: Boise, Idaho
Style: Doom Metal
Label: At War With False Noise/Witch Sermon

I know I've said in the past that I am not a big fan of female singing in metal, not anything wrong with it, I've just grown immensely annoyed with what I've heard. I was very hesitant to review this album because I knew that there were going to be female vocals on it, what tipped me over the edge was kind of just deciding to take a chance on it and hope for the best. It's not about having low expectations, but a very worrisome idea of what the music will sound like.
What first hit me when I put this record on for the first time was the production and atmosphere. Unlike a lot of doom metal record which tend to go for a very big and huge sound, both in terms of the atmosphere and production, this album was instead very foggy sounding, like the whole thing was covered in a sort of smoke. It really isn't the sort of record that tries to be huge and overwhelm you with how crushing the riffs are and how pull you down into a dark place in yourself, it's more of a traditional sound that is more akin to that of early doom bands like Black Sabbath or The Obsessed whilst channeling more of a blues element that isn't found in a lot of, let's say, modern doom groups. I guess to address the whole female vocal thing, I doubt I will ever say that I could listen to a female fronted band, that I haven't heard yet, and not be at least a little nervous due to past experience, blame it on the power and symphonic metal genres, I can say with certainty that the vocals on here were in no way bad. Darcy Nutt's singing is quite different, but good, in a way that I think if you stripped away everything but her vocals, it could almost be choral like, as opposed to Chad Remains, whose gruff screams add a more visceral tension to the record. Not to go too far off base, but I would take this record, and band over the more hyped Dark Castle, who seemed a more than a little lost on their latest release. Vocally and sonically, I do think Uzala is a better band.
Songs on here tend to run the gambit from more of the traditional blues influenced metal, The Reaping, to I guess is more of the commonplace now where it's more about groove and atmosphere, Ice Castle, not to say the two don't overlap on occasion. It's hard deny that there's a very strong retro hard rock and psyche rock influence on the band, in addition to the whole doom and sludge genres, where riffs do have, more or less, a tendency to kind of break away from being straightforward. I won't lie to you though and say that the album isn't without faults, I do think that some of these songs do go on for too long and can begin to drag, for me it was the likes of Cataract, which is only on the cassette version of the album by the way, and Plague. I also found that the highs of the record were really high, but when the record hit a bit of bump a little more than half-way through the album, it never really got back up to the same level as before.
Though I was hesitant at first of the record, I think it turned out to be solid piece of work. All in all, I did enjoy it, and I didn't find it to at all be a bad album, just a bit overlong in my opinion. Doom fans should definitely still check this out because it is the type of record that could appeal to fans of slow music.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Ice Castle, Wardrums, Death Masque

Syven - Aikaintaite (2011)

2012-01-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

Band: Syven
Country: Finland
Style: Neo-Folk/Funeral Doom
Label: Vendlus

Something I don't talk about, and have not discussed in the past, is my view of spirituality. Now, I do believe that maintaining a spiritual presence in music is something that can work if it's done well, though it's usually more likely to stir a debate rather than influence the music of a record in any way. But this record from Syven definitely appears to be channeling something unique and spiritual that other records haven't and is really causing a stir among people who have heard it.
This is probably the first time I've ever come across a record quite like this one and it's led me to a reaction that I can't remember having towards any other album, ever. I have a big interest in shamanism, stemming back from several years ago where I was even more nerdy and was a big fan of a television series called Shaman King, but that's neither here nor there, but while I have found records in the past that I would definitely call ritualistic in their sound and performance on a record, this is the first record that I can remember hearing to make me think of shamanism in any way. I wouldn't call shamanism an idea that wouldn't be out of place in certain metal records, and certainly within the folk and ambient genres I could picture more bands trying to channel that sort of connection, but this is a record that really, and for once, manages to connect the ritualistic sound with ideas that not only paint pictures in a listener's head, but also channel something otherworldly, mystical, and spiritual as well. There's an ambiance that is uniquely cold and desolate throughout the record that serves as a backdrop to the ritualistic instrumentation and, if I may say so, shamanistic vocalizations that bring to mind a cold night in the woods, far away from civilization where you can be completely consumed the forest around you. Every movement touches upon beauty, fragility, harshness, and calmness in a way I have not heard before.
Sonically, this is a record that essentially combines two fundamental ideas together, traditional Finnish folk music, near neo-folk almost, and funeral doom metal. It's not a record that relies very heavily on sudden shifts and changes, but rather heavy repetition and simplicity, to a fault some might say. Personally, I found the repetition to suit the record very, very well and only served to draw me into the music even further. It also happens to work more for me because most of the tracks are quite lengthy, with three of the five topping ten minutes, they are songs that pull you in slowly and just sort of put you into a center and engulf you in soundscapes that, like I said above, demonstrate everything from sheer beauty to absolute brutality. Now, I have to be fair and say that while I don't think there's a wrong foot on here, I do believe that this record could have maybe shaved off a good five or so minutes, at most, from some of the longer songs which reach towards twenty minutes. Being hypnotizing is fine, but I have to say that there were a couple of moments on here where I kind of felt like an idea was just going on for a little too long. But to touch on another positive for me, I thought that mixing the doom riffs with hand percussion was just fantastic and worked so much better than I would have thought they would have.
As a piece of music, I find it hard to find any real flaws with the album aside from its length in a couple of spots. It's an otherworldly meditation on humanity, nature, spirituality, and mysticism all projected through this piece of funeral folk in a way that is both unique and inspiring. Praise has been sung for this release for the last couple of months now, so this review won't come as anything new at this point, but if you haven't checked this record out already, I highly recommend you do, it's rare to find a piece of music that can both touch you spiritually as much as emotionally as this one does.
Overall Score: 9.5
Highlights: Every Track Is A Highlight

Sutekh Hexen - Larvae (2012)

2012-01-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

Band: Sutekh Hexen
Country: San Francisco, California
Style: Raw Black Metal/Noise
Label: Handmade Birds

Last year Sutekh Hexen really made an impression on me after hearing their Luciform album, turning me into a full-blown fan after being quite lukewarm towards them in the past. Being quite prolific, last year alone the duo released three 7' EPs (one might be a single depending on how you view it) and various reissues of them and their demos from 2010. This is their first release this year (I'm already aware of two other releases that are planned for this year alone) and the first with new member Lee Camfield behind the electronics. Being released on Handmade Birds, expectations are high as always.
Let's discuss something a little out of the ordinary to start this off, neo-folk music. Now, I said a couple of months ago, I think, that I was fairly new to the sub-genre of neo-folk music and I have since expanded my catalog of groups within that sub-genre, but I wouldn't say I'm nearly as big an enthusiast of it as I would like to be one day. When one usually thinks of neo-folk music, or at least in my experience with it, it's more common to think of the sound pioneered by groups like Sol Invictus, Death In June, Current 93, or Darkwood (to name a couple), it's more or less a somber and rather melancholic listen rather than some of the more upbeat nature of what's come from a lot of indie folk style, and then you have the lo-fi singer-songwriter stuff tends to keep a more balanced atmospherically in comparison. I'm sure at this point you're probably wondering what any of this has to do with Sutekh Hexen, a black metal band; and when it comes to this release, it has everything to do with it.
Unlike the duo's (now trio) previous releases, this release takes a very harsh left turn from everything else they've done so far. While there are still layers of distortion and noise, harsh screams, and guitars that blur the line between actually being a guitar and just noise, but those elements have been reduced in favor of a far more brooding and melancholic sound. Instead of an outright assault for ten to thirty minutes, of five minute tracks, what you have here are three extended tracks that not only reintroduce those former elements of the band but bring a new light to them as well. I can only speak for myself but this wound up being, by far, the band's most atmospheric album. Behind all harsh noise and distortion was this dark tension that was just lurking in the background. Listening back, one could say that ideas that were present within the Shadow single are on here, but are fully rounded and more complete sounding. Aside from that, and to return to the neo-folk idea for a moment, you actually get a acoustic guitars that somehow blend their brutal aesthetic with more subdued and somber instrumentation. Even at its most intense, the shortest and closest comparison to their older work, Lead Us In Warfare, actually winds up sounding more like a doom metal song, even if they're playing fast. As a whole listening experience, this is the band's most sonically "complete" album yet, with the entire album having its ups and downs rather than mainly smacking you around for thirty or so minutes.
I'm sure that there'll be more than a couple of people who'll be lost after listening to this, or reading this, and might take against the band doing it, but it's going to more than likely further the band in creating a far more unique sound. If you can take a shift like this one from your favorite raw black metal band, you will learn to love it as I did. I will admit that it took me a couple of listens to kind of wrap my head around the record and the ideas present on it, but I am glad that it is different from their other works and manages to stand as an individual in their material thus far.
Overall Score: 9.5
Highlights: Every Track Is A Highlight

Deformed Elephant Surgery - Cosmic Sphere of The Dying Minds (2011)

2012-01-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

Band: Deformed Elephant Surgery
Country: Finland
Style: Cybergrind/Synthecore
Label: Independent

I guess I should preface anything I say in this review by saying that I am not a fan of a good percentage of electronic music out there, not that I'm against any of it, but I find very few artists that intrigue me. I am also not a huge fan of the brutal side of death metal, slam death, porno-grind, goregrind, all that sort of stuff for various reasons that I would go into here. One would imagine that the fusion of any of these ideas I would instantly find detestable, but yes, I did give this a chance. I'm still open to being wowed by a band even if it's in a style I don't usually like.
The ideas present on here range somewhere between being original and unique, and then being just plain weird and uninteresting. Coming from someone who doesn't find programmed drums playing blast beats at 360 beats per minute or extended use of incomprehensible toilet bowl vocals, which to be honest, I have a hard time telling if they're even in a song sometimes because of how processed they wind up sounding, to be all that interesting, the ideas present on this album aren't terrible. Now, they're by no means amazing or anything like that, but like I said, I'm not a fan of this sort of stuff, so this is passable and I didn't find myself annoyed by it while it was on. But what of the electronic ideas present on here; I said I wasn't a fan of a lot of electronic music, in which I may be exaggerating a bit, but the infusion of the more brutal styles listed above with elements that, as far as I can tell, come from everything ranging from chiptunes to dubstep to trance. On paper, it probably sounds a lot worse than it actually is. Now, even when those ideas are more dominant in a given song, Skullfucking A Fetus for example, they're not as headache-inducing as I've experienced in the past.
Now, I have to be honest and say that there are moments on here where things get out of control, for better or worse is subjective, but for me it did have a tendency to lean more on the latter. With so much sound coming at you at once, in some songs, there can be times where things just sort of become this wall where nothing really stands out. Personally, I was a bigger fan of the more melodic side of things on here, with a song like Necrophilic Mutilation of Angels actually repeating a melody throughout the course of its eight minutes and actually making the track that much more memorable in the process. It's unfortunate that most other songs don't reach that same level of melodicism and instead tend to focus more or less on the brutal aspect of the music, not to say that that portion of the project's sound doesn't have its benefits. There are moments on here, mainly the shorter tracks, where being brutal and somewhat straightforward does work and is well utilized.
I make no claims that this has turned me into a fan of any of the genres I said I didn't care for above, but it's interesting and that's why I chose to write about it. It's not so much the type of album that's I'd listen to every once in a while just to remind myself that it does exist and that it is an interesting fusion of styles. Even if you're tastes are close to mine and you don't usually care for these styles, I'd recommend at least checking out a track or two at least to just kind of say you heard what it had to offer.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Decapitated With A Rubber Duck, Necrophilic Mutilation of Angels, Fuck Their Brains Out

Spire - Metamorph EP (2011)

2012-01-18T01:09:00.000-08:00

Band: Spire
Country: Brisbane, Australia
Style: Ambient Black Metal
Label: Art of Propaganda

I don't know why, but when I first asked to review this EP I felt like I had already heard of the band. When I looked through my Ipod I didn't have their previous EP and I don't recall ever listening to them beforehand, but I just felt like I had seen their logo, which is pretty badass by the way. I have to say that I am rather glad that I was contacted to review this album because I most likely wouldn't have listened to this band until another year or so would've passed.
As far as the whole "ambient/atmospheric black metal" tag goes, one could seemingly apply it to a whole range of different bands. From the lo-fi depressive aesthetics that Malefic used throughout the entire lifespan of Xasthur to the bleak soundscapes that moved along with a group like Lunar Aurora to the all-encompassing wall of sound that Darkspace utilize, it's all been put under those tags, and yet somehow there is some sort of distinguishing factor between the two. If you asked me how this relates to the sound Spire uses on these four tracks, and an intro, I'd be able to tell from a single listen that they bear almost no resemblance to the lo-fi-ness of Xasthur or other groups that somehow bridge into the whole suicidal/depressive sub-genre. It's closer to being something of a middle ground between the other two groups I mentioned in that the atmospherics used on here are clearly a part of the songs on here but also are not overcoming them, there is a focus on not dragging these tracks out in order to represent some sort of other-worldly presence. Instead, while keeping that in mind, the band display an almost repressed sort of rage within these songs with each track seemingly getting more and more nihilistic as in progresses. By the end of a track like Larva, the song just sounds so massive it's actually a bit unsettling (but in a good way). I also have to compliment the drummer because the way he plays on these songs feels like how I would envision them being played in my head, and that leads me to actually attempting to air-drum to these songs, which has never happened in a record like this.
It's a very strong piece of work that definitely shows that this band is certainly very inspired, and I'd say is on their way to finding a sound that is uniquely their own and on the strength of this EP, I'd say the next release will have that unique sound. Though I came into it with expectations that I'd say were pretty high considering I hadn't listened to the band's previous work, these guys surpassed those expectations. Now I await to hear the next release from these guys with baited breath. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for some great atmosphere-based black metal.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Parturience, Mort

The United Sons of Toil - When The Revolution Comes, Everything Will Be Beautiful (2011)

2012-01-17T02:56:00.000-08:00

Band: The United Sons of Toil
Country: Madison, Wisconson
Style: Noise Rock/Post-Hardcore
Label: Sacred Plague

I said a couple of weeks ago that I am not a huge noise rock fan, or post-hardcore, but somehow I've gotten quite a few records recently, either through friends or people telling me I should check them out, that have been pretty good. I remember seeing this album, the cover of it, last year, thinking it looked pretty good, and didn't really think any more of it. It wasn't until I was told about the album, by a friend and the band, a couple of weeks ago that I finally got around to listening to it.
I have to be rather frank with something about my own personal taste in music here and say that I'm all for melody and harmony and big, soaring choruses, but I find that when a band can make use of dissonance in an interesting way, I can find it even more impactful on me. There's also something that can be said that, in my mind, a lot of harmony in music make me think as if it's been planned and rehearsed while dissonance to me has a more vibrant and youthful sense of exuberance to it that just makes me think that the music could just fly off the reins at any moment and isn't so tightly constrained. I don't want to say that this album isn't melodic, because the songs are structured in rather simplistic ways, but their performance in many of the songs gives them a more loose and live sort of feeling. The riffs, as I expect they should be within post-hardcore and to an extent noise rock, are weird and abstract while occasionally treading into more melodic chord progressions. One could say there's a hint of jazz-inspired dissonance within these songs as well, and that if you stripped away the almost punk approach at which most of these songs are performed, you'd get jazz songs. But it's that raw and punk kind of aesthetic that I like about this record, the bursts of feedback in The Shining Path or the near post-rock bridge in Sword of Damocles just keep the record moving and feeling like the band is playing in front of you.
Now, to just get it out of the way, I've said before that I'm not much of a lyrical guy, as long as I don't find myself offended in any way by the lyrics, chances are I will give a band a chance. Whatever message these guys want to spread is fine by me because I do believe that the music is strong enough to kind of stand on its own. That's where, ultimately, this band does succeed in my mind and where others have failed me, the songwriting is good. The songs on here stick with you after the album is finished. The opening and closing tracks, Alcoholism In The Former Soviet Republics and State-Sponsored Terrorism respectively, stuck with me, perhaps the most of all the songs on here, with their odd sense of vocal harmony and great dissonant riffing. I should speak briefly on the vocals though because there is a lot of diversity among these tracks within them, from throat shredding yells to guttural growls, tough-guy snarls and straight-forward melodic singing, and it's probably the most inconsistent thing on the record in my opinion if only because more often than anything else on here, the vocals can miss the mark.
It's the type of album that manages to stick with you in a way that many other albums I've heard have not done from other groups in similar genres. I didn't originally expect it to be as good as it is, but I'm certainly not going to complain. I'd say take a chance, no matter you political standing, and listen to this because it is good.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Alcoholism In The Former Soviet Republics, The Concept of The Urban Guerrilla, The Contrition of The Addict

Double Review: Earthling & Súl Ad Astral

2012-01-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't done a double review in a very long time and I certainly haven't done one for two different groups before but because both of these are demos for groups doing a similar style and both feature one track on them each, I figured I'd give it a shot.

Earthling - Howling, Cracking, Writhing... Dead Demo (2011)

Band: Earthling
Country: Brazil
Style: Post-Black Metal
Label: Independent

I remember seeing this demo around the net last year and thinking that it came out in 2010 so I didn't cover it but I recently received a message asking for me to cover it, in which I was informed that it was indeed released in 2011. The fact that I was told that the two members of the band only made 20 physical copies of this release available and are practically unknown with no social media site available. If you're into being kvlt, no matter what you think of their style, this duo are certainly approaching it with that sort of mindset.
Now keep in mind, though I do believe this to be more along the lines of a post-black metal sound, it's not like blackgaze. There are certainly some traits within this track that do bring to mind a more blackgaze kind of idea, but there's a rawness and intensity to the song that stops it from getting all wishy-washy or emotional. The closing minutes of the track is where a more visceral black metal sound is achieved, in my mind at least, and the duo break away from the more melodic inclinations that were present throughout the rest of the track. There's also a higher caliber of musicianship on the track that many other groups either don't showcase or aren't able to do, thus leading the track into a more atmospheric and proggy sort of middle section. On a whole, I do think the melodies used on here are quite solid and definitely are somewhere between being post-rock-inflected and just more proggy than typical.
The ideas present are certainly interesting and definitely are enticing enough for me to be interested in what the duo release next. Granted, what's on here is still quite ruff and at times a bit imprecise, but the ideas are there. I will certainly keep an eye on this duo to see what they put out next, and I suggest you take a listen to it as well.
Overall Score: 5.5
Highlights: Howling, Cracking, Writhing... Dead

Súl Ad Astral - Allure Demo (2012)

Band: Súl Ad Astral
Country: New Zealand
Style: Blackgaze
Label: Independent

Súl Ad Astral is obviously a new band with a similar idea of being somewhat anonymous on the internet and not revealing too much about themselves. This is, from what I can guess, is the band's first release so a listener's idea of this band can only be built on this one track, a risky idea. So going in with only what it was categorized as, I really wasn't sure what I was gonna get.
When Allure opens, the sound you hear is one that will not shock you but instead remind you what exactly blackgaze is. In complete seriousness, the ideas present on here aren't all that original, but the melodies presented, at least the clean ones, have a more romantic vibe to them compared to many other groups doing a similar style. There's also the acceptance of pure, uncompromising drum-machine blast-beats that run throughout the more aggressive portion of the song. If vocals in this style tend to turn you off you really don't have to worry too much about them on here because they're pretty low in the mix and are pretty much inaudible and only occasionally are actually noticeable.
Despite not really being original, I actually found the fusion of post-rock and black metal on here to be one of the better ones I've heard from a new artist in a while. It's not gonna break down any new doors and open a new territory for black metal, but for what it is, it's well done. If you're a fan of blackgaze I'd suggest at least checking this song out because it does present itself rather well.
Overall Score: 5
Highlights: Allure

Alcest - Les Voyages De L'Âme (2012)

2012-01-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

Band: Alcest
Country: Paris, France
Style: Blackgaze/Post-Rock
Label: Prophecy Productions

If there's been an album this year, or at least for January, that's been hyped to death, it's probably been this one. Even more so than the 2009's Écailles de Lune, the hype behind this album seems to just make people crazy before they really even dive into it, I believe anyway. It might have been all the good reviews towards the album that kind of made me feel like it was bound to let me down but to say I was crazy about this album coming into it would be a total lie. My overall interest to the work of Alcest has dwindled, though I am still a fan, as others have apparently latched on it.
The influence of Alcest has obviously been felt throughout the entire black metal scene within the last couple of years, with numerous younger bands and projects popping up and attempting to fuse post-rock and shoegaze with black metal. There are obviously those who are ripping his "style" off better than others and there are groups out there doing something a little different with the whole blackgaze kind of sound but Alcest is definitely the most renowned group to emerge from that young scene. When Autre Temps was first released as a single last around a month ago I don't think it would be wrong to say that I was struck more by the visuals accompanying the song in the video than the song itself. It wasn't until a couple revisitations of the video that I kind of got a handle for the song itself. In comparison with the material that was present on earlier albums, I was a bit disappointed by the song because it didn't really spark anything in me like other releases had, it just left me a bit empty inside.
So, saving my judgment for the album, I waited until I could hear the whole thing to kind of see if it would be the entire album that would bring some sort of reaction to me. When I listen to all three albums, full-lengths I mean, I do believe this to be the weakest of them because I don't feel any darkness in these songs, and that may very well be the point of it because Neige has said this will be the last time he wants to use screaming vocals in Alcest. Though a good portion of this album is electric, the sound of the guitars, the melodies they're playing, and the overall atmosphere feels too bright and there's no contrast in it. Even when there's a section that's performed like black metal, the sound is too bright to really make me feel like it's a "real" black metal part and comes out sounding more like post-rock with blast-beats and double-bass, which, once again, may have been intentional. In terms of consistency in the sound of the album, this is the best because the entire album flows together and feels like an album, where as the last one was more or less made up of various pieces that were new songs, at that time, and older material.
Don't get me wrong though, just because I'm not as partial to this album as the others doesn't mean I think it's a bad album, far from it. I do believe that this album has some of the best material Neige has ever written on it. Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles is the clear highlight of the entire album in my opinion due to its flowing melodies and fantastic ending. It's also not entirely a bad thing when I say that the atmosphere is too bright, for myself, I would have preferred that there be a little more darkness on here, but I do believe Neige to be extremely skilled when it comes to crafting a sound like this. I think that his melodies are nice and while not as frequently as on previous albums, they do evoke a sense of calm within me. It's unfortunate that Havens was actually an interlude because I rather liked that melody to be perfectly honest and I would have liked to have seen it progress into something more.
I don't know if I'd call this a letdown because I didn't really have expectations that were all that high to begin with coming into it, but it isn't the best I've heard from Neige. Like I said above though, people have already thrown their support of this album out there with tons and tons of high scores littering the net and magazines already. Not that this review will ultimately change your opinion on the album if you've already listened to it but I think it would be best to approach it with an open mind and not setting your expectations too high for it. Not a bad album, but not great either.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles, Nous Sommes L'Emeraude, Summer's Glory

Aethyr - Nihil Grail EP (2011)

2012-01-12T03:35:00.000-08:00

Band: Aethyr
Country: Russia
Style: Drone/Doom Metal
Label: R.A.I.G.

I have been delaying this review for a couple days now (not for any particular reason mind you) and now I can finally post it. There's a lot to say about doom and drone metal that comes from Russia, very little of it good, but there are always a gem that does shine among all the dust and rocks. When I got this EP I was debating whether or not to actually cover it, this is before listening to it mind you, but just because a band comes from Russia is no reason to discount them.
I was quite surprised when I first listened to these two songs because they did provide a much different take on what I've come to accept as "Russian doom/drone." Both tracks give a different side of the band's sound, and I can honestly say that it isn't one that's boring, and in fact is one that stands head and shoulders above a lot of their piers from their area. While the opening title-track exhibits a well constructed take on blackened doom metal, Temple of Set is a more, I guess you could say, obvious take on drone. I don't mean for that to sound like a negative, but when you think of drone-doom, or at least when I think of what drone-doom sounds like, this is close to what it comes out sounding like to me. If to just set itself apart from the typical basement drone-doom approach that has been taken by many young artists wanting to express their love for Sunn 0))), this is not just a guitar ringing out into the void and occasionally bursting out into feedback. What you happen to have here are layers of noise and ambiance underscoring the rather simplistic ringing of guitar chords. Despite how short it is (it's a drone track that is actually under ten minutes) it is quite immersive and I did find myself getting lost in it.
It's a solid piece of drone-doom that I've said over the course of this review multiple times, is a lot better than many of their piers from their neck of the woods. I am definitely interested in hearing this group's older material now to see if it's just as interesting as these two tracks were. It's not gonna be for everyone but if you're a doom metal fan I'd recommend at least checking it out.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Nihil Grail

Absolutist - Ave (2012)

2012-01-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

Band: Absolutist
Country: Ireland
Style: Crust/Hardcore Punk
Label: Suburban Mayhem

I don't think it's any secret that I'm not a huge hardcore or punk fan, I like my fair share of bands, but the great majority of what I've heard, I haven't thought much of. Unfortunately, a lot of the hardcore I've wound up covering on here, I haven't liked, and I'm hoping to change that. It might not have been the best decision to cover a hardcore album this early in the year but this one seemed interesting, and this time I haven't heard anything about the album, so I thought that this is something I at least have to give a chance.
What I love from the genre of hardcore, and grindcore, is the sheer amount of energy and intensity that you can feel from the band when it's done well. I'm most definitely a metal guy, but rarely do I find a metal record that really gets my blood pumping and make me want to mosh like grindcore and hardcore records do; but even saying that means that there are exceptions. A lot of the hardcore and crust punk bands I've wound up covering on here have sorely disappointed me and haven't given me any sort of intensity that just makes me want to get out of my chair and punch someone in the face. A good hardcore, since I'll stop referring to grind, will do that, hopefully to more than just me, and that's is where this record comes in. It's one of those special hardcore records that just punches you in the face, but it's isn't an asshole about it. It's self-conscious of itself, but is also self-aware enough to not be "just another hardcore band" and that's why this a strong record. In addition to that, the anti-religion standpoint is also something I personally enjoyed about the band, and it is one of the few cases where I felt like the samples used didn't actually distract from the actual songs.
I have to be honest here and say that before I listened to this record I did listen to a few tracks from the trio's debut EP Blasphemy and became a bit worried because it sounded less than moving. I have to say that that EP probably did contain more of a straightforward punk kind of edge, whereas this is most definitely rooted in heavier forms of music. Hardcore is definitely the main core of the band but besides that there are numerous nods to things like grindcore, sludge metal, and at times even black metal. I'll come out and say that it might be that more metallic sound that makes me enjoy this album, but I do think the band are skilled in writing songs that are stylistically varied enough to keep my attention whilst shifting around in each of these seven songs. It's not so diverse that it could be called spastic or schizophrenic, but there is a noticeable shift between the grinding pace of Black War and the slow building intensity on Tectonics, and that's something I like to hear from a band, no matter the genre. I will say that the use of melody increases throughout the record to the point where the last two songs are less like grinding and more inclined to be memorable. Besides that, this entire record is just under twenty-two minutes in total so it is very quick.
This is the type of record I like to hear from bands that are called hardcore and that I so rarely seem to find. I have found that I have grown quite fond of this record in a way that I would say I haven't for many, many, hardcore records recently. Don't not wait to check this out, it's a killer release that should not be overlooked.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Senseless, Storm of Words, Tectonics

Hectic Zeniths - Hectic Zeniths (2012)

2012-01-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

Band: Hectic Zeniths
Country: Brooklyn, New York
Style: Trip-hop/Experimental Hip-Hop
Label: Independent/Kitchen Dip

Hip-hop and rap are two genres that I find it incredibly hard to get into, for myself, though to say I'm not at least familiar with a couple of names wouldn't be incorrect. Personally, I find myself drawn to more atmospheric forms of electronic music, for the most part, which I guess is why I would say I'm more of a trip-hop fan. I won't go into all my various reasons for disliking what I've heard from hip-hop but I will say that while I may not like the style, I can certainly appreciate the work that goes into it. When I got this a while ago it did take me a little while to try and decide if I wanted to cover it or not because of its connection to hip-hop, which is a style I don't really want to pretend I have any knowledge of at all.
What ultimately made me decide to cover this album was the fact that when I listened to the album, while there are elements of hip-hop in it, there are also strong traces of trip-hop, downtempo, and ambient music as well. In addition to that, a lot of the tracks on here are quite short, with several acting more or less like an idea rather than an actual song. Unlike a lot of other records that I've felt use this tactic to just put together a handful of songs and add a couple of ideas as interludes, more or less, I did feel like even when the songs were short on here, they weren't bad or uninteresting and actually worked to the album's advantage, in my opinion anyway. The vocals are, thankfully, are sung, when they are sampled, which does bring to mind more of a trip-hop feel to the record. The use of piano and more orchestral arrangements does wonders for setting a mood as well.
One of the things I really feel conflicted about with this record is the atmosphere that surrounds it. I don't know if others will find this to be true but I thought that the whole vibe of the record was a bit unstable. The sound of most hip-hop is fairly warm, not a lot of it cold and mechanical but I felt that the orchestrations, or melodies rather, provided on here kind of shifted the tone into one that was conflicted between the warmth and punch of hip-hop band the darkness and sensuality that is found in trip-hop. I also found that the first couple of the tracks on the album did feel like they were out of place to me, and the opening sample on One That Got Away (Intro) is just a bad way to start off an album in my opinion. In all honesty, if you said I was just being nitpicky about it, I probably wouldn't say you're wrong, but it was something that did hurt some of these songs in my opinion.
I feel that Adam Morgan Prince is very talented and managed to pull off a rather difficult fusion of trip-hop and hip-hop, obviously with other influences as well, pretty well. As someone who prefers more abstract forms of electronic music, this isn't exactly brain contorting stuff, but it's certainly an album that could appeal to fans of more poppy electronic stuff as well as nerdy IDM fans like myself. I have my own qualms with the atmosphere of the album, but musically, I think it's a solid piece of work.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: I Might Drown, Know My List, Zeitschtichen

Spettro Family– Candelora (2011)

2012-01-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

Band: Spettro Family
Country: Salerno, Italy
Style: Experimental
Label: Brave Mysteries

I can imagine that not being able to put a label on your music is probably the best thing for an artist to see when their work is released. As I was looking up information about this project, spearheaded by Stefano Iannone, I came across this album in particular which had a pretty wide assortment of genre tags attached to it. Without listening to it, you could in no way picture elements of dark ambient, industrial, power electronics, musique concrète, and field recording all coming together into a sound that is in any way pleasurable (or maybe that's just me). It's really not until you actually give an album like this a chance that you realize what good those sounds might do when mixed together.
As strange as it may sound, and keep in mind that I haven't listened to the two other releases that Spettro Family has released before this, this album contains very minimal traces of any of the styles I mentioned before. Whether or not Iannone abandoned that style for this or not, with this release, he has embraced analog synthe that brings to mind everything from the synthe-pop scores of 80's dance and sci-fi flicks to early synthe odysseys by artists like Vangelis. I will admit that I can hear comparisons to Riz Ortolani's Cannibal Holocaust soundtrack, I'm sure there are others, but that was just one that stuck out to me. This is, and this is quite a simplistic and general thing to say but, closer to the likes of early techno music than noise or power electronics. You'll find that this thing is able to morph from being interesting foreground music into more textural background music, in which I found my ears kind of drifting off into the background of what was playing and kind of finding some more buried synthe tones that I had previously not heard.
What I loved about this album though is how diverse it is, more so emotionally and textural rather than stylistic. While there are more, I guess you could call them regular, but that's really doing a disservice to how I believe these songs sound, I found that when things got quiet, Confessioni Di Un Depresso for example, they also got quite beautiful, melancholic, and dreamy. In that track alone, I felt like it made me think of those early Playstation fantasy games when I was a kid, I loved it, and to be honest, I got a bit teary eyed listening to it. But, on pretty much the opposite side of that, you have a track like La Signora Hammond, which makes me think of those scenes action movies where the main guy is in a club with people dancing and he's just looking for the guy who's going to give him the info so he can knock out the villain, think XXX (Triple X for those who don't get that by the way). I know it sounds really lame to kind of describe these things out, but each of these tracks really brought back found memories of when I was a kid and all the stuff I loved back then. Though I have certain tracks that I happen to favor over others, I think the only real flaw that sticks out to me is that it is quite a short release and I kind of wish there was more songs on it, but for what it is, fantastic stuff.
Even though I didn't know what to expect upon first listen I have to say that this turned out to be quite the good surprise. This is a great album and do not pass up the opportunity to get this album. Early sci-fi, action, fantasy, horror, and to an extent dance movie fans, who happen to love soundtracks, will love this as much as your average obsessive retro-gamer will. It's got your sexy tracks as well as your tender tracks, it's an album that I truly has something for everyone.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Confessioni Di Un Depresso, Operazione Condor, Candelora

Pyometra - Inhumanities EP (2011)

2012-01-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

Band: Pyometra
Country: Hesse, Germany
Style: Brutal Death Metal
Label: Independent

I'm pretty sure I've said in the past that I'm not a huge fan of the whole "brutal" side of death metal. A lot of the bands that are lumped into that sub-genre tend to focus more on low-end brutality and near-incomprehensible vocals that I just can't get into it, not to say there aren't bands I do enjoy in it though. When I was first contacted by this band and I saw they were placed under that sub-genre, I was a bit hesitant to give it a chance. But genre tags mean next to nothing when you find something good.
This seven song EP just hit the right balance between being brutal but also accessible. Now don't get upset so suddenly, chances are what you think accessible in this case means is probably nowhere near what this actually sounds like. Accessible in this case does not include the use of clean vocals, big sweeping melodies, or quieter interludes, this record is brutal, chunky, and a kick to the nuts of whoever is listening. It's the type of release where despite being labeled as "brutal" there more inclusion of melody and groove as opposed to slams and repetitive grinding. I'd also say that the sound of the entire thing isn't overly polished on compressed, there's still plenty of authenticity in the sound of the band here. The drum sound in particular I enjoyed because it isn't too clicky or tinny sounding, as can be the case in a lot of other bands going for this sort of sound. The vocals are also a lot clearer and more understandable, from my end I consider that to be a plus, but are still quite low and guttural, occasionally going into more of that weird sort of guttural moan that the I've heard from other groups, hear Leech. I think there's a nice blend between the rather typical riffing that comes from the "brutal" side of the genre and more traditional kinds of ideas that make the songs a lot more memorable, to me at the very least, and more interesting.
This is the sort of death metal I like to hear, it's not just one thing, there are clear indications towards being more interesting instead of being just another brutal slam band. I think the songwriting talents that are demonstrated on here are strong enough to win over more than a few new fans and hopefully these guys can keep writing good songs like these for future releases. I think it's a solid slab of death metal that I could see plenty of people liking, no matter your preference on the sub-genres of death metal.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Drowned and Devoured, Hammer Redeemer

Horrendous - The Chills (2012)

2012-01-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

Band: Horrendous
Country: USA
Style: Death Metal
Label: Dark Descent

It's no secret that I love death metal that sounds old, like early-90s kind of old, so anything with that sort of sound is likely to appeal to me in some way. There just something more appealing to me about a band that sounds rawer and more gritty when they're doing death metal and it's a sound I constantly like tend to favor over more polished sound records. The first time I saw the cover for Horrendous' debut full-length I just knew it'd be something good.
Listening to a record like this is a rather enthralling experience. There's a lot of energy and life in these songs, even when the band enter into a more doomy passage, it's always got that little extra punch to it that just makes it pop out at you. These guys definitely have that sound that I crave from my death metal, it smacks you with that early sound that still owes a lot to thrash and punk, but is recent enough to embrace slower and more melodic breaks. I was quite surprised by the more "progressive" flair that was demonstrated on the album closer The Eye of Madness, that seemed like it went off into some territory that you might know from early Cynic and Atheist records. There's also an influence of black metal coming through as well, though to a lesser extent than the other styles, it did bring a nice flair to some of the riffing, hear opener The Womb. In my mind, it's one of those things that could have only happened today, where a band manages to combine various styles, even if they are all a part of a greater single genre (being death metal in this case), and pull it off with applaud. Each song on here has its own sort of flavor, but each has bite and spunk as well as variety, things that are sorely lacking in death metal that is polished, to be honest, even older bands don't really have those anymore either, but it's in here for sure. There's a noticeable difference in every song on here, whether it's a more straightforward death-thrash kick in the face or a more winding piece of melodic death metal with epic sounding melodies, and it's something that really cannot be overlooked when talking about this album.
There really isn't a whole lot to complain about with this record to be honest. Since my first listen, it's just been one of those albums that I can listen to over and over, and I haven't gotten bored with it yet after nearly half a dozen listens. Personally, one of my only gripes about this album has to do with the fact that I think the kick-drum is a little too loud in the mix and can be a bit overpowering at times. While it wasn't a problem for me, it struck me that some of the melodies on here feature a bigger amount of reverb on them to kind of make them stick out could potentially strike someone as out of place or just a bad decision. So far, I don't think it's been received as such, which is good, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone saw that as a flaw. Like I said though, beyond that there really isn't a whole lot to hate on this about.
With this being one of the first 2012 albums I've heard, I can safely say that it looks like death metal is gonna have an even better year than 2011. It's probably gonna sound weird saying this, but I do believe it'll be hard to find another death metal band that's gonna be able to top this album (and it's still in January!), that's how good I find this. I seriously hope you check this record out if you are in any way a fan of death metal, this is top tier stuff.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: The Somber (Desolate Winds), Fatal Dreams, The Eye of Madness

It Only Gets Worse - EP (2012)

2012-01-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

Band: It Only Gets Worse
Country: Drachten, Netherlands/Millbrook, Alabama
Style: Witch House/Dark Ambient
Label: Independent

My good friend Matt Finney is a very talented individual with a very dark mind. It's fitting that he has found other individuals who are equally as disturbed as he is to create music with, the latest being Mories, of Gnaw Their Tongues most famously. The idea of the two working together, honesty, struck me as one that might not work out all that well when I first heard about it. Then when Finney told me about the style of music they were making, I was a little more in awe, and not in a good way. I was still very iffy as to my opinion, and keep in mind I hadn't heard anything from it at this point, on the project, so when he sent it to me, the anticipation was high.
To elaborate a bit more on what I expected when I had first heard that Mories and Matt were collaborating together, I don't think it would've been a stretch of the imagination to think that you'd have something along the lines of Aderlating's dark ambient miasma mixed with the cacophonous sludge of Gnaw Their Tongues with Finney doing spoken word over it. Keep in mind, that's what I imagined when I first heard about them working together. What has come out as a result of their collaboration is far, far different than that. As the above "style" says, what you'll find on here is more in line with the witch house movement and, to an extent, a bit of dubstep as well (a genre that I really have little appreciation for simply out of how annoying I find it), and it's surprisingly good. Musically, it's all in line with the darker spectrum of shoegazy soundscapes with pulsating house beats on top, luckily when it goes dubstep on Weightless Falling they don't go for the annoying, and over used in my opinion, wub-wub sound. If I didn't tell you that Mories was involved with this, I don't think you'd have guessed that it's him doing all the music. There are hints of his trademark noise in these songs, which does set it apart, more so, from other groups attempting the whole "witch house" thing. When it comes to Finney's lyrics though, which are delivered in his usual emotionless and monotone voice, are perhaps even more spiteful than what was exhibited on the last Heinali & Matt Finney album, Ain't No Night, last year. I didn't feel as haunted by his lyrics or as depressed as I did on that album, which might have more to do with the music not being as melancholic, but there are certainly still lines that do stick with me.
It's a great debut release that definitely shows that the duo are working with a decent amount of ideas, so further releases could go in various directions. I mean, frankly, it is a dark little album and somehow I doubt they'd just release an uplifting dance album in the near future, but there's a lot of room in the box they've created in this four song EP. As much as they'd like for you to believe things will only get worse, I promise you that the only place this project will go is up.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Ascension, Weightless Falling

Sektor 304 - Subliminal Actions

2012-01-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

Band: Sektor 304
Country: Porto, Portugal
Style: Industrial/Noise
Label: Malignant Records

Until last year I was very unaware of the underground industrial-noise scene. I can admit that finding groups/projects that I personally find interesting and exciting has been a bit of a struggle, if only because it is different from my comfort zone, musically. Maybe it was because it wasn't metal enough or that I just couldn't wrap my head around it at the time, but a lot of the stuff I looked up I found pretty annoying and hard to kind of listen to. A lot of it just turns extremely repetitive and ideas are repeated until they're no longer exciting or in any way worth while and any sense of being engaging. But just because that's what a lot of the groups I looked up did to me, doesn't mean they're all bad. Sektor 304 may have been one of those groups that did something worth while.
But onto the album itself, what is there to say about this group that you won't find from other bands doing this sort of style. All I can tell you is that this is an improvement from their debut, 2009's Soul Cleansing, which I liked by the way. I'll admit that compared to some of the other groups I've heard doing this sort of style, this isn't the most abstract, quite a few of the beats these guys are using are quite easy to latch onto and remember right away. It's the type of album that is surprisingly catchy and memorable despite the use of rather odd instruments (which I guess could be deemed common for this style) like power tools, scrap metal, and what has been labeled as junk by the band. I have to admit that coming into the album I was a bit nervous because the band had apparently expanded to a four-piece and I was unsure how those extra two members would impact the sound. Luckily, it all worked out for the best, this album even topping their last one. There are moments which, and like I said I'm no expert on this genre, recall almost powerviolence-esque types of grooves, in addition to most of the guitar work being done on a bass. I also have to say that when this thing does go for a more dark ambient and drone type of sound, they do pull it off quite well, as the longer tracks on here clearly showcase a well developed mood and atmosphere that doesn't feel like it was simply thrown together to just make a long droning piece.
Now, I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression of this album just because I said that it's quite memorable in spots, it's still a very dark album. I actually should say that the album starts dark, by the end of the album you're pretty much in the sewers. I imagine this album, and I have no idea if this is a concept album or not though I doubt it, as being a sort of story where you start off above ground in a sort of apocalyptic world and with each track you and the world move further and further into disarray and chaos. By the end of The Prismatic Sun you're totally surrounded by utter filth and the world is in a state of disrepair. There are moments that give off a sense of paranoia and are genuinely unsettling, Terminal Stage for instance, while other moments are more direct and abrasive, Full Circle. They both work hand in hand with each other even though the album gradually looses it's intensity as it goes on. Despite the fact that I would have liked to have heard some more aggressive material near the end of the record, I can certainly appreciate the progression from being intense in a "metal" or "industrial" sense and being intense in a more drone oriented one. I can also respect that this is an album listen, it flows from one idea to the next, though the inclusion of a near grindcore-like section near the end of A.A.D.S. is a bit questionable, and I think it's a good step forward for the group.
I'm clearly no expert on this sort of stuff, but I know what I like, and from browsing around and exploring, I can tell you that I do like this. I think it's a record that most likely will lose some people but is interesting and well-rounded enough to definitely turn me into a fan of the band and respect what they're doing. I'd definitely recommend this to you if you're a fan of industrial, noise, drone, or powerviolence; I think you'd find something in here to really latch onto.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: By The Throat, Friction, The Prismatic Sun

DCOI Turns 2! Here's To Another Year!

2012-01-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

I, first of all, just wanted to thank any person who has stopped by this blog for at any point during the last year. The fact that some of you consider what I have to say to have any impact on whether or not you check something out means the absolute world to me. It's thanks to you that I've probably kept this up for this long. Secondly, I should just say that this year I don't plan on posting as frequently, I'll still be putting out a lot of reviews weekly, but listening to as many albums as I can, along with school, job, and trying to manage a personal life, and trying to post two reviews a day is incredibly stressful so don't expect me to post quite as many reviews this year as last year. Like last year though, I will still review albums that came out in 2010 in the first two months of this year (three months at the very most), so they'll be some mixes early on. Here's to another great year! Ian

Top 50 - Albums of 2011

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well here we are, another year has gone by and another great year of music has come out. This list was by no means easy to compile, I've written, edited, re-written, re-written again, etc., so this did not just happen overnight. I should say that this year's list was even harder to compile than last years. I have to thank great reviewers and sites for helping to turn me onto some artists who would wind up on this list (Jon and the guys from The Inarguable, Harold at HSS, and Anthony Fantano/The Needle Drop). Keep in mind that this is only my list, feel free to post yours below. Thanks for a great year!

50) Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg [Season of Mist]
Tamás Kátai is truly a genius when it comes to creating interesting black metal. Since he's now the sole member of Thy Catafalque he's now one hundred percent in control of the path that this project will take now and this album sees the project returning to a more metal sound whilst still maintaining their unique brand of experimentation. The influences from folk and orchestral music are clear, and have certainly been utilized by other groups before, but rarely have they ever been as catchy. Great songwriting all around.
Highlight: Fekete Mezők

49) Deafheaven - Roads to Judah [Deathwish Inc.]
Whether or not you find this band to be "hipster" or not is irrelevant because they do what they do extremely well. Their blending of styles is one that surpasses many other bands within the post-black metal/blackgaze style if only because their songwriting is above par and actually shows a definite influence from post-rock and shoegaze music. A lot of groups and projects recently have just been attempting to rip-off the Alcest sound, not here, you have a band that sounds like no one else. You can clearly see where the influences are from, but that doesn't stop it from being great.
Highlight: Tunnel of Trees

48) Oranssi Pazuzu - Kosmonument [Spinefarm]
After their unique and boundary pushing debut, Oranssi Pazuzu decided to take their so called "blackened Pink Floyd" sound into an even weirder direction for this album. For me, this album exhibited a much stronger krautrock, space rock, and almost jam-band kind of vibe at times while at the same time being even more black than their other work. I really don't have anything bad to say about it at all, it's just a very interesting record that should've gotten a lot more coverage. It's like black metal from Saturn or psyche-rock from Neptune, I'm just guessing, but all I know is that it isn't regular and it isn't from this planet.
Highlight: Andromeda

47) Sutekh Hexen - Luciform [Wands]
My introduction to the noise duo (now trio) known as Sutekh Hexen wasn't one that I would have thought would lead me to collecting pretty much everything they would release. While releases beforehand had done well, they obviously drew me in, at fusing black metal and noise together, I feel like they truly started to blend the two into a singular and unique sound on here. All the other EP/demo/7's have all led them to creating a sound that can only be their own with their first full-length. Beware and take care, Sutekh Hexen is now a fully developed killer and it's looking for its next victim.
Highlight: Chains

46) Thomas Giles - Pulse [MetalBlade]
I don't think anyone was expecting to see this album reappear on this list. To be honest, I probably would've just ignored this album if it hadn't appeared on my Ipod a few months ago. One song after another were just reintroduced to me after having not listened to this album in months. Not anything like his main band, this is an album of just experimental rock songs that bring to mind the likes of Muse, Radiohead, The Verve, and Faith No More. Songs vary from stripped down acoustic numbers to more textured metal and electronic bits. It's far from being focused, but the songs are all very well written and performed.
Highlight: Reverb Island

45) Nightbringer - Hierophany of The Open Grave [Season of Mist]
Coming from a band that I pretty much ignored last year, this record really turned me into a big fan. It's an intense record that just manages to sound interesting while rarely slowing down. It's a record that is truly entrancing, and I can say that it is not a record that you can fully experience when you're doing something else, you must engulf yourself in the sounds that band has created. I should be said that I have rarely heard black metal done this way sound so massive and epic sounding without treading over into cheesy territory. I really feel that this is one of those special bands that just does traditional "kvlt" black metal in a very unique and original way.
Highlight: Eater of The Black Lead

44) Oaks of Bethel - The Ghosts That We Are [EEE]
The duo from Njiqahdda create their most focused and well-rounded album yet from their other band. This double-album has some of the duo's most accessible and inaccessible material on it spread out across two discs. Tracks that are more focused and "song-based" lead you in with the first disc before the second disc expands and brings in more of the exploratory nature of the duo's previous work leading you into the realms of psychedelic drones and hypnotic soundscapes. It's easily the best album they've produced from this project to date and it's clearly an album that should not be missed this year.
Highlight: Cyclic

43) Botanist - I: The Suicide Tree/II: A Rose From The Dead [tUMULt]
I'm not the first person to hold this double-album in high regard, and I won't be the last, but if you listen to it, you'll know why. The hammered dulcimer led take on black metal is certainly an interesting idea, but is expertly crafted and performed with care and precision. Each track is an individual with its own personality that manages to stand out from one another despite being primarily composed around the same three instruments. It's just one of those albums where the melodies just seem to come alive and just weave themselves around in your head. So the question is if you're missing out by not hearing this; the answer is obviously yes.
Highlight: A Rose From The Dead

42) Owl - Owl [Zeitgeister]
Christian Kolf really outdid himself with this album, an exploration of early death/doom but with a much more modern sort of twistedness to it. Every song has its own flare to it, whether it be more on the doom and sludge side or a more technical approach, it's all done in a way that feels cohesive and it works together. It's low, brutal, but it's an album that I just loved listening to over and over again. It's a long and chaotic nightmare that concludes in a lullaby.
Highlight: The Daimonion of Dying Summers Looming Through The Golden Mist of Dreams

41) Ulver - Wars of The Roses [Kscope]
I was told that I was one of the few people who gave this review a favorable review by a friend of mine (I was told this, I don't know if it's true), but I guess I'm just that big a fan of the band that I'll give anything they release more of a chance than other people. Maybe I just like ballads more than the average metalhead. I don't know, I really liked the album, and while my interest in it has waned since I first reviewed it, it's still an album that I'll spin every once in a while. Ulver doing experimental ballads is still better than most bands doing anything else.
Highlight: Island

40) Bloodiest - Descent [Relapse]
Bruce Lamont and company release a really strong piece of experimental post-sludge metal that pushes the experimental influences to the forefront of their sound. It's truly a standout among all the other "post-metal" groups with its densely textured sound moving at a lurching pace that just fits so well together without resorting to now clichéd ideas. It's psychedelic without treading into progressive territory, it's sludgy without ever being muddy, and it's experimental without being weird. Lose yourself in the journey and be taken for a ride into dementia and a dangerous mind on the verge of going over the edge with this record.
Highlight: Dead Inside

39) Eskhaton - Nihilgoety [Nuclear War]
When I first found this record a couple of months ago I had no idea that it would wind up on here, but low and behold here it is. In line with the great Australian death metal bands to emerge recently, this band fuses the now popularized Incantation atmospherics and blackened death metal sound with a more technical sound ala Suffocation or mid-period Gorguts to stellar affect. It's a joy to listen to this record and I was truly surprised by how much I wound up listening to it. It's a death metal album that wants your head so it can summon up the mighty universal collapse, do not deny it that pleasure.
Highlight: Spacequake

38) Septic Flesh - The Great Mass [Season of Mist]
It should come as no surprise that I am a fan of orchestral and classical music, so I am obviously a fan of when it's done well in metal, Septic Flesh are one of those bands that I would claim do it well. The fusion of their rather brutish, on this album, death metal with classical orchestrations is one of the few I would claim fit together without sounding cheesy or where one does not overpower the other. This is the pinnacle of their fusion at this point, with strong songs and orchestrations that range from being the main focus of a section to simply adding an extra flavor to a section. It's symphonic metal at it's finest.
Highlight: Mad Architect

37) Falls of Rauros - The Light That Dwells In The Rotten Woods [Bindrune]
No, they're not Agalloch's little brother, they're much better than that. The balance that is struck between more melodic black metal and folk music hits as close to perfect as I've heard in some time. It's also a record that doesn't feel fake or forced, the black metal and folk sections each have a place and all sound very appropriately constructed, along with a very dreary and "rainy" atmosphere surrounding the whole thing. Coming from someone who views the whole black metal-folk fusion genre as something that has worn very thin, this is a record that renews my hope for bands playing that sort of style.
Highlight: Awaiting The Fire Or Flood That Awakes It

36) Opeth - Heritage [Roadrunner]
Yes, that's right, I liked this album. I know a lot of long-time, and may I say self-declared die-hard, fans have already declared the band dead in their eyes, but coming from someone who enjoys the style of music that Opeth has chosen to pursue on here, I think they do a pretty good job. It's an interesting album that is perhaps more song based than they've been in years, with more concise pieces that are pretty efficient and streamlined enough to just stick in your head before dying, something Opeth has never been known for in the past. Though the shorter tracks are probably the best on here, I do think the whole album is interesting and a respectable take on 60/70s prog-rock.
Highlight: The Lines In My Hand

35) Heinali & Matt Finney - Ain't No Night [Paradigms]
Easily the duo's crowning achievement thus far, branching out from their brand of electronic infused post-rock and bringing in a couple new ideas that mange to bring about some of the loudest and quietest sections the duo have written yet. Few things can compare to the absolute sadness and despondency that is expressed in Matt Finney's lyrics and monotone spoken word. It's a record that is depressing but dares to look you in the eye and tell you that you're just as messed up as it is. I can say now that I'm glad it's only four songs because any more and it'd be hard to really get out of bed in the morning.
Highlight: Ain't No Night

34) Uneven Structure - Februus [Basick]
I knew before I even heard this record that I was going to like it. Yes, they are a djent band, but it's a lot closer to being a "real metal" record than it is to what appears to be the new "nu metal." The fusion of djent oriented grooves and ambient, electronic, drone music influenced atmospheres does lead this album towards being sonically interesting, and deep. It's definitely an album that is likely to impress even hardened opposers to the sub-genre to at least notice their talent. Kudos to them for making an album that is both catchy and extremely captivating sonically.
Highlight: Quittance

33) Ash Borer - Ash Borer [Psychic Violence]
Will I jump on the hype train and applaud this band, yes I shall. This three song full-length of raw atmospheric black metal (a mouthful of a genre if I ever heard one) is just great. To an extent there are moments that you could call "post-black metal", but to simply tag it that, or "cascadian black metal", would be stupid, cause you're really selling this band short by tagging them as such. It's a lot closer to what I've heard the underground German scene doing with the atmospheric black metal genre at times. Sorry if you don't like it, too bad, blame the band, they're the ones doing this stuff right.
Highlight: In The Midst of Life, We Are In Death

32) Cara Neir - Stagnant Perceptions [Independent]
While I wouldn't describe myself as a long-time fan of Garry Brents' work, though I am a fan of most of it, I never expected this album to blow me away like it did. I said earlier this year that it was good year for grindcore, and while I meant it, this album managed to capture everything I love from grindcore and put it into an interesting post-rock influenced black metal sound. It's energetic and powerful but not without emotion. It's a rush of adrenaline that starts in the body and moves into more cerebral forms of energy.
Highlight: Amaranthine Figures

31) A Storm of Light - As The Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade [Profound Lore]
This is a record I haven't seen on a whole lot of people's lists, or any to be honest up to this point, but I really like this record. I really think that Josh Graham and co. really came into their own in terms of songwriting on this album. This easily holds some of the group's most accessible and catchy material on it, but the songs are great, so that isn't a problem. Whoever said that post-metal couldn't be catchy obviously never heard this record, because they will be proven wrong.
Highlight: Black Wolves

30) Stielas Storhett - Expulse [Code666]
Obviously the most recent addition to this list, but one that I just couldn't stop spinning after I had first listened to it. A major step up from what I had heard with last year's EP, like I said in my review, this could be mistaken for an almost entirely different band/project. The explorations of progressive songwriting, interesting structures, nice use of variation among the songs, this definitely shows what might happen from bedroom projects if given the right chance to develop and experiment. I might be overestimating it just a little bit, but if you were disappointed by Opeth's album, this might be closer to what you were hoping for from them. A real surprise from this year and one that you should not ignore.
Highlight: Angel of Death

29) Shining - VII: Född Förlorare [Spinefarm]
Despite being overproduced, this year Shining released another great album. Far from the raw and suicidal sounds of their first few releases, this album has the band in top form with some of their strongest and most forward thinking songs. The guest appearances don't distract from the power of the actual songs and manage to put this album among the band's best. Kvarforth may not be as psychotic as he once was, but his songwriting doesn't look to have diminished, if anything it's only gotten stronger. Here's to another great album from Sweden's fallen stars.
Highlight: Tillsammans Är Vi Allt

28) King Dude - Love [Dais]
From an artist whom I had never heard of before a couple of months ago, I'm become a big supporter of Thomas Cowgill's work with this project. His songwriting is simplistic and minimalistic, but evokes extremely powerful emotions and haunting ambiances (though reverb is certainly a part of his work), he is an individual. Channeling the spirit of Johnny Cash into his songwriting while bringing a much darker lyrical perspective sets him apart from his contemporaries. It's part country, it's part neo-folk, it's part singer-songwriter, but it's all stellar.
Highlight: Hello Mary

27) Glorior Belli - The Great Southern Darkness [MetalBlade]
Glorior Belli finally live up to the potential that they've always demonstrated in their past releases with their fourth full-length. After last-year's album under the name of 11 As In Adversaries, which was far more progressive and experimental than anything else the band would've released under Glorior Belli, this new album proves to be more of a return straightforward songwriting for this album. What you have are streamlined songs, but the band does a fantastic job at fusing blues, southern rock, and hints of jazz with more traditional black metal into something that hasn't been done before. It's rare that blues manages to sound this intense and interesting, even using another genre as a base, Glorior Belli have proven to be one of those bands that just stand out among all others.
Highlight: The Great Southern Darkness

26) Barn Owl - Lost In The Glare [Thrill Jockey]
If you had told me earlier this year that a duo by the name of Barn Owl who perform droning post-rock would make it onto my end-of-the-year list, chances are that I would have laughed in your face, but here it is. All it took was me giving their album a chance, knowing nothing about it, but giving it one spin and loving it. These guys absolutely blew my mind with this album and I've definitely been converted into a fan. Probably the finest drone album to come out this year by a long shot.
Highlight: Temple of The Winds

25) Hexvessel - Dawnbearer [Svart]
I have loved this album since I first heard it. I was a huge fan of Kvohst's vocals in all his metal projects, and though I do think it's a shame that he quit most of them (if not them all), I do think what he's done with this band is fabulous. It's one of those albums where if I played one song I just had to listen to the whole thing. His take on psychedelic folk music from the 60s managed to accomplish everything I love from the genre while adding something unmistakably occult and ritualistic to it at the same time, but none of it feels like something you could hear from another artist.
Highlight: The Death Knell Tolls

24) Aelter - Aelter III [Handmade Birds]
One of the few records that I've found this year to really encompass the sound of winter so perfectly. The cold atmospheres that introduce us to the album give way to a frozen chill that isn't too dissimilar to the brutality of winter. It's an album that holds just as much precedence in ambient music as much as doom metal. As the tension rises within the music, you, as a listener, are slowly overcome by the music. It's just as beautiful as it is haunting.
Highlight: Clarity II

23) Krallice - Diotima [Profound Lore]
Since I first heard this album I would it would be one of those albums that I knew would make my list, but never really knew where it would land. Probably being the band's most melodic record yet, from what I hear it's the first time both guitarists had played the same thing together on a song, so it does feel like it's a bit easier to grasp onto. It also features some more mid-tempo-ish material, which is something that hadn't been used that much on the band's prior two albums either. Still an intense and brain-melting album, but it's a little less of a middle finger to you.
Highlight: The Clearing

22) Panopticon - Social Disservices [Flenser]
This was a record that had a lot to live up to, which I know may sound surprising cause Panopticon is still a pretty underground project. Claims that this was going to be a raw, intense, and emotionally brutal record set the bar high, even for A. Lunn, who has surpassed all bars that have been set for him in the past. While I don't know if this record exactly lives up to all of those traits, it is without a doubt A. Lunn's most creatively inspired and best album yet. Like I said in my review for this album, Mr. Lunn is one of the most talented and creative musicians to have emerged from the American black metal scene.
Highlight: Patient

21) Altar of Plagues - Mammal [Profound Lore]
There's been a lot of praise for this album, and for good reason I believe. These Irish boys done good with their second full-length, amping up everything from the debut and making a rawer sounding record in the process. This thing just has everything that a "post-black metal" record should have. If there's a band trying to blend black metal with post-rock/post-metal, this is how I want it to be done. At the core of a dying world full of misery is a core that's even blacker, that is humanity, and that is this record.
Highlight: Neptune Is Dead

20) Exhumed - All Guts, No Glory [Relapse]
I'm a huge fan of Carcass, which has lead me to being a fan of any band that can copy that sound, originality be damned, so I was obviously a fan of Exhumed, but who knew they would put out such a great album for their return this year. The riffs are extremely catchy, the drumming is intense, and the vocals are exactly the way I like them, nasty and brutal, all vomitous. Every song on here just hits you in the face and makes you remember them. Don't gut yourself because you can't write songs this good.
Highlight: As Hammer to Anvil

19) Execration - Odes to The Occult [Duplicate]
I said earlier this year that this was my favorite death metal album to come out this year, and it hasn't changed, this thing is an absolute killer. It has everything I want from a death metal album, it can be progressive, melodic, brutal and primal, and interesting while always walking a fine line between being modern and old-school. I haven't seen a lot of people mentioning this album and I don't know why, this thing is amazing. Best death metal album this year, check it out if you haven't already.
Highlight: Soul Maggot

18) Mamiffer - Mare Decendrii [SIGE]
To be honest, I wasn't sure if this thing was going to make it onto my list or not about half-way through the year. I mean, I really enjoyed the album when I listened to it but I just wasn't sure. It wasn't until a couple of months ago when I realized that I actually listened to the album quite regularly, and that I just hadn't realized it. It's just a mesmerizing record that isn't so much memorable because it's not catchy, but one that just takes you into a deep calm and shows you all that can be done when floating among the nothingness. Faith Coloccia and Aaron Turner's masterpiece of post-noir ambiance, not an album to be missed.
Highlight: We Speak In The Dark

17) Mournful Congregation - The Book of Kings [20 Buck Spin]
Funeral doom is a genre that has been, and will continue to be as it happens to look right now, covered and pretty much beaten to death since its inception. While many attempt to get it right, very, very few manage to get it right and develop it into a sound that is uniquely their own. Australia's own Mournful Congregation are not only one of the handful of bands that manage to do that successfully, but manage to nearly trump nearly every other band/project out there doing this style. A good funeral doom record can pull you down into the pits of despair, a great funeral doom record, something that is extremely rare in my opinion, can do that and more, with this record going above and beyond what is expected of those in the genre and creating something truly special in the process.
Highlight: The Book of Kings

16) Locrian - The Clearing [Fan Death]
The experimental Chicago trio have certainly released their fare share of great and groundbreaking material, but this new album is among their best material. It should also be said that this is the trio's most cohesive work as a whole, with each of the four tracks being an individual yet all feeling rather relatable to each other in a way that I felt wasn't always present in the band's earlier work. From their now trademark blackened drone to more somber acoustic bits, this is a definite highlight in the band's career thus far. It's a fantastic piece of work that definitely deserves to place among the best releases of this year for certain.
Highlight: The Clearing

15) Trap Them - Darker Handcraft [Prosthetic]
I know it's probably no great shock that this is on yet another person's end-of-the-year list, but I just loved this record. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of hardcore out there, but Trap Them has always done hardcore/metalcore/whathaveyou proud. This is a record that just has so much passion and energy emitting from it, it's contagious and there wasn't a time when I was listening to this that I didn't feel the need to play air-drums or bang my head along. You want a record for headbanging, this is, without question, the album you need.
Highlight: The Facts

14) Mount Moriah - Mount Moriah [Holidays For Quince]
There wasn't a chance that this album was not going to appear on this list. From the first time I listened to this album I was absolutely in love with it. I can honestly say that I was not a fan of country music in any capacity until hearing this record earlier this year and just loving what the songs embodied, how they were presented, and how they made me feel. It's an absolute classic and a record that really opened my eyes to a genre of music I had long since lost touch with. I have to say that ignoring this record would be a big mistake.
Highlight: Social Wedding Rings

13) Aenaon - Cendres Et Sang [Code666]
I knew even before I had heard this album that it would be great, how could it not be? The four guys in Aenaon had definitely taken black metal into some weirder areas with their previous releases and I just knew that a full-length would solidify their sound. But what a sound it is. This thing just blends various ideas from jazz and prog-rock to black and death metal whilst maintaining a very claustrophobic intensity that gives the entire record this very off-kilter vibe. But it's also a record that showcases a lot of power, every player just comes through with the impression that this is them actually giving the best performances they can. Good. Check yourself. It's better than that.
Highlight: Black Nerve

12) The Axis of Perdition - Tenements (of The Anointed Flesh) [Code666]
Ever since I heard "Urfe" when it came out in 2009 I knew that this band was weird as all hell, and I was proven correct with this release. I'm a big fan of the urbanized version of black metal that they churn out and their psychotic take on the genre because it doesn't sound like anyone else. One could really only describe the sounds on this album with a really long and overcomplicated genre tag that would be totally irrelevant to what is actually going on. These guys are absolutely crazy and their music is even more so. Ordained is also one of the best tracks I've heard all year.
Highlight: Ordained

11) Smohalla - Résilience [Arx]
There is nothing more enthralling than hearing a band you've seen evolve since their inception create something so amazing that it even blows away your expectations. Smohalla have slowly been crafting a sound that pools together elements from various sources and makes something that is actually boundary pushing. This is an album filled with so many subtle details and ideas that I doubt I've even found them all after a couple of months listening to it. It's progressive, it's orchestral, it's aggressive, it's abstract, and it's totally off-the-wall. This is the sort of stuff I live for in extreme metal.
Highlight: L'homme Et La Brume

10) Blut Aus Nord - 777-Sect(s) [Debemur Morti]
What hasn't already been said about this album, it's great. For me "777-Sect(s)" is the better album if only because it's an album that focuses more on the chaos rather than the unbalance of the world to be, like I felt "777-The Desanctification" was. Obviously it's the more metal of the two, which did help it in my opinion, but I just found the songs more engaging. It definitely leans on being some of the band's most heady stuff yet, though that's really subjective, I think it's a nice balance of being brutal and intense with being more cerebral and dissonant.
Highlight: Epitome I

9) Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning [Kscope]
Is it at all shocking that this album made it this high on my list? I'm a huge admirer of Steven Wilson's work, whether it be his work in Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, or No-Man, or just his production work, he has a sound and I love it. While some of it has come off a bit overproduced at times, this double-album is filled with his signature production ideas but retains a much more authentic kind of atmosphere. More in the vein of 60s and 70s jazz-fusion and early prog-rock with extended solo passages and dense orchestration, this is a monster of an album.
Highlight: Remainder The Black Dog

8) Circle of Ouroborus - Eleven Fingers [Handmade Birds]
This isn't R. Loren's favorite album for nothing. This cult duo have been pumping out material consistently since 2006 and this proves to be among their best. Transforming their unique brand of blackened post-punk into something new entirely and almost singlehandedly reshaping the landscape for black metal to come. Extreme, not really, groundbreaking, most definitely, if you haven't heard this you don't know what you're missing.
Highlight: Shadows Lead

7) Mastodon - The Hunter [Reprise]
I know this album has divided fans even further than "Crack The Skye" did, but I loved that album and I love this album. I'm not big into mainstream rock, obviously since I don't ever cover it, with an exception here and there, but this thing is just great songs from start to finish. Not quite as progressive as the stuff they've been leaning towards in their last couple albums, but the songs are just well written and super, bubble-gum pop, catchy. Huge harmonies and more hard rock based songs made this record different, and it's what makes it good.
Highlight: Stargasm

6) Vildhjarta - Måsstaden [Century Media]
There's been a lot of hate for this record from some other reviews I've seen and I just don't get it. While this record wasn't a masterpiece on first listen either, which I bet a lot of reviewers did base their opinions on, it grew on me with each listen, even to this day. The whole thing flows as a single piece while each track is still strong enough to stand on its own. Is it a djent album, yes, but it's also so much more than that. It's one of those records that goes beyond the djent tag and crosses into realms of tech/math metal and death metal. This is an extreme metal record.
Highlight: All These Feelings

5) Servile Sect - TRVTH [Handmade Birds]
I'll admit that my first experience with the music from the duo known as Servile Sect wasn't exactly the best. "Realms of The Queen" is still my least favorite thing the duo have released, including their demos. But this album definitely turned me into a fan, and helped me to understand what they were going for on the "Realms..." album. It's a totally unique experience listening to it on vinyl, and I feel sorry for you if you haven't, because I can only relate it to tripping on mushrooms and LSD while you're locked inside a space dome at night, with you Ipod on shuffle in the background, alternating between Satyricon, Burzum, The Orb, and Hawkwind. In fact, I'd say it's even better than that.
Highlight: Privateer

4) TesseracT - One [Century Media]
I know people are gonna hate that this album is so high up, but I love this album. While the ideas are all very good, it is definitely still very centered within the djent style of riffing and it doesn't branch out from it all to often. But what made this record so high up for me were the vocals. Ex-vocalist Daniel Tompkins just made these songs come alive with his vocals. It takes a good vocalist to make a song catchy, it takes a great vocalist to make a song memorable, and there isn't a song on here that isn't memorable to me.
Highlight: Concealing Fate I: Acceptance

3) Crooked Necks - Alright Is Exactly What It Isn't [Handmade Birds]
This was one of my most anticipated records for this year, if only because I knew it was actually going to be released this year, and it did not disappoint. The dream pop-meets-post-rock via blackgaze sound of this album probably threw quite a few people for a loop due to it not really being anywhere near metal at all. The somber and moody nature to these songs can just break your heart, like it did with me, and make you fall in love with it still.
Highlights: Forgetting to Remember to Forget

2) Njiqahdda - The Path of Liberation From Birth and Death [EEE]
Only the duo known as Njiqahdda could release two amazing albums and make my life miserable because I have to pick one over the other for this list. What the deciding factor was between the two albums, this one and "Agni Yoga (Disciples of Flame)" was simply that I listened to this one more. This is just one of those records that really makes you wonder how the band can top it because they were firing on all cylinders on here. In my opinion, and people will probably hate on me for this, but this is REAL transcendental black metal. This is an album that transcends genres and just starts something unique that has yet to be matched in any way.
Highlight: Sky and Earth Remembered Only As Blood

1) The Devin Townsend Project - Ghost [HevyDevy]
There was never a moment of doubt in my mind that this wouldn't be my album of the year once I heard it. This record just moves me in a way that I can't describe. There hasn't been a time when I haven't gotten goosebumps while listening to this and every song has it's place, whether it be as an actual song or more of an ambient interlude, it all works and I can't take out any song without the record losing something. I know this isn't Devin's heaviest record by far, but this album actually might top my favorite from him, "Terria." It's such a beautiful record and me talking about it here doesn't even begin to do this record justice. If you haven't listened to this record at least once, I feel sorry for you because you are sorely missing out.
Highlight: Ghost/Blackberry

Top 10 - 2011 EPs

2011-12-30T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a list of my favorite EPs that have been released this year. There were a couple of other EPs that I would have liked to have put on here, but heard too late in the year for them to really leave an impact like these did. Keep in mind that this is just my personal list. Please feel free to list your own list below.

10) Corelia - Nostalgia [Independent]
A band lumped in with the whole djent scene but is closer to that of a modern prog-metal band with leaning into the more technical realms, ala Sikth. Very melodic with mostly clean vocals that remind me a bit of a young Geoff Tate of all things. It's the type of record that vocally might turn some people off, though I personally enjoy them, but enjoy the music.
Highlight: Blood Petals

9) No Funeral - No Funeral [Wands]
A definite highlight of my entire year has been the discovery of many groups that have been put under the category of "blackened punk." No Funeral's debut six song EP definitely left an impression with me due to it's straightforward nature of songwriting, extremely raw production, and spit-in-your-face authority. Blown out and just nasty from start to finish. You really have no idea what you're missing out on if you haven't checked these guys out yet.
Highlight: Cancer

8) Seirom - Seiromistkrieg [Independent]
Mories of Gnaw Their Tongues, among others, comes out with a new project that blows away most of the post-black metal releases this year. Breaking away from his usual nosier work, this release is more beautiful than hideous due to it's focus on layers of ambiance and post-rock influenced guitar lines. While it most certainly contains tons of noise, the vacuum of space can become engulfed by the more melodic and ambient tendencies that these songs exhibit. An absolute marvel of post-black metal/blackgaze that does away with most of the competition in a single swoop. A full-length next year is surely near the top of my most anticipated albums for next year.
Highlight: Istnichtkrieg

7) Between The Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues [Metal Blade]
Following up what was their most progressive effort yet, 2009's "The Great Misdirect," this new EP continued the band's trend of becoming even more of a progressive metal group by crafting three of their most interesting and memorable songs yet. Delving into the world of concepts with this release, each song retains the band's signature unpredictable style of songwriting while molding songs into more straightforward-ish structures whilst not making a single song sound the same. Easily their most expansive and mature effort yet.
Highlight: Lunar Wilderness

6) And The Giraffe - Something For Someone [Independent]
I'm obviously not a huge fan of indie music, let along indie folk, but this record just blew me away. I've gotten a couple of requests to review indie music in the past, and I've always had to turn it down because it doesn't really appeal to me at all, but this thing was just great. The songwriting is very well done, simplistic but super catchy songs, what more could you want from an indie folk record?
Highlight: Underground Love

5) The Ash Eaters - The Cruel Side [Independent]
A rather new addition to the list but one that definitely stood out this year. These guys obviously know how to write songs that are attention grabbing, but the nods to groups like Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord are clearly referenced within both tracks. Unlike the other bands who just copy those bands, these guys obviously have their own sound and take on the more chaotic side of black metal. Raw and interesting black metal for people who like it weird and intense.
Highlight: We Want Oblivion

4) Agrypnie - Asche [Supreme Chaos]
Agrypnie is a group that has grown tremendously since their debut full-length back in 2006. With each release we've seen them embrace more and more the influences of industrial and progressive music and mold it into something uniquely their own. On this EP however, we see them take on a stronger element of post-rock and shoegaze, or at least black metal influenced by those sounds, and pull it off better than a majority of their piers who supposedly specialize in this realm. It's a record that will confound all those fanboys/fangirls who flock to Alcest-lite bands due to it's progressive and harder edge, but might actually make them take a second look at the sub-genre call "post-black metal."
Highlight: Augenblick

3) Circles - The Compass [Basick]
Who knew the blending of modern prog rock, djent, and electronica could produce such a catchy record. While the whole band is great, vocalist Perry Kakridas is undoubtedly the star of the show with his Mike Patton-esque croon. The songs on here are all of a high caliber and have interesting rhythmic patterns whilst being incredibly catchy and memorable. Not a song on here isn't memorable in some way. The vocal melodies on here are nearly impossible to rid yourself of once you hear them.
Highlight: The Design

2) Horseback/Locrian - New Dominions [Utech]
This is a collaboration that was bound to produce results that would both intrigue as well as amaze; and it didn't disappoint. The two tracks on here exhibit traits that do call back to some of the work both groups have done on their own, but create an interesting hybrid when combined. It goes above and beyond the reaches of drone, black metal, and post-rock into a whole new plain, and elevates it into a place I have yet to hear repeated. An absolutely essential piece of music from this year.
Highlight: Our Epitaph

1) Ólafur Arnalds - Living Room Songs [Erased Tapes]
With his second full-length, "...And They Have Escaped The Weight of Darkness," Ólafur Arnalds had solidified a place within my favorite albums of last year. This new EP sees him expanding on the sounds of that album while performing all the material on this it live in his living room, with accompanying strings and an electronic producer. While not quite the emotional roller-coaster that his last album was, the songs on here all express a wonderful sense of emotion while being very minimal in their composition. Emotional, minimalistic, orchestral, and beautiful, what more could you ask for? This is an absolutely mesmerizing record.
Highlight: Lag Fyrir Ömmu

Blutvial - Curses Thorns Blood (2011)

2011-12-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

Band: Blutvial
Country: Hampshire, UK
Style: Black Metal
Label: Haintic

Here is yet another release that I was unaware was coming out, but was obviously gonna cover it. Aort is a guy who's been in a lot of bands that I enjoy quite a bit, so I was obviously going to get to this record eventually. Seeing as I don't think I ever listened to the band's first album, I had to do my homework for this one.
If there was ever a way to grab my attention to start off a black metal record it would be the opening thirty seconds of At The Stones We Gather. It's just explodes with blast-beats, tremolo picking, and is nearly impossible to really make a single thing out, but it's great. The track then precedes to go into full-on blackened thrash, great. After that, the record does not stop, it just keeps pumping out intense black metal songs, of various sub-genres, and repeatedly hammering away at you. In these eight songs you get black metal that goes anywhere from it's more traditional form to blackened thrash, post/progressive influenced riffing, and the occasional sludge metal and industrial influence popping up as well.
You know I have to say it's about time I heard a black metal record with riffs on it. I haven't heard one of these for a couple of months and this thing really does the trick. There isn't a song on here that doesn't have a riff worth remembering on it. Whether it be the black-thrash of the opening track, as mentioned above, the doom closing to Conspiracy of Optimism, or the more mid-tempo sludge of Tirade Against Oversocialisation, it's all done with skill, precision, and care. I was actually surprised that this sort of record managed to accomplish what I many, and what I mean is nearly all, more straightforward black metal records never do, take you on a journey. There were moments on here, the longer tracks, that really felt like you were hearing more than a band just playing.
Excellently crafted and performed with the skill that has come to be expected from Aort. This is a record that will have just as much appeal to the kvlt kids as much as to the guys who are into more experimental black metal groups. Definitely check this up if you like black metal that experiments just enough to not be standard.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: The Immutable Hammer, Three Curses, A Light In The Forest

Carcharoth Λ.V. - Transcendvm Monolitvs Xvl (2011)

2011-12-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

Band: Carcharoth Λ.V.
Country: Gera, Germany
Style: Atmospheric/Ambient Black Metal
Label: Independent

I was really surprised when I saw that Carcharoth Λ.V. had an album out this late in the year. I am, and have been a fan, for a little while but I guess I'd be surprised by any album that's released this late in the year. Whatever the case, it's great to hear new material from these guys no matter when it's being released.
I should warn you before you come into this album, this is a long album, it's nearly the full eighty minutes long. I know I've covered double-albums that have topped this in length, none of those albums was ever filled to the brim with music, you could listen to about an hour, and maybe take a break or whatever and come back to it, this was one album that's just completely full. Beyond that, these guys, much like their brothers from Switzerland, Darkspace, focus on creating huge pieces of atmosphere that is all encompassing in size, mass, and sound. I have, in the past, referred to this duo as the more scrappy little brother to Darkspace, due to their sounds being relatively similar, but much more raw and, in a sense, personal. From what I understand, I believe that this album is somewhat conceptually based on black holes, or at least inspired by them, which is an interesting idea. I do have to say that the samples on here range from unintelligible to really good, with the best being found in the title-track, Transcendvm Monolitvs Xvl, referencing vampirism as well as soul transmigration and death, it's actually pretty cool.
I have to be honest, when you listen to an album like this, remembering songs really won't happen. There really isn't a whole lot in the way of catchy riffs, memorable hooks, or engaging interplay, this is a very cold, bleak, and chaotic album. It's almost all about the atmosphere, making this sound absolutely gigantic and monstrous. In fact, the most memorable thing about this record is the atmosphere, and it's really more subjective if that's what you would term as "memorable." It's records like this that aren't about each individual part so much as the whole they create when they're all together. There's almost an industrial vibe to how the drums are played, or rather programmed I think, because of the tone of them and how they're used more to accent certain sections of the music rather than others. Other times it comes from all the reverb on here, where certain guitars just seem to be locked into a cacophonous state of echo that it creates an almost industrial kind of noise. A lot of this album appears to have been written in spurts if only because of shifts where one thing will be playing out and then cuts to another section completely, which is a bit off-putting when you realize you're really engrossed in a section and then it just stops.
For all it's flaws, I still really enjoyed most of the album and thought it's ideas were interesting. This is the best release from the duo thus far so this would be the best record to start with from them, if you plan on doing so. Check it out if huge, cosmic, atmospheric black metal is up your alley.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Astral Projection OJ 287, Silentivm Vltima NGC 6240, Viator Vacvitas 777

Reverorum Ib Malacht - Urkaos (2011)

2011-12-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

Band: Reverorum Ib Malacht
Country: Uppsala, Sweden
Style: Atmospheric Black Metal/Dark Ambient
Label: AJNA Offensive

If I remember correctly, I was informed about this release a couple of months ago, it not being out at that point, but my interest was piqued. At the time, I had never heard of the project before but I was told good things. I've covered a few "ritualistic" groups this year, and only a couple have actually lived up to that term, but I had high hopes for this release.
When you open an album with what I could only describe as a shamanistic ritual happening in a cathedral, you better follow that up with something interesting. The ensuing black metal passage that follows in In Blando Xpi Sibilo proves that this is indeed a very interesting piece of work. Breaking into various tremolo picked passages throughout the course of it's nine minutes, it is interrupted and broken up by some far more odd choices of instrumentation during it's opening segment. It's a trend that you'll notice throughout the album. That, along with the rather hazy atmosphere that surrounds the whole thing makes it sound like a ritual is happening while this is playing.
Throughout the entirety of the album there is a solid amount of black metal parts and more ambient ones as well. I have no idea if this was written chronologically as it appears, but it certainly feels that way to me. Each piece flows into one another fluidly whilst providing something different with each track. I rather enjoyed the lurching bass on Sermon Below The Mount, which is something that you won't find in the faster and more aggressive black metal on Omen, which follows it. There's a fair amount of ideas on here that definitely pull from various sources, there are traces of blackgaze within some of the guitar playing on The Lord Is... II, as well as obvious inclinations towards drone music with the more ambient pieces. The final and untitled track that closes out the album definitely closes it with style. Unlike the more ambient based interludes that preceded it, here you have an extended drone segment that completes the ritual. Having said all that, this release is rather impersonal, which makes it loose some points with me, though I realize that this was probably intentional. What's going on in these songs feels way too far away, or mystical maybe, for me to kind of relate to and draw any sort of connection from it. Not to say the ideas aren't there, because I do like what these guys are trying to do.
In the end all I can really say for it is that I liked the ideas but it felt a little isolating. I realize that this is more of a personal problem I have with the album, and I'm sure that many others will find something here that will keep them intrigued, but I just couldn't get into it. Check it out if you're a fan of ritual ambient or more atmospheric based black metal.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Ecclesia's Call II, Sermon Below The Mount, Urkaos

White Ring - Hey Hey, My My + Felt U Single (2011)

2011-12-26T09:55:00.000-08:00

Band: White Ring
Country: New York City, New York
Style: Witch House
Label: Handmade Birds

When I look back at 2011, I can honestly say that I haven't covered as vast a variety of music as I would have liked. Last year I managed to cover quite a few electronic albums, this year, I don't think I've covered any. While me doing this won't really make up for me not covering any of it this year, here's me covering something I thought I never would.
I can honestly say that this release is what got me into witch house, though whether or not I'm a huge fan of the genre or not remains to be seen. But onto the release itself, what you in here are two songs, a Neil Young cover, Hey Hey, My My, and Felt U, a song by the duo. I can honestly say that I'm not a Neil Young fan, never have been, but I think that what this duo manage to do with the song is turn it from, what I consider to be, a more uplifting song into something much more introspective and haunting as well as morose, but that's probably expected. The band's own track demonstrates a more ambient kind of idea, while still making use of house beats and synthesizer sounds. I think I do prefer the original to the cover on here, but I can't say that either disappointed me in the least. Yet another win for Handmade Birds, and this was probably the release I was most worried about.
Like I said above, this release did turn me onto witch house, a genre I thought I would get nothing out of after some rather bad experiences with it. I definitely have to check out the duo's previous material after hearing this. Definitely pick it up if you're interested in more introspective electronic music.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Felt U

Cloudland Ballroom - Illusion Circles (2011)

2011-12-26T09:41:00.000-08:00

Band: Cloudland Ballroom
Country: Ambient
Style: Ambient
Label: Aguirre

I admittedly have never heard of this project before I decided to review it and was really just diving head first into it. I just so happened to read a review of it and thought it sounded interesting so I looked it up. It turned out to be a lot different than what I thought it would be, actually.
When I first looked into this, and based on the review I had read for it, I was expecting some sort of spacey, krautrock record. That's not what I got. What you find in here is some trippy, ambient music that would be fit for a 70s sci-fi movie. At times, the sounds on here are a bit cheesy and certainly do fit the mold of a 70s movie, but I'd say there's a lot more purposeful depth on here than most of those movies ever used. There are times when this thing gets totally ambient, The Ponds, and then there are times when it goes really cheesy sci-fi synthe worship, Faculty X (Phase One & Two), but both are pulled off really well and are extremely enjoyable. Personally, I think I would have loved to have heard some of these tracks go on for longer periods of time, I think the longest is somewhere around five minutes, and I think if it was stretched out for longer, you'd really get one of those amazing synthe odyssey sort of albums.
It's really hard for me to try and get someone excited for stuff like this because it's ambient music, a genre that really doesn't allow someone to be really enthusiastic about it. Ambient music is, more or less, thought of something to put in the background and kind of just left to hang there while you do something else. It's hard for someone to just let themselves become enamored with soundscapes, but I can say about this is that this is the sort of album that can provide great background music, but it's also something you can just focus on and listen to directly. Tracks like Time-Flight or Last Seconds of Lucidity are just captured my attention and made me listen intently as they just sort of vibrated around this one central idea for several minutes because they were just great sounds. I realize a lot of people may still ignore this album because of what it is, but I really think that fans of both ambient music from today and fans of the more synthe odyssey kinds of records will both be able to get something out of this.
Like it's probably inferred from the above, but I really enjoyed this album. It's a solid slab of interesting synthesizer worship that manages to take the listener on some short journeys into the cosmos. Definitely check it out if you're a fan of ambient music and sci-fi soundtracks.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Sender, Faculty X (Phase One & Two), Illusion Circles

Woburn House - Sleep Summer Storm (2011)

2011-12-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

Band: Woburn House
Country: Bonn, Germany
Style: Post-Metal/Sludge Metal
Label: Zeitgeister Music

Klabautamann really opened my door to a lot of other really cool bands back when I first discovered them. Since I found Woburn House, I have been a fan and I have really been looking forward to this release. Now that's it's here, did it live up to my expectations?
Right from the beginning, before even pressing play on this album, there's a noticeable change in this album from the previous two. The last two full-lengths have had pretty epic songs that have topped ten minutes in most cases, not one song on this release gets near ten minutes, staying well below the eight minute bar. The post-metal element is also a lot more up-front on here than in the past as well, with quite a few songs remaining in softer, but still distorted, guitar driven territory for the majority of the album. You'll notice that even though the guitars are heavy, the don't really do any of the typical doom and sludge chugging or let a single chord ring out for a while all too much; instead you'll find a lot more single note picked chords on here, which does give the album a very different feel than a lot of other post-metal, sludge, and doom records. I'm not gonna lie, there are moments where this thing can get pretty epic sounding, as songs do tend to actually build momentum throughout however long they are, the climaxes do have a more reserved sense even when unleashing it's power.
Despite it's tag, it isn't all that heavy, but appears to focus more on atmospherics instead. I also don't want to give the impression that the band have gotten rid of their more psychedelic influences because they are most certainly still a big part of this album. What I found to be quite interesting was the use sythes being played underneath the band, which gives the songs an almost spacey quality. They don't really come out and play a big part in the song, but instead drone on and bring a sort of ethereal atmosphere to the track, hear Rain Keeps Falling Down for example. It really isn't a "heavy" album in the traditional sense of the word, but more foundational heavy, with thick, low bass grooves and the occasional heavier guitar part, which finally happens on A Simple Man. I am aware that waiting just over half an hour for this record to finally go metal, really go metal I mean, will not be appealing to some, but the songs are well written and until that explosive finale, you do get some nice atmospheric songs.
I think this album lived up to my expectations, despite the fact that originally I found it to be a pretty disappointing first listen. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if I can say it's better than their older material at this point or not. Definitely check it out if you're a fan of post-rock, prog-rock, or post-metal, this is actually a record I could see appealing to quite a few different ranges of people actually.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Willow, Clash, Sleep Summer Storm

Stone Angels - Within The Witch EP (2011)

2011-12-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

Band: Stone Angels
Country: Christchurch, New Zealand
Style: Sludge/Doom Metal
Label: Satan City

In all honesty, the name Stone Angels was one that I considered naming my own project, then I saw that this band had already taken it so I guess I credit these guys to helping me find another one. Granted, they obviously play a completely different style than me, I found myself interested then not with them over the course of the year. This is me finally giving in and being interested.
I somehow doubt that if you come looking for doom and sludge in this record, you'll be disappointed. These guys tackle a bit of everything that's slow, heavy, and sad with this release. You'll hear your typical doom/sludge stuff with the title-track, Within The Witch, but you also have some bouts with funeral doom on White Light, White Noise and more blues oriented stylings on Withdrawing The Jinn, all of this, including various other takes on the genres, leads to a diverse piece of work here. Probably my main complaint about this was that I found it a bit odd that the vocals were pretty low in the mix, with the guitars and drums nearly overshadowing them. Having said that, vocals aren't used all that often in these songs, with about half of them making use of none at all, so it's a pretty ignorable trait if you don't mind that. I also found the use of noises and ambiance in the background during Grave was really cool and really brought a new kind of atmosphere to the track.
In the end it's a pretty solid debut release that shows a lot of diversity and a willingness to explore various sounds, which is plus in my opinion. It's definitely a fun little release that is well worth looking into in my opinion. Definitely check it out if you have an interest in things of the slow persuasion within the metal genre.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Within The Witch, Bleeding Black, Coffin Cross

Stielas Storhett - Expulse (2011)

2011-12-24T11:48:00.000-08:00

Band: Stielas Storhett
Country: Murmansk, Russia
Style: Progressive/Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Code666

I'm not gonna lie when I say that I was originally not going to talk about this album. I remember reviewing the EP that this project released last year and was quite impressed with it, but I didn't remember the project when this album was originally released. It wasn't until I watched a review, of sorts, on youtube for it that I looked the album up and remembered the band and was like, "I have to cover this."
To anyone who's read this blog for a while, you'll know that I haven't had the best relationship with black metal from Russia. In all honesty, a lot of it may have interesting ideas, but often comes across as terribly under produced and lackluster. When I heard Stielas Storhett's EP last year, "SKD," like I said above, I was impressed. Though it did dwell within the depressive sub-genre, it had quite a few elements that made it stand out and break out of character from that style. This new album retains very few traits from the more depressive background of the project, with sole member Damien T.G taking the project into a much more exciting direction. It's really shocking to know that this is the same band that released that EP last year, because it almost sounds like a completely different band.
When was the last time you heard a new band that was tagged as depressive with actual riffs? Throughout this album you get a great blend of ideas that channel more progressive and experimental elements than I ever expected. There are moments on here than bring to mind groups like Enslaved, Opeth, and Shining more than any group like Lifelover, and it continually blew me away, All Paths Lead to Oblivion is a great example of such. More than anything else, I would call this a progressive album, from the just the structures alone, you get a lot of very fluid dynamics between the more aggressive sections and the softer ones, but there's here as well. The instrumentation is fantastic, Damien manages to channel those great acoustic sections that Shining has, while bringing his own flair to them, which I think comes from the bass-lines he provides underneath them. The saxophone lines delivered on the title-track, Expulse, I thought were fantastic and totally fit with the mood that the album was at when it came on. With all that being said, it's also a very natural sounding album, nothing feels forced or really out of place anywhere, it all comes together on point and works together as a song. As a side note, at this point in the year I pretty much had my end of the year list completed, this thing made me delete most of it and start from scratch because this thing is that good.
I've been listening to this thing almost non-stop since I first got it, it's literally jaw-dropping in how good it is. I can't recommend this highly enough, this thing absolutely blew me away from first listen onwards. If you like progressive black metal, do not hesitate, find this album now.
Overall Score: 9.5
Highlights: Every Track Is A Highlight

Dead Reptile Shrine - The Sun of Circles and Wood (2011)

2011-12-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

Band: Dead Reptile Shrine
Country: Vuokatti, Finland
Style: Raw Black Metal/Folk
Label: Weird Forest

S. Devamitra, the sole member of the project known as Dead Reptile Shrine has been at work throughout the last decade releasing some of the weirest black metal you've ever heard. When I say weird though, I'm not talking about progressive or avant-garde, I'm talking about straight-up raw, noisy, and nearly impossible to tell what's going on weird. This new album is obviously his most ambitious undertaking yet, being a double-album that trumps two hours.
When you come into a Dead Reptile Shrine album, the best frame of mind is to approach it with an open mind, because most likely you will have no idea what to expect, whether or not you've heard/read anything about it. In this double-album, you'll hear some of Devamitra's signatures like the really lo-fi black metal-meets-doom-meets-noise and the demented acoustic songs, but you'll also find some of the darker and more ambient sides of the project as well. The drone and dark ambient sides of the project aren't used as regularly as the others are, and were most utilized on the collection of demos that was released back in 2001. The comparisons to groups and projects like Dead Raven Choir and Circle of Ouroborus are inevidable and have been used before, though this project feels a bit more of the punk side of things, and has for a while.
So, with this album, with it's extended running time, what makes it different from the other releases Devamitra has put out? I'd say it's a bit more chaotic than some of the other stuff he's done in the past, in terms that he actually sounds psychotic during several of the vocal tracks. There are also more than a couple of tracks that feature riffs and melodies that are considerably more catchy than a lot of the older material the project has generated. Having said that, this album also holds some of the project's most out-there moments yet. There are also some quite odd nods to the depressive black metal genre, Solstice d'Hiver for instance really made me think of Lifelover. There are moments where it reaches into more ritualistic ambient sort of vibe, Summer Forest's Magic also has the boogyman vocals. I'm not gonna lie, some of the stuff on here is a bit silly sounding, but there wasn't any part of it that I thought was comical or bad enough to laugh at.
I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this album, considering I'd like to think of myself as only a casual listener of this stuff. While it isn't exactly mind-blowing, most of it is well written and it's constructed in a way that doesn't make the album drag. Check it out if you're into raw black metal, punk, noise, dark ambient, folk rock, etc., chances are you'll find something in here that you'll enjoy.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Weapon, Crucifixion and Drowning, Beholding The Necrocult Relic, Summer Forest's Magic, Possessed By Infinity

Ebony Sorrow - Narcotic Funeral Demo (2009)

2011-12-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

Band: Ebony Sorrow
Country: Syracuse, New York
Style: Black Metal/Grindcore
Label: Independent

I know I'm totally breaking my own rule not to review albums that weren't released this year, but I'm really busy and didn't have the time to say I wasn't going to cover it because of a limitation I usually abide by. It's the end of the year and I'm feeling lazy so don't expect me to do this sort of thing again. Plus this is a demo, so this is gonna be a one-time exception.
Now that that's out of the way, and I don't intend for that opening to as rude as it probably comes across being, we can discuss the music that's performed here. This four song demo comes across as a hate-fueled fist in the face of all things unkvlt. At times recalling a less industrialized, or less urbanized, version of Anaal Nathrakh, this thing just goes intense, goes brutal, and goes fast, and doesn't slow down. Though firmly rooted within black metal, the thrash and grindcore, and to an extent you could even say punk rock, influences are undeniable, like on Defile The Lambs of Christ, an absolutely blistering song if I ever heard one. I was impressed that despite how fast these songs are, the bass actually stuck out from below them, which I particularly enjoyed hearing.
I hope my intro didn't scare you off from listening to this, because it really is very good material. I enjoyed the release, but I would prefer if people didn't start sending me old stuff to review, it's honestly not what I do here. Besides that, I definitely recommend you check this out if you like brutal black metal.
Overall Score: 6
Highlights: Defile The Lambs of Christ, The Prophets of Sodom

Nachzehrer - Pestilence Hungers In The Shadows EP (2011)

2011-12-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

Band: Nachzehrer
Country: Boston, Massachusetts
Style: Blackened Thrash Metal
Label: Independent

If you had spoken to me maybe three or four months ago, I probably could have spoken to you about blackened thrash, but wouldn't have been able to really tell you a band that I really enjoyed. Since then I've really found myself enjoying quite a few groups from the sub-genre and I grown to really become a fan, despite not being a huge thrash guy. So when I was sent this album, it was obviously gonna get covered.
It's hard to say what I was expecting when I pressed play on this. I knew, sonically, what the band was about and stylistically what they were, but coming into a record actually knowing what a band you've never heard before can be a bit odd. I think these guys are a bit more black than thrash, in my opinion, as opener The Awakening demonstrated to me. I'll admit that it might just be my taste being a bit unrefined when it comes to blackened thrash and I haven't listened to enough of it, but I came in thinking there would be more thrash, just because most of the bands I enjoy tend to have more thrash than black. Not to say that this record didn't excite me, because there were songs on here that definitely made me want to bang my head and punch a hole in the wall (that's meant as a good thing in my book). I do have to say that there were a couple of spots on here that felt a little awkward to me, the opening riff of Howling At A Winter Moon for example just sounded a little off, but that might just be me.
Overall, I think it's a strong release that has a lot to offer a listener if they're into this style. It's a strong little release that shows a lot of potential for the future if they continue to harness their songwriting chops the way they demonstrated on here. Definitely check it out if you like black metal, thrash metal, or a blending of the two.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Barsarkar-Gang, Black Order of The Goat, Atavist

Deschain - Sea of Trees Forest of Gallows (2011)

2011-12-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

Band: Deschain
Country: Bloomington, Indiana
Style: Progressive/Melodic Black Metal
Label: Independent

Deschain was a group I stumbled upon earlier this year who's debut album, "Upon The Oaken Throne" was pretty impressive. I received an email a few weeks ago about them releasing this album. I was more than interested in seeing how they had progressed within less than a year after their debut.
Probably one of my main complaints with the group's debut was that it was a bit too long, being over a hour, with most songs topping in at over ten minutes, there were times when it was a bit taxing to get through. On here, the band have elongated their songs further, but made this entire album around thirty-five minute with only two songs. The difference, while some might see it as a negative, is that it is a lot more tolerable as a whole and a bit easier to digest as well. The band has also improved on the technical side of things as well, with the production being a lot clearer and not nearly raw as like the debut was. It's hard to say that a record is consistent sounding, mixing and production wise, when there's only two tracks, but both tracks on here do trump any of the production decisions on the debut, with both songs never dipping in quality or going into a weird place. The drums also don't sound nearly as triggered or clicky as the debut and instead have a much more natural sound to them, which really works well with the tone of the guitars and bass.
As with their debut, the songwriting on here is very strong. The riffs still channel a variety of genres, from black metal to doom, death, and prog, but never sound rehashed or just crammed together. I'd even say that there's an increased influence of traditional heavy metal, ala Iron Maiden or Diamondhead, styled guitar harmonies being used in here as well. Both songs demonstrate an even stronger songwriting ability, in my opinion, than the debut as well as just having catchy riffs in their songs too. Obviously the band have carried over their sense of dynamics, though it has improved, with songs being able to convey various emotional states, from anger to more uplifting, whether or not that was intention I'm not sure. I have to say, guitar solos in black metal are often not the greatest and can sound out of place, but that's not the case with this band. Every solo on here feels like it's in the right place and there's variety in them as well, from the more shredding and show-offy ones to more soulful and emotional with more feel.
Overall, it's a very strong piece of work that definitely has the band at their peak, as of right now. Both songs on here are very well written and it excites me to see where this band goes in another year if they made this great a leap in just about ten months. Definitely check this out if you're at all interested in progressive black metal.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Forest of Gallows (Cast Down The Sun)

Lugubrum - Face Lion Face Oignon (2011)

2011-12-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

Band: Lugubrum
Country: Lovendegem, Belgium
Style: Experimental/Avant-Garde Black Metal
Label: Aphelion Productions

Lugubrum is one of those band's who's just always been odd, but in a good way. It's a band who has a pretty wide discography, seeing as they've been around since 1992, but haven't had the time to really go back and listen to it all the way I would like to. From what I have listened to though, I can tell you that you will be hard pressed to find another band that sounds like them.
Within this album's opening track, El Arish, you will find several ideas that will most likely turn you off if you like aggressive and more traditional forms of black metal. The post-punk-ish guitar riff, jazzy bass-lines, breakdown, and solo, and what sounds like hand percussion with your normal black metal rasp over the top of it, signaling all kvltists to stay away. This is just the opening track mind you, the rest of the album doesn't get any clearer in terms of style. Lugubrum have, for about for about the last decade or so, been juggling various influences and mixing them with black metal, from ska to electronic, and none of it normal sounding. Tracks on here often shift around from style to style, some more radically than others, hear the folk/psychedelic black metal/electronic fusion on Jaffa. Though that's not to say you don't have more straightforward, almost punk-esque, moments on here, but straightforward in the case of Lugubrum is still strange compared to many other groups.
When I was looking up stuff for this review, on last.fm, where they list similar bands, I saw Circle of Ouroborus and it struck me that they might be the only band that is really comparable to Lugubrum. While I can say with certainty that Lugubrum is a lot more experimental than their Finnish counterparts, the raw production, and this is nowhere near as lo-fi as CoO's stuff, but there are similar sort of tendencies toward bleak atmospheres and extremely weird vocals. Various vocal styles are utilized from guttural growling to typical black metal rasps to what could be described as drunken throat warbling, as well as a couple others. So I would say that Lugubrum is the weirder of the two bands, but that's what probably makes them harder to get into.
This is certainly a weird record, and that's only one reason to love it, the ideas are just so weird I can't help but not like it. This is my bread-and-butter in terms of music, I'm naturally inclined towards liking stuff like this so I'm biased. If you want to hear some pretty weird, kind-of black metal, definitely check out Lugubrum.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Acre I, Acre II

His Electro Blue Voice - Dead Sons EP (2011)

2011-12-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

Band: His Electro Blue Voice
Country: Como, Italy
Style: Post-Punk/Krautrock
Label: Brave Mysteries

I'm sure my first introduction to His Electro Blue Voice was similar to a lot of other peoples, through their split with Nuite Noir. I'll admit that I was more interested in Nuite Noir's material at the time so I don't remember listening to HEBV, but we all make mistakes. But after actually looking, and eventually listening to this album, I will tell you that I've had a change of heart.
When listening to this EP, which I can say was my first time actually listening to the band, it was quite a, let's say, different experience. Since it does come from a vinyl, the three songs are divided with two on side A and one on side B. Opener Dead Mice is a mad piece of music that just throws elements of sludge metal, post-punk, and flares of avant-garde jazz together and it rips your face off before falling into a more folk inspired ending. It's the type of song where the music is very controlled sounding, but it's just blistering and in-your-face at the same time. Eat Sons follows a similar style to the first, but doesn't fall down into the folk ending. Side B is where things get interesting though, Zum is an extended krautrock jam session that just plods along. As the track progresses, you get a repetitive bass-line that plods along until about half-way through when the whole track just stops, before picking up again in another post-punk-esque section.
Great EP, I really can't say enough good things about this, except that now I have to go back and listen to all their older stuff. I have totally been converted into a fan of this band and I look forward to what they do next. Definitely check this out if weird krautrock and post-punk is at all appealing to you.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Zum

Red Orchid - Blood Vessels & Marshmellows (2011)

2011-12-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Band: Red Orchid
Country: Vienna, Virginia
Style: Progressive Rock/Post-Rock
Label:

I've realized that beyond a couple of albums, I really haven't covered too much straight-ahead progressive rock, if you want to call that straight-ahead. While it's certainly too late to really make amends, here's something. When I was sent this album I was originally going to post it in conjunction with something else that didn't wind up working out so this kind of got delayed until now.
I should say that while I would definitely call this record a progressive rock album, it is more in line with modern prog than 60s or 70s prog. The comparisons have already been made by others to groups like Rush and Porcupine Tree, and those are definitely influences, this never really reaches into the same darkness as Steven Wilson's work and isn't quite as epic as the stuff Rush has released in their past. I mean, it has it's own identity, but those are two bands I saw it was compared to and it's obvious that there are sonic comparisons to them. Sanmeet, the guy who wrote and performed most of this album, does have a voice that when it's used in a more spoken word kind of way does recall a bit of Steven Wilson, but when he's singing, he actually has a more dynamic voice that kind of made me think of Ian Gillan a little bit. Being a prog album though, I'd say the album is about fifty-fifty in terms of vocals.
It should be said that for the majority of the album, it tends to dwell within the softer realms of post-rock, hear Glass Woven Yarn for instance. While there are sections of the album that bring a heavier sound, it really isn't put to the best use. The riffs aren't anything special and I think that it doesn't really need to be used, White Mist, Black Widow makes it work mind you, but I feel like in other tracks it's just out of place and unnecessary. In it's dreamy sections, or for the majority of the album, you get this dreamy calm that works at building a sort of psychedelic peace. I think that's where this album's greatest potential is at, keeping the listener focused on the music as it subtly shifts around. Ultimately, I think the fact that the post-rock element is not so much used to build crescendos is a weak spot in that a lot of the album just winds up sounding pretty flat. Don't get me wrong, there are songs and spots that do utilize that effect, and it works, Astronomicon, but for me, that's kind of the essence of the genre, and it doesn't really feel like goes anywhere otherwise.
I think it's a pretty solid album, a lot of it demonstrates that Sanmeet is skilled at writing stuff like this. While I would remove the metal bits or work on them even further, I think when he does prog, he excels. Definitely check it out if you're into calmer forms of prog-rock.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Release, White Mist, Black Widow, Flabbergast Butterfly

Now Exploding In Saigon - Vigil (2011)

2011-12-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Band: Now Exploding In Saigon
Country: Athens, Greece
Style: Experimental Black Metal/Grindcore
Label: Independent

This year has provided some great debut albums from a lot of underground bands, when I came across this one, I was hoping for another. The cover really intrigued me because it doesn't look like your typical black metal album cover. I just can't ignore something that peaks my interest.
There's something to be said for making something interesting musically, whether you know you're actually doing it or not. When I listened to this album, there's an almost naive charm to it because there are points on here where you can tell what the band was going for in a certain part, but they wind up making something that's well beyond that. There are moments where it's obvious that these guys were going for a more traditional sort of black metal, tremolo picked section, but it winds up sounding more abstract and interesting, kind of in the same vicinity of something you might hear from a band like Krallice or Liturgy. There are also those breaks where it sounds like the band are attempting to go into a more grinding section, but those parts actually interrupt the flow of the black metal ones which gives the entire song the feeling as if it could all just fall apart at any moment, which I enjoyed.
I think it's interesting that while these guys do have that black metal and that grindcore part of their sound, this album is nowhere near as distorted as a lot of other bands. Each riff is pretty clear and dry sounding, it's not a full and rounded tone, but it works. The production is also pretty raw as well, giving the band a bit more of a live feel during these songs. It's an authentic feeling record, it sounds like the band knew these songs are were really rehearsed when they're were playing them. Sections are well paced and flow together nicely, through the more traditional paced In Bright Colours that moves into a pretty melodic bridge before closing with a more Krallice-esque tremolo pattern. Other more experimental sections are used in the album as well, with a more dissonant harmony section moving into a sludge passage on Space of Exile or the spoken word used on Joy In Fear being of note.
I really enjoyed the album and it really shows a young band with potential. These guys are definitely doing something a little different from the rest of the black metal pack, and it's actually good. I hope that you check this band out if you're into more experimental black metal groups.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Volatile & Senile, Space of Exile, Now Exploding In Saigon

Pulsar Colony - Snowball Earth (2011)

2011-12-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

Band: Pulsar Colony
Country: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Style: Progressive/Post-Black Metal
Label: Independent

I'm a big fan of nature photographs, thus, when they're used for album covers, I'm naturally at least very impressed with that aspect of a group. While they certainly don't have to be the be-all and end-all of album covers, obviously, I do find them to especially appeal to me. When I saw this album cover, I immediately thought of Njiqahdda.
I can say the when I just skimmed through the album, before actually listening to it once, as I usually do with most albums, I could tell that this was going to be a really interesting album. There's a lot of different ideas on here that I immediately knew would appeal to me. Stylistically, this record makes use of a lot of different ideas. Throughout the album you'll hear traces of some of their influences, Enslaved and Alcest come through quite clearly, Calypso clearly nods it's head to those bands, while the Tool, Opeth, Mastodon, and Emperor influences are more fleeting in their appearance. The longer songs, the shortest of which proves to still be just over eight and a half minutes long, are actually justified with various trips into interesting patterns and riffs, thus creating a song that is not boring, though it wouldn't have hurt if a couple of tracks were just a bit shorter as some ideas due tend to run on for a bit too long. The entire album also could have been shortened as well, being nearly eighty minute in total, it is a tough one to listen to all the way though, though it is not without it's rewards.
I think one of the most intriguing aspects to this record is the drum programming, which does not simply make use of a "traditional" sounding kit. Throughout the record you'll certainly hear all manner of percussive drums, from those found on a drum kit to hand percussion. Granted, the setback of that effect does lead to a very mechanical sound that makes it easy to tell that it is a drum-machine. I also think that the keyboards used throughout the album give it a very unique feel as well, at times bringing in an almost new wave kind of vibe to a couple of tracks. They shift between simply providing atmosphere and lurking beneath the guitars to providing an actual melody, Absolute Zero for instance. I'm also quite partial to the bass work on here, as it's always audible, but often sounds like it was performed acoustically, but that may just be me. What may intrigue people is that while elements of this album certainly fall into the whole post-black metal sub-genre, the Alcest element where you have intense black metal parts that fall into softer post-rock and shoegaze parts is not really as limiting as it might appear, on here anyway. Instead of falling into those genres, when this thing goes soft, you get a bunch of different ideas ranging from sitar and bass solos to sections that recall more of a psychedelic folk kind of sound.
By the end of it, I was very impressed with the songs and ideas on here and I look forward to seeing what Charles Sabo does with the project next. I don't see any reason why you wouldn't like this album if you like forward thinking black metal groups. Definitely check it out if you want to hear some pretty cool experimental black metal.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Wounded Animal of The Four Elements, Pillars of Creation, Of Frostfang Origin

The Ash Eaters - The Cruel Side EP (2011)

2011-12-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

Band: The Ash Eaters
Country: Austin, Texas
Style: Noise Rock/Black Metal
Label: Independent

I doubt a lot of people who are reading this know who The Ash Eaters are. Those familiar with the amazing blackened doom group Brown Jenkins should take notice that this is the next chapter of the members of that band's chapter. This is the band's second release, following a demo released earlier this year.
Coming from the droning and trippy ideas that were present on Brown Jenkins albums into this might be a bit of a jarring experience for some listeners. This is far from the dank and cold place that those recordings left you, with the two tracks that comprise this EP, you're brought into a much more chaotic and unstable state of mind with riffs that are dissonant and noisy. These songs are also have a clear punk edge to them, with certain drum patterns just sticking out from below the noise of the ringing guitar chords. While guttural growls and layered clean chants provide the voice for the chaotic undercurrent, the entire recording just undergoes a transformation into something far more bleak. While the music itself reflects chaos and disorder alone, the vocals bring even more bleakness and a palpable sense of disharmony. At times, it does bring groups like Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord to mind, but this is a far more raw and visceral assault rather than a cerebral one, at this current moment anyway.
I really enjoy it, though I imagine it'll be a tough pill to swallow because it is different, especially from Brown Jenkins. It's a very good piece of work that I can only hope is developed even further and worked into a full-length. Definitely check this out if you want to hear some really crazy black metal.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: We Want Oblivion

WOLD - Freermasonry (2011)

2011-12-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

Band: WOLD
Country: Regina, Canada
Style: Blackened Noise
Label: Profound Lore

I'll admit that I've never been a huge WOLD fan, if only because my first experience with one of their albums was less than pleasurable. Maybe last year's "Working Together For Our Privacy" was not the best place to start my listening career with WOLD, but what can you do. Two people whose views on music I respect very much have given very conflicting views of this album, so going into it, I wasn't really sure how this one was going to go.
Now, I'll freely admit that I'm probably a bit ignorant when it comes to WOLD, among other groups, so I kind of approached this thing cautiously. Really the only thing I knew this album was gonna be about was that it was nearly rid of all of the band's older black metal influences and was pretty much embracing their noise traits. Like I just mentioned above, I was not particularly a big fan of "Working Together For Our Privacy," so I was aware that the band's exploration of pure noise wasn't one that was all that appealing to me, but I had no idea what I was in for with this album. I have to say that SOL pretty much told me everything I was going to get from the rest of the album, the good and the bad. I'll say right now that I've fallen somewhere between the two people I mentioned above in my perspective of this album.
I guess I'll start by accentuating the positive aspects of this album. First off, the noise, I think that for the most part, it is enjoyable and pretty well done. Each track features a different kind of chaotic distortion backing it, so each track can at least be seen as different entities. The brutal noise of Free Goat of Leviticus is very different from the electronic influence on Working Tools For Praxis, whether or not you want to think of diversity as a positive or not in this case is subjective. I do think that the intention of this was all well and good, but the execution is frustrating because these tracks wind up being very uninteresting, no matter what the difference between them is, it doesn't help if the ideas are just dull. Probably the most irritating thing about this recording though were the vocals. I thought these totally ruined the record for me, they were just terrible. It honestly sounded as if whoever recorded them was sick and was yelling, or screaming, while they had a sore throat, it's just bad. Now, this might seem odd, coming from a guy who advocates repetition to bring about a meditation state from the music, but there's a difference between repeating an idea and making it hypnotizing, and repeating an idea until it's utterly dead and in the ground, or in other words, boring. A lot of what's on here is just boring and dull as all hell.
I don't know, I think I got pretty much what I expect to get out of this, not very much. I'm disappointed mainly because this came out on Profound Lore, a label that has a pretty impeccable catalog thus far, and this is just a bomb. Disagree if you like, but unless you're already a fan, I don't really recommend checking this out.
Overall Score: 4
Highlights: Free Goat of Leviticus, Dry Love, Free Eyes

Заводь - Ягна (2011)

2011-12-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

Band: Заводь
Country: Kharkiv, Ukraine
Style: Blackened Punk
Label: Independent

Since first discovering Заводь earlier this year, I have become a big advocate of them. Their EP that came out pretty early in the year really got my attention and then their split with Axidance, for which my review was deleted by Blogspot during updates, really made me into a fan. I was not expecting another release, let alone a full-length, from this band this year, but lest to say, I was definitely excited to find it.
In every release thus far from the band, it must be known that they've improved on all fronts. In terms of production, from even the EP that was released earlier this year, the production is much cleaner, the music is a bit more melodic, and the vocals are less black metal and more screamo and hardcore-esque. Previous releases from the band has been a bit more raw and aggressive, very primitive, even while they continued to grow, but this album shows probably the biggest leap, in terms of quality, I've heard from the band yet. The songs on here are arguably the band's most melodic yet, and while that might not sit well with some people, these are without a doubt the most memorable songs the band has written yet. Besides that, these songs are just really fun to listen to, the second half of Колопола in particular just put a grin on my face every single time I listened to it.
One of the things I've come to love about this band is that on all of their recordings, it sounds like a band playing live, albeit a bit cleaner than a rehearsal room recording. Every one of the four musicians on here can be heard clearly in the mix and it really plays a role into them being a four piece that every member helps to make these songs as good as they are. When I said this sounds like a real band playing I meant it, you can clearly hear vocal cracks on a couple of these songs, and that sort of thing adds a bit of a charm to the recording that you don't get from ultra polished releases. This album also has some of the band's most diverse material yet, with clear nods to other genres including folk and post-punk. I also love how the band just go into some really dissonant and chaotic passages that wouldn't be unheard of in a noise rock song, hear Голоса. Don't get me wrong, the band's sound is still heavily rooted in black metal and hardcore punk, but these songs are less in-your-face, more stick-in-your-head types of songs. You still have plenty of fast, short, and aggressive songs on here, like opener Проклятие for example, that recall a bit more of the band's older material, but even songs like those that are a bit more simple-minded in their approach are still the best the band have written to date.
This is a great album that demonstrates this band at their definitive peak as of right now and with every member firing on all cylinders in their respective roles. While I was a fan of the band, I never expected this great a leap in quality from them so soon. Definitely check this band out if you want to hear some fantastic blackened punk that knows how to write good songs.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Колопола, Гори, Гори, Гори, Утро

Altars - Eulogy (2011)

2011-12-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

Band: Altars
Country: Dayton, Ohio
Style: Raw Black Metal/Noise
Label: Triangulum Ignis

Around this time last year I covered the split between Altars and Halla, so it's only appropriate that I cover this new release from them. Yet another awesome release from Triangulum Ignis, quickly becoming one of the better labels covering underground experimental black metal. Along with their first full-length earlier this year, this second album proves to be more of a summation of the year.
Let's just set this straight, I'm up for any new releases from Altars, because they're a great band, but I'm not really sure why this exists. This three track affair features two tracks that have already been released, The Slain God on their first full-length, "Live On Pure Hate," earlier this year and Serment De Sang from their split with Hella. I don't mean to hate on the songs themselves, because pretty much like everything else the band has released, it's of a high quality, I'm just not sure why we need a compilation of this nature. Both songs are quite melodic, by the band's standards, and the band pump out some pretty memorable riffs in both songs. The third track, Something In The Way, is a Nirvana cover that's pretty good, not as good as their Swans cover, but still worth hearing. This track in particular continues the band's recent trek into doom metal with slower overall speed and more a much more dreary atmosphere than any of their past material. By the way, just as a side note, the entire length of this release is just under fifteen minutes, so it is one of the band's longer recordings.
It's a good release from a good band, and shows that Triangulum Ignis do have their ear to the underground and have a good intuition when it comes to releasing good material, I'm just not sure why this release was necessary. I don't cover compilations, and this is one of the few instances I'm doing so because I missed the boat when it came to their debut earlier this year. If you want to hear some great, aggressive black metal, definitely check out Altars in any form.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Something In The Way

Dichotomy Engine - Mass Desolation EP (2011)

2011-12-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Band: Dichotomy Engine
Country: Kula, Serbia
Style: Shoegaze/Drone
Label: Independent

There's always room for something different to close out the year. This Serbian project has been releasing albums for just about three years at this point in various styles, what wouldn't be intriguing about that. This was my first encounter with this project and I was intrigued to say the least upon just looking it up.
Coming into this with the idea that the project supersedes any single genre, I wasn't sure what to expect from this three song EP. Once Consequences began plodding along, you can be sure that this is an interesting idea that project figurehead Dražen Đorđević has come up with. The mixture of shoegazing textures with heavy and plodding guitars is an idea that at times calls back to artists like Jesu and The Angelic Process. While the material on here isn't quite as sonically complex as those groups, this project has a rawer and more visceral noise aspect to it that adds a layer of more rage and anger, as opposed to sorrow and melancholy. Personally, I found the more atmospheric and shoegaze sound on closer Barren Fields to stick out among the three tracks the most with a much clearer sense of identity, if that makes sense. I think that this element really is the project's strongest trait.
It's a decent release that demonstrates some interesting ideas, but doesn't really create a definitive sound on here. Each track does showcase a direction of where the sound could be taken in the future, but nothing is concrete on here. Check it out if dronegaze sounds appealing to you.
Overall Score: 6.5
Highlights: Barren Fields

House of Low Culture - Poisoned Soil (2011)

2011-12-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

Band: House of Low Culture
Country: Los Angeles, California
Style: Experimental Drone/Ambient
Label: Sub Rosa/Taiga

Maybe four years ago, if you had asked me to name you a drone artist or group, the only group I could have told you would have probably been Sunn 0))). My appreciation and enjoyment of the style has probably experience the greatest leap this year. Being a huge fan, like many others, of Aaron Turner's work in Isis, I can safely say that this was another one of the earlier drone acts I found out about.
I can't say how much of this album is based on improvisations that Aaron Turner and wife Faith Coloccia performed or if it's entirely arranged and performed in this manner in mind, but I can tell you that it is an interesting listen. This is an album that abandons most instances of structure in favor of archetypal foundations of noise and ambient soundscapes. You'll find that on these three tracks, you will have a base, or foundation, laid out somewhere near the beginning of the track, and that foundation will usually remain the only constant in the song. While various idea pop in and out at seemingly random instances, that noise remains a constant. Be it loud blast of feedback, the pounding of piano keys, or a choir of voices chanting, that foundation remains the same whilst everything on top shifts and moves around. I will admit that several moments on here can be quite jarring and more than a little unnerving at times.
It should be noted however that while all three of these tracks are foundationally similar, they are all quite different from each other. Opener Spoiled Fruits of The Kingdom is quite schizophrenic in it's arrangement, with that ambient noise base holding the track together. The Ladder That Leads to Nowhere on the other hand is much more rounded and less free-flowing, in my opinion, with a louder and much more aggressive noise being the base giving way to monolithic sized ambiances through choral-esque chanting and synthesized strings. Inappropriate Body acts as an appropriate closer with possibly the most chaotic arrangement on here, though none of it feels as random as the opener. Like I said above, I have no idea how much of this record was improvised and how much of it was arranged, but the fact that only one of these tracks, the opener, feels at all like it was improvised, whether or not it was intended to feel that way, I think is an accomplishment. The randomness of that one track gives way to the more avant-garde arrangements that the other two tracks embody. The album, in my mind anyway, works by moving from random to arranged and structured before giving way to a more controlled chaos in the end. It's an album that is quite hard to digest in full, and I found it best to focus on one track at a time, before finally diving head into the whole thing.
It's an interesting listen that I both enjoyed listening to and thinking about due to it's various sounds. In my opinion, at least some of this had to be improvised, but it's performances like that that kind of give another color to these tracks. Check it out if you think experimental drone, noise, ambient, or maybe even post-rock sounds interesting to you.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Inappropriate Body

Ever Forthright - Ever Forthright (2011)

2011-12-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

Band: Ever Forthright
Country: LongIsland/Purchase, New York
Style: Progressive Death Metal/Metalcore
Label: Myraid

Although the band has been around for a couple of years as an instrumental group, this is their first release with a vocalist. As far as this album was concerned, I can honestly say that I was looking forward to it mainly because I was a fan of the vocalist's, Chris Barretto, past work. This album marks the conclusion of the great, and original, djent debuts for this year.
I, like a good majority of people, first heard of Chris Barretto through his work in Periphery. After the several songs he recorded with them, he moved onto a short-lived stint with Haunted Shores, where he recorded two very good songs for a split with Cyclamen before leaving that project as well. The most recent thing we heard him in was his other band Friend For A Foe, who released a decent EP a couple of months ago. But to be honest, if you've been a fan of his work, this is what you've been waiting for from him, an album which exhibits all of his range, from the guttural lows to his soaring cleans, and be sure, they are all on here. It's a real skill to make what could substitute as a boy-band vocal line fit into a metal album, but Barretto pulls it off with applause, hear the intro to City Limits. You also get the addition of his saxophone playing on here, if only to distinguish him apart from being another vocalist in another band, he's adding another dimension to this band's sound instrumentally as well.
In all honesty, I first heard of Ever Forthright through the site Got-Djent.com, so they are associated with that scene, but while they certainly have that element in their sound, the first real "djent" song isn't until about half-way through the album, Spineless. There are certainly djenty riffs in earlier songs, but none of those songs really dwells too long in that style, instead favoring a mixture of progressive metal intricacies, tech metal proficiency, jazz interludes, and death core brutality, and that's really where this band excels, they manage to fit in elements of all those sounds into their one that, for the better part of the album, works and doesn't really come across sounding like another band. I have yet to hear a band that manages to combine a metal side like this with softer jazz sections like the ones on here, which at times fall straight into smooth jazz territory, almost lounge-esque at times. Though I kind of wish the saxophone was used a bit more in conjunction with the metal bits, like the end of The Little Albert Experiment, I do think their fusion was very well done. But unfortunately, this album does feature some elements that didn't really appeal to me, I was not a fan of the rapping vocals, that accompanied the otherwise extremely catchy Infinitely Inward, which probably would have been one of my favorite tracks on the album if it sounded like a really lame attempt at nu-metal to me. I also wasn't a fan of some of the more bro-core/deathcore moments, I found them a lot more tolerable if only because of all the other elements the band threw in around them.
Overall, I was very impressed with the album and it manged to maintain my attention despite being over an hour in length, which I consider an accomplishment. For the majority of it's playing time, it entertains while demonstrating some very original ideas. Definitely look into this album if you want to hear an interesting new progressive metal group.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Lost In Our Escape, Screen Scenarios, Dispose of Your Optimism

Adrian Weiss - Big Time (2011)

2011-12-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

Band: Adrian Weiss
Country: Düsseldorf, Germany
Style: Progressive Rock/Fusion
Label: Hands of Blue/Guitar-9

When it comes to solo albums by guitarists, I think it agreeable that they fall into two categories, simplified, good and bad. I don't think being a good player should warrant a solo album, but that's what seems to be happening nowadays. I don't cover these sorts of albums a lot, I don't think ever really, and it's not a style I plan on covering all that often anyway, but this one stood out as being worth covering.
First off, I'll explain how I approach listening to solo albums by guitar players. Most of them are absolute rubbish, whether or not you agree, that's what I think. Very few players manage to include any sort of songwriting into their albums and instead focus solely on soloing and shredding till your ears fall off, boring. Players like Guthrie Govan within the last decade and older guys like Allan Holdsworth can pull off instrumental albums because they play well within the confines of a song and can also shred your face off when they feel like it as well. But both those guys come more or less from a background of jazz and fusion, and whatever else you think is in there as well, while a lot of newer guitar solo albums, that I know about mind you, come more from the metal genre. When it comes to Adrian Weiss, he falls somewhere in between the two styles, songwriting and shredding, as well as metal and fusion.
I do think Adrian is talented, obviously, as his solos on here are exhibit a lot of virtuosity and skill, but he can also work within a song's parameters of not being too self-indulgent. Tracks like Tough Luck and show that while there are solo galore throughout a song, it is still very confined to a very simple structure with a central chorus melody. Personally, I do feel that this album does suffer from what I feel plagues a lot of albums of this sort, lack of variety. I don't want to make this album sound like it's one dimensional, which I certainly do give Adrian props for because he does pull off some other ideas well on here, but in an album like this, you really have to make each song stand on it's own because a lot of these songs do end up sounding very similar to each other. I really enjoyed when Adrian went acoustic on songs like Desert Sanctuary or Disappear, because I felt that Bright Awakening was a bit more of a typical power-ballad for this sort of album and not a standout acoustic fusion song, and I wish he would've done that again or gone full-on acoustic and left out all electric guitars on that track, if only to make it stand apart even more from the rest of the other tracks on here. There are times on here where I feel like Adrian does go a bit off the deep-end and go too far into the needless shredding territory, Morning Run, but I'll allow him that since he does restrain himself for the most part throughout the album.
It's a decent slab of instrumental prog-metal/fusion that has some nice ideas in it, but I don't feel is totally on the ball with going full-bore into experimental territory. I would love to hear Adrian just make a full on acoustic song or just go totally fusion in the future, because he clearly shows the potential to do so on here. Check it out if you want to hear some solid instrumental prog/fusion.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Easy On The Ice, Desert Sanctuary, Disappear

King Dude - Love (2011)

2011-12-15T11:22:00.000-08:00

Band: King Dude
Country: Seattle, Washington
Style: Neo-Folk
Label: Dais

When I first heard King Dude a couple of months ago, if that, I couldn't believe what I was hearing in all honesty. His style of trippy acoustic and neo-folk music totally blew me away and I couldn't wait to hear his new album. After listening to, and reviewing "Tonight's Special Death" this was an album I was eagerly anticipating.
I don't know if those of you reading this come to this site all that often, but if you do, you'll know that I tend to favor songs that are on the longer side. When you listen to a King Dude song, the longest song tends to be around three minutes long, which is obviously nothing like an eight-to-ten minute long prog epic. It's within that kind of setting that I find myself most comfortable, but when I listen to this album, or any piece of work from this project of TJ Cowgill, time doesn't matter in the slightest. His one-to-two minute songs are downright amazing, in pretty much every sense of the word. Though I am in no way opposed to short songs, my feelings towards them is that I have to be able to get something out of them which I find more difficult the shorter the song happens to be. These are simple songs that manage to eclipse songs that are nearly three times as long as any of them in how they're presented, how they resonate with each other, and how memorable each of them are.
In comparison to "Tonight's Special Death," this record features a lot more atmosphere. The whole thing sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of a parking garage due to all the echo and reverb that encompasses these songs. Despite that, it's still a very natural sound that actually makes me think of nature, rivers flowing, mist covering mountains, morning dew on the plants, that sort of stuff. Cowgill manages to fit so much emotion within a very minimal time frame as well as through his stern and rather unflinchingly cold voice. In my opinion, this is Cowgill's most varied collection of songs yet, with songs ranging from the rather austere Please Stay (In The Shadow of My Grave) to the more "poppy" Spiders In Her Hair, each displays a different characteristic to his songwriting style. Despite how each of these songs is presented, they each have a sort of meditational quality to them that makes it sound like mini-ritual of sorts.
It's a fantastic album that definitely should bring in a bunch of new fans to King Dude. It's just one of those albums that sticks out as being in a league of its own. I can't recommend this highly enough, definitely, check this record out.
Overall Score: 9.5
Highlights: Every Track Is A Highlight

Tenhi - Saivo (2011)

2011-12-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

Band: Tenhi
Country: Helsinki, Finland
Style: Progressive/Dark Folk
Label: Prophecy Productions

I'll admit that I've only become a fan of the various sub-genres of folk music within the last several months, but Tenhi was probably the only band I listened to before looking into the genre that I could say I was a fan of beforehand. Around the same time I found Agalloch, several years ago, I found Tenhi. I will acknowledge Tenhi as the first folk group that I ever became a fan of.
It's curious because Tenhi are a very respected group within the neo-folk, whatever folk genres, and I think it's because they have been willing to experiment with other styles beyond just their folk roots. Their embrace of post-rock, neo-classical music, dark ambient, and to an extent even a bit of jazz as well. It's their experimental nature, along with their hazy and huge dark atmosphere, that has made me a fan of the band for so long. It's very rare that I have found a Tenhi album that I haven't just fallen in love with for it's atmosphere alone, and this one is no exception. Tenhi has never embraced the big and uplifting melodies within their sound, instead remaining largely somber and melancholic throughout each of their releases, something I admire deeply and have the utmost respect for.
But onto the sound of this record. While the sound that Tenhi has established for themselves hasn't changed too much over the course of their four previous full-length albums, it's important to note the level of consistency in their work as well as the attention to detail and atmosphere. I do find this record to be a darker one than 2006's "Airut: Aamujen" was, which I hope will only make more people check the band out because it is a darker release. Previous albums have experimented with different production styles as much as sonic experiments, and in my mind, this is the biggest sounding I can remember hearing the band. I found the piano and guitar harmonies syncopation on here to be very high caliber in their execution as well, hear the closing moments of Haaksi for example, as well as the basslines that the cello that were used on Vuoksi. These being just two examples of how I think the band excel in their craft of somber but entrancing folk music.
It's a great album with excellent songs that are just beautifully crafted and performed, and that's the least I can say about it. It's not my favorite Tenhi album, but it's not their worst, not that they have a bad album. Definitely check this album and band out if you want to hear some fantastic folk music, it's as simple as that.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Uloin, Haaksi, Siniset Runot

Nucleus Torn - Golden Age (2011)

2011-12-14T09:54:00.000-08:00

Band: Nucleus Torn
Country: Ittigen, Switzerland
Style: Neo-Folk/Folk Metal
Label: Prophecy Productions

I'm not sure if it's obvious or not, but folk metal is not a style of metal that I particularly care for. More often than not, a lot of the bands that are tagged with "folk metal" are bands that sing about booze and parties while they dress up like vikings, very few groups actually incorporate folk music into their music though. Nucleus Torn is a band I've only become familiar with within the last six months of so but have absolutely fallen for them.
I should make a note about the style of this band to all those that have not yet heard Nucleus Torn yet because this is not your average folk metal, as I just pointed out above. It's not danceable, party metal, this falls more in line with neo-folk and singer-songwriter music most of the time and only bridges into metal on certain occasions. What that means for those of you who aren't aware of those styles is that you will hear more somber, acoustic guitar led sections and songs more often than a heavy and pounding metal section, and that goes for their entire discography really. If it helps you imagine it, the opening title-track, Golden Age, is twelve minutes long and doesn't cross into heavy distorted guitars once, not that it ever needed to. In addition to that, there's quite a bit of variety in terms of instruments on here, it's not a only a guitar led album. Throughout all of the band's work you'll find the use of piano, flute, upright bass, dulcimer, violin, and cello, among other instruments used within their songs. They manage to create such a lush and orchestral sound without really going into cheesy or overly complex arrangements, something I hold in quite a high regard and definitely commend them for being able to do.
When putting this album next to some of their other material, it doesn't stand out as being quite as dark as their earlier work. Saying that shouldn't make you imagine more uplifting parts, but it's a lot less melancholic all the time, if that makes sense. I don't believe I've heard the band cross into territory that's so beautifully mournful as on Silver before. I probably should have said above that this is absolutely beautiful music, when it's soft it sounds so delicate and quiet and turns out to be quite moving. When this thing goes distorted though, it can be used to either go full-on blackened death metal kind of way, which it does in the closer Death Triumphant, or it can be used more as an accompaniment to enhance the power of a part. Ash is not a heavy song, it's still very contained within the folk realm for most of it's running time, but when the distorted guitars are used, it isn't used to bring in a sense of anger or rage, but enhance the power of the melancholic beauty. The closer is really what I consider to be the only real "metal" song on the album, and Christian Kolf, of Owl and Valborg among others, guests on vocals and brings an interesting take to the song. I'd also say that this album flows a lot more than the other material as well, as each track does lead into the next quite seamlessly, though whether or not that's intentional I'm not sure of because each song still stands on it's own.
This isn't a band I anticipate people just jumping into because they aren't really "metal" all that often. Personally, I think these guys are creating some of the most beautiful music this side of Anathema and Devin Townsend. Definitely check it out if you're interested in real folk music with elements of metal thrown into the mix.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Golden Age, Death Triumphant

Dark Suns - Orange (2011)

2011-12-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

Band: Dark Suns
Country: Leipzig, Germany
Style: Progressive Rock/Jazz-Rock
Label: Prophecy Productions

This is an album I knew nothing about until I actually saw it on a couple sites, I didn't even know Dark Suns was working on a new album. Back when I was going through my initial progressive death metal phase, starting with Opeth and moving outwards, Dark Suns was one of the bands that definitely stuck out to me. In all honesty, I had thought the band might have broken up.
While Dark Suns was definitely a band that never made the same album twice, all three of their prior albums was an interesting take on progressive metal, I don't think anyone expect this album. As soon as the album opens, you as a listener will enter into a world devoid of most metal influences. This is an album which embraces the sounds of early and vintage progressive, psychedelic, and jazz rock, much like what albums from Opeth and Steven Wilson did earlier this year. Sounds coming from the likes of King Crimson, The Soft Machine, and Still Life are all bleeding out from the band on here, and whether you love it or hate it, it will certainly leave an impression on you.
I know the retro-prog sound is kind of getting a boost this year thanks to bands like these guys and Opeth really just taking a chance and removing most metal from their sounds, but I have to say that just like Opeth, these guys pulled it off in my opinion. Maybe it's just because I actually like music from the 60s and 70s a lot so I'm a lot more inclined to like this sort of album more than others but I think it's pulled off well. The vintage, barely distorted guitars that litter the record, the sedated organs that pump through nearly every track, and the occasional bursts of horns that just bring a sense of vitality to the album are all instances of a band taking a chance. A lot of these songs are also some of the shortest that the band has ever released, with the first half of the album's songs dwelling within the three minute frame. It's on songs like these where the band are throwing a more concise and melodic sound at you, the second half of the album, in my opinion, is more of a progressive listen. Not that they've made use of growling too much after their first full-length, but this album features the best vocal performances from Niko Knappe, also on drums, yet. His vocals go from a nice and relaxed sort of croon to King Diamond-esque falsettos, hear That Is Why They All Hate You In Hell. His use of harmonies is also a lot more developed, on Vespertine I hear a bit of Queen, but that might just be me. I enjoyed the horns on here as well, and I'm not usually a fan of brass instruments, but I think they added a nice flair to the album and I kind of wish the band had used them a little bit more throughout the album.
It's certainly not a record that everyone will enjoy, but like I said above, I'm kind of predisposed to liking this sort of stuff. While I do think there are some songs that are better than others, as a whole, it works. Definitely check it out if you're interested in a sort of retro-prog and jazz-fusion record.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Eight Quiet Minutes, Ghost, Antipole

Hazzard's Cure - Hazzard's Cure (2011)

2011-12-13T10:26:00.000-08:00

Band: Hazzard's Cure
Country: San Francisco, California
Style: Sludge Metal/Doom Metal
Label: Lummox/Stop Go Destroy Tapes

Sludge metal is a genre that really has no business being super polished and pristine sounding. Sludge metal should, as the name suggests, be dirty and crusty sounding; I really don't understand how we've come to a point where sludge metal can be defined as something that's polished and covered in a shine. As you can probably tell, this is not what you can expect from this record.
What you can expect from this is a very primal and true-to-form sort of sound, it's not called sludge for nothing. The production on here really leaves the band sounding authentic and live sounding, which suits the music the band plays very well. The whisky soaked blues riffs and punch-drunk thrash blasts serve to be treated to a more live sounding production that makes it feel like the band is playing live, only just a bit cleaner. There isn't anything on here that'll make you feel like you're listening to a machine playing these songs. The only thing I might have done differently, production, or rather the mix, wise would have been to put the vocals a little bit higher, but not by much, the production is really quite good on here.
In terms of songwriting, I do believe these guys show a lot of promise and talent in their respective style. Like I said above, the riffs tend to be more blues based but often bring in a couple of other elements as well. There are clear nods to the doom metal and stoner rock genre mixed along with their sludge-meets-thrash sound. There are also a couple of sections to recall bits of black metal as well, which I particularly enjoyed. The use of tremolo picked sections or the occasional break into short blast-beats brought an interesting flavor to the album that I do believe helps to separate them from the legions of other sludge groups out right now. I also thought that when the band went into a quiet moment, Clashing of Hordes for example, it did the track a world of good because it not only brought in a more diverse sounding dichotomy within the track, but they played it straight and it sounded great, it helped make the track in my opinion. Now, I do have one gripe about the sound of the band, and it's more of a personal thing, I'm sure others could either get over it or they might even enjoy it a lot, but I just can't get into some of the really cheesy vocal lines or lyrics, Prayer of The Hunted comes to mind when I say this. For me, I can certainly understand the whole mythical sort of lyrical side, and it's not a subject I usually address, but I just found some of the lyrics to be rather intrusive and kind of just make me cringe during a couple of parts in an otherwise pretty cool song.
All in all though, it's a very solid slab of sludge with quite a bit of other influences peeking through. I think these guys definitely have talent and are very skilled songwriters, a band to keep an eye on for sure. Check it out if you like sludge, stoner, or doom metal, you will not be disappointed by this.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Meet Me At The Mountain, Clashing of Hordes, Great Dishonor

O.68 - Elend (2011)

2011-12-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

Band: O.68
Country: Regensburg, Germany
Style: Industrial/Doom Metal
Label: Ominous Silence

Let's talk about some doom that I'm really late on covering. Back when this was originally released it got quite a bit of good press, and I remember listening to a couple of tracks back then and then just sort of moving onto other things. Here's me making up for letting this album slip through the cracks.
It has to be said that unlike the last few years, this year has had quite a few very good doom records. A lot of the records to come from the doom metal genre, that I've heard this year have had some excellent songwriting and musicianship on them as well as containing interesting deviations from the regular and straightforward approach that you'll find in most records in the genre. O.68's debut full-length proves to follow along with that trend by releasing an album with no guitar, which means that the lead instrument on here is bass. I know that the idea of bass being the lead instrument for an album might not sound too appealing to you, but I'll tell you right now that it does work. What makes it stand out from being an album with lots and lots of low-end is the fact that on here, not only is bass used as a leading instrument, but it also provides additional help in providing soundscapes to these songs. Whether it be through drones or just heavily processed effects, you find that it's the type of album that can change your perception on an instrument.
Despite being a doom metal record, one of the things that makes this record stand out among other doom metal albums, not just this year, but really within the last several years, is the diversity in it. Coming in knowing that this is a doom metal record could possibly be the best way to approach this record because you will get various sub-genres explored on here. Whether it be the funeral doom inspired opening of Mournau or the more traditional sounding and mid-paced doom of Abkehr, there is more variety on here than one might expect coming into a doom release. I did find the bluesy nature of some of these songs, Mother of Negation for instance, to be quite interesting due to a riff being played on the bass did bring a different sort of vibe to an otherwise standard blues kind of riff. I have to be forthcoming with you and say that the first couple of times I listened to this album, I found it extremely boring, I still find the opener to be a bit too long for me, but the more you listen to this, the more it starts to grow on you. I would love to hear the project write songs that either express a more experimental side, like the last track, The Lowest Day, or put out more catchy material in shorter lengths because I feel that this project can do both very well and I think in the future, these features will only be strengthened further.
I think it's a very solid slab of doom that definitely sticks it to a lot of purists who think that bass can't lead a project like this successfully. I doubt that this is going to change someone's view on doom but it's certainly an album that should not be ignored. It's not perfect, but I think that if you're a doom metal fan, this is a record you should definitely check out and add to your catalog.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Abkehr, Mother of Negation, Mortal

Cold Body Radiation - Deer Twillight (2011)

2011-12-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

Band: Cold Body Radiation
Country: Netherlands
Style: Blackgaze/Post-Rock
Label: Dusktone

I'm sure I'm totally out of line, as well as being flat out wrong, in saying this, but I'd like to think I gave Cold Body Radiation some of it's first press. This one-man project released an album that was one of the better post-black metal/blackgaze releases of last year. For those who have become fans of the project, like myself, anticipation was high to see how this new one would differ from his debut.
Now let's be up front with this, Cold Body Radiation's debut was a blackgaze record, it had all the trademark elements. That record was very atmospheric but featured fuzzy distorted guitars, poppy beats, and bass lines that were quite loud in the mix. While several of those elements are retained for this album, to call them black metal in any way would be selling this as something that it's not anymore. With the removal of most of the black metal elements from the project's sound, what you have here is a shoegaze and post-rock record. Don't get me wrong, there are still distorted guitars, but they're used as a more atmospheric device rather than providing any sort of leading melody in a song. Even on the most intense moments of this album, the semi-black metal song Concept of Forever, while there are blast-beats, screamed vocals, and tremolo picked guitars, it is by no means heavy, or really even distorted to be honest. This essentially shows that sonically, as much as this album does try to be "black metal", it still lies inside the realm of being more post-rock. Or maybe the whole point is to continue being blackgaze, I might be assuming.
While I thought his debut was "pretty" sounding, I think that it can said that this album is much more "pretty." As the album tends to dwell within cleaner guitar passages, huge sounding atmospheres, and whispered vocals, though screams and the occasional singing section is used they are still pretty quiet, this album definitely falls more into the post-rock category more than the metal one, but one could definitely still argue this as a blackgaze record. Obvious comparisons to Alcest will pop up, and they aren't completely unwarranted, but I'd say that this project is maybe a bit more song oriented than his French brethren. To be honest, this album doesn't really come into it's own, songwriting wise, until The Night Reveals, the third track. I should say that the sound is rightly established from the opening guitar line of the album, but the first two songs unfortunately lack any sort of memorable guitar or vocal line, something the ladder portion of the album definitely rectifies.
It's a nice and solid album with some decent qualities that I'm sure quite a few people will enjoy. I think it's a step up in songwriting, but idea wise, it's still feels a bit inconsistent to me. Check it out if you're into the whole blackgaze or post-rock sort of thing.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: The Night Reveals, Shimmer, Yes, Maybe The Stars

Ignifer - Le Jardin Des Supplices EP (2011)

2011-12-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

Band: Ignifer
Country: Berlin, Germany
Style: Post-Black Metal/Blackgaze
Label: Independent

For a band to release a single song as their first release can honestly be a bit frustrating. If the song is good, you always want more, while if it's bad, you really have nothing else to compare it to in terms of quality. That's what you have with this debut release, one song.
So, to start off, this is a twenty minute track, so you are in for a long ride. After an introductory violin passage, we get the real meat and potatoes of this track. I have to be frank and say that the vocals on here are just atrocious, they are honestly terrible. You have a very limited range that goes from a decent and low moan to a very high, annoyingly high, screech that sounds like a baby crying, or someone squeezing a cat, it's just terrible. Musically, this band doesn't venture outside of the whole post-black metal/blackgaze box that has been established by groups like Alcest and Lantlôs, only not nearly as creative or interesting as either of them. I'll give it to them that while most of the time these guys are going aggressive, their guitar tone is a lot cleaner than a lot of their piers. I'll even give it to them that their production is a little bit clearer as well. These guys just aren't really doing anything that I haven't heard done before. The violin section returns at the end of the track, which in all honesty, are the two best parts of the track for me.
While this review probably makes this sound atrocious, it isn't really as bad as I probably made it out to be, except the vocals. Musically, it's not all that bad, just pretty average for the style that the band's playing really. If you're a fan of post-black metal/blackgaze groups, check it out but be wary or it.
Overall Score: 4
Highlights: There's Only One Track

Antipope - House of Harlot (2011)

2011-12-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

Band: Antipope
Country: Oulu, Finland
Style: Avant-Garde Black Metal/Gothic Metal
Label: Violent Journey

Last year Antipope released their second album "Desert" and I totally missed the chance to cover it. It was one of many records that I had intended to cover last year but ran out of time to do so, so here's me redeeming myself, sort of. This is the band's third full-length, which is following up their last one, which followed an album in 2006.
If there's anything I can be certain of in this review it's that if you like traditional black metal, you will not like this album. This is an album, and a band, that take a lot of chances in their music. Beyond their black metal background, a lot of what's on here is far removed from that style, and in it's place you find a strange electronic sort of gothic kind of album. In all honesty I never got around to listening to last year's "Desert" just because I had other things to do, so I can't really say that this album too dissimilar from that, but this is much different than what I anticipated from it. Now while I did say it was a gothic album, I feel that it would be unfair of me to not say that it isn't nearly as bad or cheesy as a lot of records that come from that genre. You'll find elements of thrash, black, and traditional heavy metal on here used along side the gothic and electronic sounds. So in regards to it being lame solely based on that it's a gothic metal album, totally disregard that argument all together.
The songwriting on here is pretty decent, it unfortunately does carry with it some of the gothic tendencies that lead to certain tracks just not working, The World Coming Down is just terrible in my opinion and it doesn't work. The band are at their best when they are being more aggressive because their melodic side always carries through a track. The heavier the track, the better it turns out being, in my opinion, as the softer tracks on here just sound so contrived and lifeless. A track like To A Passer-By In Black sound so dull and uninspired next to tracks like Waratah which showcase the band's heavier side, but also are much better written songs. That leads me to what is probably my biggest complaint about this album, the songwriting is just spotty, some tracks are good, some are alright, and others are just bad. Closer Happiness In Crime is probably the closest thing you'll get to the entire album being summed up in a single track, which actually puts the album in a good light because the track is well written and constructed, with nice dynamics through it's soft acoustic opening, heavy metal chorus, and psychedelic middle and closing sections.
It's alright, but I guessed I had just hoped for more from this album. I figure that while this may not really be my sort of album, there will be others who will enjoy it's sound a lot more. Definitely look this album up if you want to hear some experimental gothic metal.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Communion, Morning Star, Waratah

Lamentations of The Ashen - EKIMMV (2011)

2011-12-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

Band: Lamentations of The Ashen
Country: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Style: Depressive Black Metal/Blackgaze
Label: Independent

First impressions can often be wrong. That phrase has been said before and has rung true many, many times before and it has proved me wrong again. I was aware of this album when it was first released on the internet but ignored it and until I was sent an email about it, I was most likely never going to listen to it.
Last year Lamentations of The Ashen's sole member Bon Vincent Fry released his full-length debut, "In The Burden of The Heart’s Plaint” and I was not really a big fan of it. What you had within that record was fairly typical depressive and ambient black metal along the lines of Xasthur and other acts of a similar nature. When it came to the depressive black metal genre, it just didn't do anything for me, though there were some decent spots on it. By comparison, Bon has really stepped up his game for this sophomore album because things have really changed. No longer could this project be seen as just another depressive act, and as much as some might dislike progress from a project coming from this scene, it is for the better.
On this album, you essentially have four "real" tracks, three if you count the intro as a song, and then an outro. Those three tracks in the middle are long and epic pieces of blackened doom metal, drone, and blackgaze. The quality of each of these tracks far exceeds anything that was on the last album, and while I did find the first of the three, Eventide Sentinels Bedecked With Ineffable Twilight, to be rather too long winded, it's the shortest of the three and proves to be the least entertaining. Veiled In Clairaudient Litany, the longest on here which manages to top twenty minutes, is actually the best song on here. Throughout it's elongated course, you get an exceptional piece of blackgaze/post-black metal that shifts between blackened post-rock melodies to full-blown post-rock calm sections with acoustic guitars and stark ambiances. While it's nothing new for the genre, it is, essentially, everything that sub-sub-genre has come to be known for and it's done very well and manages to keep things interesting throughout the entire piece. Then there's Viperine Shades Linger Quiescent Among Erstwhile Passions, which is the most aggressive track on the entire album, while still dwelling within the whole blackgaze kind of sound, it's a more obvious attempt at writing a more aggressive sounding black metal track. There are clear moments that do bring more of that post-rock element back into the forefront of the song, but they were natural and didn't actually feel forced in or fake. The closer then brings back the piano from the intro and precedes to finish the album in an ambient fashion. All in all, it's a solid piece of work.
Overall, it's a major step up in my opinion from the debut and is much more appealing. While these songs do prove to be a bit too longer, most of them do provide ideas that justify their lengths enough to say they're not major faults in the album. Check it out if you want to hear a better take on depressive blackened doomgaze metal whatever genres.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Veiled In Clairaudient Litany, Viperine Shades Linger Quiescent Among Erstwhile Passions

Omitir - Cotard (2011)

2011-12-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

Band: Omitir
Country: Santo Tirso, Portugal
Style: Experimental/Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: The Path Less Traveled

When I first saw this album, I was intrigued about it because it's description told me that it was depressive black metal, but it was experimental. I was curious, but I didn't check it out until I read a review for the album where it was highly praised and it sounded really interesting. If you called this depressive, you obviously haven't listened to enough bad projects playing that style.
You know what, I'll come out and say that opening your album, if you're a metal band anyway, with an ambient soundscape for the first three minutes of your first song takes balls. While it may not be an original idea and I'm sure several other groups have done it before, I still find that doing so shows that you have real confidence in your own work and enough of it to believe that it won't loose listeners by doing so. I - Foco Abrupto does so for this album before moving into what could only be described as avant-garde atmospheric black metal. Riffs range from straightforward black metal tremolo picking to cleaner passages where one could almost call it "post" if it didn't tread on dissonant territory more often than harmony.
What has stuck out to me, and others who've heard the album, has been the amazing saxophone work that is used throughout this album. It's not just something used in the background, there are sections within these songs where you get crazy leads on a sax. In addition to just giving the album the oddity that it makes use of the saxophone on here, it fits even when it's providing more of a texture in the background of a song. Along with the odd use of piano on the track VI - Em Vidro, it's hardly standard. However, the rest of the album is not without merit, with nearly every song on here bringing an interesting brand of atmospheric black metal with a slightly depressive edge to it. Beyond that inkling in the atmospherics of the album, you won't find much else to link to what I assumed would be a depressive black metal album. It's an album with a lot of atmosphere and ambiance, and while the guitars certainly bring the heavy quality to it, it really isn't as heavy, fast, aggressive, melodic, or brooding as a lot of other black metal records. Now, I'm not one for samples in my music, I usually find them distracting and useless to a song, but on here, they actually manage to help set the mood for what ensues once they pass. The closing minutes of VII - "Belle Indiference" where the song In Heaven from David Lynch's famous film Eraserhead is sampled actually winds up gently lulling the listener out of the rather dank haze that was this album.
It's a very solid record that is definitely pushing the boundaries for one-man black metal groups, even though the drums were done by someone else. It's an odd little album, and I'd probably love it just for that, but it is so much more. I hope you check this out if you're into experimental black metal, I doubt you'll be disappointed with this.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: II - Dor Sumbersa, IV - O Dramaturgo, VII - "Belle Indiference"

Murw - Kanker (2011)

2011-12-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

Band: Murw
Country: The Hague, Netherlands
Style: Atmospheric/Experimental Black Metal
Label: Heidens Hart

I have to be honest and say that I had never heard of this band before being sent this album. Upon looking them up I found a band that was being called depressive which seemed pretty odd to me. I was very interested in this album which I hadn't seen all that much about, and apparently there isn't much out there about it.
Like I just mentioned above, I found it hard when I first skimmed through the album to find any traces that would allow this to be labeled as depressive. The four tracks that make up this album bring a lot to the table actually, and the qualities found within that sub-genre are few and far between on here. There's a lot of atmospheric qualities found in here, but I also found a lot of progressive and doom influences as well. It's quite the abstract little piece because these songs are far from being "regular" black metal songs and express some quite odd and avant-garde tendencies. A lot of the riffing is not typical of black metal, at times calling more into a doomier vibe while not really conforming to that style either, listen to Als Sneeuw Voor De Zon and hopefully I described that well enough. There are moments on here where things do get melancholic, but I'd say that those moments still have more in common with doom than any sort of depressive kind of comparison.
These guys do a great job, in my opinion, of creating quite a weird sounding ambiance. Through all the odd riffs and melodies used on here, as well as the keyboards, you get a very different sounding atmosphere than one might expect. In my head, there are moments, in the background atmospheres, where I kind of get a Nachtmystium kind of vibe, where it's sort of psychedelic and trippy, but very dark and hazy. The ideas present on here are the types of ideas I think more bands should start to include because there are several moments that break away from metal and seem to go off into almost improvisation and flights of fancy. Along with that, I have to say that the production does this album a lot of justice as well because every player can be heard and there are sections where it seems like every player just starts doing whatever they want but it all comes together on point. Album closer Artificiality is probably the easiest track to digest because it is the most melodic while still retaining a lot of the unique characteristics the band expressed throughout the rest of the album. In all honesty, there wasn't a dull moment on here.
I didn't know what to expect coming into this album, but by the end of it I was thoroughly impressed with it. It's a relatively short album but each song covers a lot of ground so it never gets boring in the least. Definitely check this out if you haven't yet, this is really cool experimental black metal.
Overall Score: 9.5
Highlights: Every Track Is A Highlight

Klabautamann - The Old Chamber (2011)

2011-12-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

Band: Klabautamann
Country: Meckenheim, Germany
Style: Progressive Black Metal
Label: Zeitgeister Music

I first heard Klabautamann on their last record, 2009's "Merkur," and I fell in love with them. My fascination with all things progressive and avant-garde in the world of black metal honestly has never lead me astray in those sub-genres and Klabautamann is just one of those great examples of that genre never really disappointing me. This has been one of my most anticipated releases for this year since I found out about it a couple of months ago.
Before the album was released the band had said that this album was going to strip their sound back from the more progressive sound of their previous work and were going to make a more straightforward sounding album. Having said that, straightforward for this band is still pretty far from being traditional sounding black metal. The folk and prog-rock, and jazz to an extent, elements are still very present in these songs, with very few moments on here actually recalling more simplistic forms of brutality. In fact, a lot of this album isn't even all that fast, most of it is pretty mid-tempo actually, which in turn has brought out some really great riffs in these songs. I could see several of these tracks definitely appealing to someone who is into less experimental black metal because a lot of these tracks don't move from heavy to soft all that much, in fact almost never at all.
As of right now, I can't say that the duo who make up Klabautamann have written a bad song. The songs on here are no doubt not as progressive as a lot of the material they've released before, but instead gives more a more mid-paced, riff oriented, and atmospheric take on their own brand of black metal. I know some people have been disappointed by this, but I don't think it's all that big a letdown because it's still a lot better than a lot of other stuff out there that attempts to do a similar style. Tracks like Gloom and Black Rain really demonstrate why this album is good, besides the fact that it's a Klabautamann record. These two songs have nice mid-tempo riffs that bring two different sides to the band out, the more melodic on the former and a more progressive on the ladder. Besides that though, this is an album that is definitely more song based, and it's great that most of the songs on here are expertly written and performed. It's hard to be disappointed in an album like this when the songs are just catchy and memorable, sorry if you feel differently.
I know some have expressed their disappointment in this album, but to me it's another great offering from this band. I will say that it doesn't top "Merkur" in my opinion, it's certainly very, very good. Definitely check out this album if you want to hear some mid-paced black metal songs that are just really well written.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Bog Spawn, Gloom, Black Rain

Cormorant - Dwellings (2011)

2011-12-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

Band: Cormorant
Country: Novato, California
Style: Progressive Black Metal
Label: Independent

What might be odd is that I found out, originally, about Cormorant back when their first album "Metazoa" was coming out. The odd part is in that I found them whilst looking up melodic death metal bands. I remember really being into that album when it came out, I can't say I've given it a whole lot of time since starting this blog though (I could say that about a lot of albums though).
The important thing to know about this record, and band really, is that despite having plenty of death and black metal influences, I'd put them more into the league of progressive metal than either of the other genres. The reason I think this is mainly due to the fact that if you remove the vocals, a lot of the riffing falls into much more technical realm of play. A lot of these songs are extremely proggy and would definitely not play well to a fan of traditional extreme metal. Ideas are constantly being shifted and changed around within the songs and you'll find that a song never ends where it has begun. Each track is like a small journey of sorts with every riff change taking you somewhere different. Like I said, it's more blackened progressive metal than progressive black metal in my opinion, and with that being said, you have various style melding like death metal, jazz, blues, and folk music, and each transition is pulled off with a high level of musicianship and shows a cautious and meticulous dedication to the craft of songwriting, as a track like A Howling Dust shows with gusto. Every one of these tracks never once feels as long as they actually are, and I know I say that a lot, but if a song manages to cross the ten minute mark, closer Unearthly Dreamings, and not even feel half as long as it actually is, I consider that a major accomplishment because it means that a song is interesting enough to keep my attention, in this case, without losing it.
Having said all that, I can't say that this album got me as worked up as it's done to a lot of other people. I've read a couple of reviews for this album which have given it perfect scores, and that's all well and good, someone else's opinion, but this just never struck me in my various listenings to it as a total mind blowing album. It's certainly very good and performed impeccably, I can't take that away from the band, but I just didn't find it to reach as high a level as I kind of expected it to. I know that this might surprise some people because this stuff is essentially my bread and butter when it comes to metal, I usually love this sort of stuff. In my opinion, the production is a little too bright for me, when it comes to any band playing some sort of black metal, I tend to like them not to have a brighter sounding production, but that's just a personal qualm that I doubt will have any bearing on someone else's view of the album.
It honestly wasn't surprising that this album was good, I knew that it would be, and I actually got more out of it than I thought I would. I'm probably in the minority in thinking that this album isn't perfect, but it is still very very good. It's a nice piece of work that will not disappoint fans of more progressive forms of extreme metal. Check it out if you don't mind that.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Funambulist, A Howling Dust, Unearthly Dreamings

Dwellers of The Twilight - Sycophant (2011)

2011-12-08T10:46:00.000-08:00

Band: Dwellers of The Twilight
Country: Paris, France
Style: Atmospheric Black Metal/Blackened Death Metal
Label: Independent

Dwellers of The Twilight is one of those projects that really expanded what I thought of black metal a couple of years ago. At the time when I heard "Gray," I had never heard something as raw and mechanical before. What else would you expect from two freaks with bags over their heads?
As far as I know, this album has been finished for quite some time now and is only being released because the duo couldn't find a label to release it, if I'm wrong please correct me. Besides that, musically you find the duo expanding the sound demonstrated on their debut. While their debut was coined as being "atmospheric", it was a very claustrophobic album to listen to because it retained an intensity that usually isn't found within that sub-genre. This album by comparison is more open atmospherically, not by much, but enough to give you as a listener some breathing room. The duo have also brought in a bit more of a thrash element, hear Dark Matter Lungs, into their sound, especially in the drum-programming, which does give the album as a whole a bit more diversity between the blasting sections.
I'll be straightforward and say that this is a better album than the debut. First of all, the songs are just a lot more memorable and catchy, to an extent easier to digest, but not by much. Tracks like Explorers and Self Conspiracy just stick out with just ripping riffing that's creative while remaining very traditional to black metal tremolo picking. Like I said above, songs are less compact and dense sounding and have a bit more room, which can also be said about the song's lengths. While not by much, the songs on here are a bit longer, with several being over five minutes, which is long for a band who's debut featured songs that rarely even topped four minutes. Along with that, I feel that the band have also become more comfortable embracing different tempos, because the debut was more along the fast side, where as this is much more varied in speeds. All of these things add up to a much more enjoyable album, for myself, and led me to listening to the album quite a few times in a row. I know that in the grand scheme of things, some of the ideas on here aren't original or unique, but I feel that these guys do an impressive job at keeping a very blackened core in tact while toying around with other ideas.
I was very impressed by this album and I like how the duo have grown and progressed. This album was certainly worth the wait and I can only hope that a label decides to pick them up because this is very solid. Definitely look into it if you want to hear a band experiment with various ideas while retaining a black metal core.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Skeptics, Fastwalkers, Terraformer

Noir Noir - V.I.T.R.I.O.L. (2011)

2011-12-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

Band: Noir Noir
Country: Spain
Style: Blackened Noise/Power Electronics
Label: Triangulum Ignis

I know when I talk about stuff like this, it isn't exactly the most popular thing, but it's good stuff. Blackened noise is a style that isn't a super appealing genre, or sub-genre, but when you find some good stuff, it's really really good. Triangulum Ignis is proving to be extremely intelligent when it comes to signing good groups within this style.
I should preface this review by saying first off that this is not an album that relies all that heavily on "metal", despite the fact that I do believe it to be a part of that blackened noise scene. It's in there, make no mistake that there are times when that black metal element does pop out at you, but you'll notice ideas that are coming from straight-up noise, industrial, dark ambient, and drone music are a lot more noticeable and common on here. The ideas present on here, no matter what "genre" and "style" they may fall into do all have that blackened kind of vibe to them though, which is what made this release so cool to me. The noise felt like it could have been used along side a super raw black metal riff, but instead it just sort of remains there, moving around almost in a psychedelic way, almost, and just keeping you listening. Thing shift around very subtlety and odd noises and samples are placed on top occasionally, How to Become A Vulture Party for instance, where children laughing was used. Strangest Words proves to be the first real breakthrough of black metal on the album, which is half-way through it, and after that, you'll find those more traditional black metal ideas a bit clearer on the songs that follow.
I'm not sure how people will feel about this but sonically, if you were looking for comparisons to other artists, I think projects like Utarm and Gnaw Their Tongues follow along a similar sort of path as Noir Noir here. While I don't think Noir Noir ever really reach the sheer levels of depravity and perversion that GTT has done or ever brings as much of a black metal sound as Utarm, I think if you liked either of those artists, you could find something in here as well. Personally, I found the electronic influences on here to be kind of hit-or-miss. Honestly, I think the use of them does bring an interesting air and vibe to the last two tracks on the album, but I just didn't really get the dance-beats and almost dubstep elements on Suono. I think the use of them definitely separates this project from the two above, which is why I mention it last, but I just think that their use could have been worked into the project's sound a bit better.
The greater majority of the album is very good and definitely showcase a nice beginning to a very cool project. Like I said, a lot of very solid ideas, they just need to work out how to meld them together a bit more. It's solid and I think if you're into experimental black metal or blackened noise, you'd definitely enjoy this.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: How to Become A Vulture Party, V.I.T.R.I.O.L., Strangest Words

Neige et Noirceur - Hymnes de la Montagne Noire (2011)

2011-12-07T10:46:00.000-08:00

Band: Neige et Noirceur
Country: Montreal, Canada
Style: Ambient Black Metal
Label: Sepulchral Productions

In the last decade or so, maybe not even that long, the Canadian underground black metal scene has really risen to prominence. Groups like Gris, Monarque, and Forteresse have been given quite a bit of good press within the last couple of years bringing much more acclaim to the Canadian scene. Neige et Noirceur is another one of those groups to gain a bit of good press, but is one of my favorites.
NeN, as I will refer to the project from this point on, has been the draw of attention in the Canadian scene thanks to the focus on atmosphere that the project has always personified. While always including plenty of doom, folk, and drone elements into the project's past releases, this album is devoted, for the most part, to the brutality of it's black metal side, not to say the other sections have been removed of course. Like previous releases, it's a pretty cold and brutal listen due to how everything works in conjunction with each other. From the atmosphere to the buzzing distorted guitars and soft acoustic passages, that severe sense of freezing cold and isolation remains. I can't speak much about the original version of Les Bûcherons, which closes the album out, but it definitely works within Zifond's sound. The song is definitely the most out of character for the album, as it brings just as much doom as black metal, as the album is rooted more heavily in black metal, as I said above.
I do have to give props to Zifond because the bass on here is extremely clear and warm in the mix. It really just pops out, which I assume could be misconstrued as a bad thing, but I like those sort of things. I think, personally, that it's great to see Zifond also start condensing songs down into shorter lengths. In the past, I have felt that some of the ideas he presented in longer tracks did kind of drag on for too long, whereas on here, it's very well laid out, things are given a very good amount of space to let the listener soak it in before changing to something else. Riffs move between traditional black metal tremolo and mid-paced down picking and more original patterns that escalate the album above being just another black metal album. Also, the vocals, which are definitely some of the weirdest I've heard all year, can be found on here. Yes, you have the traditional growls and screams, but you also have high-pitched squeals and throaty bellows; imagine a weird fusion of Nattramn of Silencer mixed with Mike Patton or Dani Filth and hopefully you get the impression that it's weird.
I have to say that I really enjoyed the album, so of it did drag a bit, but the greater majority I enjoyed quite a bit. It's an album that has a central focus on the more aggressive and propulsive portion of the project's sound and one that certainly fits it well. Definitely check this project out if you haven't already, there's a reason why it's so well respected.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Hymne II, Hymne V

Alrakis - Alpha Eri (2011)

2011-12-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

Band: Alrakis
Country: Berlin, Germany
Style: Atmospheric Black Metal/Dark Ambient
Label: Self Mutilation Services

Atmospheric black metal is one of those genres that is quite vague when you actually think about it. Sure, you obviously know the two main things the description says about the music, but beyond that, do you really know how much of each is going to be present in what you're about to listen to? This was one of those albums that really does fit that description.
In the great pantheon of black metal, while a lot of bands are categorized as "atmospheric black metal", the ones that are good at it are easy to spot. If you're gonna do something in that genre, figurehead groups like Lunar Aurora, Paysage d'Hiver, and Darkspace are the ones that have truly reached the upper echelons of the genre. With that being said, the reason I bring that up is due to the fact that this one-man band does something very interesting, he manages to reach levels that are, at times, just as good as some of those bands. All three groups clearly have their place as influences on this project, especially Darkspace. The fuzzy guitars that are just overwhelmed by ambiances and atmospheres that nearly drown out any "aggression". One cannot rule of the post-rock influence on here though, with a lot of the performances rivaling similar sorts of peaks and valleys as a lot of post-rock groups do in their sound. The dark ambient ideas that encompass the last two tracks are also pretty well done in my opinion, standing out as some really solid works that were able to keep my attention throughout.
From the first listen onward, I was very impressed with it because even if you put the "post-black metal" tag on it, I don't really think blackgaze applies. It's a record that focuses on atmosphere and ambiance very heavily while bringing post-rock tinged melodies to the table. The six songs that make up this record, along with an intro, really brought a nice breath of air into atmospheric genre this year, even this late into the game, with bands like the above remaining quiet for long stretches of time. Each song has a central idea that it sort of carries throughout a single song, which some may either consider to be completely dull or extremely entrancing, I fell into the ladder. While songs like Sternenstaub begins with some of the most extreme riffing on the album, it eventually does fall back into the slower paced openness to finish the song out. I would have liked to have heard a bit more aggression on here, but I do think the principle songwriting and ideas are solid enough and constructed well enough on this debut that it kind of justifies not being wholly "black metal".
It's a very solid debut release, if you discount the bootleg that wasn't supposed to be released, and I think it's a nice start to what is hopefully a very intriguing artist. The ideas are certainly there, I think I would like to see a bit more in the way of aggression or fusing the more ambient material with the heavier side of the project. Check it out if you're into post-black metal, ambient and atmospheric black metal, or even dark ambient music, this is a solid slab of 'em all.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Gas Und Staub Zwischen Den Sternen, NGC 3242 (Ghost of Jupiter)

Uncle Touchy - Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Violence (2011)

2011-12-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

Band: Uncle Touchy
Country: Nashville, Tennessee
Style: Noise Rock/Post-Hardcore
Label: Independent

I would like to think that I'm open to noise rock, despite not liking some of the more classic bands, sorry, not a Jesus Lizard fan, the same thing could also be said in the realm of post-hardcore. I was open to this, and I knew once hearing a bit of it that I'd like to cover it, but I can't say that I have a whole lot of noise rock in my musical library. But like I said, had to cover it.
While I'm certainly not the biggest fan of either of the genres mentioned above, I certainly admire the bands that I do find interesting. The bands that do an interesting job and manage to not make me feel like I'm listening to something that's both interesting and intense. Personally, a lot of the bands that I've found I actually like tend to have a bit of a sludge vibe to them, which isn't found on here to be honest, but there's something on that did make me want to listen to it. I mean, there are certainly hints of metal, but nothing on here will particularly stick out as being "metal". This album actually recalls elements that I would normally dislike, Forced Out really reminds me of the little bit of Jesus Lizard that I liked, and it's not done in a contrived way, and thus, really enjoyable.
As much as it might piss some people off, I think it has to be said that there are bands who manage to sound more intense, passionate, and brutal playing noise rock and post-hardcore than metal bands. Personally, I don't think Uncle Touchy reaches that level on very many occasions, but I don't think the point of any of these songs is to achieve an intense moment that rivals metal in any way. I do appreciate the more dissonant style that is usually showcased in both genres, and I particularly love it when the band embrace it into their songs more than for an opening riff or bridge. These guys also embrace a bit more of a blues and southern rock than a lot of the other bands I've heard, another plus for them because I do enjoy more simplistic blues riffing if it's done right in a song, Dimebagged! for instance. I have to be honest, it's usually the vocals that stop me from listening to post-hardcore and it's the music that stops me from listening to noise rock, and you'd think that the melding of them would either make me cringe or really excite me, well I'll tell you it's closer to the ladder. Personally, I still have a problem with some of the vocals on here, I was not a fan of The Courtesy Flush because the vocals were sang in a very annoying and cringe-worthy style, luckily the rest of the album doesn't really use that same style, though I certainly admire his eccentric style.
This record turned into something that was decent into something that I thoroughly enjoyed. I don't think the ideas are all that original, but they're good songs that are just a shot of adrenaline. It's an enjoyable listen for sure and it's definitely worth checking out if you're into more eccentric noise rock and post-hardcore.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Tiretread On Burst Stomach, Officer Sausage Fingers, Dimebagged!

Minushuman - Bloodthrone (2011)

2011-12-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

Band: Minushuman
Country: Bergerac, France
Style: Melodic Death Metal/Groove Metal
Label: Season of Mist

I first heard of Minushuman about a year or two ago when I was going through my French metal phase. It was during that time that I was really into bands like Gojira, Hacride, and Mistaken Element and I found this band the same way I found the last two, by just looking and listening to band after band that came from France. It's been a while since then and my tastes have changed, but I was intrigued when I had heard that they had been signed by Season of Mist.
I've covered a few melodic death metal albums earlier this year, but I have to say that if every record from that sub-genre opened up the way this one did, those records might be all the better for that one thing. The opening of this album, The Architect, is a great melding of melodic death metal, groove metal, and elements of thrash, and it sounds really, really good. From their debut, I'm glad to see they've definitely improved their songwriting. It's a very solid blend of ideas and the band show a talent for writing songs that are diverse enough to showcase various sides of these genres. A song like The Size of An Ocean demonstrates a lot more restraint and use of atmosphere while Three Mile Island sounds like a traditional groove/thrash metal song, being pretty mid-paced and, obviously, groovy. I'm sure you saw this coming, but I do feel that the longer songs on here are the best ones, if only because they expand beyond the regular stylistic borders that a track might be placed in, like I said above, you have more of a thrash song then you have more of a melodic song, etc., and the longer songs tend to blend the two together pretty fluidly.
I have to say that when I first saw this record, I was hesitant to listen to it because I was a bit fearful that it would be overproduced, and luckily that fear was completely irrational. The production on here is very warm and natural sounding, but still lends itself to the more mechanical riffing sections. I'm not gonna lie though, there are some sections on here that will definitely have people calling the djent card on the band, but hopefully that doesn't discourage you away from checking this out. Despite that, there really isn't a whole lot that would actually link this band to that sound beyond the occasional syncopated riff. Probably my biggest problem with the album is the kick-drum, which is a little too loud and clicky for my personal taste, hear a song like Evolve.
It's a solid album that turned out to be a lot better than I had expected it to be originally. It's a solid batch of songs that remain pretty interesting throughout and is definitely one of the better "melodic death" releases I've heard this year. I definitely recommend this to any fan of melodic death metal and groove metal, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: The Architect, Forgotten Fields, Kill Me

Cara Neir - Stagnant Perceptions (2011)

2011-12-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

Band: Cara Neir
Country: Dallas, Texas
Style: Black Metal/Screamo
Label: Sunyata Recordings

Not that I would call it a lot, but I think this is the first time I've ever received more than one request for me to cover an album. Granted, I was already going to cover this anyway, but I thought it was a bit odd that it was this album that people were so interested in. I had heard great things about this before deciding to review it, good to know people are interested.
Garry Brents has been a very active member in musical circles for about the last five years or so, don't quote me on that, and has done his fair share of boundary pushing in his day. Whether it's the experimental tech-death that was Semen Across Lips, the post-metal wizardry in Parabstruse, or others, not the least being Cara Neir's atmospheric sludge inspired blacked punk. He's the type of musician that other musicians would aspire to be, because he's productive and always experimenting and creating something interesting. While each project definitely stands alone as it's own entity, you will find some common traits among them all that definitely signal them as being from the same place. A common trait within most of his projects tends to be the influence of post-rock, in some form or anther, though that's by no means a bad thing. Now while most of Garry's projects tend to be him alone, this is one of the few exceptions to include others, with Chris Francis on vocal and lyrical duties.
Sonically, this project is quite diverse. While it's definitely rooted within black metal, it is, like I stated above, well versed in sludge, post-rock, punk, and grindcore as well. What with tracks like Two-Faced and Tight-Lipped and being extremely quick and fast-paced, as well as a guest appearance by Dorian Rainwater of Phobia and Noisear, the grindcore and punk elements are definitely well demonstrated on here. Then you have the more melodic side of the band, with tracks like Temporal Realm showing more delicacy and moodiness in favor of straightforward aggression. While those sides are all well and good, the best part of this project, and album, is the ground between them, the moments when both sides cross, The Apothecary, and become something really well written and constructed, it's something to really just marvel at. When you get the brutality of grindcore and punk and blend it with the more sobering melodies of post-rock, all within a black metal setting, the sound is something that I have yet to hear, and this not only does a great job blending them together, but making them into memorable songs. A job well done in my book.
It's well done and certainly an album that is very enjoyable. It's a great blend of ideas that you don't hear mixed together too often, and thus helps escalate this album to an even more enjoyable experience. Definitely look into it if you haven't already, I'm assuming a lot of you already have, but if you haven't yet, you're missing out.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Return to Torquemada, The Apothecary, Not Enough

Panopticon - Social Disservices (2011)

2011-12-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

Band: Panopticon
Country: Louisville, Kentucky
Style: Atmospheric/Post-Black Metal
Label: Flenser

Within the American black metal movement of the last decade the whole Cascadian scene has gotten some major attention and hate, but one project to draw acclaim despite not really being a part of that scene, has been Austin Lunn's Panopticon. One of the band's to consistently bring new ideas into the realm of black metal whilst retaining a black core. This new album was promised to be the most raw and visceral release yet, and there has been no doubt to think otherwise.
If you've been a long time fan of Panopticon, some of the elements on here won't seem too foreign to you, but as a complete package it does demonstrate a more deliberate focus on the aggressive and visceral side of the band's sound. A lot of the elements on here shouldn't surprise you, once again, if you've been a fan. I will say that the black metal element is even more present than ever before, maybe even more than on the self-titled debut, but it is not exempt from breaking into other styles. As much as some people have shown a distaste for it, the post-rock element is still present in the material on this record; but rest assured if you aren't a fan of that stuff, it's not nearly as prominent as in some of the last couple releases. Those sections are limited more towards accenting certain sections or providing a break in a song, hear Subject, which is probably the most melodic song on here despite being over nine minutes long. Even compared to his earlier albums, this album comes off as very raw, but I'd say is mixed the best of any Panopticon release yet. I said it in my review of Panopticon's most recent split with Wheels Within Wheels, I felt that some of the early material from the band wasn't exactly my favorite mixed material as the drums were very often at the forefront of the sound, not that it's surprising since he is a drummer, but it did prevent some of the music from being as breathtaking as it actually was since the percussion occasionally drowned out the layers of guitars.
When you know what the concept, or themes really, behind this record are, it seems all the more appropriate that A. Lunn had decided to make this his most ferocious and vicious record to date. The idea of social services failing those it was meant to protect is indeed a very weighty, and to my knowledge, overlooked, topic, especially when it comes to music. Opening the album with children laughing and then having Client, the second track, open with children screaming does indeed send shivers down your spine. Children are very rarely mentioned in extreme metal and especially when it comes from a perspective likes this only makes the truth all the more gritty and tough to swallow. There's a tremendous amount of skill and heart in this record, and it comes through extremely clear. It's extremely cold and harsh sounding, those samples, and it only reinforces the fact that A. Lunn is one of the most creative and talented musicians to emerge from the American black metal underground within the last decade.
Definitely an expertly crafted album and one that will no doubt please many fans. I can only hope that you hear the same things I hear in this record and that it moves you in the same way if not in a way completely your own. If you haven't yet checked out Panopticon, you're sorely missing out, check this out as soon as you can.
Overall Score: 9.5
Highlights: Every Track Is A Highlight

Pyramids/Horseback - A Throne Without A King (2011)

2011-12-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

Band: Pyramids/Horseback
Country: Denton, Texas/Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Style: Post-Black Metal/Noise
Label: Hydra Head

If you've been paying attention to new and exciting metal groups within the last four or five years now, you'll know about both Pyramids and Horseback. This collaboration has been highly anticipated and has obviously been worked on for a long time. As a prelude, I have to say that if you're expecting anything like either band, you might be disappointed by this.
Like everyone else, the best place to start with this release would have to be the 7' EP that accompanies the collaboration. The two tracks on here feature a new song from both projects. Starting with Pyramids, you get a very original take on the whole post-black metal/blackgaze idea, if you want to call this track metal at all, which is yet another firm step into more original territory for the band to be honest. What you get here is essentially an extended idea from their self-titled debut which combines post-rock, shoegaze, ambient, and very subtle traces of black metal together. While the thudding drums that move in and out of the song prove to be the only real semblance of a metal sound, the track is by far the most creative, non-collaborative, thing the band has released thus far. Horseback brings a much more metal song from his end. Recalling a sound not to dissimilar than the one exhibited on the "Forbidden Planet" album, as such, it's a black metal song. What you get however is a more "accessible" take from his end of black metal, as the drums pound along in a groove, which isn't something you'll hear all that often within black metal underneath melodies that are surprisingly focus more on melody than atmosphere. Then it all stops and descends into a hazy cloud of chaos that somewhat prepares you for what is to come after the track concludes.
The collaborative effort from the two is a much different affair than I think anyone would have expected. This is not experimental metal, post-rock, shoegaze, whatever music, what you'll find within this collaborative track, or tracks since it's divided into four parts, is a sound based in noise and drones. Amongst the droning feedback you do get hit with waves that do recall elements of both groups, whether it be a more intense noise that comes from the harsher side of Horseback or a more cascading ambiance from the likes of Pyramids, as well as others. I mean, perhaps there's a bit more of an inclination towards Pyramids' sound than Horseback within this collaboration, but to be honest, that's really more of a subjective thing. Within the four tracks you do get a very jittery and unstable sense that the track is just barely being held together as it jumps frantically at times from noise to ambiance to field recordings and back again. In all honesty, I felt like the greater majority of this was kind of just treading into territory that I just find to be a bit too pretentious and at times like the song was just running in circles around itself, recycling ideas that I wasn't all that impressed with. I'm not opposed to noise music, I'm not opposed to dark ambient or drone music, I'm not opposed to experimental avant-garde music, but the great majority of this collaboration just left me feeling quite bored and at times, annoyed, and that was really disappointing. For arguements sake, I will say that it does get easier and more enjoyeable with each listen, but the ideas present don't do anything for me unless they're it's background music.
At the end of the day I really feel like what I, personally, got out of this release was two very well executed tracks and a bunch of ideas that didn't do anything for me. While I can certainly respect the ideas present in the collaboration, the majority of it did nothing for me. Check it out if you're a fan, the two individual tracks are definitely worth it, but proceed with caution into the collaboration.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Phaedra's Love, Thee Cult of Henry Flynt

Architeuthis Rex - Urania (2011)

2011-12-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Band: Architeuthis Rex
Country: US
Style: Drone/Dark Ambient
Label: Utech

What can you expect when you come into a record knowing nothing about the artist in question and are going solely based on the fact that you like the label that their on. That's the case with this album, avant-garde music can be a very enticing, but ultimately hard, thing to sell to someone unless you really believe in it. So how do you approach a record like this, that is the question.
This is one of those albums where one song does not sound like another, and that, obviously, will turn you on or turn you off to the album as a whole. On one hand you have the concept of cohesion, which on here is pretty much thrown to the wind in favor of experimentalism, so you won't really get an album that flows very well, but on the other hand you have an album that is very diverse sonically and texturally, which can lead to a more enjoyable listen if you like diverse albums. Throughout the disc you'll get references to styles that range from drone and ambient to krautrock and post-punk, so this is not a metal album, as if you couldn't already tell. The fusion of these styles, along with the fact that each track is different from the next, might turn off a good number of people who aren't into more experimental synthe music, but if you can tolerate more atmosphere based music, you should find no trouble adjusting to this.
Personally, I found the longer tracks to be the most enjoyable of the songs on here. Through listening to this album multiple times, it becomes apparent that the longer songs are more likely to draw you in and keep you entranced on it's repetitiveness and subtle changes rather than the shorter and more "typical" droning tracks. A lot of these tracks are like lost synthe odysseys from the early 70s, hear the title-track Urania as a prime example, and as a fan of music from that era, you can imagine how much I enjoyed this. These aren't really songs to get into or enjoy them, but more to get lost in and let them overcome you. There are moments on here, Spacemetal #2 to be exact, where the music becomes very tribal and moves into an almost meditational realm of peace and that just brings the mind down into a calmer state of being, I'm hoping that didn't come off as overtly spiritual sounding. There are obvious calling cards from groups like Tangerine Dream and Can all over this record, but that's more of what I found to make it more enjoyable, as I don't tend to like a whole lot of modern 70s throwback music, but this sounds like a fresh interpretation of it.
This one was definitely a bit of a shocker because I in no way expected it to sound the way it did. It's definitely refreshing to hear something like this come from Utech, another great label that puts out quality releases. If you're a fan of experimental electronic and drone music, I think you'll enjoy this record very much.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Spacemetal #1, Anfitrite

Ural Umbo - Delusion of Hope (2011)

2011-12-03T11:24:00.000-08:00

Band: Ural Umbo
Country: Chicago, Illinois/Bern, Switzerland
Style: Drone/Dark Ambient
Label: Utech

When you look at the avant-garde music scene, drummer Steven Hess is one of the more prominent ones that I've heard of. His work in experimental drone-metalists Locrian as well as avant-improv trio Haptic and many others has garnered him much attention. This collaboration with RM74's Reto Mäder has gotten a bit more attention than some of his other projects and is probably my personal favorite after Locrian.
As a drummer, Steven Hess is obviously very skilled, but his true talent lies outside of the restricted confines of a drum set. He is much more interested when given free reign as a percussionist, making use of everything from gongs to regular cymbals, though this should be pretty common knowledge if you're familiar with his work. I can't say I'm as familiar with Mäder's work but his work in the fields of drone are interesting to say the least, allowing walls of sound to emanate from very minimal instrumentation. My past experience with Ural Umbo has mainly been through their 2010 self-titled record "Ural Umbo." That record was certainly enjoyable, but it honesty wasn't anything that blew me away. I don't think that even if I had enjoyed that record more it could've prepared me for what I was about to get from this record.
In all honesty, this is an amazing piece of work, there were literally sections of this where my jaw was on the floor. Each of these eight pieces is sonically interesting but they all differ from each other, with some being much more somber and minimalistic, This Dead and Fabled Waste, while others are intense and bursting at the seems, Sych, they are all very individual. The textures and layers of sound kind of blend together into a very haunting atmosphere that is just massive, yet not overpowering, it's also not the kind of dreamy atmospheres that you'd find in a lot of ambient based music. There has been almost no competition to how the propulsive So, Here I Live... Sorry made me feel while I listened to it. I would never say that this album delves into the realms of post-rock, but that song just has the rising tension and build-ups that can be found in post-rock groups. Having said that, this is not a record that is totally devoid of any comparisons, as the more "drone" moments are certainly comparable to any number of doom and drone metal bands and would seem a bit typical if not for the interesting sonic textures accompanying it. I have to say that the listening experiences I've had with this album have all been fantastic, yet not one of them has ever felt as long as it actually was. When listening to this, time just sort of slips away as you're engulfed by the sounds you're hearing. I also have to the that the artwork is great, just as a side-note.
I really enjoyed this album, a lot more than I even expected to actually. I know Utech has high quality material and has released some great stuff this year, but this just blew away any and all expectations for me. Definitely do yourself a favor and check this record out if you like experimental music.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Initial Magnetization Curve, Self Fulfilling Prophecy, So, Here I Live... Sorry