Sólstafir - Svartir Sandar (2011)

Band: Sólstafir
Country: Reykjavik, Iceland
Style: Progressive/Post-Metal
Label: Season of Mist

I'm gonna start this off with what might get me some hate but, I've never been a huge Sólstafir fan. I've never disliked them, but they've never been a band that I've paid too much attention to either. In all honesty, I actually do have all their full-lengths, but it's just been one of those bands I'll listen to once and kind of go onto other stuff.
So with this new album, and I know I'm a bit behind on this one, I've heard and read some mixed things, I've seen places that think it's really good while others just don't seem all that into it. Coming from someone who's never really been a fan, I think these guys are doing something interesting with this, as they've done on every other release. I've always respected these guys for doing something different on each album, starting out as more of a black metal band, an atmospheric one, but still a black metal band, since then they've moved into more of a post-metal-ish sort of group with tendencies that are closer to sludge and a bit of a blackgaze than their roots from black metal. With this album, it's hard to really call it black metal, there are a couple of moments where it goes into a more blackened sort of riff or drum pattern, but at this point it's largely removed from their sound. I will say that this is a brighter record than their last one was, 2009's "Köld." There are still plenty of darker spots on here, but it largely feels more vibrant than their last couple have.
Personally, I like the variety on here, for a post-metal-esque, call them what you will, act this album manages to be quite diverse. Sure, there are pretty standard sort of post-metally tracks on here in the vein of groups like Neurosis or Cult of Luna, Ljós í Stormi or Melrakkablús, then there are the more doomy sort of songs, Fjara, but there are also a handful of more up-tempo numbers that feel very vibrant and energetic, Þín Orð or Æra, and those are the songs that I was really impressed by. For myself though, I found that the tracks that I enjoyed the most and actually found more memorable were the ones that just sort of went along at a more mid-pace and just created a good, headbangable groove. Most of these track wound up being the longest tracks on the album, which I found beneficial, if a song is long, it should be interesting at the very least, and all of the longer tracks were interesting and more. Every song, no matter how fast or slow it is, still has dynamics though, there are shifts from one pace to the other so the whole thing doesn't end up feeling like bore after five or six minutes. Having said that, the album as a whole does end up feeling a bit too long for my own personal tastes, which is probably why they divided it onto two discs even though it could have technically been one.
I did enjoy this record quite a bit, still not sure if it's my favorite of the band's, but it does make me want to go back and listen to their older stuff again. It's not perfect, but a great majority of it is very well crafted and it gave me more than I thought it would. Check it out if you want to hear one of the more interesting post-metal-ish groups out there, or if you're just a fan that hasn't heard this one yet.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Þín Orð, Svartir Sandar, Djákninn

Lantlôs - Agape (2011)

Band: Lantlôs
Country: Rheda, Germany
Style: Progressive/Post-Black Metal
Label: Lupus Lounge

Back when I first heard of Lantlôs back in 2008, I was very impressed with their take on the whole post-black metal/blackgaze style. So since Neige joined the band two years ago, I think, the band has really blown up and gotten a lot more attention. So I, like many others, have been anxiously awaiting to hear what Lantlôs would do for their third record after absolutely loving "neon.".
At what might have been it's peak, so far, last year the whole blackgaze sub-genre really had some of it's greatest achievements, one of them being "neon." from Lantlôs. That album was pretty much as far as one could probably go within that "genre", at least in my opinion, this album, as main writer Herbst had said beforehand, would make the whole scene take another look at itself. What you have here is an album that really turns the things a lot of people liked about it's predecessor around on them. This is not as melancholic or emotionally crushing, instead, it takes a more uplifting approach in terms of atmosphere while the music itself resembles more of a doom style. So it's heavier musically than emotionally, to me anyway, on here. Having said all that, this album also features some of the band's softest and most introspective moments yet, the post-rock meets smooth-jazz journey that is You Feel Like Memories is the most beautiful moment on the entire record, maybe the most beautiful sounding track the band has ever crafted actually. It's just slow moving and kind of bluesy instrumental that bridges acts as a calm before the epic closer Eribo - I Collect The Stars opens up.
I've seen, more or less, a backlash against this album in the sense that it wasn't what people who liked the last album wanted. This is not an album that really makes Neige utilize his clean singing voice, the great majority of the album is screamed and it stands to reason that might might piss off a handful of his fanboys/girls who want him to sing and remain their fairy-boy prince of black metal. Plus, it's an album that while I said is more uplifting atmospherically, is still really friggin' heavy. The waves of feedback and noise that help introduce and close opener Intrauterin aren't what I think most people wanted to hear from this band. Really, the closest song people are going to get to the older material from this album is the shoegazy Bloody Lips and Paper Skin that still never reaches the same sort of blackened intensity that songs from the last two albums have. I don't want to discourage people from thinking that this band is completely rid of it's post-black/blackgaze sound, because those slow going shoegazy moments definitely bring to mind aspects of their older material, which some might get and other might not.
I'm really impressed with this album and it delivered something different than I guess what I even wanted, and it's probably better than I thought it would be as well. I know some will find it boring or dull but I dig it. Check it out if you want to hear some blackgaze/post-black metal gone doom.
Overall Score: 9.5
Highlights: Every Track Is A Highlight

Oranssi Pazuzu - Kosmonument (2011)

Band: Oranssi Pazuzu
Country: Finland
Style: Progressive Black Metal/Space Rock
Label: Spinefarm

Two years ago when Oranssi Pazuzu released their debut album, it really threw people for a loop, in a good way. People were calling them the black metal version of Pink Floyd, everyone was really excited about that album the more time it was actually out. So after a couple of smaller releases, a track added to a compilation and a split with Candy Cane, we have their second full-length.
I'll go ahead and say that saying a band is the Pink Floyd of black metal is maybe putting a band on a pedestal that's a little to high, especially after only one album, and I'm guilty of this as well. Oranssi Pazuzu certainly have their 60s and 70s psychedelic, progressive, space, and krautrock influences mastered and I think when their debut first came out, it just blew people away because they hadn't really heard a band do that sort of fusion of genres yet, or done to that extreme yet I should really say. I'm read a couple of comments and reviews for this new one and while it appears that most are happy with it, people don't really see it as an improvement over the debut, as of yet anyway. So what is it about the album that makes people feel that way, other than personal preference? For me, the first album was a record of songs, this is an album that feels equally split between songs and jams, and that's something I think is turning some people off from it. Far be it from me to criticize other people's opinions, but I do feel that this is just one reason that this record isn't quite resonating with some.
To expand on my reasoning why I personally believe this album is more "jammy" than their other material is actually quite simple. If you listen to songs like Luhistuva Aikahäkki or Kaaos Hallitsee, it has that vibe where every member of the band is just sort of playing off each other and just really getting into it. The bass-lines and drumming underpin what everyone else is doing, whether it be really over-the-top or more low key, but it keeps the track grounded. To an extent, these tracks are a bit more "drony" and ambient than other tracks, but it can actually be looked at as an extension of their black metal side. The band's black metal side always had the intensity, but on these tracks the band seem to focus more on just creating an atmosphere through repetition and psychedelic textures. Which brings me to my next point, the overall sound of the record is a lot more hazy than before as well, another point that people may not enjoy. The entire record is covered in a thick miasma of synthe and guitar layers that make it feel like you're listening to the band play this stuff when they're all tripping out on psychedelics and were really into what they were jamming along to. Finally, I'd like to bring up the case that elements of post-punk and industrial music come into play on here as well, mainly in the performances of the rhythm section. The bass-lines are, in my opinion, more in front than ever before, which is used to full effect by utilizing it in the fashion I spoke of above. Call me a sucker for a good bass-line and groove.
Personally, I really enjoyed the record, and it's great to listen to while driving at night. I understand that it's not as accessible as the debut was, but in a sense I actually find it to be an even better record in the sense that it is more experimental and, for myself, memorable. Check it out if you'd love to hear black metal mixed with a whole bunch of psychedelics.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Komeetta, Andromeda, Kaaos Hallitsee

Illogicist - The Unconsciousness of Living (2011)

Band: Illogicist
Country: Aosta, Italy
Style: Technical Death Metal
Label: Willowtip

While it certainly hasn't taken them as long as a couple of other groups in the tech-death scene to release their third album, cough*Necrophagist*cough, this has still been a while coming. Back when I was big into the tech-death scene, Illogicist was one of my favorite bands, seriously. About three years, for me, of waiting, and this thing finally comes out, was it worth it?
I totally get the fact that bands that do play more technical styles of music need more time to write songs that they're satisfied with, but if it takes you more than a couple of years, you better put something good out, and that really applies to all styles of music. When I listen to this album, I hear a band that has really taken the time to try and craft something that's catchy, melodic, and technical, but don't really achieve all of them. I don't mean that to sound as negative as it probably does because when I hear these songs, they're a lot more fluid and tight sounding than on the band's previous albums, they're technical, no doubt, but are much more melodic and feature riffs that are simpler at times, and it works. There's just something missing in here that stops all the pieces from really connecting, and that's not even to say that it doesn't happen on occasion either. I found that when the band just went into more off-the-wall kind of sections, like in The Mind Reaper, I found it the most exciting and engaging parts of the album. Those weirder moments just hit like a ton of bricks and are exactly what I like from a band that's this technical.
Excluding that missing piece of the puzzle, I don't think this album is bad at all. Honestly, while I can't say that these guys are one of my favorite bands anymore, I still think that they do a tremendous job at crafting interesting songs and riffs, Perceptions From The Deceiving Memory for example. After the first three songs this album really picks up steam, not that every song has that missing piece of the puzzle that makes me really pumped when they occur, but after those opening trio of songs, the album just goes into a direction that I'm much more excited to hear. To a degree, most of these songs are actually more technical, at least they sound more technical anyway, and there's a lot of interesting riffs and fills. The drumming on a track like A Past Defeated Suffering just entranced me with the cool little cymbal fills that, whether they were planned or not, just caught me off guard in the best possible way. The bass playing in a song like Misery of A Profaned Soul that just stuck out, maybe to a higher degree than a couple of the other tracks on here, with great accents thrown in to double the guitar lines were just the icing on the cake.
Like I said, still a great band with a lot of interesting ideas and great performances. I'm not sure if I like this more than "The Insight Eye" as of right now, which is one of my personal favorite tech-death albums, but it's certainly up there. Definitely check this album out if you're into more techy death metal, definitely one of my favorite to come from this year from that scene.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: The Mind Reaper, Misery of A Profaned Soul, A Never Ending Fall

Alarum - Natural Causes (2011)

Band: Alarum
Country: Melbourne, Australia
Style: Progressive/Technical Death Metal
Label: Willowtip

Back when I was huge into the technical death metal genre a couple of years ago, this album was near the top of my most anticipated releases. Years later, my interest has waned and the album never came, and then finally, this year, the album finally got a release date. While I'm nowhere near the fan I was a couple of years ago, I was most definitely going to check it out.
In the grand scheme of things, one could say that Alarum never really was a death metal band as much as they were influenced by the early prog/tech-death bands like Atheist, Cynic, and Pestilence. On here, it's more apparent than ever before that their death metal influences are limited at most. This is a prog/tech metal album, but with more of a thrash approach rather than a death metal one. Personally, I don't think long-time fans of the band will mind as much as a newer fan who might have just found out about them, like I did when I was going through my tech-death phase, might. The lack of brutality and growling might throw some for a loop, but if you've listened to them for a while, I don't think you'll see this album as too much of a shocker.
While the whole tech-death scene has definitely experienced quite a resurgence in recent years with a bunch of bands taking similar influences and mixing them with other sounds to various results, what Alarum are doing is perhaps, sonically more similar to early Atheist, their path seems to follow more closely to Cynic. In my opinion, like I said above this is the farthest away from death metal the band has gone yet, it is also the closest to pure prog-metal and fusion than ever as well. There's less heaviness in the guitar playing, trading in brute force and aggressive parts for more fluidity and jazzy sections which might turn a few fans off, hear For New Creation. An influence from Spanish and flamenco music is a lot more present on here than I remember the band making use of in the past, which is a good thing, as the nice classical guitar bits and more tribal percussion playing in songs like Non-Linear Parallels or Interface totally make the tracks. The performances are also quite well done, with narry a track going by without my really enjoying how none of these songs really tread over into senseless masturbation. These are short songs, and it shows that the band really tried to write some very compact and interesting songs while making them accessible, even when instrumental. That's not to say the band have lot their edge because the thrash element is still very much present in the speed at which most of these songs are played at and the more aggressive vocal snarls.
For what it is, I enjoyed the album; I mean it's not overly mind blowing or anything, but it's solid tech-metal. I feel that if you're open to or already enjoy more progressive metal or fusion, than it's likely that you'll enjoy this release. Check it out if you're into the more "progressive" sort of metal that has a bit more aggression than your average DT rip-off.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Shifting Skies Like Nothing, Interface, Sensory Endeavor

Ólafur Arnalds - Living Room Songs EP (2011)

Band: Ólafur Arnalds
Country: Mosfellsbær, Iceland
Style: Ambient/Neo-Classical
Label: Erased Tapes

Yep, here we have a new release from a musician I knew nothing about until last year. When I heard Arnalds' "...And They Have Escaped The Weight of Darkness" last year, I just fell in love with his work, to the extent that that album made it into my top 20 of my top 50 last year. I was actually a little surprised when I found out about this new EP, but I'm certainly not going to ignore it.
Now, after having gone back and listened to his earlier material, I still found his last full-length to show him at his peak, and this little EP shows a similar strength. From what I've read, it was recorded in his own living room, with multiple musicians coming in and adding their part to his vision. It definitely has a lot more of a live kind of feel to it, the strings feel less synthetic than on his other material. For how compact the space is, and you can definitely hear it in the songs, it fits with his music. The very minimalist style of composition that isn't too crazy, focusing on melancholic little lines that repeat over and over to create atmospheres that range from utterly depressing, Lag Fyrir Ömmu, to more uplifting, Near Lights. The electronic aspects of his sound also reappear on here, to a more prominent affect than on his last full-length. Call me a sucker for loving piano based music.
While, in my opinion, it doesn't hold the same emotional sort of weight that his last album did, this is still a great piece of minimalistic composition. It's not going to appeal to everyone, obviously, and it's not something I'd imagine a lot of people enjoying because of how dark and morose it can be, but I still love it. One of the best EPs I've heard all year, and something that'll definitely make it in my top EPs of the year.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Near Light, Ágúst

Njiqahdda - Disciples of Flame (Agni Yoga) (2011)

Band: Njiqahdda
Country: Illinois
Style: Ambient/Neo-Folk
Label: EEE Recordings

If you're new to Njiqahdda, you've got a lot of catching up to do, but this might be a good place to start. Through their six years, I think, of existence, the duo have released over a dozen releases under this title alone, and this is their second full-length this year. This new double-album takes their sound into another realm that has been explored, but not to this degree before.
Though the element of folk music has been present in the work of Njiqahdda before, most notably on the "Of Beasts and Blossoms" EP that was an all acoustic-based folk record, this could be seen as the band diving in and no longer just testing the waters. That little EP showcased a band essentially getting their feet wet, what with the short songs, sung vocals, and foggy atmosphere, it wasn't exactly a whole new world. But with this double-album, we get the duo not only expanding their sound but developing the sound from that EP into something a lot more epic in scale. I'm aware that there will be those who won't check this out because it isn't the duo's usual experimental black metal sound, but I would strongly advise anyone who likes the band at all to still give this a chance. Despite being devoid of almost all metal sounds and influences, this album is perhaps the most honest and pure representation the band has offered to us yet. The simplicity of the acoustic guitar being the centerpiece of the album, while the atmospheres on each track are, to me, what keep these tracks engaging for their twenty-plus minute lengths. The different sonic textures in the atmospheres that just develop as a track progresses brought me to listen to this over and over again. It should be mentioned that, at least to me, this album has it's root and it's beginnings in folk music, there is more, stylistically, to this album than just that. Obvious elements of ambient, drone, and neo-classical can be found in the first album alone.
For me, when I listened to this album, and I'll admit that the first time around when I played in my car, it didn't work at all, I can envision worlds being created and life emerging from the nothingness. The course the album takes from the very calming and minimal We Are The Origin to the glitchy ambiance of A Similar Passage Disappears I kind of saw as the birth of life and it's beauty into more disarray and noisy textures of the modern world. I should point out that duo to this being a double-album, the best place to listen to this would be when you actually have time to listen to it straight through and when you don't plan on doing really anything else at that time. Due to the calm nature of the album, it feels a lot more meditative and relaxing than anything prior to it. Having said that, there are a couple of moments when a surprise will come in and shock you, it certainly shocked me, and continued to every time I listened to it. It's a difficult album to process because if you're familiar with the band's older material, than this will probably take you a couple of listens to really get a hold on.
As a whole, I would say that this is the most introspective piece Njiqahdda has released and I'm sure it will take quite a few of their listeners aback. It'll take a few listens to get into, but it's the type of album that is rewarding. Definitely check this out if you want to hear some really interesting folk, ambient, drone sort of work from a great duo.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: We Are The Origin, ...Of Purifiers, I Am The Wind