Mar 312016
 

Universe 217-Change

 

(Here’s the third of our friend KevinP’s monthly selection of releases for 2016, naming his Top 5 favorite albums released during March.)

Truth be told, I’ve been knee deep into “comic book research” for the past few months, but especially in March, so my attention has been split between music and yet another hobby to spend way too much money on.  And by research, I mean investigating what new books and series recently came out and what’s on the horizon so I can generate a valid “pull list”.  I was toying with the idea of doing a semi-regular column on comic books.  What do you think of that prospect?  I’m rarely, if ever, gonna discuss a book about men (or chicks) in spandex, it will be all the indie and creator-owned ones (yes, I’m an elitist snob in my other hobbies as well).  Anyways, on with this month’s best of……

 

Ripper-Experiment of Existence

5.  Ripper – Experiment of Existence

Chilean death/thrash from Unspeakable Axe Records.  I’m guessing you know what this exactly sounds like from the first sentence, right?  Like just about everything on UA Records, it’s not about reinventing the wheel, but serving up old school fun music.

https://unspeakableaxerecords.bandcamp.com/album/experiment-of-existence

 

 

 

 

 

Obsidian Kingdom-A Year With No Summer

4.  Obsidian Kingdom – A Year With No Summer

I was a big fan of this Spanish band’s 2012 release, Mantis, which was a proggy experimental album with some touches of death and black metal thrown into the mix.  This time around they’ve gone more toward the prog-experimental-post-extreme kinda thing (my head hurts trying to constantly slice and dice all these damn metal styles sometimes).  You’ll need to remove your SurgicalBrute panties if you are gonna dive into this one.  Very heavy on mood and atmosphere, for those looking for something different.

https://obsidiankingdom.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Gloria Morti-Kuebiko

3.  Gloria Morti – Kuebiko

I know most people go apeshit over anything from Finland, but the country is filled with way too many “melo death” bands that irritate the beejezus out of me.  I’m not against melody per say, I just want that melody tempered with aggression when it comes to death metal (like Wolfheart).  And while Gloria Morti sound nothing like Wolfheart, it’s refreshing to see a balls-to-the-wall death metal assault with melody from Finland.  Ignore any comparisions you see to At the Gates, Carcass, or Fleshgod Apocalypse.  ‘Cause if I hadn’t before listening to this album, I may have skipped over it (which is something you DON’T want to do).

https://willowtip.bandcamp.com/album/kuebiko

 

 

 

 

 

Temple of Gnosis-De Secretis

2.  Temple of Gnosis – De Secretis Naturae Alchymica

Frankly, I’m not sure what the hell you call this album.  That’s probably the best compliment I can give it.  Sit in a dark room, chill out, and just let your mind escape into the celestial void of timelessness (okay, that was really fuckin’ pretentious, but I gotta think of something to say).  I just remembered, I did refer to last year’s EP (which I also really enjoyed), as “doomy symphonic occult ambient death metal”.  If you have a better description, go for it!

https://templeofgnosis.bandcamp.com/album/de-secretis-naturae-alchymica

 

 

 

 

 

Universe 217-Change

1.  Universe217 – Change

Did you catch our exclusive stream of the album earlier this month?  If so, you get a gold star (Islander pays big bucks if you cash those in to him).  If not, I’m not going to insult you (it’s tempting, I won’t lie) ’cause I want you to stop reading and press play on the stream below.  Come on, don’t make me beg.

If you followed any of my columns here and/or reviews over at Metal Bandcamp (hey Max, look at me sneaking in a ‘plug’, BOOM!) you’ll know what a big deal this band is for me.  I adore everything about them.  Tanya’s vocals compete for top billing with Agnete M Kirkevaag (Madder Mortem) in my pantheon of Favorite Singers.  Musically, the band has stepped out of the shadows and is on equal footing with the immense talents of their vocalist.  Their best material to date, their pièce de résistance.

I normally don’t get my knickers in a twist about who likes what music/band.  But with Universe217,  the fact that they don’t get as much love as I think they deserve irritates me.  We’ve all thought about what we would do if we became famous or won the lottery.  I’ve always wanted to promote bands I loved to a larger audience.  This band is one of the few I would do that for.

https://universe217.bandcamp.com/album/change

  5 Responses to “KEVINP’S ALBUMS OF THE MONTH — MARCH 2016”

  1. Love these!

    More albums of the month from other writers/contributors, please.

  2. Lol. Funny write ups man. Or.. you know… v serious stuff… but I got a few laughs.

    Also… did I just buy a record from you on Discogs? Its a Kevin P. I mean, how many could there be?! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    And also, also, I’d love to hear more monthly top 5’s from various staff at NCS.
    Id even love to contribute.

  3. I like the new Obsidian Kingdom pretty well, but it doesn’t live up to Mantiis for me. That album was such a strange and somehow cohesive mix of awesome, and it delivered some legitimately heavy stuff. This one has tracks I like, including “Year with No Summer,” “Darkness” and “The Kandinsky Group,” but it’s pretty saggy in spots, and non-tracks like “April 10th”, especially at that length, just piss me off.

 Leave a Reply

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.