(Andy Synn reviews the latest EP by Victorian Whore Dogs, from Guildford in the UK.)
Let’s make this quick, shall we? I’m sure we’ve all got things to do, and places to be.
In short, Hobo Chic is awesome.
Those of you who have to leave may now do so. Anyone interested in a bit more detail… click on. Continue reading »
(Grant Skelton turns in this review of the new album by the Swiss band Necroblation.)
“Man is spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self? The self is a relation which relates itself to its own self, or it is that in the relation [which accounts for it] that the relation relates itself to its own self; the self is not the relation but [consists in the fact] that the relation relates itself to its own self. Man is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity, in short it is a synthesis. A synthesis is a relation between two factors. So regarded, man is not yet a self.” – Søren Kierkegaard, “The Sickness Unto Death”
To ask about the exact nature and essence of “the self” would yield answers too numerous to count. Freudian psychology might label the id as the true self. A psychic apparatus driven by whim and avarice, whose only goal is the satiety of its desires. Continue reading »
(Andy Synn reviews the new album by No Consequence from the UK.)
As a follow-up to my recent risky (or should that be… risqué?) piece defending the merits (or otherwise) of Djent as a genre (here), I thought it might be appropriate to go on to review the rather spiffing new album from the UK’s No Consequence, particularly since I snuck one of their new songs into Tuesday’s column.
Now whereas both their previous albums (2009’s In the Shadows of Gods and 2013’s IO) cleaved a little too closely to the post-Periphery formula for my liking (albeit, in a manner a cut above the majority of their peers), with all the requisite stutteringly complex riffs, electronic inflections, flashy fretwork, and good-cop/bad-cop vocals that you might expect, with their latest release the band appear to have taken a couple of steps outside of their established comfort zone.
Oh, there are still some prominent moments of recognisably Meshuggah-esque groove scattered throughout the disc, along with a plethora of soaring lead parts that recall both Animals As Leaders and Scale The Summit in their crystalline clarity (and the fact that they’re signed to underground Djent-dealers Basick Records probably won’t help dissuade the naysayers either), but by and large Vimana sees the quintet spreading their wings and shedding their skin in an attempt to become something more than the mere sum of their inspirations and influences. Continue reading »
(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Pennsylvania’s Clouds Collide.)
Black Gaze, the marriage of shoe-gaze to black metal, has been met with mixed results. Deafheaven and Alcest became two big names of this sub-genre, and of course began to amass many imitators. Clouds Collide is in a sonic zip code closer to where Alcest used to live back when they were more of a metal band.
Never has a project’s name so fittingly conveyed what they sound like. The album floats into the horizon with almost Death Cab For Cutie-like vocals hovering over it. It’s not until the second song that the harsher vocals come in. When they do, they are the only element with an edge to it. The blast beats provide an undercurrent for the vocals to moan over in an abstract path. While the melody becomes more defined the blast beats become a blur. Continue reading »
Well, just this past weekend I made a big deal about how I was going to be out of town for 2 weeks in Texas working day and night for my fucking day job and dismally watching the content on our site fall to a trickle. I am indeed in Texas for my day job, and it won’t be long before I really do have to knuckle down and earn my keep — but things haven’t been that crushing so far. And so… I continue to blog!
Here are some musics I enjoyed over the last 48 hours that I hope you will enjoy, too — reviews of three new short releases, some praise for one more new song from an eagerly anticipated album, and a feature on three tracks from a recently discovered album.
DEMONWOMB
Demonwomb are from Wien, Austria. Powertrip Records is going to release a self-titled, five-track 7″ by the band on June 19 (their second EP) — but you can hear all of it on Bandcamp right now, and you damn well should. Why should you? Well, let me count the reasons: Continue reading »
(DGR reviews the new album by Paradise Lost.)
I guess, when it comes to Paradise Lost, the old axe that everything is cyclical rears its ugly head once again. I’ve never been much of a believer in it, but lo and behold, Paradise Lost have released their darkest, doomiest, and arguably heaviest record in some time — a record we were told was never likely, as Nick Holmes was likely never to growl again and instead would forever sing through Paradise Lost’s goth-laden doom, and a record that would never be this heavy despite the fact that the band had gotten heavier since returning to their doom standard a few records ago.
Then again, things change. Continue reading »
I’m going to apologize in advance for a potential excess of enthusiasm about the new EP by Temple of Dagon that we’re about to premiere, but I can’t help myself and there’s no one here to stop me.
Revelations of the Spirit is one of the heaviest and most electrifying things I’ve heard all year. The riffs are massive. The guitar leads are infectious. The bass lines are pavement-cracking. The drum blows are spine-shaking. The vocals are raw and ravenous. The music is both savage and scintillating, fusing elements from a variety of genres, from crust/punk to thrash to concussive Bolt Thrower-style death metal. It’s a paragon of head-wrecking metal. Continue reading »
Vacivus are a UK band that rose from the ashes of an earlier group known as Dawn of Chaos. With a different line-up and a change in musical direction, Vacivus have recorded a five-track EP named Rite of Ascension that reflects their new focus. Today we bring you a full stream of the EP in advance of its official release.
The music on Rite of Ascension is in the vein of what today might be called “blackened death metal”, but might also be thought of simply as one of the vicious descendants of death metal progenitors such as Incantation. The five songs flow from one to another in an electrifying storm that ebbs and flows but is never less than heartless and scathing. It marks the stunning appearance of a band whose name we expect to see praised throughout the dark places in the underground where ancient death worship is the order of the day. Continue reading »
(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by Pyrrhon.)
The veritable smorgasbord of styles and variants on the Death Metal template available today means that the genre offers the potential to satisfy seemingly every urge and craving.
Whether you’re looking for a quick snack of savagery, or a multi-course feast of diverse, Deathly dishes, there’s always going to be something in the recipe book – from Floridian flavourings to Blackened spice – to tantalise the taste-buds.
Case in point, Brooklyn-based Death Metal mixologists Pyrrhon have certainly come up with their own particular formula for sonic disorder, a foul and brackish brew of scalding fury and sickening intensity that practically compels the listener to gorge themselves senseless on the depraved delights it offers. Continue reading »
(DGR reviews the new album by Disarmonia Mundi.)
It’s likely that this horse has been beaten to death so much that the goo on the ground is hardly recognizable as a biomass — but it remains true that a six-year gap is a long time to wait between discs. The situation is more common than people think, and some bands will make you wait far, far longer — although by a certain point it’s pretty clear that a group is on “hiatus”. Disarmonia Mundi has provided one of the few times when I’ve personally gotten to be part of the esteemed club of fans desperate for any word.
The two-piece that is the core of Disarmonia Mundi have certainly kept busy, with a whole array of projects that cover the whole spectrum of metal — production work and otherwise, including the Princess Ghibli project and The Stranded. However, even though The Stranded veered far closer to Disarmonia Mundi’s brand of melodeath than likely even its members intended, it’s still not Disarmonia Mundi proper, still not the band that gave us one of my personal favorite melodeath albums of the last decade with 2009’s ugly-artwork-bearing hook-machine that was The Isolation Game.
Cold Inferno, the group’s soon-to-be-released new album, has a lot to live up to and already marks a bit of a shift from the previous disc with a track list slimmed down to ten. Cold Inferno’s appearance may have seemed sudden but this is a disc that has been cooking for a while. Was the time worth it though? Can Disarmonia Mundi prove themselves to still be a melodeath powerhouse already halfway through another decade? Have I jokingly made light of the fact that I’ve been waiting six years for this album? Continue reading »