LISTMANIA 2016: A YEAR-END LIST FROM AUSTIN LUNN (PANOPTICON)

 LISTMANIA 2016  21 Responses »
Dec 132016
 

austin-lunn-2016

 

(We are again fortunate to present another year-end list we eagerly await each year, from an immensely talented musician and a damned fine human being — Austin Lunn of Panopticon and Seidr.)

 

I have to apologize in advance for the length of this list. It has been a great year for metal in my opinion… many, many releases to enjoy and as a result my list is super-long. I cut some stuff for the the sake of brevity… and speaking of brevity, I will do my best to keep the accompanying blurbs short this time around.

This has been an intense year for me, and many of these albums will forever be the soundtrack for those memories in my mind…. so here goes: Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A YEAR-END LIST FROM AUSTIN LUNN (PANOPTICON, SEIDR)

 LISTMANIA 2014  18 Responses »
Dec 082014
 

(We are grateful to Austin Lunn for accepting our invitation to share his favorite releases from 2014.)

There are a lot of releases this year that I have really enjoyed….so in no particular order here goes:

 

Wheels Within Wheels – Thirty Five Thoughts to Nineteen Elements

Mesmerizing, horrifying… a blown-out, hypnotic soundscape forming beauty out of the ugliness that man has made. This record, as all WWW records, is not for the faint of heart, but if you like blackened, doomy, droned-out dirges, this is for you. Don’t miss out.

Continue reading »

A GILEAD FEST REPORT (Part 3)

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 212014
 

Adam Bartlett and Thou — photo by Shane Stornanti

Part 1 of this report is here; Part 2 is here.

Yesterday was the third and final session of the GILEAD FEST at the Masonic Center in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and it proved to be a day of megaton doom bombing mixed with strafing runs of blackened hellfire. It also featured two of the most emotionally searing moments of the entire festival and a final encore at the end of the night that was both surprising and eminently appropriate — and a whole helluva lot of fun.

Once again, the event was blessed with a beautiful day. Once again, the event planners and volunteer staff pulled everything off smoothly. Once again, all the bands I saw were wonderful — though I’m sorry to say that I spent so long toiling over yesterday’s report that I missed the first two groups, Northless and Alraune. We arrived not long before Seidr took the stage…

SEIDR

Seidr’s massive double album Ginnungagap was released by Bindrune last fall. It was the first of the band’s music I had heard, but it was enough — the chance to hear Seidr live was one of the paramount reasons why I made the trip to Oshkosh. Continue reading »