The Room Colored Charlatan guitarist Justin Seymour is about to release his first solo EP Ineffable on August 25th under the name Bodhi. This short but sweet offering of melodic instrumental prog is reminiscent of Plini and Animals as Leaders. The first track ‘Desire’ starts off with an atmospheric synth which is then joined by some pleasant melodic guitars, drums, and piano. The layered guitars sound amazing but the keyboard sounds great too and compliments the guitars well. For being completely a one-man operation, it is quite impressive. The title track ‘Ineffable’ is the longest on … Read more
Monthly Archives: August 2017
Grant the Sun – Grant the Sun
Made from members of the corrosive grindcore entity Beaten to Death and the metalcore act Insense, Grant the Sun turns its head towards progressive and post-metal instead, and succeeds effortlessly at making a naturally enjoyable debut. The Norwegian instrumental trio stick to a relatively simple formula: good riffs, a few guitar solos, some top-tier drumming, and sensical song structures. Melodic and heavy, the album is pretty good, but also lacks any characteristic that would make it unforgettable. In fact, despite how decent it is, I had a hard time recalling it even existed. I often express my disgust of gimmicks, … Read more
Big|Brave – Ardor
Big|Brave is a Montréalais doom-leaning experimental rock trio, and they’re releasing their latest full-length, Ardor, on September fifteen. With only three tracks, the album manages to go on for almost forty-five minutes. Their sound is overwhelmingly huge and hopelessly, crawlingly slow, yet Robin’s voice, at the forefront of the music, sounds fragile and vulnerable. This apparent dichotomy moulds Big|Brave’s sound into something rather unique. The desolate songs are really drawn out and quite uneventful, but so emotionally crushing it’s terrifying. With only two guitars and a drumkit – and a voice –, Big|Brave are able to craft some of … Read more
Down I Go – Mortals
Hovering between Iceland and the United Kingdom like the plume of ash of the Eyjafjallajökull, the progressive hardcore trio Down I Go recently released an EP by the title of Mortals. Their 2015 full-length, You’re Lucky God, That I Cannot Reach You struck my imagination – and I’m sure many of yours – with just how near perfection and unique it was. I still have shivers when the “Mother in the Pen” theme gets brought back at the end of “The Sending”, it wraps this masterpiece beautifully. Mortals is more akin to one of the band’s other thematic EPs, … Read more
Nyn – Entropy: Of Chaos and Salt
Nyn is a technical death metal project with a now solid history. Entropy: Of Chaos and Salt is the project’s third release and sophomore full-length album. This time around, Noyan Tokgözoğlu sought the talents of Tom Geldschläger, also known as Fountainhead, and Jimmy Pitts, of the Pitts Minnemann Project fame (among others). While I was no fan of Nyn’s first two releases, this one is different. Through the years, musicianship improved greatly, and so did composition and production skills. First of all, the bass and guitar parts on Entropy are some of the wildest available in the tech-death world. So … Read more