Why, yes! That is indeed a new format for our mini-reviews section! A three by three collage is, it proves, more convenient to make, and more content for you! This also means that our posts will come one eighth farther apart, but I don’t think that this will be a huge negative, in your lives.
We talked about Sunless, about a year ago, and praised their Demo 2016, which was more than promising. Well, the fruit has come to maturation and is ready to be picked. The band’s debut album, Urraca, is coming out on February twenty-fourth. Featuring ‘Aberrant Clime’ and ‘Born of Clay’, which were on their demo, the album expands on Sunless’ dissonant, riff-heavy progressive death metal and brings us an abhorrently delectable slab of meat. Be sure to grab the album when it comes out!
Tebotjf‘s Pronounced “Tee-Bot-Jeff” is a concise seven-minute EP from California’s mathgrind trio. It was originally released in 2014, but has been re-recorded and re-released this month. It’s a very abrasive collection of tunes that will get your day going.
Japanese guitarist Ichika has come up with a revelation, under the name of Forn, a twelve-minute EP of dreamlike solo guitar. Taking cues from math rock and classical guitar compositions, the player achieves a sense of wonderment and awe for its compositions and technical proficiencies. Each composition is interesting and utterly beautiful.
119 came out last November. Coming from Spain’s Our Next Movement, the album is a great mix of instrumental prog, math rock, and post hardcore. Their work is somewhat reminiscent of compatriots Jardín de la croix, but with their own brand over it, obviously.
Okay, you have to listen to Youdash. This Polish band released its debut full-length in December of last year, and its brand of progressive death metal borders on mathcore and experimental death metal. Just quickly lend your ear to ‘Celestial Phenomena’ (or any song, for that matter), and let yourself fall in bewilderment.
Cuzcu just released A Medicine for Melancholy, a soothing math rock/indie EP just under the thirty minutes mark. The band’s playing style is very enchanting and hypnotizing, with even a saxophone to lull you. It’s charming, soft, and plenty good.
Snooze, for their part, take math rock to heavier places. After a truly outstanding introduction, with ‘Hoo Boy’, we get into the meat of the EP, starting with ‘Schrödinger’s Dimebag’. While staying far from metal, Snooze do bring the math to hard rock and punk rock, and I thank them for that.
Melanfonie is a classical album from producer Emika. Played by the Prague Metropolitan Orchestra, under the direction of Paul Batson, and with the voice of soprano Michaela Srumova, this album is in good hands to be epic, emotional, transcendental… The compositions send chills down my spine, with their wonderfully orchestrated crescendi, and near-perfect performance. It’s a truly special album that deserves to be heard.
Gorilla Mask is an experimental jazz trio from Germany, and Iron Lung is their debut album. Their songs apply jazz techniques to metal and vice-versa, which results in a wonderful clash of genres. Another great point about the band is how every member has a time to shine – a truly jazz thing, if I may -, and is done, most times, with a typically metal aggression. It’s pretty rad!