Tag Archives: ambient

An Art as Catharsis Special: Opium Eater, Raven, Seims & Slowly Building Weapons

by Ignacio De Vincenzi

Australia has become one of my favourite places in the world to look out for new and exciting bands. From alien overlords such as Portal to fresh faces of progressive metal like Caligula’s Horse, there is a pallet of sounds to be found on the Lucky Country. However, there is a special label that has gained recognition for finding and delivering some of the most unique albums I’ve heard in recent years: Art as Catharsis.

Psychedelic drone music with eastern influences (Ḥashshāshīn), John Zorn worship jazzgrind (Kurushimi (苦しみ)) or experimental hardcore madness (Tired Minds), Art as Catharsis has … Read more

Chryste Panie – Chryste Panie

by Dæv Tremblay

Chryste Panie – Polish for “Christ, Lord” – released their self-titled album earlier this year. The quatuor plays an interesting blend of free jazz and ambient electronic music inspired by devotional and shamanic music. Here, the synthesizers stick exceptionally well to the ritualistic free jazz aura the band is conveying. The droning notes and chords are exploited to their full extent by saxophonist Michał Małota, while the drummer and percussionist provide rhythmic continuity and occasional eccentricity. One of the defining moments of the album is on “Wejście”, when the folly picks up and a very rare entrance of a voice … Read more

Lost Salt Blood Purges & Boring Bathtimes – Yellow Fog Sword

by Dæv Tremblay

Australian and British entities Lost Salt Blood Purges and Boring Bathtimes have collaborated on a release of massive proportions, elegantly titled Yellow Fog Sword. On this release, Michael Snoxall (Lost Salt Blood Purges) set out to create a novel and its accompanying soundtrack with Oliver Aldridge (Boring Bathtimes), whom he already had made some small collaborations in the past. The original story of Michael ended up as a forty-four-page novelette, illustrated by Ov Exvn Infërnvz. Then, the outline of the music was created, with directions for pacing and events, and the task of coming up with music was handled … Read more

Nhor – Wildflowers: Spring & Summer

by Dæv Tremblay

Spring and Summer are the two first releases of the Wildflowers tetralogy, but, as I’ve just come across this project, I’ll write about both EPs at once. Nhor was a British atmospheric black metal band who released a transcendental album in 2013, Within the Darkness between the Starlight. Since then, however, the project seems to have remained focused on the softer side of things, with 2015’s Momenta quintae essentiae and following shorter releases. All of their catalogue displays the same high standards of quality despite the genre change. The newest comers are the first two parts of Wildflowers, … Read more

Schammasch – The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite

by Dæv Tremblay

The Swiss avant-garde black metal quatuor, not satisfied from having released perhaps the best triple-album ever just last year, is already back with The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite. It’s sold as an EP, but crosses the thirty minutes threshold that is commonly used to distinguish EPs from full-lengths; it has seven tracks, but the whole thing feels like one continuous journey into the obscure places of our mind; it’s a work of art that goes above and beyond the traditional scope of black metal and the avant-garde… Indeed, the band themselves wrote that Hermaphrodite is an ‘artistic experiment’, and it’s … Read more