Cetacean – Breach | Submerge

Front-Cover-FINAL_122815_1400X1400Cetacean is a band from Los Angeles, California, that came to being in 2015 under the direction of David Sais, with members from well-established bands, such as Black Sheep Wall and Horse the Band, and other musicians. The result is a progressive blackened doom sextet and a 35-minute EP called Breach | Submerge, which was released on January 29th on CD, and will see a vinyl release on March 27th. The designation of EP for a piece longer than half an hour is quite unusual, but understandable given the lengthy nature of doom music, where slow and atmospheric riffs … Read more

Mombu / Mosca Violenta – Hunting Demons

a0742052546_16The presence of jazz in metal music seems to be an increasingly popular trend. Most noticeably, it’s the addition of the saxophone that’s often just enough to make us think that the band has successfully merged the two genres into one, but most of the times it’s just a clin d’œil to it, and the music itself doesn’t bear any of the subjacent characteristics of jazz.

The first ones to incorporate jazz, in a form or another, into metal were Atheist, Meshuggah, and Cynic, back in the early ’90’s. Since then, it gained in popularity and it’s … Read more

The Fifth Alliance – Death Poems

Netherlands’ The Fifth Alliance is a doom/sludge band active since 2013, from what I can tell, because it’s the year of the release of their debut album, “Unrevealed Secrets of Ruin”. But today I’ll be reviewing their upcoming album, Death Poems, which will come out October 31st through Grains of Sand Records. The album also has touches of post and black metal to it.

It’s rather uncommon to hear a band in that genre that is led by a female singer. Here, Silvia delivers monotonous yet emotional screams that wouldn’t be out of place on a post-hardcore album. And … Read more

July Recommendations

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Here’s the monthly recommendations post you’ve awaited for so long! Ah, who am I kidding? I’m the only one reading this blog! Anyways, what are the unmissable releases of July 2015, according to the three-legged raven?

First off is Ethan McKenna‘s sophomore, In Transition. It’s what I’d call an acoustic prog album. Ethan makes use of advanced techniques on his acoustic, like percussive playing, loads of harmonics, and some slap and tapping too, for good measure. Even though its main focus is on the acoustic guitar, it’s well-accompanied by the usual bass and drums, and sometimes even by … Read more

REVIEW: Vod – ᑑᕐᖓᐃᑦ

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Vod as some of you readers may know is a project run by my other Co-Admin of the blog, “Dave Tremblay”. His work spans across many genres from XYAX, Omega Cluster, to a new microtonal Project called “Melopoeia“.

He has released a new album under his project “Vod”:

“ᑑᕐᖓᐃᑦ (Tuurngait, meaning ghost) is an album about winter, the snow, the night, isolation, and the cold. Riffs being built, atmospheres rising and then falling back, polyrhythms and off-time signatures. All played on bass guitar, with drums and vocals. Loads of bass and sub-bass frequencies, and lot of … Read more