Victory over the Sun – Nowherer

While Victory over the Sun‘s previous album was great—read our review for proof—it wasn’t microtonal. That’s one thing Vivian Tylinska wanted to correct with Nowherer, an avant-garde, hectic, and eclectic black metal masterpiece. All written in 17 notes per octave—a relatively popular xeharmonic system—the album stands proud in all its weird glory. Of course, it reminds me of Agonanist—review here!—who also released a 17-tone black metal album recently, but the similarities stop there. VOTS’s album seems to intentionally forgo conventions and expectations, and it works marvellously to its advantage! It’s a brilliant album, coming out on April 23!

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Lotus Titan – Odyssées

Lotus Titan is a new experimental rock quartet from France. On Odyssées, the band works their heavily lyrics-centred magic with brio. The concept reminds me of Polymorphie—yes, I reviewed them here—but whereas Polymorphie attacked it from a jazz point of view, Lotus Titan does it from a post-rock and noise rock standpoint. The result is very interesting and enjoyable, and the album is quite generous with its runtime, so you have plenty to enjoy!

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Nika Mo – Of Cloven Hoof in Honey (Tone List)

Of Cloven Hoof in Honey is the debut album of Perth singer-songwriter Annika Moses. Through this album, you’ll be taken through a journey reminiscent of folk tales and legends involving the devil and offering morals and lessons in return for your time and attention. Indeed, Nika Mo took Grimm’s fairy tales and turned them into an album. Its melancholic character is only heightened by the lush instrumentation (seventeen musicians are on the record!) and brilliant harmonization of each piece. It’s a softer album, one that’s also perhaps more easily digestible to most people, but it’s one that will resonate strongly with the listener who truly listens.

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MRW – 死

It’s been a while since I featured polish one-man progressive metal band MRW here—my last review is from over two years ago!—but in the meantime Marcin Waszczak didn’t stop releasing material! His latest endeavour is actually a two-men group, alongside Maksym Goździkowski for the voices (on four tracks only… out of forty!) 死 takes the form of a full-length made up of forty short tracks that add up to over fifty minutes of material. The usual MRW style is still present: odd-metred riffs and groovy rhythms are on the menu! It’s a fun album where each musical idea quickly gives way to another, and so it never can grow stale or boring. Sometimes you wish some ideas were given more time to develop, but that’s hardly a downside!