Monthly Archives: February 2018
Astrakhan – Without New Growth Process Is Bloodshed
The Music
The Words
Alright, Vancouver’s progressive stoner metal crew Astrakhan released an album, in 2016, that was already promising, but today we face the repercussions of that promise. Have they delivered? I’m glad to say they do. Without New Growth Process Is Bloodshed is an improvement on all fronts, and possible one of the best progressive stoner albums out there! One comment on bandcamp compares it to a mix of Protest the Hero, Tool, and Mastodon. I’ve got to say that while I see the latter two parts, I have a hard time noticing the similarities with PTH. … Read more
Futbolín, Colin Hinton, Daniel Saylor, Xenobiotic, 灰野敬二 (Keiji Haino) & Sumac, Fire!, Vitamin Sun, Basalte, and Monoglot
Futbolín – Shy Guys, Malmö Days
The Italian post-hardcore trio managed to create an energetic and emotional EP that has just the slightest hints of math rock and mathcore influence, in the form of a chaotic hardcore aftertaste. Even though the album is rather straightforward in its time signatures, except for the odd time here and there, the choice accentuations keeps things fresh and unsettling. The only thing I can fault this EP on is its measly eleven-minute runtime, but it isn’t really a fault if said minutes give you a great time!
Colin Hinton – Glassbath
Coming out on … Read more
Weekly Release Dump
Saturday, 27
Brian! – Chasms of Color and Thought (avant-pop/chamber music)
Stygian Obsession – Form Is Void (experimental black metal)
Wormhole – Causation (experimental electronic music)
Sunday, 28
Autger – God Kissing Carrion (cyber dark jazz)
Cyclamen – 阿弥陀 (Amida) (post-hardcore)
… Read moreExtended Album Art: The Often-Forgotten Sides of Album Covers
Just this month, at least two amazing albums were released that have extended album arts. What counts as extended?, you ask. Quite simply, it’s when an album cover derogates from the perfect square image usually shown on sites like Bandcamp, Itunes, Spotify, and many others. Such artistic eccentricities can be caused by the album art wrapping around more than one panel on a physical release, which leads to two- or even three-panel artworks. These extended forms usually show more of the concept behind the art, and, most of the time, are an absolute joy to behold.
On this website, I … Read more