Finisterre — or, the end of the Earth — is German atmospheric black metal band Der Weg einer Freiheit‘s sophomore album, following 2015’s widely-praised Stellar. While I personally wasn’t very fond of their prior material — I recently double-checked to make sure this was still the case —, Finisterre simply blew me away. I don’t really know what change happened that made me react differently, but I believe this has to do with tighter production and compositions. The atmospheric elements are more poignant, the heavy-hitting parts hit harder, and each song is a rewarding experience to get through, … Read more
Author Archives: Dæv Tremblay
Ehnahre – The Marrow
Ever since Douve came out, in 2016, I’ve held the Boston avant-garde doom metal quartet Ehnahre in the highest of regards. Earlier this month, they released their newest experimentation on The Marrow, a four-track, fifty-three-minute slab of slow, heavy, and unbridled contemporary music. Yes, Ehnahre swims pretty close to modern classical music with their compositional approach, a feeling reinforced by their use of contrabass and piano. The band’s long, drawn-out pieces are very atmospheric and even entrancing, often relying on slow, repeated motives and spoken word passages to build a ritualistic summoning of heartfelt and mystic music. The outstanding … Read more
Sewing Circle – Nausea
Sometimes, we need to take a step back and take a listen to something that really makes you ask yourself “can this even be called music?” Of course, the answer is almost always a resounding “yes!”, but, to the neophyte’s ear, the answer might not be so clear-cut. Enters Sewing Circle, the project of Arturo, Noah, and Patrick – the latter of whom we already wrote about many times for his involvement in some of today’s wildest and most interesting musical projects – is, I believe, an improvisation-based experimental noise rock trio. The nearly thirty-minute EP is adventurous and, … Read more
Grant the Sun – Grant the Sun
Made from members of the corrosive grindcore entity Beaten to Death and the metalcore act Insense, Grant the Sun turns its head towards progressive and post-metal instead, and succeeds effortlessly at making a naturally enjoyable debut. The Norwegian instrumental trio stick to a relatively simple formula: good riffs, a few guitar solos, some top-tier drumming, and sensical song structures. Melodic and heavy, the album is pretty good, but also lacks any characteristic that would make it unforgettable. In fact, despite how decent it is, I had a hard time recalling it even existed. I often express my disgust of gimmicks, … Read more
Big|Brave – Ardor
Big|Brave is a Montréalais doom-leaning experimental rock trio, and they’re releasing their latest full-length, Ardor, on September fifteen. With only three tracks, the album manages to go on for almost forty-five minutes. Their sound is overwhelmingly huge and hopelessly, crawlingly slow, yet Robin’s voice, at the forefront of the music, sounds fragile and vulnerable. This apparent dichotomy moulds Big|Brave’s sound into something rather unique. The desolate songs are really drawn out and quite uneventful, but so emotionally crushing it’s terrifying. With only two guitars and a drumkit – and a voice –, Big|Brave are able to craft some of … Read more