Category Archives: Check this out!

Review: Nathan Parker Smith – Not Dark Yet

by Dæv Tremblay
Does the name Nathan Parker Smith ring a bell to you? No? Well, that is about to change. His album Not Dark Yet certainly would have been on our best of 2014 list if we only knew about it earlier, but life, as good as it is, can sometimes be unfair. However, it’s certainly not too late to give the album a spin, and marvel at its ingenuity, and pure goodness.

First of all, we should talk here not just about a band, but rather a big band (bold is to emphasize the bigness), or large ensemble. In addition to … Read more

News: Upcoming awesome band alert! Vvon Dogma I

by Dæv Tremblay

Funky, djenty, proggy, those are the three words that I can put on this project for now. There’s next to no information available on the project, apart from the bass demo video… by no less than the monstrous bassist from Unexpect but rather than play on a 9 string bass guitar, it’s on a more standard 6 string. And he still totally kills it, even though it’s quite remote from Unexpect’s sound.

As for now, I believe they are actively looking for an 8-string guitarist with high-end gear, who thinks outside the box, and who has a clean criminal record … Read more

Review: Trivalent – A Universe

by Dæv Tremblay
If you don’t get what’s happening on that album cover, all four of the schemas, then you won’t get the album. That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be able to appreciate the music, just that you wouldn’t get it, it’s concept and all. The album represents in music the birth, life, and death of a universe, our universe, through the various stages of what we believe happened, and will happen in the future. Now, le me nerd out for a second here while I explain the album cover and track titles. If you want to read about the music, just skip… Read more

Review: Snakefeast – The Pythoness

by Dæv Tremblay
Baltimore-based Snakefeast comes pretty much out of the left field for me. Basically, it’s a guitarless progressive sludge quintet. But none of that ELE bullshit (3 basses that do the same thing), the instruments are: a drum, a bass guitar, a cello, and a saxophone. That can be quite interesting, isn’t it? But instead, they fall just a bit short.

Honestly, this combination of instruments could make something so awesome, that it’s criminal to have let the opportunity pass them by, and instead do some pretty uninspired sludge. Don’t get me wrong, the bass riffs are amazing and the songs … Read more

Review: Systems – Ghost Medicine

by Dæv Tremblay
While searching for Systems‘ bandcamp page, earlier, I arrived on Systems‘ one by mistake. And I was really not disappointed!

Even though far from similar to non-diatonic experimental prog metallers Systems, Systems definitely is an interesting band also. More in the vein of post-hardcore and post-metal, with a tinge of experimental, black metal, and progressive elements that are [always] welcome. The album, in fact, consists of one huge 41-minute song, divided into eight parts about (from what I can tell) myths, particularly in medicine, but not limited to it.

It really is a well-crafted album, with great, almost … Read more