Category Archives: Mini-Review

Big Heart Machine – Big Heart Machine

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

I’ve been waiting on this release for as long as it has been announced (or very nearly so), but, when it was finally released, it was impossible for me to listen to it attentively and, thus, prepare a short review before the month’s end. It is doubtless that I can say that Big Heart Machine would’ve made it in August’s monthly recommendations, but you’ll have to be content with this belated, overdue one.

Big Heart Machine is the eighteen-piece big band under the baton of Miho Hazama and the production of Darcy James Argue, another … Read more

Green Tree Novelty Tea – The Lion’s Suite

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Green Tree Novelty Tea starts off strong with their debut EP, The Lion’s Suite: a twenty-minute collection of stellar progressive rock with vibrant math rock influences. Just make sure to raise the volume before listening to the album, because it’s mixed quite low.

The band includes the bassist of blog favourite Axon-Neuron, and this is the sole reason for my stumbling upon this album, for it is not promoted or shared a lot. This makes it even more of a pleasant surprise, then, to find therein some of the best progressive rock of recent … Read more

Flora – Flora

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

From Berlin, Germany, Flora is a duo comprised of singer Flora Dekkers and pianist Benjamin Geyer. This is a very simple foundation, and, accordingly, it leads up to quite a minimalistic building, but the beauty and grace of it all entirely fills the remaining space.

At first, Flora’s voice reminded me of Lauren Kinsella’s, in Snowpoet and Blue-Eyed Hawk, but Flora’s singer has her own intonation, inflections, and timbre after the initial impression.

Flora is a simple and concise EP. It’s made of four songs, plus an introduction that is more than only a filler … Read more

Palm – To Live Is to Die, to Die Is to Live

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Japanese grinding hardcore outfit Palm—not to be confused with their New York counterparts, will soon release To Live Is to Die, to Die Is to Live, a relentless album that’s there to remind you that punk is not dead.

In fact, it’s even more lively than ever, despite its drastic transfiguration. The hardcore and grindcore elements fuse perfectly together, as do the death metal influences here and there too. The result of this is an incredible album that’s here to kick you in the teeth for a little less than forty minutes. Honestly, … Read more

Laudare – d.é.o.m.é.

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Life is a neverending game of catchup, recently demonstrated with Ryorchestra‘s overdue review, and today is Laudare‘s turn. d.é.o.m.é. was released in July and completely flew under my radar. The reason being that the band’s main music genre on bandcamp is “alternative”, a category I seldom if ever survey. I think it would do the band a great favour to change this to “metal”, and then complete with appropriate genre tags. But, in the end, the album has found its way to my ears, and I’m glad it did, because it’s phantastic.

The German … Read more