Category Archives: Review

Our Oceans – Our Oceans

by Dæv Tremblay

a2936028470_16What do you get when you put ex-members of progressive metal band Cynic with members of atmospheric black metal band Dodecahedron? Not what you would expect.

Our Oceans is a post-rock band in which Tymon (ex-Cynic) lulls us with his soothing melodic voice, which we really aren’t used to. Behind his voice and his guitar work is a silky smooth fretless bass playing jazzy lines and drums that put the emphasis on the ambient side of things: painting the background with cymbals over slow odd time signatures and polyrhythms.

Over the course of the album, there is some variety to … Read more

Glass Skies – A Nature of Sorts

by Dæv Tremblay

a3893934811_16Glass Skies is a UK-based one-man band by Oscar, active since at least 2014, according to bandcamp releases. A Nature of Sorts is his first actual release, if we don’t count three singles and a backing track mini-EP.

His debut EP is a 5-song, 18-minute listen that adds a few djent elements to an otherwise jazz fusion sound, which is, for the most part, pretty laid back and contemplative but still instrumentally interesting. On that point, there is a little extended instrumentation that is fun to listen to: stuff like xylophone on Nice Monster and piano on the title track, … Read more

Delvoid – Serene

by Dæv Tremblay

Delvoid-Serene-CoverNorway is a prolific and high quality breeding ground for progressive metal. The latest surprise to hatch there is Delvoid‘s sophomore album, Serene: a 75-minute voyage that will make you wish that it never ends.

First of all, I could say their sound leans on tool and Caligula’s Horse’s side, but that would be oversimplifying it. Nevertheless, if you like that band’s music, you will most definitely be a fan of Delvoid’s! At the very least, the singers’ softer voice is somewhat similar, but Serene is much more into post metal. The three longer songs there really lay … Read more

Thieves’ Kitchen – Clockwork Universe

by Deidre House

Prog rockers Thieves’ Kitchen hail from the UK and Sweden. Their sixth full-length album,  The Clockwork Universe, charts a course through spacetime to a destination somewhere in 1970s Canterbury, UK. The jazz and folk infused style of progressive rock particular to this spacetime neighborhood, rather than being an obsolete relic of the past, still boasts untapped veins of creative gold. Along the journey, we’re treated to a sprawling 20 minute prog epic, as well as a couple instrumental and percussion-less tracks that sound more like contemporary classical chamber music than any kind of … Read more

Frontierer – Orange Mathematics

by Dæv Tremblay

a2835857791_16I remember when Sectioned was the shit, and all their noise and heavy riffs were amazing. Then, the band’s guitarist suggested we also listen to his other band, Frontierer, which was a perhaps more “hardcore” take on the sound. Here comes their debut album, and second release, Orange Mathematics.

It’s a 15-song album, 14 of which are new compositions, and one comes from “The Collapse”, their previous EP. The sound here is improving on the qualities that were already there. The fast-paced, staccato riffs are loaded with guitar manipulations (in the style of Car Bomb) and djenty subdivisions, … Read more