Well, it’s been a great year for music, and especially can’t-even-be-called-music. Seeing as the year is just about over, we’re going to wrap up with a list of the best albums of the year. We are glad to say that CTEBCM is and remains at the forefront of music journalism, and we are proud to present you the first top 5 of the year! Who really wants to wait until 2018 is actually over to decide what was best? Not us! Let’s stop pretending that releases in December matter. In fact, we can safely assume that nothing that comes out … Read more
Category Archives: Review
Invalids – Fulfillment
The Music
The Words
After delegating the bass duties to Nick Shaw of Black Crown Initiate and using programmed drums for years, I’m glad to see guitar virtuoso Pete Davis move his project Invalids to a full band formula. As the first release under this new lineup, Fulfillment has a lot of expectations to… fulfill.
I won’t be pressing F for the programmed drums, as you’ll have guessed, and the stellar performance of Joe Scala means that you won’t even look back to the days of yore. On bass, Nick too left big shoes to fill, but I’m glad … Read more
Chaos Echœs with Mats Gustafsson – Sustain
The Music
The Words
Mats Gustafsson is a giant in the world of free and avant-jazz. One of his latest works, on Fire! Orchestra’s Ritual, is just purely mind-blowing, as is the album in its entirety. Seeing his name alongside Chaos Echœs, one of the best contemporary forward-thinking black metal bands — their album Mouvement made it onto our February recommendations —, is just as much as a surprise as it is cause for excitement.
The collaboration, titled Sustain, is made of two parts of equal length that achieve a deranging, dense atmosphere that’s as far from … Read more
Soldat Hans – Es taut
The Words
Soldat Hans is an outlier in their musical setting, lilting tranquilly somewhere in a liminal dimension between post-rock and post-metal. They are an outlier because they do not demand your attention in an immediate way, as most bands in the modern era of streaming and accessibility have to do. If a listener is bored of your track within fifteen seconds, they’re not coming back, so you have to compose songs that hook people with a certain urgency. Soldat Hans are not interested in appealing to those casual listeners; their songs are enormous, expansive, patient meditations on minimal themes. … Read more
Moteur! – En traits libres
The Music
The Words
Moteur! is a French avant-prog band who released its debut self-titled album almost exactly a year ago. En traits libres is their most recent output, and it makes some changes on the basic formula. First of all, the band is now totally instrumental, and I can’t say I miss the vocals of their first opus; moving them out was a wise move. Secondly, the then-trio welcomes Yacine Rabia on bass guitar and becomes a full-fledged quartet! That adds a layer of sound, something that wasn’t really lacking, but that is nonetheless appreciated.
The band favours completely … Read more