Yet another track-EP from Mesarthim. The last one isn’t even 10 days old and Type III is already succeeding it. I have to say that there’s something different, here. The piano introduction sets the tone, and then guitar palm-muted chords come and increase the momentum of the track to an epic level. That being said, I’m really not a fan of epic metal – imagine all those Skyrim OST metal covers -, but I appreciate the little bit of diversity the project is putting in its music.
British mathcore band Zilf released, earlier this year, the cleverly-titled (not) PrEPare YourZILF EP. Despite the name, it’s a very good mathcore EP with some pop music tropes and catchy vocal lines. The only flagrant flaw of the album is the synthesized drums’ cymbals, which are telling. Other than that, it’s a very cool EP with good ideas.
Norwegian guitarist Owane just released Dunno, his debut album. Greatest Hits was a promising EP, but Dunno fully explores the musician’s potential. Including elements of drum ‘n’ bass and jazz into his own melodic instrumental prog. I particularly enjoy the piano and keyboards on the album, the piano solo on ‘Nocturia’, for example, is excellent!
Joseph A. Peragine‘s debut album, Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, has been talked about a lot in the circles, but mainly because it features The Dillinger Escape Plan’s former drummer, Chris Pennie. That’s quite a shame, though, as he’s not doing anything particularly mind-blowing, here. Of course, his drum parts are very high level and about just right for the compositions at hand, but they are not the focal point of the album. What is, however, is Joseph’s 9-string mathcore. The EP is, overall, very good, imaginative, and technically impressive. Check it out!
Krallice, the experimental black metal project, just released their second album of the year, Prelapsarian, and it’s a great one! The odd time signatures and discomforting harmonies are just a sign of things to come. I don’t think I need to expose at length what Krallice is, really, but do make sure to check it out yourself!
Scumacide is a grindcore powerviolence band from Texas, and they’ve just released Obsessed/Diseased back in November. The just-over-ten minutes EP is gritty and angry, and delivers the musical anger quite appropriately.
Hardcore math rock band with a puzzling capitalization ORigami geijutsU just released Sequel to Hibakusha, a six-part, three-song set of unreleased tracks serving as a bonus to The Hibakusha Haikus. While they are tangibly, but only slightly inferior to the main tracks of their debut album, this is a set of very interesting and technical math rock compositions. Be sure to check them out!
Progressive metal band Farwatch finally released Transmigrated, their debut album! I’ve been pretty curious about it since I listened to ‘Water Turns the Wheels’, their single that was out since March 2015. The compositions and instrumentation is generally on point, for this sort of progressive metal that’s at the same time looking back and thinking ahead. The guitars, keyboards, bass, and drums convey this rather perfectly. When it comes to the vocals, however, I’m a bit less sure. Some passages are great, emotional, and well-delivered, thanks to the high-pitched voice full of tremolo and melismata, but some are questionably delivered and slightly out of tune. For example, compare ‘Water Turns the Wheel’ to ‘Viridian Peal’. While the former is almost perfect in pitch and tone, the latter isn’t quite as much. Overall, it’s an interesting album worth listening to!