Flora – Flora
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
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.
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
Convulsing – Grievous
The Music
The Words
Australian solo project Convulsing has a nasty aura surrounding it. Starting with Errata and improving an already winning formula with “Engraved upon Bleached Bone”, their side of the split with Siberian Hell Sounds, Convulsing continues their skyward ascension with Grievous, their latest full-length endeavour.
Brendan Sloan’s instrumentals and vocals are irreproachable, twisting and turning the compositions this and that way, and providing a highly dissonant and complex framework that is in relentless evolution. That was the case on Errata, and it’s still the case on Grievous. Even the programming of the … Read more