Protoplasma – –

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

What a surprise I had, when sifting through the zeuhl tag on bandcamp, when I stumbled upon this Magyar brutal prog gem. Protoplasma keeps it mysterious: we don’t know who is in the band or how many they are, only that they’re from Budapest! Maybe I should organize a field trip, someday, to make some detective work… They hardly play zeuhl music, their sound is closer to experimental, noise rock, and avant-prog, but I certainly won’t mind the indirect reference.

– (Kötőjel, I guess?) is just over thirty minutes, but it’s filled to the … Read more

Inhumankind – Self-Extinction

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

The Spanish duo of Pablo Selnik and Àlex Reviriego, Inhumankind, was one of the surprises of the Spring. It would seem indeed rather bare to have a flute and double bass duo alone play songs inspired by black metal! Fortunately, the two musicians are joined by three competent singers: the harmonized vocals of Celeste Alías and Marta Valero, and the growls of Eric Baule. At first, I didn’t expect much — many projects claiming to bridge classical music and metal have come and gone without any memorable release —, but Inhumankind are able to keep … Read more

Invalids – Fulfillment

by Dæv Tremblay

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

by Dæv Tremblay

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