Monthly Recommendations: December 2017

by Dæv Tremblay


Cleric – Retrocausal
[Review under construction]

Taylor Brook – Virtutes occultae

Somewhere between procedural, improvised, and strictly composed, the eighteen parts of this magnum opus take you into the world of overtonality. In a nutshell, this album is played by six virtual pianos, each tuned to a different 11-limit just intonation tuning.

Mini-review.

Vexovoid – Call of the Starforger

Call of the Starforger is great and the flow of riffs is unstoppable, making it a very welcome addition to the not so expansive array of releases of that ilk. With a compelling science-fiction theme and bulls-eye, overexcited riffs, Vexovoid’s debut

… Read more

The Metal of 2017

by Dæv Tremblay

CTEBCM started mostly thanks to progressive metal. Since then, the scope of the website has widened quite a bit, but there’s undeniably a stronger focus on metal music than any other. Thus, the metal albums of the year post (the one you’re reading right now) will divide the metal releases into various subgenres. Obviously, there is a lot of crossover going on so you might question some of my allotments. Some bands really do fit into more than one broad category, and so I put them in the one I think is most fitting, but you might have a different … Read more

Travis Orbin – Silly String Ⅱ

by Dæv Tremblay

More than two years after the release of the original Silly String, drummer and composer Travis Orbin comes back with its sequel to close off 2017. On Ⅱ, Travis inflates the concept of the twenty-minute predecessor threefold to a staggering sixty minutes. This expansion has it benefits – for one, there is more material to listen and enjoy –, but it also has its shortcomings. While the first of its name was concise and to the point, keeping only the absolute most mind-boggling tracks on record, the second one seems more spread out, less focused, and filled with … Read more

Weekly Release Dump #4

by Dæv Tremblay
    Saturday, 23 December

Carcajou – Quelle magnifique fin du monde (post-hardcore)
Käki – Three Pieces for Guitar, Piano and Junk Metal (experimental rock)
Planning for Burial – Below the House (Version) (post-doom/experimental)
The White Tulips and Chinese Football – 双拼 (Shuāng pīn) Half Half #1 (math rock)

    Sunday, 24 December


Morrow – Fallow (progressive blackened hardcore)

    Monday, 25 December

Adhara – Adhara (instrumental progressive metal)
Dialectical Imagination – The Angel and the Brute Sing Songs of Wrath (experimental jazz)
Heavy Blog Is Heavy – Heavy Comp Is Heavy: Volume Five (compilation)
Hyperdeath – No Fear (progressive metal)
Night Tempo – … Read more

Taylor Brook – Virtutes occultae

by Dæv Tremblay

Just in time to close 2017 with a microtonal bang!, composer Taylor Brook released Virtutes occultae: an exploratory double album for piano. Somewhere between procedural, improvised, and strictly composed, the eighteen parts of this magnum opus take you into the world of overtonality. In a nutshell, this album is played by six virtual pianos, each tuned to a different 11-limit just intonation tuning. The details on how Brook’s approach extends Partch’s are scarce and blurry, but, in any case, the result is utterly mesmerizing. The fact that the music is played only by pianos, virtual ones at that, … Read more