Toehider – “Good”

by Jeff Nixon

Releasing tomorrow on October 19th, the aptly named new album from Mike Mills’ Toehider is not just “Good” it’s great! But that’s to be expected of Mike as he’s continued to push the envelope in the prog genre in weird and interesting ways.

Mike’s early work under the name Toehider consisted of twelve EPs that he completed in twelve months. Quite a demanding schedule that only someone as crazy and driven as Mike could accomplish. I first really started following Toehider around when he crowdfunded his last album, What Kind of Creature Am I?, on the … Read more

Spires of the Lunar Sphere – Siren (Take the Fair Face of Woman and Gently Suspending with Butterflies Flowers and Jewels Attending Thus Your Fairy Be Made of Most Wondrous Things)

by Dæv Tremblay

We’ve been somewhat mystified by Spires of the Lunar Sphere‘s debut, back in 2015, so their newborn with a most megalomanic title, Siren (Take the Fair Face of Woman and Gently Suspending with Butterflies Flowers and Jewels Attending Thus Your Fairy Be Made of Most Wondrous Things), has less of that bewildering factor. That being said, it doesn’t mean it’s bad – far from it –, just that you only make a first impression once. Still jumping between metalcore, post-hardcore, mathcore, and deathcore, the duo takes its idiosyncratic eccentricity to extremes of peculiarity and heaviness. Think Arsonists Get … Read more

Altarage – Endinghent

by Dæv Tremblay

Altarage is a sickening death metal band from Spain. Their penultimate release – Nihl – was heavy and muddy and dissonant, and their newest one keeps that ball rolling. Endinghent was released on 13 October, and it’s ripe with forty minutes of the same breed of what’s commonly called avant-garde death metal. Think Ulcerate, Portal, you’re in the right frame of mind. While I would contest the avant-garde label, it’s a great album with a contemporary view on harmony and dissonance, and the chops to sit alongside other better-known names of the same ilk. The guitars are disgustingly heavy and … Read more

Redshift Pilots – Moonlight Synthesis

by Dæv Tremblay

We recently often write about bands who bridge post-hardcore and progressive metal, it seems, and some also other genres, but here’s one that almost uncompromisingly links it with black metal. Redshift Pilots released their debut full-length album, Moonlight Synthesis, in early October. It impatiently shows its black colours with fervent blast beats and tremolo picking riffs, but then sways into atmospheres of post-rock and post-hardcore ambiances seamlessly and in an honestly impressive manner. Sure, some tracks stay more on one side than the other, like “Overgrown”, which is almost entirely post-rock, but has a blackgaze twist near the end, … Read more

Kamancello – Kamancello

by Matt Matheson

Improvisation is the cauldron in which most great music is born, but for most musical acts it is just the beginning of the composing process. Some artists, though, are secure enough in their creative talents to make improvisation an integral component of their sound. The right musicians and framework can produce magic with this approach, and that’s precisely what a pair of internationally renowned string players have done on the self-titled debut album of Kamancello. If you like improvisation, chamber music, and portmanteaux, this is the album for you.

Kamancello juxtaposes the dynamic cello performance of Raphael Weinroth-Browne, whose … Read more