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Best Metal of 2018

by Dæv Tremblay

There was a lot of good music in 2018. That is to be expected for any year; there are just so many artists and musicians out there that are creating, constantly… The absolute number of musical releases is utterly daunting and insignificant by its sheer size—it would be impossible to listen to everything released in a given year—but I’ve truly given it my best, listening to a total of 2,257 albums, EPs, and splits from this year alone (an average of over six releases every day). That is without mentioning older albums, or albums from 2019 that I had the … Read more

Zevious – Lowlands

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

The Zevious trio has something to tell with its music. With members from Dysrhythmia, Sabbath Assembly, and more, their album Lowlands is a real treat combining post-metal with elements of progressive rock and jazz, all instrumental.

Mike Eber’s guitar parts are versatile and well furnished so that there’s always something interesting from that part of the spectrum when you go through the album. Backing him is the rhythm section of drums and bass, which are also very proficient, energetic, and non-standard. So much so that when more standard parts come into play, as in “Smear Campaign”, … Read more

Monthly Recommendations: April 2018

by Dæv Tremblay

Chaos Echœs with Mats Gustafsson – Sustain

The collaboration, titled Sustain, is made of two parts of equal length that achieve a deranging, dense atmosphere that’s as far from black metal as it is from free jazz. The album is closer to dark ambient music, in general. Mats’ saxophone lines are most often drawn out and melancholic, and backed by the infinitely reverberating guitars, distorted bass, and hectic percussions of Chaos Echœs. I was expecting something bombastic, relentless, and heavy, but I am more than pleased to be surprised thusly.

Read the full review.

Cosmo Sheldrake – The Much Much

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Monthly Recommendations – September 2017

by Dæv Tremblay

II II II – Frequency Illusion

What is there to say, honestly? The works presented on this full-length album takes what the band’s debut was all about, but with slightly better production and composition overall. You still get the mathy riffs, the jazzy grooves, and the hardcore-style vocals, but you get more of them, and you get only the best of them.

Mini-review.

Rivener – Rivener

The band definitely borrows a lot from free jazz, but they apply their knowledge of it successfully to experimental and noise rock. Well, maybe it’s just not jazz by omission. Lay down some saxophone

… Read more

OSR: June 15th, 2016

by Dæv Tremblay

ose0612
You might want to stay, there’s a surprise inside…
But first of all, Pace House are releasing their new album… today! Forever Existing Place is somewhere between the chiller songs of CHON and TTNG. It’s on the mellow side of math rock, which retains almost none of what makes math rock math, but there’s still some display of musicianship, and the sonic characteristics of the genres are kept. It’s really good, especially for a relaxed listening session.

Next up is Vukari‘s newest album, Divination. It comes out on August first, and it’s a blend of post-metal and… Read more