Why, yes! That is indeed a new format for our mini-reviews section! A three by three collage is, it proves, more convenient to make, and more content for you! This also means that our posts will come one eighth farther apart, but I don’t think that this will be a huge negative, in your lives.
We talked about Sunless, about a year ago, and praised their Demo 2016, which was more than promising. Well, the fruit has come to maturation and is ready to be picked. The band’s debut album, Urraca, is coming out on February twenty-fourth. … Read more
Monthly Recommendations: January 2017
‘Utopianisti is a Finn one-man experimental big band project – yes, such a thing exists, apparently -, that is releasing Brutopianisti on January first. Usually more in the progressive rock and metal genres, Markus Pajakkala’s experiment now delves in the worlds of avant-garde metal and grindcore, with this album. Immense props must be given to Markus for writing and playing a thirty-minute album with drums, bass clarinet, soprano sax, xylophone, flutes, and ‘additional vocals’, with only a few guests, mostly for singing. I won’t go into too much detail here, as Dillon, who showed me this album, expressed the desire … Read more
Mini-Reviews LVII
Experimental math rock is such a fertile ground, and this time it’s U Sco‘s turn to reap the fields, with Tuskflower, the band’s third album, which came out last September. The six tracks – from ‘O’ to ‘OOOOOO’ – fill the fifty minutes at hand with very cool compositions leaning on the noise and kraut rock genres, while constantly reaffirming their math roots by way of odd time signatures. Most of what you’ll hear comes from improvisations, one-takes, and little overdubs.
Aican is a Russian instrumental progressive rock band, and they’ve released Don’t Go Deep into the Forest… Read more
Mini-Reviews LVI
Audiomachy‘s Holofracture is a math metal album from the Australian duo. A rare sight in the genre, nowadays, is to have compositions based on genuine mathematical concepts, a few examples of which are listed in the album’s description on bandcamp. This makes not only for an alien sounding album, but also for an active and intellectually interesting listening experience. This album was released in 2014, but it’s very much up to date with the current math scene. The band is said to be working on a new album for 2017!
Meganeko is an awesome project from Sweden that creates … Read more
Mini-Reviews LV
Blame Kandinsky is a Greek mathcore band, and Spotting Elegance in Chaos is their debut album. Their bias towards dissonance makes me happy. While they’re not using them all day, all night, the inclusion of minor and diminished intervals in their songs is just and wise. You could think of it as a more straightforward Dillinger Escape Plan, but they’ve got something more than just that, so be sure to try this one out!
The work of Austin Woodward, Echopraxia just released Candle Cove. As the uncanny tag ‘thalloween’ suggests, this album is a blend of melodic progressive djent … Read more