Already the tenth instalment of mini-reviews since our overhaul of the ill-named one-sentence reviews. That’s 80 new albums for you to discover! I certainly hope you found one or two that suited your tastes in there! Well, it doesn’t matter, we’ll keep churning them out!
Eschatos is a black metal band from Latvia with atmospheric black metal and post-metal elements. Their latest album, The Grand Noir, came out in May of 2015. It’s an okay album; it has its interesting bits, but they’re buried under the mass of forgettable material. Interesting fact: the band is female-fronted. Alas, it’s … Read more
Shamblemaths – Shamblemaths
In a remote cabin, at the base of some foggy mountain, lived a hermit, who knew only two things in life: survival, and progressive rock. One morning, he looked through his collection, in reverse chronology – Spock’s Beard, Dream Theater, Marillion, Van der Graaf Generator – and settled on a record by Egg, which he dusted off and began to place on his turntable. Just then, a quite unexpected knock came at the door. Answering it, he saw a man much younger than himself, panting breathlessly from his journey.
“Are you the prog guy? You’re him, right?!”
Silently, the man … Read more
Car Bomb – Meta Teaser
Mini-Reviews IX
Cryptic Ruse had us all turning heads with their 2014 album, “Chains of Smoke”, because of its incorporation of microtonality in different styles of metal. This time, “Wasting & Thirsting” focuses on the slower genres and styles of metal – still with microtonality -, on three long composition, the dissonances of which will make your skin crawl. It’s very interesting to have an emphasis on dissonance set with different microtonal tuning systems. I’m guessing, by the title tracks, that they are written in 23-, 17-, and 14-EDO respectively, but I might be wrong. The songs are very slow and atmospheric, … Read more
Mini-Reviews VIII
“Dead Ringers” is Horseback’s new and ablazin’ album. Coming out tomorrow, August twelfth, their special blend of psychedelic stoner doom is quite simply on point! Eighties-inspired synthesizers, eery clean vocals, atmospheric chorus-y guitars and minimal beats together create a strange new beast with its own volition, not unlike the horselike decapodal creature on the beautiful cover art of the album. I can’t underline this enough: you need this album in your life!
Coming out on the twenty-first of August, “Sonance” is Contemplator’s new album. If you don’t remember them, their 2013 self-titled release was delicious and surprising. With “Sonance”, the … Read more