Monthly Recommendations: March 2016

by Dæv Tremblay

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Here is what we think is the best music to come out in last month!

Krighsu is Wormed‘s latest venture into scientific jargon and brutal death metal. The concept album is just more of what Wormed has been known for, and we appreciate them for that. Have your lyrics sheet at hand, if you want to decipher the guttural sounds of Phlegeton, and be ready to be crushed by the unrelenting riffs of Krighsu. “The Psychic Planetarium, in the end, marks a new step forward in the progressive metal genre by insisting even more on technicality but… Read more

OSR: March 31st, 2016

by Dæv Tremblay

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Yesterday’s OSR by Dillon reminded me that I’ve got a bunch of new records to show you guys!

Let’s start this off with the Occult Anarchist Propaganda of Book of Sand. I’ll cover this one deeper in a double review of this and his other release, Elegy, which both came out around the same time. This one is probably his most standard black metal release to date and might be enjoyed by sane people, even!
Secondly is the folk and mixed doom metal of Stangala with their new album, Klañv, which came out on March 24th. It’s a… Read more

Warm up Your Throats! Audition to Be the Voice of II II II!

by Dæv Tremblay

II II II is amongst my favourite bands because of their unique style of composition. Their experimental, jazzy mathcore album, A Conundrum on My Coffee Table, from 2012, still gets played fairly frequently, which is quite a feat for me! The recent news of new material from the band, with the release of an instrumental demo on Youtube (below), stirred me up and got me very excited. It seems I wasn’t the only one because in response to the public’s reaction, the band decided to move on and concretize the new EP.

Right now, on SoundCloud, they have put … Read more

OSR: March 30th, 2016

by Deidre House

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You’re Welcome is an impressive debut EP of progressive jazz from Watchdog, a new French duo consisting of keyboard and clarinet.

Joe Santa Maria has given us a diverse and intriguing EP in Echo Deep that morphs back and forth between quirky minimalist jazz and chamber music that trades percussion for strings.

Looping sax overdubs combine to form experimental, minimalist, atmospheric jazz on Johnny Butler‘s Carousel.

The title may no longer be accurate, but Family Junction‘s Never Released Greatest Hits is an interesting and well-executed blend of prog rock and indie rock sensibilities.

Israeli prog/fusion trio … Read more

The Pitts Minnemann Project – The Psychic Planetarium

by Dæv Tremblay

coverpsychicplanetariumThe Pitts Minnemann Project released their first album in 2014 with the technical, fusion progressive metal album 2 L 8 2 B Normal, featuring keyboard virtuoso Jimmy Pitts and drummer madman Marco Minnemann, completed by a long list of musicians amongst whom are found Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger, Ray Riendeau, and Jerry Twyford. This album is basically a 52-minute, 27-part song of the best fusion progressive metal out there, and I keep going back to it quite regularly. Two years later, and we’ve got The Psychic Planetarium. Does it raise the bar for the future or does it fail … Read more