Danimal Cannon – Lunaria

by Jeff Nixon

ALBUM ART Lunaria_RGB_1500x1500Danimal Cannon’s 2011 album Roots was one of the albums that got me into chiptune music (although other Ubiktune releases certainly contributed to that as well) and remains one of my favorite albums still. Danimal’s new album Lunaria contains the same familiar upbeat gameboy programmed chiptunes paired with prog metal guitar riffs, but on a whole new level.

What sets this album apart from past Danimal albums is the fact that the songs were composed on guitar first, with the chiptunes composed around those guitar parts. Also new to Lunaria, is the addition of vocals on a few of the … Read more

OSR: March 9th, 2016

by Dæv Tremblay

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It’s time for a new edition of One-Sentence Reviews! Where we don’t really review the music and it actually takes more than one sentence.

First up is Marburg‘s Polemicist, a death-grind album with various influences and a focus on technical playing. It’s a pretty interesting album for fans of the genre, less brutal than Murder Construct, for example, but also more technical and diverse. Next, Anup Sastry‘s new EP, Bloom. It’s a pretty good instrumental djent album with some electronic music and a spotlight on the drums, as Anup is the drummer for Monuments. Then, something… Read more

Monthly Recommendations: February 2016

by Dæv Tremblay

So, this is the ultimate reduction of what came out last month that came to our attention. We always try to listen to as many stuff as possible, but it’s practically impossible to listen to or review everything that comes out. That being said, here are the absolute best releases that came out in February, according to us!

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First of all is Love Sex Machine, the ridiculously heavy and pissed off sludge doom band, and their newest full-length, Asexual Anger. It continues where their self-titled album left us, but I miss the profanity of the song titles on… Read more

Axon-Neuron – Metamorphosis

by Dæv Tremblay

covermetamorphosisI was totally stunned, back in 2012, when Axon-Neuron released their previous album, Dreamstate. Their unique blend of jazz, classical and rock or metal music, the excellent vocal delivery, as well as the proficient use of a 9-string guitar, simply overwhelmed me, and I became an instant fan. Oh, and there was a string quartet in there, too. Three years and two thirds later and a bunch of personnel changes – Jeremey is the only member left from Dreamstate -, the band releases Metamorphosis, an almost two hour-long double album that takes all they’ve previously did and cranks … Read more

Divine Realm – Tectum Argenti

by Jeff Nixon

a0104658246_10Divine Realm’s Tectum Argenti is a nice mix of melodic prog and djent with some impressive musicianship. While not as heavy as similar bands like Between the Buried and Me or Animals as Leaders, Divine Realm’s debut album still packs quite a punch.

Fronted by Canadian multi-instrumentalist, Leo Diensthuber, Divine Realm which started out as just a one-man band, grew into a full band before this debut full length album, which came out this week on February 23rd.

The album consists of seven meaty tracks, all between 3 and 5 minutes a piece. Not a second seems wasted though, there … Read more