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

OSR: February 25th, 2016

by Dæv Tremblay
Jusska‘s EP, Tsuki, came out in January. It’s a good mix of heavy, groovy djent with clean and ambient vocals.
Pontus Grunve‘s new release, IV, is an interesting take on prog rock with jazzier aesthetics and borrows from post-rock as well. It’s a very well-made EP that will please most fans of the genre. Night Terrors is a very experimental jazz album. Armed only with an alto sax, a guitar, and a drumset (as well as a bunch of exotic instruments), the project puts world music, folk, as well as field recordings and more ambient stuff… Read more

Kurushimi – Kurushimi

by Deidre House

Kurushimi album artKurushimi is a new collective of sorts including members of Serious Beak, Instrumental, adj. (bands we have covered here on CTEBCM!), Fat Guy Wears Wolf Shirt, as well as a few other members. They just dropped their self-titled debut on Art as Catharsis, and I’m going to be up front with you: there is no point trying to attach genres to this (so naturally we’re going to try it!). Like all great music, it defies easy attempts at description and categorization.

The first question that came to me upon hearing of this project: What does Kurushimi mean, anyway? Knowing nothing … Read more

Fire! – She Sleeps, She Sleeps

by Daniel Kuburoglu

When one first hears of the band Fire!, one may be tempted to first imagine a hardcore punk act, brutally tearing down establishments one performance at a time; an in-your-face barrage of aggression which unleashes your adrenaline and demands your attention. Is this not how one would generally imagine “Fire!” after all? A cry shouted out in the wake of uncontrollable destruction which will shortly reduce all around it to ash? It is a powerful force to say the least.

Yet there is another, more subtle side to fire which many tend to overlook. The flames can emerge, small … Read more

Carpadium – What You Need

by Dæv Tremblay

What You Need CoverAfter an immature debut album, Florida-based Carpadium put out Fake Jokes, an album that solidified their musical direction and sound in a more noisy math rock fashion, and got rid of the vocals too. Their upcoming full-length, What You Need, will be out on the 26th of February.

On its layout, the album is just a tad longer than 30 minutes and consists of five songs, as well as a prelude and three interludes. Continuing the sound found on Fake Jokes, What You Need is upbeat and sometimes pretty angry math rock with a noisy yet very good … Read more