Book of Sand – The Face of the Deep

by Dæv Tremblay

RELEASE-distro-bookofsandBook of Sand is a black metal one-man band that has been around since 2009, and The Face of the Deep is their fifth full-length. It seems that, specifically for this release, they went out of their way and dove head first in experimental and avant-garde waters. However I feel they did so in the shallow and might have broken their neck…

Their previous catalogue comprises pretty traditional black metal with various external influences that almost go unnoticed if it were not for the addition of violin. Some songs are very decent, like “Arran Boat Song“, with its contemplative monotony, … Read more

OSR: January 15th, 2016

by Dæv Tremblay
Sealclubber returns with Stoical, a very energetic and heavy album drawing influences on both crust punk and sludge metal, a very fun listen! The album comes out February 5th.
Tectum Argenti is a progressive and melodic instrumental metal album with slight djent influences from Divine Realm and there’s no shortcoming of technical musicianship either. A melodic death metal album from 2012 with various Middle-Eastern influences, especially in the wonderful folk song “Iram of the Pillars”. The Purge EP comes out March 7th, but “Innocent Blood” is on it. Cabal makes a very heavy and angry blackened deathcore sound fit… Read more

Bambino dell’Oro – Los Belvos

by Deidre House

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Oxford, UK’s progressive fusion duo Bambino dell’Oro‘s latest album Los Belvos is a set of sumptuously textured modern jazz pieces underlaid by complex grooves. The core of the band is made up by two multi-instrumentalists specializing on drums and piano/keyboard respectively, but they also have a bassist with them most of the time and occasionally a soprano sax player as well on this release.

The album’s overall feel is energetic, effortlessly flowing between odd time signatures that are given time to breathe without overstaying their welcome. They make strategic use of a wide texural palette including instruments such as … Read more

The Very Best of 2015 (According to Us)

by Dæv Tremblay

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So, 2015 has come and gone such as a gust of wind inside the empty halls of our lives in which we blindly crawl, writhing until we fall to our death in one of the unforeseeable traps set up by the mad architect of this edifice. But at least, we have music to make our aimless trip more bearable. So, what artists and albums shone this year? We asked our team to come up with their picks, so there they are: the very best of 2015.

Lefteris Kefalas

2015 started off as a promising year but it concluded with many … Read more

Giant Gutter from Outer Space – Set Adrift

by Dæv Tremblay

a0651600876_10This Brazilian drums-and-bass duo play in the realms of experimental stoner metal. There is not much information about the band, apart that they’re from Curitiba, Brazil, and that Set Adrift is their first release.

The very premise of a duo makes it so that there are huge timbre and register limitations; one instrument can only do so much! Therefore, Giant Gutter from Outer Space sounds roughly similar to other drums-and-bass metal duos like Bangladeafy, and other bass-fronted experiments such as Zvoyn and, to some extent, Primus. Each of these bands, GGFOS included, have their own sound and personality … Read more