Instrumental (adj.) – A Series of Disagreements

by Dæv Tremblay

a1446988580_16Plini, Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt, The Helix Nebula, SEIMS, and Violence In Action have a baby together. The name of the child with such a terrifying genealogy is Instrumental (adj.). In fact, it’s not even an actual name. But as we shouldn’t mock anyone’s name, let’s tackle this one with no preconceived ideas.

Instrumental (adj.) is an instrumental (…) band from crazed Australia. If the portfolio of its progenitors is any indicator of how the offspring will turn out, then it’s going to be quite a listen! And oh boy how it is! A Series of … Read more

Spectral Lore – Gnosis

by Dæv Tremblay

a2074334670_16Gnosis is the second EP from Greece’s Spectral Lore this year, both labeled as “experimental” from the band. The first one, Voyager, was admittedly pretty different from the band’s usual material as it wasn’t a metal release at all. This one, on the other hand, is closer to their style, but still has some aspects that make it stand out.

First of all are the Middle Eastern-sounding melodies found in there, and also a greater focus on acoustic instruments. The latter is at its extreme on Averroes’ Search. This aligns well with Spectral Lore’s approach to songwriting, in … Read more

Our Oceans – Our Oceans

by Dæv Tremblay

a2936028470_16What do you get when you put ex-members of progressive metal band Cynic with members of atmospheric black metal band Dodecahedron? Not what you would expect.

Our Oceans is a post-rock band in which Tymon (ex-Cynic) lulls us with his soothing melodic voice, which we really aren’t used to. Behind his voice and his guitar work is a silky smooth fretless bass playing jazzy lines and drums that put the emphasis on the ambient side of things: painting the background with cymbals over slow odd time signatures and polyrhythms.

Over the course of the album, there is some variety to … Read more

OSR: November 14th, 2015

by Dæv Tremblay
Okazaki Fragments‘ debut EP Abandoned is a crushing deathgrind release that will make your DNA explode! PoiL‘s last album Brossaklitt hosts some of the best experimental progressive rock out there: weird and funky! Inverted Serenity is a progressive blackened death metal band and their album Integral is impressive! When Wild Dingos Attack is a pretty good and full of personality band. Listen to Burn What You Love! The bassoon is a relatively underrepresented instrument in rock and metal music, that’s why I’m glad to know that BRIAN!‘s avant math rock is prominently playing that very instrument!… Read more

Two amazing math rock bands team up for a promising collaboration!

by Dæv Tremblay

ni and PoiL are two French math rock bands that blew us away the minute we heard of them, respectively. Thus, the news of them both collaborating for a new project, Piniol. It is not said whether it will be a one-time only thing or if the merging of these two beasts will be perennial. All the information we’ve got is that video, and that we’ll have more early 2016.

Let’s be patient!… Read more