If Cynic hadn’t gone in silence after the release of the acclaimed album Focus, they would’ve probably ended sounding like Art Far Away. I know, I know, that’s no small deal elevating any other band than Cynic to the rank of Cynic, but hear me out.

Art Far Away makes something that doesn’t sound too far from what I’d call “technical progressive post-hardcore”. In a sense, it’s not like Cynic’s Focus as it’s not quite “death metal”, but the presence of the vocoder just immediately makes you think of the band. It also adds that atmospheric touch to the sound … Read more

Ever wished that poppy folk-ish music existed with brass, variations, a bit of prog and a bit of jazz? You got Sufjan Stevens, who does incredible stuff. If that’s too mellow for you, and you feel like partying more, or dancing even, well here comes OhBree with all the aforementioned elements, plus the element of surprise! Ah ha!

Am I comparing a petty little unknown band to the almighty god of indie music? Yes I am, because this is just where that petty little unknown band so happens to yearn to. And it’s quite hard writing something on music that … Read more

Talk about something refreshing! Mind[s]peak’s new, and apparently first, album Pictures is one chunk of progressive metal madness! Reminiscent of Dream Theater, Spock’s Beard, King Crimson, and Yes all at once, this female-fronted band really delivers!

Their music is quite instrumental-heavy, but vocal sections are always throughly worked and layered with multiple voices, which is interesting, and quite rare nowadays. The very first singing section is a capella, and step up to four singers in some kind of canon/contrapunctus fashion reminiscent of Spock’s Beard – Thoughts Part II. On the rest of the album, vocals rarely come with only one … Read more

We usually don’t post anything that is metalcore but Numbers has some magic going on. Now to start off this review let us take a moment to recognize how great this album sounds. This is due to Aaron Smith’s excellent production work. What really stands out to me is how great the electronic backing tracks blend with the band. You can check out his site if you want to hear what else he has worked on. http://www.envisageaudio.com/ It also seems as Aaron Smith tracked the Rhythm Guitar parts!

Now these guys have done a great job at blending high-paced riffs … Read more

You know you’re in for a treat when the tags “ambient experimental free jazz improv metal noise post rock” show up on bandcamp, and when the band respects the tags they’ve used! Omniataxia’s been on my computer for quite a while, and I might have unconsciously forgotten about it until the blind hand of the music randomizer chose the song Scatterwhite and gently played it to me. Half-asleep, I wondered what that band was whose uncommon manners almost just woke me out of bed. And this is not an easy task. I kept that in memory however, and when I … Read more