Qebrus – also sometimes written as Qebrµs, capitalized or not – is one of these musical oddities that keep on giving. Earlier this year, we’ve covered the project’s latest release, ᐔᐌᐂᐍᐚ, and, after many single releases, we find ourselves once again in front of a full-length release: ◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙. The album, from here on referred to as A A(source) for obvious reasons, is in line with most of the cryptic glitch artist’s output, but feels more minimalistic, contemplative, even. It might be difficult to grasp the complexity and effort that goes into making these tracks, just because … Read more
Tag Archives: avant-garde
Spires of the Lunar Sphere – Siren (Take the Fair Face of Woman and Gently Suspending with Butterflies Flowers and Jewels Attending Thus Your Fairy Be Made of Most Wondrous Things)
We’ve been somewhat mystified by Spires of the Lunar Sphere‘s debut, back in 2015, so their newborn with a most megalomanic title, Siren (Take the Fair Face of Woman and Gently Suspending with Butterflies Flowers and Jewels Attending Thus Your Fairy Be Made of Most Wondrous Things), has less of that bewildering factor. That being said, it doesn’t mean it’s bad – far from it –, just that you only make a first impression once. Still jumping between metalcore, post-hardcore, mathcore, and deathcore, the duo takes its idiosyncratic eccentricity to extremes of peculiarity and heaviness. Think Arsonists Get … Read more
Brandon Seabrook – Needle Driver
Needle Driver is the latest experiment of Brooklyn musician Brandon Seabrook. The hard-to-describe EP seamlessly bridges contemporary classical music, experimental jazz, and mathcore into a nasty instrumental tapestry. The trio even includes some microtonal intervals, spotted in the song “Venwhorerisin'”. The five compositions are too quickly gone, but they provide an endless amount of entertainment while they last: uncommon time signatures, odd harmonies, complex and exhausting melodies, as well as a knack for deranged structures that somehow hold themselves together. Needle Driver goes left and right, up and down, forwards and backwards, and I’m sure it also goes wild … Read more
Coma Cluster Void – Thoughts from a Stone
Thoughts from a Stone was actually the first ever teaser released for the Coma Cluster Void experiment, all the way back in 2014. Back then, I suppose it was going to end up on their upcoming full-length, with the slogan “Aural Representation of Pain and Suffering” – Mind Cemeteries –, but the composition probably expanded or reiterated to what it is now: a twenty-two-minute, six-part suite of contemporary death metal. Contemporary? Yeah, I feel that this adjective better suits their sound than the rather narrow definition of “tech-death” or the vague “experimental” and “avant-garde” tags. “Math metal” is a good … Read more
Ehnahre – The Marrow
Ever since Douve came out, in 2016, I’ve held the Boston avant-garde doom metal quartet Ehnahre in the highest of regards. Earlier this month, they released their newest experimentation on The Marrow, a four-track, fifty-three-minute slab of slow, heavy, and unbridled contemporary music. Yes, Ehnahre swims pretty close to modern classical music with their compositional approach, a feeling reinforced by their use of contrabass and piano. The band’s long, drawn-out pieces are very atmospheric and even entrancing, often relying on slow, repeated motives and spoken word passages to build a ritualistic summoning of heartfelt and mystic music. The outstanding … Read more