I was totally stunned, back in 2012, when Axon-Neuron released their previous album, Dreamstate. Their unique blend of jazz, classical and rock or metal music, the excellent vocal delivery, as well as the proficient use of a 9-string guitar, simply overwhelmed me, and I became an instant fan. Oh, and there was a string quartet in there, too. Three years and two thirds later and a bunch of personnel changes – Jeremey is the only member left from Dreamstate -, the band releases Metamorphosis, an almost two hour-long double album that takes all they’ve previously did and cranks … Read more
Tag Archives: jazz
Fire! – She Sleeps, She Sleeps
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
Doom Salad – Sunscreens and Aerosols
I’ve been a fan of Doom Salad for about a year or two now, just listening to their mind-bending experimental math rock compositions gave blisters to my fingers and cramps in my hands. However, instead of meticulously written and thoroughly thought about pieces, their newest EP, Sunscreens and Aerosols is four improvised tracks with titles drawn from a Twitter non sequitur spam account.
The songs stem from five recorded improvised tracks that were edited to keep the best parts and leave the bad ones, what resulted is fifteen minutes of music split into four distinct parts. The proficiency of the … Read more
Check Strobes Out!
Jazz nerds are the best people to write math rock, it’s a fact. Case in point, the band Father Figure, which referred us to this wonderful new trio, themselves play some jazzy math rock that is sure to stick on the walls inside your head. Strobes features members from Troyka – another great jazz-math band -, and other bands I shall research into as soon as possible: Point X, and Three Trapped Tigers.
The only music from Strobes available for now comes in the form of live music videos, but they are professionally done and not recorded with a … Read more
Blumen/With a Smile – Banana Split EP
As the collaborative work of two great one-man projects on their own, namely Blumen and With a Smile, this Banana Split EP should be very nearing perfection! Blumen’s “Press 1 for Music” was released in 2015 and presented something fresh in the modern prog scenery. As for With a Smile, I didn’t have the chance to be acquainted with it prior to this collaboration, but I quickly realized my misfortune when I played their “Never Listen” EP, which is a welcome addition to my regular playlist.
The Banana Split is three songs long, the first of which is a … Read more