Tag Archives: metal

Best of Nu Prog 2021

by Dæv Tremblay


Let’s move on to nu prog, a genre that is somewhat obsessed with solo musicians and their guitars. Here are the album that I enjoyed the most out of 2021!

Number Five: Dzũng – Dzanca


On Dzanca, Vietnamese guitarist Dzung brings us eleven songs inspired by traditional Vietnamese folk songs. This gives the album a very distinctive feeling and sound, and I’m glad to hear these traditional songs, however transformed!

Number Four: Bodhi – Koans


Bodhi has been at it for some time now, and Koans is there to remind us why: melodies that stick in your mind, guitar … Read more

Best Improvisation 2021

by Dæv Tremblay


Improvisation is often seen as inseparable from jazz. Sure, you often have to improvise in jazz, but improvisation is not bound to any one genre, and I’m going to prove that to you. Here are my favourite improvised pieces of music from 2021!

Number Five: i.o – The Complete 2021 Releases


Taken together, Blasted Sentinel, No Guardians for Rusted Remains, and The Same as My Red add up to an insane 2 309 minutes! That’s about 38 hours and a half! And before you ask: yes, I listened through it all. Not in one go, I paused for … Read more

Dan’s Top 31 Albums of 2020

by Daniel Kuburoglu

A bit late to the party, but here we are, nonetheless.

Let’s get the obvious out the way first. 2020 was a bad year, and this did have a knock-on effect with the amount of music that was released as well. While I personally would not say we had any absolute gamechangers this year, that doesn’t mean the year was an absolute waste. (At least, not in this one regard…) It was enough to bring me back from the dead, after all.

I may not have the same mettle for metal as Matt, nor the same dedication to deathlessly digging … Read more

Thrailkill – Detach

by Jeff Nixon

The Music

The Words

Wes Thrailkill is back with another killer release! This time, a 20 minute EP titled Detach. Wes wrote this during quarantine after having trouble finding inspiration and second guessing nearly everything he produced. But in the end he relinquished himself to the creative process and forged this beauty. Wes compares his mindset while creating Detach, to pulling a random card from a shuffled deck. Despite that mindset, he still managed to make it flow as a cohesive piece. It’s heavy, melodic, jazzy, chaotic, virtuosic, and everything in-between. Wes’s guitar tone is flawless as usual, … Read more

Devin Townsend – Empath

by Jeff Nixon

Devin Townsend is an artist that has always been hard to classify. Releasing such a wide range of music, from death metal, to ambient, to new age, to progressive rock, to country. But to be confined to just one genre wouldn’t be Devin Townsend. Which is why he lets it all out on Empath, jumping from style to style at whim, and creating something truly unique as a result.

I reviewed the last Devin Townsend Project (DTP) album Transcendence back in 2016 saying it took Devin’s sound to a new level. Now that I reflect on it, that … Read more