Tag Archives: metal

Darkaeon – Nihilism

by Dæv Tremblay


Darkaeon are a heavy progressive metal act from Canada. They don’t feature really long song structures (yet?), but their compositional and technical skills are without question present on their debut album Nihilism.

I’ve met this band live, last week, and was utterly impressed by their musicianship and the tightness of every musician in a live setting. The bassist pulls off flawless tapping sections, the guitarists too are spot on, and no note is badly picked. The drummer is tight and stays on the beat, while the singer sounds remarkably similar to his recorded version (even in … Read more

Cryptic Ruse – Chains Of Smoke

by Dæv Tremblay


Microtonal music artist Jason Yerger’s project Cryptic Ruse (formerly City of the Asleep) – now with actual microtonal guitars! – returns to show us his new and masterfully crafted work: Chains of Smoke.

Using three different exotic tuning systems – 13 EDO, 15 EDO, and 23 EDO (EDO stands for Equal Divisions of the Octave) – and a wide palette of musical genres, Jason makes us travel to never-before heard sonic landscapes. By using “oriental” and “middle-oriental”-sounding tunings with a more standard (for us, westerners!) metal band quatuor instrumentation, with due distortion, riffs, … Read more

ART238 – Atavism

by Lefteris Kefalas

Many things can change in a seven year period; many things can work for the better or the worse. Fortunately, this hiatus worked for the benefit of ART238. After some intense live shows the band did last year in French soil, atavism_recto_promothey decided that 2014 is the right time to hurl their newest offering (the first in seven years) like a radioactive missile ready to awaken and revert the most primal human instincts. However, after the addition of new members,  there are certain elements that have shaped the band’s sound into something different.

At first, Atavism may seem like an … Read more

Soulmass – Despairing Fates

by Dæv Tremblay


Souls-themed blackened doom metal band Soulmass delivers us, through their indiegogo campaign, their new album, otherwise due October 31st, entitled Despairing Fates. The album is full of great riffs and deep vocals, along with a sense of loss and despair in its oppressing atmosphere.

Bryan and Brett, the two men of the band, wrote lyrics based on the ever more sad and melancholic stories found throughout the games Demon’s Souls, and Dark Souls I and II. This kind of music really is the best to support such lyrical content and emotions, the weight of the … Read more