Tag Archives: microtonal

Lunatic Tone Orchestra, Forelunar, Brendan Byrnes, and Spinifex

by Dæv Tremblay

Lunatic Tone Orchestra – Chronicle of Faith


Take symphonic metal and J-pop, what do you get? If you thought Babymetal, you’re not far off! While the emphasis is less on high-energy rock anthems or mellow ballads, Lunatic Tone Orchestra—狂奏楽団 (Kyō sōgaku-dan) in Japanese—is focused more on the prog aspect of the genre, calling themselves “progressive philosophy metal”, whatever that means. If you have a Coexist sticker on your car, you better start listening to this album right away!

Forelunar – Beloved and a Thousand Seraphim


Iran is undergoing some kind of turmoil these days. Look it up, it’s a revolution!… Read more

Backxwash, Adapar, Cydemind, and Horse Lords

by Dæv Tremblay

Backxwash – His Happiness Shall Come First Even though We Are Suffering


Backxwash—Montréal-based rapper Ashanti Mutinta—just released their new album: His Happiness Shall Come First Even though We Are Suffering, the final part of the trilogy that began with 2020’s God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It. So-called “horror rap”, this is some real heavy hip-hop on the more experimental side of things. I mean, it’s got features from Pupil Slicer (mathcore) and Ghais Guevara (another experimental hip-hop artist I like), so I’m already sold on it! As dmaestaz puts it so brilliantly… Read more

Best of Avant-Garde Black Metal 2021

by Dæv Tremblay

Avant-garde black metal is when expectations are defied, challenged. The listener is a gladiator fighting an arena full of wolves, bears, and lions. So, let’s see which albums managed to kill me this year.

Number Five: Issolei – Devouring Current



Devouring Current was released in two parts, but I’ll take it whole. The album is filled with intricate, banger riffs that are only at home on the fringes. While the album is more in line with the norms of the genre than the others on this list, it does such a good job of it that I could not let … Read more

EXCLUSIVE STREAM: The Mercury Tree and Cryptic Ruse – Cryptic Tree

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

It’s here! It’s finally here! Listen to the Cryptic Tree EP in full right now, 24 hours before its official release! Let’s bask in the glory of heptadecaphonic music, and the occasional polyharmonic passage with icositritonic tuning, crafted in collaboration by Portland, Oregon’s The Mercury Tree and Seattle, Washington’s Igliashon Jones of Cryptic Ruse.

I shan’t say more! Let the music speak for itself. This record is mind-blowing, so check it out!

The Links

Bandcamp – The Mercury Tree
Facebook – The Mercury Tree

Bandcamp – Cryptic Ruse
Facebook – Cryptic Ruse

The Recs

Cryptic … Read more

EXCLUSIVE SONG PREMIERE:
The Mercury Tree & Cryptic Ruse –
“The Cold Flame Burns”

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Ever since their inception, The Mercury Tree has moved from an alternative metal band towards more and more obscure progressive rock and genre fusion. This progression has reached a new apex, thanks to the collaboration with xenharmonic prog solo band Cryptic Ruse on their upcoming EP, Cryptic Tree. For a few albums already, The Mercury Tree has experimented with multiple different tonal systems at once on their few latest albums, but this EP aims at pushing that experimentation to its limit.

By joining forces with a … Read more