Warp – Anima

a1759932394_16I have lauded Warp Prism (now known only as Warp) more than once in the past. Their 2013 concept album, The Infinite II, was – and still is – one of the best prog metal releases I’ve heard. It mixed in djent and electronica in a more than decent manner, and the song structure there was stellar: continually evolving while still keeping its place under the overarching story. The album was a marked step up from any of their previous works, namely Evolution and Transcode. This led me to pre-order Anima as soon as it was made … Read more

covet – Currents

a0870999546_16After Yvette Young released her jaw-dropping acoustic math rock EP in early 2014, we’ve all been waiting for developments with her actual band, covet. After a crowdfunding campaign putting the album available for pre-order on bandcamp, the Currents EP is finally, after some delay, released.

Does it live up to the hype? Yes and no. It all has to do with what you expected of this. I anticipated something more or less like her personal Acoustics EP: intricate and technical guitar play, soft and melodious vocals and chill songs, but all supported by a band of talented and like-minded … Read more

Amia Venera Landscape cured my longing with their new music video for Hiraeth

Amia Venera Landscape released their widely acclaimed album The Long Procession back in 2010, and we’ve all been eager to listen to new music from them since! Well, they wrapped up a cool gift for us in time for the winter solstice with “Hiraeth”, and a release date for Vision I: The Great Mystery: April 30th, 2016. Seems like they took their sweet time to carefully craft this album, and this rather short song, for their own standards, proves it! I just hope there’ll be longer songs since I think that’s where the band shines the most!… Read more

Nono Cerchio – Ombre

a0705784611_16From the beautiful Italian city of Bologna, here comes Nono Cerchio – Ninth Circle -, a progressive post-metal band with two members from one of last year’s biggest new names: Nero di Marte. Their debut album, Ombre, was released in early November, and clocks in at almost 50 minutes.

With draughts of experimental music imbuing the atmospheres of the post-metal background, we get a work of art heavy with dissonance, and deeper meaning than can be thought of at first listen. In fact, the album is influenced by Dante’s Divine Comedy, most specifically, the 32nd Canto of “Inferno”, … Read more

Mombu / Mosca Violenta – Hunting Demons

a0742052546_16The presence of jazz in metal music seems to be an increasingly popular trend. Most noticeably, it’s the addition of the saxophone that’s often just enough to make us think that the band has successfully merged the two genres into one, but most of the times it’s just a clin d’œil to it, and the music itself doesn’t bear any of the subjacent characteristics of jazz.

The first ones to incorporate jazz, in a form or another, into metal were Atheist, Meshuggah, and Cynic, back in the early ’90’s. Since then, it gained in popularity and it’s … Read more