Weasel Walter – Skhiizm
Weasel Walter is widely known for his involvement with many influential bands, playing mostly jazz and metal. Skhiizm is his latest release, and it’s a wild ride of experimental metal, with a lot borrowed from noise metal. The compositions are lots of fun, but one thing that irks me is the poor choice of drum samples – whether they were carelessly programmed or simply used an outdated sound library. If you can get behind that, however, you’ve got a pretty killer album!
Epos Nemo Latrocinium – Iter itineris III
The third volume of Seattle experimental chamber music group Epos Nemo Latrocinium‘s Iter itineris will come out on the 28th. The band’s music is contemporary and noisy, but will also attract people from free jazz, experimental electronic music, and avant-garde classical. Their improvisations are lush and concerted, which does a lot keep my attention hooked all throughout the album. A great release!
Jake Mehew – Chroma
Chroma is an electronic music EP that explores various microtonal tunings. It was actually part of a research project aimed at applying microtonality into more popular music forms. I think the EP is quite successful at that, since I’ve found it enjoyable and interesting. While it might not be as musically deep as albums from more tempered heroes of xenharmony, like Sevish and Brendan Byrnes, it’s an impressive debut into the genre, and a fun little ride!
John Zorn – Insurrection
Listen and order the album here.
It’s hard to keep track of all the releases of musical geyser John Zorn, but his latest (or one of his latest) releases is Insurrection, which combines many musical genres – rock, funk, classical, you name it – into a cohesive experience. As with most, if not all of Zorn’s discography, it’s a true pleasure to listen. I must say it’s more easy to tame than many more expletive releases under the Z, but it’s glorious and heart-warming.
Leftyfish – Hello Kittie’s Spank
Listen and order the album here.If I’m late on writing about this album, it’s because my CD is lost at sea somewhere between Canada and Indonesia, but the band has been kind enough to give me a private download link for compensation. Leftyfish is a mathcore band from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Their 2017 single, “Meat vs. Ginger” struck me as very original, so I immediately pre-ordered their next album, and I must say I’m not disappointed! The unusual lineup is made of a killer female singer, guitar, piano, trumpet, trombone, and drums, which gives them a very unique sound. It’s all very well produced, so their character is exploited to its full extent, and this is a highly recommended release!
Aseroe – Aseroe
Even if Aseroe‘s self-titled EP is more or less a demo tape to get the attention of a label, it shows professionalism and great potential. The blackened doom metal band, with members from Hungary and Greece, is atmospheric and bleak, as well as unforgiving and relentless. Their vocals are a bit weird, and offers a different sound than what we usually hear from the genre, which is very appreciated. The EP shows great promises for them as a band!
Tower of Silence – The Unspeakable
France’s Tower of Silence is a new player in the progressive black metal field. Their debut, The Unspeakable, shows what they are capable of, with peculiar riffs and good feel for song structure. There’s also some influence of death and doom metal in the midst of it all, and that adds to the product. This is a pretty cool album for progressive black metal in general!
Sectioned – Annihilated
You know, Sectioned already released fantastic material – Monotonne, or Outlier, and even their split with Shudder – but Annihilated truly is on another level. The band has a unique approach to mathcore that is not Dillinger’s, it is not Car Bomb’s, it is not Converge’s, it is theirs. Perhaps it’s the affinities with powerviolence and grindcore that sets them apart, but what matters is that the result is a truly astounding album, from start to finish. Pre-order it, it’s at the lower possible amount for pre-orders on bandcamp, but if you truly can’t afford it I bet they will make the album free when it is released. But do get it!
Japanski Premijeri – Rdeče pike
Croatia’s Japanski Premijeri just released an impressive electro-jazz double album, under the Rdeče pike title. Each song offers a different take on the band’s wide array of available sonorities, which is very much appreciated in such an extensive album. In over an hour and a half, the band will move from an electronica band to a rock band to a folk band, and everywhere in between. Recommended for everyone, given the free admission!
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