post rock

anxiety is the debut album of Russian post rock project waiting for the wind, released in November 15. A very concise musical effort — only thirty-three minutes long —, the record has seven tracks: 1) Predestination (Intro); 2) Signal's not getting here; 3) Dust of other cities; 4) Through the stratosphere; 5) ...and light will go out forever; 6) Compressive void; 7) Scattered in space; a simple, but fantastic record, with exceedingly beautiful harmonies, anxiety reveals a mature, sober and technically competent artist, in full accordance with its deeply graceful sonorous proposal. Alongside a very personal musical style, effusevely dynamic, expressive, colorful, and to a certain extent, belligerent, the musician behind waiting for the wind delivers with a cohesive degree of sagacious rapture a very clean, diluted and poetic sound, whose graceful conjuncture of qualities make the album a sensational sensitive experience. 

Despite the fact that the album is very short, the level of beauty and originality displayed in the work is exceptionally magnificent, for a debut. Clearly, this is the work of a proficient and experienced artist, that knows exactly in which direction he wants to take his creativity and what he must do to achieve his artistic goals. With a deeply authorial sound — and a marvelous technical sensibility —, anxiety reveals itself to be an excellent masterpiece, from start to finish, that deserves to be fully praised by all enthusiasts of the genre.

The melodies, in general, are simple, but also masterfully crafted. They flow easily throughout the sound, and from the very beginning — with the exceptionally brief, but wonderfully serene and majestic first track Predestination (Intro) —, the artist delivers gracefully consistent and expansive bridges of melancholy, that works splendidly over a monumental galaxy of sentimental vitalities, whose sound incorporates a dense, but lurid expression of introspective solitude.     

A very exceptional album, that has everything to impress and to delight post rock enthusiasts everywhere, anxiety, by waiting for the wind, is a magnificent and unexpected debut. With a splendid style, and a wonderfully cohesive musicality — whose structure reinvigorates as much as respects the general principles of the genre —, this majestic record has no faults nor negative aspects whatsoever. Perfect in style, development, sonority and displaying graceful harmonies entirely compatible with the density of its own lugubrious nature, with a length that leaves the listener wanting more, anxiety is a sensational state of the art work, that deserves to be a massive success in the underground community.


Wagner

post rock/ progressive rock / alternative rock

The Shape Of Things To Come is an album released in November 16, by progressive rock project No Sudden Moves, from Melbourne, Australia. A very concise musical effort, the record is just over thirty-six minutes long. With eight tracks — 1) The Shape Of Things To Come; 2) Cause And Effect; 3) Stroll On; 4) First Contact; 5) Nothing's Easy; 6) The Space Between; 7) This Is The Life; 8) I Wander; — The Shape Of Things To Come is a sensationally beautiful album, despite the fact that it does not bring any extravagant innovation into the forefront of the genre. Nevertheless, the record display phenomenal virtues, that deserves to be highlighted. Its light, clean and well-diluted sound is harmonically cohesive, exceptionally vivid and radically authorial, at least to a certain level. 

The style of the artist is technically consistent and displays a respectable degree of proficiency; as a matter of fact, each track possesses its own singular qualities. The serene poetic densities of the third track, Stroll On, and the oblique tonalities of the fifth track, Nothing's Easy — whose melodies ultimately converts into a moderately progressive tune —, exhibit a thoughtful and efficient eclecticism, that over the course of the entire album, demonstrates in a very undisputed fashion that the artist is quite secure even in an expressive range of musical territories, though he never leaves the genre, knowing how to explore lucidly, and how to add especial flavors, even to the assiduously traditional diagrams conceived by the wonderful mosaic that his spectacular style invariably becomes. 

With a sensible and serene sonorous disposition, that eagerly projects over the diffusive lines of its melodies the dense elements of its own introspective horizon of dispersive and abstract creativity, the music exhibited on this work — despite the extensive use of elements that make the sonority, to a certain degree, quite predictable —, is also surprisingly versatile and distinct, because the artist already in the beginning displays his ability to explore wisely and profusely the most diverse conjuncture of tonalities, resonances and harmonies, within the expansive dimensional context of his restless and proverbial style. 

There's no doubt that the overall sound displayed by the artist is profoundly sensible and original. With a serene, but at the same time colorful gracefulness, the artist conceives a world of sound so dehydrated and detached — whose unimaginable beauty stands beyond the horizon of its own soul —, that the fantastic tranquility crafted by the music creates a renitent splendor, that floats endlessly towards the everlasting poetic nature of its wonderfully sensitive and delightful melodies. 

Despite the fact that — in a general evaluation — the music displayed by this artist is quite simple, The Shape Of Things To Come reveals itself as a majestically unique and very audacious work of art, whose most virtuous elements come from its subtle authorial ambitions, that at first doesn't stand out, but slowly expand to all sonorous spaces, like the sunlight, that slowly illuminates the whole morning. With primarily organic compositions that exalt the full vigor of its elegant beauty, this album is a remarkable milestone of ambient rock music, that deserves to be fully appreciated, and above of all, recognized by the graceful uniqueness, the authorial sensibilities and the splendorous consistency of its versatile and dynamic musicality.


Wagner

post rock

bandcamp

Silentium Noctis is an album released in November 13, by Hungarian musician Balázs Pallai, under the alias Vitvingod. Despite the fact that this is a very concise musical effort, with an extensive length inferior to twenty-seven minutes, Silentium Noctis reveals itself as a very consistent, beautiful, genuine and gracious album, which exhibits a positively mature and complete artist, fully willing to revolutionize his genre of choice. With seven tracks — 1) Blood Moonlight; 2) Black Grouse Ballet; 3) Faraway Frosty Fields; 4) The Darkest Night; 5) Goddess of the Red Forest; 6) Cold as Ice; 7) In the Dead of Winter; —, this album is as concise as it is formidable, relevant in all the exceptionally efficient conjuncture of qualities it subtlety exposes, in the onset of its marvelous delicacy and refined sensibilities. 

Already in the beginning, it's impossible not to become fully impressed by the gracious notion of musical nobility brought in by the artist, and his exceedingly great, expansive and elegant style, probably his most salutary virtue. The majestic poetry of the third track, Faraway Frosty Fields, or the fantastic surrealist beauty of the fourth, The Darkest Night, are primary examples of fabulous anthems of genuine creativity, sonorous drafts of a diffusive reality, whose striking power is effectivelly able to conceive something entirely authentic and fascinating. With a sensational abundance of dense splendor — that engraves the sound as a spectacular domain of sensitive grandiosity —, besides the creative level, the technical elements are also displayed with competent and responsible proficiency. The artist progressively reveals itself as a potential candidate for the next great talent of post rock in the underground scene.  

The guitar and even the bass lines — which are difficult to outstand in this genre —, are marvelously conceived and executed. Harmonies' ripples express with vibrant grace the fantastic energy that circulates within the melodies, as well as the general dynamic carried out by the vivid tonalities that serves as fuel for the artist's creative perception. Despite the fact that the musical structure is somewhat simple, the colorful arrangements and the gracefully conceived melodies make Silentium Noctis a sensational, spectacular, fundamental masterpiece, that has all the necessary qualities to become the next big thing in the history of post rock. Balázs Pallai proves with unquestionable veracity, with this short and brief, but paradoxically peculiar and original milestone, that his creativity is a fundamental element for the future development of the genre.   

Silentium Noctis is one of those albums where nothing goes wrong. Right, you can say that in such short amount of time — after all, the album is only twenty-six minutes and twenty-six seconds long —, the artist didn't had the opportunity to ruin the album with some hypothetical bad tracks. Fair enough. But I would say that with his gracefully formidable, differentiated and authentically proverbial talent, at least in the present moment he couldn't do anything wrong, even if he tried. This is a very spectacular, wonderful record, whose glorious level of musical gracefulness overcame all possible creative barriers. With technical sensibility and a very dynamic, profoundly introspective sonorous restlessness, this talented Hungarian musician has crafted one of the most incredible, unique and sagacious records in the history of post rock. A work of art that certainly deserves to be recognized as a landmark of the genre. 


Wagner

noise rock

We are who we are. But we are also what we are made to be, this “what” can be a lot of things – our circle of friends, our job, our upbringing or also the place where we live. We are the way we are because where we are. To put it into a musical context: Everybody can come up with an example of a band that could only come out of this specific region or city; Sonic Youth could never have become who they were if they hadn’t had their roots in NYC, a first class avantgarde melting pot. Outkast wouldn’t have been Outkast if they hadn’t had access to The Dungeon where Organized Noize laid the beats. Nirvana wouldn’t have become one of the biggest names in modern rock if they hadn’t sprung from an area so remote that no real genre-specific scene held them back. 

Now, with Luggage this idea of being who we are because of where we are is quickly supported. This sound, so clean, so sparse, so far away from any kind of over-production – it must come out of Chicago. The sound is clearly identifiable as Electrical Audio because of its brilliant clarity, its ability to be really noisy and distorted and yet still simply clean and sharp. Luggage clearly have taken a lot from Shellac, not only the producer. 

But their musical style is much more rooted in post-punk than Shellac’s, the similarity is the use of discordant, unharmonious guitar parts that whirl through the songs like abruptive lightning through warm late summer evenings. The three-piece has refined their songwriting skills since they formed in 2014, taking a lot of the city urban sprawl and laid-out, symmetrical geometry channeling it into songs with a feel of driving along long avenues passing block after block before encountering a hard stop in form of an accident blocking everything else from view. 

The repetitiveness of Helmet with their mathy schemes combined with Shellac’s feeling for implementing discordance harmoniously into a sound that is clearly more post-punk than noise. For all people who love a bridge between Shellac, Jesus Lizard, Slint and Gang of Four – this is a band you will love. All of the old heroes in a band so urgent in appeal that it is blissfully mesmerizing – the classical noise record of the year. 


Thorsten

hardcore / black metal

SIBIIR are from Norway. They like black metal. And Siberia. So what kind of music do you expect? Doomy, glistening sounds? Or explosive, harsh shredding? Well, SIBIIR are neither, performing neither doom nor chaos. 

Their style of music might not be as “sophisticated” as for example the obnoxious Tool but at the same time they are not as animalistic as Kvelertak, it is more of a blackened hardcore and interestingly it can show you very well what that terms really means or should mean.

The five-piece from Oslo have no problems in displaying muscular grooves pumping hardcore irons at the gym nor showing their metal likes with ripping up some songs with scratching guitar lines to show that they want to ride on two skateboards at the time – downhill! Usually this amalgam of two genres is pretty hard to balance but SIBIIR are really good at it and can definitely be regarded as one of the few bands to do justice to both parts of the genre – black metal and hardcore. On their second full-length out on Fysisk Format they are able to show a greater sense of songwriting and compiling a coherent album as the songs are not only really good in a way that they are not superfluously long and also not spastically short. The way the songs are arranged within the album context is really good and with some songs seeping in a bit of doom while others being pure distorted hardcore there is a good deal of dynamics going on in those 41 minutes. 

The hardcore part is also audible (or rather readable) in the lyrics; a charge against the capitalists today sucking out the bone marrow from the working classes and ignoring the sparks leading up to a bottom-down-up-revolution (in “For the Few”); a repent that we all participate in destroying this planet of ours and that no one, really no one is innocent and yet no one is doing anything but staring (“The Silent Repent”). 

One cannot but be impressed by this record because it blasts you away with lots of raw power and yet never tries to pull you down into depression – the only thing that shall be pulled away are the shades preventing us from seeing some of the most urgent problems of our day and age. 


Thorsten

post metal / folk metal

Every once in a while a new side of a regular genre is opened and forces people to open their notions of and vocabulary for said genre. With Boreal Hymn from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada it’s quite the same. They offer an quite unique blend of medieval sounds, chants and post-metal songwriting with regular gurgling singing and guttural screaming. This EP is their debut and the four “pagan revelries” as the duo calls them show some pretty interesting ideas of composing a sound somewhere between Junius, Agalloch on the one side and Heilung, Wardruna on the other side. The soundscapes remind one of a bodhran, acoustic guitars, medieval horns and – on the other hand – some droney, ambient parts. The prominent members Colby Hink (known from Wormwitch) and Bronson Lee Norton (The Seer) have embarked one a new sound and although one naturally must remark upon the (momentary) inadequacies of the songwriting as their ideas and skills still need some refinement but one should remember this is still a demo and remember to follow this band on one of their social media outlets or the usual streaming services – they might be up to something refreshingly new.

black metal

Bands like Agalloch or The Ruins of Beverast have shown how shamanistic (and in part nihilistic) ritualistic Black Metal can be, a band like Heilung stresses the ritual-aspect of the music much more than their black metal roots. And now there is a band who started more than ten years ago, The Deathtrip, who are back with only their second real full-length, Demon Solar Totem released via Profound Lore and Svart Records.  A band that definitely knows how to purvey a cold atmosphere while playing with shaman chants and small bells and lots of passages that remind one more of a pagan mass that puts a spell on its audience. The production is raw to say the least, sometimes this whirlwind of an album doesn’t give away whether the sounds are real soundscapes or mere very dirty feedback. This “super-group” with members of Grave Pleasures, Dodheimsgard and My Dying Bride tries to encapsulate the essence of raw ritualistic metal aiming for an effect of fear of affection. Either you hate it or you leave it – true for most black metal bands, The Deathtrip being one of the better ones albeit not of the same level as the genre forerunners mentioned above. 

black metal

Two songs, one hour. No, we are not talking about a radio edit of Bell Witch’s “Mirror Reaper” but about a new release by Chicago-based three-piece Canyon of the Skull consisting of guitarist Erik Ogershok (who even moved to the US a few years ago in order to follow his dreams with the band), bass player Todd Haug (Powermad, 1349) and drummer Mike Miczek (The Atlas Moth). Ogershok is the mastermind behind it all and he wanted to purvey an image of a ritual performed by the Natives of Northern America, as he named the two tracks “The Ghost Dance” and “The Sun Dance”, the first one alluding to the ritual that should connect the living and the dead in order for the ghosts to wake up and fight the white colonialists. Clearly a sign of frustration and despair. The songs show remarkable songwriting skills as the band’s kind of black metal is really refreshing and is able to make the listener feel connected to the spiritual world due to its meditative character. An album for everybody interested in some form of instrumental music channeling stoner rock, doom and black metal. Put the record on, dive in and drop out. 

indie / rock

The Get Up Kids, The Goo Goo Dolls, The Spielbergs. Who? The Spielbergs! A three-piece power pop band from Oslo is on its way to become the new sensation in bubblegum punk. Of course, we have heard songs like the title track or “Fake A Reaction” or “Daisy! It’s the New Me” quite often. There is hardly something new in a genre whose heydays are twenty years past. However, there will always be an audience for this kind of music as there will always be new generations of youth who need their own (loser) anthems. The title track is one of those songs to which you can already see late teens and early twens dancing and singing along to, shouting out such anthemic slogans like “I don’t wanna be worthless / Just let me go back to start” or also “I was more than good to go / I wish you finally gave in” (from “Oh No”). Interestingly, there is as much Placebo in here as there are the Replacements, just as much uptempo as there is distortion. And who knows – maybe the Spielbergs are the ignition for a revival of a music genre that can never perish but that is always forgotten by the elders!


​Thorsten

post hardcore / sludge metal / blackened hardcore

22 minutes of sheer rage that is clearly inspired by some of the finest, dirtiest blackened hardcore bands of our times. 10 years ago most people would directly have guessed that the band in question must be from the USA – well, not anymore.

​Abest from Goettingen in the middle of Germany are as much early ISIS as they are Locust, as much post-metal as they are screamo. Their sound was refined over several years of playing alongside such diverse bands as Svalbard, Hope Drone, Red Apollo or Sun Worship and was manifested at Hidden Planet studio by Jan Oberg.

The record is like a depiction of Chinese warfare during the Korean War in the 1950s – no retreat, no surrender, no care if 1,000 or 1,000,000 soldiers die. Those soldiers were thrown wave after wave against the American troops and the latter couldn't shoot fast enough to kill them all. Abest doesn‘t want to kill, but they mutilate every sense of false security, one example for this is the “Dread”, the longest track on “Bonds of Euphoria”. It starts with a slow, downtuned guitar motif which is accompanied by cymbals and toms and really takes its time – in comparison that is, we are not talking about an intro of Tool-length – before after 75 seconds the drums really kick in and layer upon layer of dynamics are added culminating in harsh blastbeats and infernal screaming. 

The drums are generally a great asset of “Bonds of Euphoria” because they lead the way without dominating the sound too much, they are like the general in the background directing his armies to war and when necessary also making quick adjustments in form of blastbeats or slowing down the songs a notch. The band is generally so “tight” that you won’t be able to squeeze a single leaf between them.

With two very fitting labels backing this release (This Charming Man and Moment of Collapse) one can only hope that the trio will also receive some international acclaim as they are definitely at the height of their game and very close to those American role models who defined this kind of music, no matter if it’s Primitive Man or Buried at Sea. Fans of the genre everywhere should give this a listen, especially if you want to find out about the global metastases of a genre with far-reaching addictive-ness. 


Thorsten

progressive / alternative / rock / metal

Originality in the music business nowadays is very rare. Almost every band likes to say that they are pushing the boundaries of what they are producing but in reality what transpires is more of the same but with maybe a small twist. Step forward anonymous collective Sleep Token. The band say they worship a deity with an unpronounceable name, but for the purposes of their music, it's pronounced Sleep. 

They burst onto the scene a few years ago with their debut EP 'one' which sounded like nothing else at the time. The mix of dreamy pop with the incredible voice of front man Vessel mixed with downright obscene heavy breakdowns was a breath of fresh air and instantly got the attention of music lovers everywhere. Over the two EP's they seemed to accumulate more acclaim each week. In fact, the only criticism of them it seemed, was that they were a bit of a one trick pony. Would there debut album be more of the same or would they be able to produce something else? Well, the answer to that question is that they have produced something incredible.

The album starts off with the dream like 'The night does not belong to god' which does a brilliant job of accentuating Vessels sublime vocal skills. He sings with such emotions that at times, it sounds like he is close to tears. This segues into 'The Offering' which is an absolute highlight and one of the heavier tracks on the album. The disgustingly good breakdown is glorious and it's at this point you start to realise that not one single note is out of place on this album, the musicianship of the whole band is first class but special mention must be made to the drummer who although anonymous is absolutely at the top of his game. 

The next couple of songs showcase Vessels talents again and reign in the heavier side of the group but this does nothing to diminish the impact of the songs, which vear from catchy dreamy pop into lush guitar driven passages so beautifully you'd think that this kind of thing was easy, it's not, far from it, in fact it's bloody difficult getting something that sounds this natural to be anything other than a mess, and they nail it, completely. The two song combination of 'Give' leading into 'Gods' sounds like it shouldn't work with the former songs deftly building gorgeous arrangements butting up against the latter songs immense heaviness, but again, it does work. 

The upward trajectory of this band is something special indeed. If a group can lure in fans from cross genres then they are onto a recipe for success, I would not be at all surprised that if you went to see them live, you would be just as likely to bump into some wearing a Meshuggah t-shirt as you would someone in a Sam Smith or Florence and the Machine top. I cannot recommend this album enough and you really should give it a listen if you are interested in music that moves you.


Simon

post rock

Endless Summers is an album released on November 22, by Swedish post rock project Old Seas / Young Mountains. With nine relatively extensive tracks — 1) have you ever seen the stars?; 2) dreamcrawler; 3) night driving; 4) lost skylines; 5) endless summers; 6) ferocity; 7) among the wildflowers; 8) xenon; 9) dandelion / dreaming; —, the album departs from exceedingly conventional harmonies, though there is quite an exceptional level of surreal and serene beauty profoundly aligned to the density of the group's simple, but graceful musical style. 

With splendorous and salutary melodies, that becomes easily correlated with the sensible virtues of its affable sonority, Endless Summers proves to be a very conventional, but pleasant listening experience, that if on the one hand, does not bring technical nor artistic innovations into the forefront, has enough spiritual balance to craft a formidable and inspiring sound — displaying a moderate degree of audacity and originality —, that is expressively genuine and lucid in the veracity of its creative proposal.  

With the predominance of soft and beautiful harmonies — which infuses the environment with the vitality of an artistic splendor so exceptionally gracious, that you become quite astounded with the poetic sensibility displayed by the sound —, as the album evolves, its qualities becomes more and more diluted, though they also expand to more organic levels of unapprehended and delightful creativity. The colorful essence and the gentle nature of the sound seeks to overcome the diluted melancholy of its inherent despondency, though the sound concomitantly transpire a confidence and a sense of happiness that adorn the effusive magnificence of its own universe of introspective tenderness.

With impressively cohesive and fantastic guitar lines — that transcends the scale of its own circular, but everlasting dreamlike vicissitudes —, the musical structure, despite the abrasive nature of its objectivity, reveals in the sensible horizon of its innocent simplicity the grandiosity of an artistic ambition that certainly has an abundant degree of restlessness pursuing its own creative expansion. So on this album, we have the almost perfect junction between technique and sensibility, raised to an almost flawless degree of proficient majesty.

Despite the lack of innovative features, the exceedingly beautiful harmonies displayed on the record make Endless Summers a very interesting and — to a moderate degree — spectacular album, that has enough virtues to delight post rock enthusiasts and audiences unequivocally. We may even say, in a certain way, that it is more of the same; however, it is an excellent plus of it.


Wagner

progressive rock / post rock / experimental

Revolution is an album released in November 19, by Spanish post rock experimental project EXXASENS. A very interesting, dynamic and energetic album, that fluctuates over a variety of ecletic atmospheres, the versatility of this fantastic project is something almost out of reach. With a cohesive, solid musicality, and a proverbially clean style, Revolution reveals itself as a primordially graceful, effusive, pristine, elegant and very audacious work of art, that generates in the apex of its diluted style a proficient and sophisticated diagram of creative synergy, whose singular strenght is able to reach an extraordinary vortex of artistic splendor.  

Sixty-nine minutes long, the album has sixteen tracks: 1) Massachusetts; 2) A Space Odyssey; 3) Twenty One Years and One Day; 4) Revolution; 5) Why Not?; 6) Bye Bye Moscow; 7) Vega; 8) Eden; 9) Dream Is Over; 10) Another Space Odyssey; 11) Inside My Brain; 12) Since I Met You; 13) Eden's Place; 14) Dreams Are Over; 15) Autumn Storms; 16) Air; as a project that explores the overall density of a very proverbial and authorial musical proposal, EXXASENS does a surprising work on this fantastic album. With a cohesive, but at the same time easygoing style, a formidable creative horizon and exceedingly sober vocals — at least in some songs, the vast majority of the album is instrumental —, Revolution is a deeply pronounced ambitious album, that expands the creative formula of the artist's perception of sound.

With prog rock being the basis for the sound, the artist's style works from the musical conjuncture of this genre. Nevertheless, the marvelous atmosphere displayed by the harmonies conceives a serene universe of sound, whose magnificent technique anticipates the wonderful grandiosity of the project's somewhat innocent, but overwhelming artistic pretensions. The music is felt as simple, but splendorous at the same time; certainly, the diluted consecration of the formidable melodies that are poured through the edges of the sincere tones of the sound gets more and more rapturous, as the album progresses. 

Betting on a diversity of genres, letting the authenticity of his style reverberate over each one, the artist has crafted a formidably great, excellent and versatile musical universe, full of unexpected arrangements and colorful tonalities, that doesn't recognize boundaries nor limits for its fantastic creativity. The eleventh and fourteenth tracks — Inside My Brain and Dreams Are Over — are my favorites; the most beautiful songs in the album, in my opinion. 

A very interesting album, whose deeply authorial style and audacious experimental sensibilities captivates the listener already in the beginning, Revolution is a majestic work of art, whose gloriously creative ambitions make this work stand out for its ingeniousness and sonorous grace. Despite the fact that the album is a little too extensive — and invariably you become somewhat bored in the more repetitive passages —, the end result is fabulous, to say the least. Revolution manages to be a sensational musical experience, whose extraordinary creativity has definitely crafted a peculiar work of art, that deserves praise for all of its quintessential tenacious virtues.   


Wagner