black metal

The vinyl hype provides us with many re-releases.  Shaidar Logoth’s Chapter II The Ritualist LP is one of the many vinyl reissues still coming our way. The duo is a US Black Metal band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They released this LP on tape and digital format in 2015. The underground Black Metal that they play is soaked with atmospheric and doomy influences, which deserves a chance to be  heard! The LP has four songs that are very varied in style and atmosphere. The average playing time of the songs is about nine minutes and they do not bore a second! They switch style and speed just in time to make you stay in that addictive  horrifying Black Metal mood.
The sharp Black Metal screams are in balance with the well produced music. The LP starts with ‘Drink Thine Wretched Wine’, a very doomy intro with ritual influences switches suddenly to raw pure raging madness! ‘The Scourge’ continues to torture our mind in a furious way and ends with a Dark Ritual Ambient outro!

The third song on the LP, ‘The Blight’ starts with a slow Post-Rock intro, sluggish emerging into a wall of Black Metal guitars still keeping the Post-Rock influences but speeding up beyond limits and insane screams!!! This is definitely my favorite song of the album!

‘A Realm Of Befitting His Majesty’ is a song which can be compared with the best Norwegian Black Metal! It’s no use comparing  Shaidar Logoth  with other bands, the list would be to long because of the high eclectic approach in their music, 

Black Metal fans, Shaidar Logoth is a band to keep an eye on!!


​Patsker

ambient / post rock

Northern Constellation is an album released on August 2, by Polish post rock group Fading Tapes. Sixty four minutes long, the record has only three very extensive tracks: North Pole, which lasts ten minutes and a half, Leo Minor, the longest, which is more than half an hour, it lasts thirty two minutes and fifteen seconds exactly, and the last, Northern Constellation, the title track, that lasts twenty one minutes and thirty five seconds. The record has a proverbial density, and although requires a certain amount of patience from the listener, the album definitely is worthwhile listening. Very peaceful, quiet and introspective – working the ordeals of a subtle, allegorical and serene atmosphere –, the harmonies dive through an exponential and sensible existential quasi-minimalism. Nevertheless, it is absolutely required for the audience to have greater passion for the genre, as the risk of monotony do exist, especially on the course of the longest track.  

The album works brilliantly as ambient or background music. On it, the musical textures are emphasized, and the stability of the harmonies become a major mainstay. Nevertheless, the rhythm of the melodies – and its inherent structure – never change. The ethereal and vague surreal commonalities of the music fades away slowly, although there is a lucid beauty subtlety diluted at the pervasive pellicle of its expansive universe of solemn and somnolent serenity. 

The lethargic nature of Northern Constellation has a rudeness that overcomes the axial system of its own sensibility. Despite the rigid stability that testifies little to no variations, the music has a subjective ordeal that highlights the ostensible paralysis of its analytic conglomeration of soundscapes. The work definitely has its incontestable merits, and the group has a very distinct and singular style. But its unchangeable nature makes it somewhat difficult to fully appreciate the album with energetic enthusiasm, although the band definitely achieves the objectives of its musical proposal, and you can’t say they are really excellent on the execution of their placid and fugacious form of artistry.

With an ephemeral, surreal and serene atmosphere that characterizes the music, and becomes its central qualities, Northern Constellation is an interesting and rather peculiar album. While you cannot expect anything marvelous nor extraordinary, the work definitely is a decent exemplar on the genres of post rock and ambient music, as you definitely have an intricate set of qualities, that can lead you through a solitary, peaceful and humane sonorous journey. 


Wagner

ambient / drone / post rock

Hymn of a Voyage Wander is an album released on August 4, by American musician Damien Duque, under the alias of City of Dawn. Almost fifty-three minutes long, the record has eight tracks: Abditory, The Quiet Explosion, My Spirit Dances with your ghost, As Petals turns to Ashes, Capturing the pattern of your silence, Saudade, I See you for the last time... and Slowly Dancing Away.... With very calm, serene and transcendental harmonies, the music of City of Dawn is simple, driven by a peaceful, sentimental and resigned melancholy, that achieves at the diagram of its sonorous resilience a slow and robust, but embracing fatuity, upon which its sensibilities discreetly collide with its own expansive atmosphere of everlasting oblivion. 

A very interesting ambient musical work, whose thin pellicle of sound hides a profound continuous transcendence, the methodic, intrinsic and quasi-minimalist nature of the work is noteworthy. Nevertheless, given the fact that the album has little melodic variations, its placid and lethargic uniformity gives to its gracious density almost a frozen anatomy, a sonorous paralysis where an ephemeral dimension of dreams cast shadows over the real world, in an interchangeable sensibility of surreal atmospheres, where everything is placed underneath a fog of introspective grace.     

While the sonorous atmosphere is intelligently elaborated and profoundly  consistent, the work  suffers from a certain degree of predictability. Despite its serene and poetic tone, the album resents itself from lack of audacity and innovation, and eventually falls into a generic mainstay, which is somewhat inherent to the genre. 

Evidently, there is a lucid and cautious degree of creativity here. The musical style is solid and cohesive, and – following the structural pattern of the genres in question – the artist stay loyal to its sonorous proposal, that nevertheless is genuine, although, as the album progresses, it’s hard not to feel sleepy, as the work do possess somnolent, calm and quiet elements, that relaxes the soul, and cease all the restlessness of the spirit. Maybe, this is the greatest triumph of Hymn of a Voyage Wander, although the album do exhibit a level of technical and methodic proficiency that highlights its undisputable virtues and qualities.

 
Wagner

post rock

Every Nothing is an album released on August 3, by American post rock band Tides of Man, from Tampa Florida. Almost one hour long, the album has the following tracks: Static Hymn, Mercury Fields, New Futures, Far Off, Old 88, Waxwing, Keep Telling Yourself, Everything Is Fine, Everyone Is Happy, Death Is No Dread Enemy, Outside Ourselves, Mosaic and Infinite Ceiling. The beauty, the transcendence and the splendor of the melodies present in the album are highly exceptional. With dramatic, dense and poetic soundscapes whose contiguous waves breaks into the crest of an everlasting universe of marvelous omniscience, the melodies – despite their relative simplicity – seems to grew out of overflowing harmonies saturated with natural and spontaneous graciosity. 

With a melancholy that flirts in a very organic diagram with a delusional, but proficient and sensational sonorous grandiosity, the music of Tides of Man is a colossal wave of a continuous journey of fragile, but lucid realities, framed by a picture of elemental dreams. Flirting a little with a very discreet type of sentimental minimalism – that is as marvelous as methodical –, their modest, but singular style has on the ordinary rhythmic vicinities of its anatomy the expansive mordacity of an unborn symphony entirely made on existential serenity.   

The general pace of the harmonies is permanently calm and slow, but, paradoxically, the guitar lines display a ferocious and sometimes ardent, passionate emotional vitality, that impregnates the music with the splendor of an abrasive, but sincere aggression, that expands the boundaries of the musical procession to the innermost perceptions of the listener’s personal sensibilities, propitiating a fantastic connection with the soul and the essence behind the music, that can be properly classified as profound, sober and ardently consistent.     

While the album is not perfect, and has some moments of insipid monotony, the album manages to be a fabulous exemplar of the genre, with its qualities far obscuring the minor generic commonalities somewhat inherent to the genre. As a matter of fact, in its abundant passages of gracious virtuosities, Every Nothing comes close to a state of the art work. Definitely, this is an album for the post rock scene to be proud of – a work where methodical technique, authorial creativity and genuine sonorous mordacity meet, with an extraordinary and fantastic result.  


Wagner

post rock

A Long Lost Silence is an album released on July 20, by German post rock act There’s A Light. Fifty-one minutes long, the record has eight tracks: Intro, Beiteigeuze, White Marble, Farewell, My Friend, Across The River, Into The Trees, Far North, Antagonism and A Long Lost Silence. With powerful and resolute guitar lines, audacious melodies, a formidably intense sonorous atmosphere and very creative, vivid and colorful musical elements, the album presents a cohesive, elegant, singular and proverbial style, easy to captivate audiences. With an harmonious synergy that extends itself beyond the crucial landmark of its versatile, energetic and flexible sonorous axiom, A Long Lost Silence has more vibrant tonalities than usually testified in works of the genre. A complex, lucid and methodic work, A Long Lost Silence reveals a level of creative sagacity, splendid virtuosity and natural originality whose sensibility rapidly touches the essence and the vicissitudes of the human spirit. 

The songs are generally marvelously beautiful and wonderfully composed. A great, delightful surprise – that unfortunately we rarely experience in the genre – was the presence of vocals, although on an occasional basis. A beautiful, poetic, fantastic, splendorous voice, that perfectly matches the general musical layer of the work. Achieving a rapturous and graceful sonorous zenith, that strongly makes you feel a mile above the clouds, the natural grace and the elementary spontaneity of the music reaches a sensational level of sincere and sober splendor, that irradiates the genuine, infallible and inherent musical qualities that were expressively and methodically combined to create this marvelous work.  

Unfortunately, the album is not perfect. It doesn’t scape its pervasive percentage of monotony, although it is just a handful of passages, that doesn’t compromise in any way the fantastic and tremendously original style of the group. The music of There’s A Light is exceedingly vivid, consistent, beautiful, sensibly poetic and thoroughly magnificent, like no other band in the genre. They are, indeed, expressively incomparable. 

A vigorously splendid album that I really loved with passionate enthusiasm, filled with a charismatic, profound, gracious, serene, ostensibly vivid and formidably genuine musical vivacity, the creativity of the band is surreal, expansive and graciously cinematic. A Long Lost Silence is a sensational and aggrandizing album, a work where a profoundly authorial type of music – created with a hyperbolic and vast degree of originality – was born, and has in abundance all the necessary qualities to take by storm the underground scene.     


Wagner

post-punk / dark wave

A release on Wool-E Discs gets always my attention because of the  quality of music on the label. A Slice Of Life is a Belgian Post-Punk/Darkwave band from Antwerp. Dirk Vreys (lead vocals) and Guy Wilssens  (Guitars) formed  the six member band in 2016. They play a kind of mix between The Cure and The Sisters Of Mercy  with a modern Rock twist. Restless is their debut full cd, although they already made a EP in 2016. All 5 songs of the EP are also on the full cd!

The cd starts with the catchy post New Wave song, ‘Restless Gods’ (also on the EP). Dirk Vreys vocals sound good and made us sometimes think of Andrew Eldritch. What a kick off! ‘Older’ shows us another side of Dirk’s voice, slower and full emotions, this song takes you back to the best Dark Wave of the eighties! ‘The Marionette’ and ‘Life As It Is’ sound very Cure, knowing  that Dirk Vreys is also lead singer of obsCURE, a pretty popular Cure cover band in Belgium. His voice on ‘Life As It Is’ has the same sad vibe as Robert Smith . The lead  guitar sounds  maybe a little too much Cure but it’s still a very nice song!

‘Feel Like Crazy’ and ‘We Fight’ are potential live hits on stage, and could make the crowd shout and dance. ‘Sweet Sin’, ‘Coraline’ and  ‘Panic Attack’ switch again to the darkest songs of the eighties when The Sisters Of Mercy had their best days! The cd has a bonus track but the song doesn’t reach the level of quality as the rest of the songs on the cd. A Slice Of Life gives you a blast in the past, ‘Restless ’ is a greatest hits album from the dark 80’s without hits!


Patsker

musique concréte

Musique concrète, two words that refer us directly to the 50s, 60s and to composers like Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. This music unfortunately ended up entering a kind of sci-fi cryogenic freeze and was in a thawed process by musicians like Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, The Beatles and even by current musicians in a rather diluted form. However, in the year 2018 it was completely unfrozen, returning with all its characteristics, peculiarities of composition/form and recording equipment by the musician Stephono - ZIP! In his EP 'Royal Echo Tape' the musician used two tape recorder (Uher Royal Deluxe and a Teac A-3440), one UHER microphone, one UHER echo tape, one AM radio, three synths (Roland Juno-60, Yahama CS 15, Korg mini Kaoss pad) and old tape reels/vinyls.

This EP have three tracks. ‘#Voice’ reminds us of 60s science fiction movie soundtracks. It features vocal sounds manipulations, synthesized sounds with characteristic melodic patterns from 70s electronic music and sound effects that could been in the same sci-fi movies! ‘#Old Tapes’ differs from the first one by the presentation of a vocal narrative, such as a spoken word, accompanied by a glockenspiel and samples of old music with altered speed. ‘#Radio’, brings all the sound manipulation featured in the 60s concrete music - as well as all other EP tracks - but its great differential is the sound of a sitar and some synthesizer(s) that can be heard throughout its duration.

In this EP we can experience an extremely curious and interesting work: concrete music that was very influenced by the sound manipulation techniques from Pierre Schaeffer and aesthetics from Pierre Henry, but totally performed in nostalgic equipment by a musician whose life extends to the 21st century! These characteristics gain even more evidence through the great idea of ​​making the EP available on cassete and reel tape within unique packaging with collages (and a bonus track named ‘Circle, Circle’). 'Royal Echo Tape' is undoubtedly a great tribute to concrete music, a beautiful visit to the past performed by a time traveler of the new millennium!



Glauber

post rock / drone / post metal

Ever since the first days of Merchants Of Air, I have been fascinated by one man projects and their often surprising output. Not only noise and ambient artists but also musicians in the fields of post rock, black metal, classical music and doom. There are heaps of talented people out there and most of them rarely get the attention they deserve.
So when I saw this album by Polish project Noche Oscura in my mailbox, I immediately became interested. The project, formed by Wojciech Szachowski also seems to roam in the post-rock/metal regions. Besides, the artwork by Michał Szymański is pretty stunning too, so I just had to check this one out.

It was coined as a post rock, post metal album but the first tones seemed to pour directly out the noise scene. Opener 'End' is strange, something between noise, guitar drones and post rock. I'm not sure if it is an intro but it is a quite unique tune. There is a drummer, Mateusz Mazur, but his work seems to be rather limited. The post-scene is far away but somehow that doesn't matter. Besides, the true beauty of Noche Oscura still has to bloom.

And that happens on 'Suspension', a song that contains violins by Katarzyna Gronowska and seems to be inspired by many of today's drone-ambient acts (Syndrome, Thisquietarmy, N) but also by Mike Oldfield. What? Well, much like Oldfield, Noche Oscura doesn't limit itself to elaborate droning ambient tunes. Here, the artists tried to tell stories, mainly with the narrative sound of the guitars. It's different, it's nice and it's certainly interesting.

My personal favorite here is 'Before', an ambient drone tune that also borrows elements from the music of Amenra or Neurosis but also the dark folk of Barn Owl and the post rock of God Is An Astronaut. Mind you, all still without the drums, making me wonder how massive this track would sound with a full live band. That must be bloody impressive, if you ask me. Same goes for closer 'Gate', an impending track, nudging to the doom scene.

Although coined as something for fans of Sunn O))), Amenra, Ulver and Neuroris, I'd probably place this album in my ambient/dark folk collection. That is not a bad thing, on the very contrary. I enjoyed every second of this album, even the confusing chaos of the opener. I'm just afraid that this artist limits himself a bit too much. If he forms a full blown band with this material, they'll be on big ass stages in no time, but for now, let's all enjoy these sounds in the quiet comforts of our own homes...


​Serge

ambient

While Europe is being crushed by an unseen heatwave people are basically migrating to places with massive bodies of water. Like thousands of other people, I spent yesterday at the Belgian coast, enjoying the cool seabreeze and the fresh sand. The beach was crowded with people. Children  were building sand castles, couples were rubbing one another with sunscreen yet most people just laid down and sunbathed the day away. Inland, temperatures are scorching and here too, people jump in pools, ponds, streams and rivers. Right now, I can clearly imagine myself on a rubber boat, far away from all those people, listening to this new album by North Atlantic Drift.

Canadian duo North Atlantic Drift somehow manages to cool down my eardrums with their friendly waves of minimal ambient. Inspired by acts like Stars Of The Lid and Boards Of Canada, Mike Abercrombie & Brad Deschamps deliver soothing soundscapes, not too dark and far from obtrusive. The music resembles the calm tides of the water, hence perhaps the rubber boat reference in the previous paragraph. 'Empty' and 'Carousel' drive on gentle electronic loops, somewhat rhythmic but without any form of percussion. For minimalists, this album certainly comes close to ambient perfection.

Most of the tracks on this album remind me of my early adventures in ambient music, the time when I got acquainted with the music of Laraaji, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Eluvium and Biosphere. It's no wonder then that this album fits perfectly well between these. And it's probably no wonder that I will recommend this beautiful release to all of you, not only the ambient fans but also the people who need to lay down, relax and feel comfortable once in a while. With highlights like 'Formation' and 'Mountain Spectre', 'Departures Vol. 2' is an excellent safe haven in a stressful world.



​Serge

post punk / new wave / goth rock

Heading from Bristol, Naut decided to ignore all current trends and to look back to the dark eighties. Now, this five-piece comes with a baffling debut EP, containing five pitch black goth rock tunes. Influences from bands like Sisters Of Mercy and Killing Joke run rampant and come with the overwhelming energy of post punk acts like The Jesus and Mary Chain. Song like opener 'Disintegration' and 'I'm Here' are destined to fill dark dancefloors everywhere. My personal favorite here is closer 'XVI'. It makes me curious and hungry for more, but for now I'm sure that this EP will be an excellent addition to every post punk / goth rock collection. 

doom / sludge

Sheffield doom mongers Kurokuma return with a two track EP, based on the Dope Rider strip from High Times in the 70s. The artwork comes from Paul Kirchner, the creator of the strip. The music is another slab of severe psychotic sludge doom, five and eight minutes long. Part 1 also showcases something industrial, reflected by repetitive, almost methodical drums. Part 2 simply continues to slow but brutal pummeling. Fans of bands like Conan, Dopethrone and Yob can easily trust Kurokuma to deliver the monolithic riffs and fierce vocals they crave so much. So if you want your sludge metal as destructive as a wrecking ball, this EP should do.

post-metal / doom / alternative rock

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Several months after the release of 'Serrated', Dutch heavy rockers An Evening With Knives unleash three songs that did not make the album because of the limited space on the vinyl. Yet, these songs were to important for the band to be ignored. Opener and title track 'Fade Out' deals with the death of Marco’s father due to Alzheimer disease. It's a long, heavy and cathartic lamentation, showcasing the darkest side of this band. The other two songs follow that example, be it a bit shorter. They all walk a similar path as the songs on 'Serrated', and thus would also fit perfectly into every sludge, doom and grunge collection. These guys are growing steadily, that's for sure.

electronic / ambient / experimental

An alienating two track EP that will leave you confused and entangled, that is what Soho Rezanejad delivers. Subtle electronics, minimalist drones, gloomy soundscapes and her vocals come together in two lengthy modern day folk songs. I can't help but think about a mix between Zola Jesus and Diamanda Galas, be it a bit less creepy than the latter. Yet, there is emotion, there is fear, mourning, wonder and hope in these two tracks. There is a mystifying atmosphere, one that borrows elements from dark ambient. Yet, above all perhaps, this is a unique piece of work, reminding me of an act like Dark Ensemble. Recommended only for eternally wandering souls.

post rock / post metal / stoner / sludge

In today's post rock scene, new bands pop up like mushrooms. Würzburg residents The Man Within are one of those newcomers. Mostly, that first effort comes with a low production and a careful introduction in what the band really is capable of. Yet, here that results in a full-blown post metal album with seven outstanding tracks. Most of them, including 'Mount Santo', my favorite 'Institution' (that rolling bass is hot!!!) and the massive 'Limitless' can easily entertain audiences far and wide. Although firmly rooted in the post-scene, elements from sludge metal, psychedelic rock and stoner rock are never far away. A great introduction, now let's hope they can confirm this in the near future.

dark ambient

The new brainchild of Nachtzeit, the man behind ambient dark metal project Lustre, comes up with an interesting dark ambient album. Although playful at time, this album takes us back to the mysterious  and dark age of the Norse gods. Early in 'Drömmarna' acts like Mortiis (on Cold Meat Industry) and Wongraven come to mind. Synths, soundscapes and dreamy melodies guide the listening on a musical tour of medieval Europe, so it seems, highlighting in 'Löftet' and 'Tårarn'. Strangely, the title track 'Hädanfärden' has an X-Files OST feeling about it, which isn't bad, on the contrary. Fans of old school medieval dark ambient can easily appreciate this album.

alternative rock / hard rock / grunge

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Belgian hard rock duo Breakfast At Midnight proves that two is enough to create heaps of noise. On this debut EP they blast seven tracks through our speakers, beginning with the heavy rocking 'Kidi Coke'. From then on, the rock doesn't seem to stop. Inspired by anything between Tool, Queens Of The Stone Age and Stone Temple Pilots, these two feed an everlasting fire. Most tracks drive on sheer energy but in 'What I'm To Say' and in '1813', the band delves deeply into the Pearl Jam version of grunge rock. Here, the vocals are excellent and clean while the other tunes contain heaps of aggressive screams. Not that I mind, this is pure rock 'n roll: raw, rough and heavy.

black metal / death metal

Grab onto something now because Ukrainian trio Goatsperm is about to unload a hellish, chaotic and vulgar EP, loaded with orthodox black/death metal. 'Voice In The Womb' contains three tracks, each one being a pummeling piece of extreme metal, as dark as Satan's butthole but with an ambient breather here and there. Somehow, this trio manages to combine atmospheric passages with sheer metallic terror, something that might indeed make a lot of banging heads turn their way in the near future.  Besides, 'Into The Deep Waters Of Catacombs' is one of the fiercest black metal tunes I've heard this year. If you're a self-respecting extremist, you need this.

krautrock / shoegaze / punk

What would have happened if Ramones used My Bloody Valentine's guitar effects? What would a punk rock cover album of Neu! songs sound like? Well, Finnish six piece Teksti-TV 666 might have a decent answer for you. 'Aidattu Tulevaisuus' delivers six high-octane krautrock tunes with the raw energy of punk and the immersive nature of shoegaze. I admit, it is something different from the usual slabs of rock 'n roll that appear here but 'Turbo-Mondeo' and 'Aidattu tulevaisuus' can easily get your behind shaking. My favorite here is the somewhat slower 'Rauhankone', which might be described as a down-to-earth space rock track. Recommended? Hell yeah!

ambient / electronic / experimental

Hailing from Porto, Vitor Joaquim is a sound sculptor and visual artist, active around the strange borders between soothing ambient and otherworldly noise. This new album, 'Impermanence' contains seven tracks, revolving around repetitive soundscapes, almost subconscious loops and immersive musical textures. Here and there vocals samples have been added to increase the narrative nature of the music. That, along with the minimal soundscapes, makes the title track my favorite here but I'm sure that every fan of decent ambient music can appreciate these sounds. Obviously, this comes highly recommended.

ambient / drone / experimental / noise

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An even more noisy and experimental variation on ambient sounds comes from Han, a project by Vitor Joaquim and Emidio Buchinho. This album revolves around live improvisation and real time processing, which results in something severely unusual and highly experimental. Yet, behind the gritty freestyle on the guitar, beautiful ambient loops lurk. These seven tracks are weird, immersive in one way, yet restrained and peculiar. Somehow this album feels like the early days of drone experimentation, when artists were exploring the other possibilities of their instruments. In all, this is an interesting release to dive into, but only for experienced avant gardists...

Serge