black metal / noise rock / metal / sludge

bandcamp

Well, well, well – if it ain’t the birthplace of it all, Birmingham? Nobody needs a reminder why the
Midlands are the place where the magic started 50 years ago. Nobody needs to hear about Ozzy and
Tommi and the others. But wait – what came out of Birmingham since then? Okay, Napalm Death,
but what else? Goldie. Okay, okay, Napalm Death and Goldie, but what else? Godflesh! Okay, okay,
okay, Napalm Death and Goldie and Godflesh and… I guess most of you know which movie is
being referenced here indirectly. Just as Reg has to admit that the Romans have done numerous
things for Galilee, the connoisseur of music history must admit that rusty, rotten Birmingham has
done loads of things for music with Opium Lord being one of the latest examples.

It is interesting how Opium Lord can oscillate between Godflesh, Jesus Lizard and Mayhem,
although the later is more obvious in the vocal style only as they are clearly black metal – based.
The musical foundation is definitely AmRep-influenced noise rock (with a crisp bass sound),
although it has clearly been stuffed down the sludge version of a meat mincer only to come out on the other end in the style of a musical coldness to match the sterile cleanliness of Broadrick’s
“Streetcleaner”. This sonic versatility is also the reason why the quintet was able to share the stage with bands as diverse as Oathbreaker, Swans and Yob.

​Speaking of Yob, the five-piece from steel town was able to convince Mike Scheidt so much that he wanted to contribute to this record and thus “Columbia” was born. A song, somehow typically Mike but at the same time also typically Opium Lord. It takes its time to build slowly but then end pretty harshly with a lot of shrieking, nearly buoy-like guitar work. Yet, this track also exemplifies the single problem of this record. The clean parts make the song more interesting and add to its intensity simultaneously showing that more clean parts would benefit the album – a small blemish as the industrial soundscape of the album is still so dense.

With an album like this it is hard to believe that their former label was not interested enough in
them to make this work. However, The Sludgelord profits from it and is able to procure another
gem this year with an album whose sonic coldness that never pushes you away but rather draws you in. Birmingham is back with an example how a rusty environment can provide a good basis for a noise-band rubbing rusty metal blades against our ears. 


Thorsten

dark ambient

Melankolia is active since 2008 and has already a nice catalogue of interesting releases. The solo work from Lancaster Ohio U.S. based Mike ‘O Brien invites the sound perceiver for introspective listening.  Melankolia participated already in several splits with Upon Shadows (Dark Metal), Hoyland (Dark Ambient) and Tamerlan (Dark Folk). He also works under other aliases like Veiled Monk, Alchemist, James The Lesser and he is member of the symphonic black metal band Appalachian Winter (Pennsylvania U.S.). During the last minutes of his free time he runs his label Nine Gates Records.



Mike ‘O Brien is a seeker, he translates his regrets with beautiful piano melodies drenched in gloom,  exploring the laments of a past mired in sorrow. The climate change issues and the pollution of our world are woven in cold sounds of darkness. Spoken word pieces on this release corroborate his anger and powerlessness in deep and cold tunes filled with sorrow. 

Slow but accurate the story of Melankolia continues and evolves further on. The inspiration for this release is based on the look-back Mike ‘O Brien got into the subject matter by a book of the same name (MECHUDZU), written by his uncle (professor Bryan Cantley). MECHUDZU is a mystical dark ambient release that drags you in a world of sinister melancholy which contains beautiful sounds of the darker side of life. His icy piano work is a musical conductor to visit the surreal worlds this artist captures in his dreamy compositions. The dreary mood on this recording is amplified with refined soundscapes and electronic effects.

Melankolia is an artist using a neoclassical input that keeps on delivering an amazing carpet of Dark Ambient music worth to check out. MECHUDZU is only available in digital format on Bandcamp (name your prize). Consider this a gift from an unknown but very talented artist.

​
Patsker

black metal / noise / industrial / hardcore

Over the years, the boundaries between genres have vanished more and more. Some think that is not good and try to remain pvre and trve to their roots, which should be tolerated. As long as nobody gets hurt for it. Others think that it’s good to cross boundaries and explore new genre-blending possibilities. With Mur from France it is clear from the very start – they belong to the latter group.

The six-piece combine so many styles and ideas, it is hard to twist your mind around all of them –
some parts are noise, some have an industrial touch, others bear witness to hardcore roots while all of them seem to be infused with a certain black metal attitude. So if you are looking for a band between Melvins, Pitchshifter, Venom and, let’s say, Portrayal of Guilt – here it is. Unfortunately, that sounds silly as all of the bands mentioned above do not have one single thing in common, and if you then try to get a mental impression of it, just by reading these lines – well, sorry, but your idea won’t do because Mur is more. Literally, they are more than just a combination of single ideas and styles.

Over the last couple of years we have seen a lot of developments in black metal but Mur is still a new one, because Black Metal and Industrial and Hardcore (the three main pillars) have not yet been amalgamated as cleverly as on “Brutalism”. Take “Third” as an example – it starts off with an eerie, soft combination of slightly distorted, electrified guitar picking and spherical ambient passages until a hardcore drum part kicks in and changes the tone completely.

Next is the blackened screaming by vocalist Jay and the song swirls and whirls around always
accompanied by synthesizers to give it some kind of gloom-factor. The rhythm section slows the
song down with industrial-like precision before it speeds up again and the shrieking noise parts
become stronger and then fade again when a nearly alternative metal part gives us a little clarity
with the synths now dominating again – the listener is thrown from side to side trying to grasp all
that is happening.

Clearly, one might argue that Mur are trying to do too much, trying too hard to get as many people in as possible. If you want to see it that way, you can, but maybe you are missing out on the fun of a record that shows some really good ideas and is still able to convince because of a lot of overall composition work in order to sound as if everything was in its right place. 


Thorsten

black metal

Amor Fati Productions

Here we go (Dutch black metal) again. The raging sound piercer Imperial Cult is a collaboration between O (guitars), T (vocals), who are members from the Dutch atmospheric Black Metal band Turia, and R (drums). R is René Aquarius known from his work with the Dead Neanderthals, Cryptea, Celestial Bodies, O Saala Sakraal and DungeönHammer.

And the beast was cut lose. After only a few seconds of playing all the possible hells from this planet came together and were spewed out with the album Spasm Of Light. Light? The is no sign of light spasms in the musical world of Imperial Cult. The apocalyptic darkness ripped us in pieces with their ferocious black metal sound. T howls like a pack of insane wolves scaring the last living souls away from the endless dark forests. This black metal hailstorm is built upon a massive wall of haunting vocal sounds enforced with the immense guitar riffs from O creating an effect of suffocating desolation.

No mercy. R hits the drums like a runaway machine fed by an infinite power source. The rattling high speed beats enhance the rabidity of this album. The venomous atmosphere tempers halfway this one-track album into a slight intermezzo with slow echoing guitars of doom. The duo’s  furious escapades restart for a second part of soul torturing. Spasm Of Light ends comparing to the whole album with a calm outro. No synths were used on this surprising and insane release. 
​ 
Imperial Cult serves psychotic waves of uncontrolled outbursts filled with only one goal: the drowning into an infernal pandemonium. Spasm Of Light gave us addictive brain convulsions producing outer dimensional black metal vibes.  We have lost our orientation while listening to this awesome piece of work and were numb while writing this review, not so comfortably.


Patsker

progressive rock / alternative / experimental

Ravage is an album released in September 8, the debut work of nooM, a French progressive and experimental rock project. Thirty-six minutes long, the record has seven tracks: 1) 12:34 AM; 2) Crescent; 3) Nuages; 4) Leave Me; 5) Parting; 6) When We Look At The Stars, We Whisper; 7) Where The Night Ends Us; with a serene and fugacious, almost melancholic musical splendor, the style displayed by this amazing artist is simple, but elegant, refined and masterfully cohesive. Delivering a sound agglutinated by a sensitive, but dispersive consistency, the dynamic vividness of the melodies are graciously perceptive, but also synchronically convergent. Its protuberant calmness dilacerates the introspective restlessness that subtly resides in the essence of its magnificent artistic splendor. 

The marvelous easiness of all the progressive elements are gracefully inserted into the music. The style displayed by the artist anticipates on the dynamism of its iridescent insurgencies the arduous glories of its sincere and vigorous creative possibilities. Despite its strong, homogeneous and exceptionally grounded style, the artist displays a colorful and intricate level of eclecticism and versatility. The fifth track, Parting — which in my opinion is the best — proves that perfectly. Featuring the exceptionally beautiful voice of singer Louise Dissous, the graceful vivacity of her voice certainly adds a tender element of exotic mystery to this song, that not only fits the melodies with gracious intensity, but also complements wonderfully the general guidelines of the rhythm. 

Although in a general evaluation the album can be considered very simple, Ravage is a cohesive and genuinely authorial work of art, whose creative strength is a musician that not only understands perfectly  how his most salutary qualities work, but also has the wisdom to use his technical excellence and creative virtues to conceive a sublime universe of dispersive majesty, where everything can be converted to a sonorous diagram of colorful proficiency, ostensibly crafting a dimension where musical sensibility and dynamic  pragmatism come together, to conceive restlessness as a new form of sentimental freedom.  

With gracefully renitent guitar lines that evokes the purity and calmness of a universe that has never seen light before, the music displayed in Ravage is exceptionally beautiful, and filled with a gracious imponence that is not only sincere, but also exponetially lucid and proverbial, though essentially somber in nature. Nevertheless, the style delivered by nooM is dense, dynamic and relentless, but paradoxically vivacious and splendid. Definitely, Ravage is a very intriguing, resonant, quite eventful album, a masterpiece whose  practical peculiarities redefine musical boundaries, within the diluted framework of a creative mind, that knows no limits or restricitions to its magnificent audacious nature. 


Wagner

post rock / experimental

Kesys is the debut album by an eponymous art rock project, led by French musician Jeff Grimal, released on August 30. A very concise effort — only half an hour long —, the record has six tracks: 1) Consolidated; 2) Kesys; 3) Sacré; 4) Il pleut sur notre amour; 5) Réception; 6) Soupir; with a calm and serene, but also very personal style, the sound present on Kesys is objective, though exceedingly masterful and consistent. The music delivers a powerfully dimensional symphony, that elevates the superb harmonies eagerly displayed in the work, to a level of sonorous density that is ambitiously creative and formidably proficient. Something that could be described as marginally simple, but also majestically relevant. Undoubtedly, the album delivers an unprecedented degree of virtues in the history of authorial art rock, although its degree of complexity is almost nonexistent, and its qualities are entirely grounded in the adjacent beauty inherent to the sensibility of the sound. 

The strength of the harmonies is certainly singular, and the degree of poetic beauty displayed in the musical lines are grounded in the graceful melodies that form the almost epic character of sound. With a creative proficiency as robust as its perceptive grandiosity, the intuitive talent behind this sensible musical masterpiece is exceptionally displayed in the dynamic features of the music; the sound reverberates like a fortress built up in the vast emptiness of a giant, everlasting and renitent darkness, like a dream that graciously resides upon itself. With a technical competence that appears to be as diligent as its creative inclinations, the general artistic horizon conceived by this work is splendidly elevated by the gentle, but somber grandiosity of the musician's inimitable serenity, as well as its impeccable level of diluted and straightforward sensitivity. 

With an almost perfect, but diluted serenity — whose harmonies defy the general layers of existence —, the sober musical lines crafted by musician Jeff Grimal certainly deserves wider appreciation. The exceptionally dispersive, almost melancholic melodies conceived by the artist creates an entirely new, deceptionally humane universe full of splendorous dissonances, whose energetic diagram full of restless uneasiness build an atmosphere of majestic vitality, where the soul can sleep and the conscience can rest, as long as the melodies move along with the universe crafted by the glory of its marvelous and elegant essence. 

A very magnificent debut, Kesys certainly has all the virtues to be a fantastic exponent of the alternative scene. With a tremendously singular style, that exhibits a proverbial greatness unseen in the contemporary scene, this project is a promise fulfilled, that has all the qualities at hand to keep evolving, and breaking musical boundaries, on its journey to create something entirely new, genuine, organic and vivaciously graceful.  


Wagner

post rock

Karma is an album released by Spanish based, Greek post rock project Mojave Sky, on October 3. Only thirty-three minutes long, the record has six tracks: 1) Nuntium Pulsar; 2) Gen Z; 3) Evolve. Ochiru; 4) Disorder 0.17; 5) Karma; 6) Erosion; with definitely incise and pungent harmonies, the music of Mojave Sky is consistently vigorous, dynamic and robust. With horizontal, though flexible melodies, that departs from a colorful sonorous vitality – that play with the poetic diagram of its own splendorous creativity –, Karma is an album that impresses the listener from the immediate beginning, as its powerful and intricate masterful compositions define a formidable degree of artistry, able to conceive a magnificent and sensational level of spectacular sensitivity.  

With serene melodies that revitalize the essential pragmatism of the songs, the general structure and the anatomy of the sound is simple, but grandiose in the same proportion. With subtlety and authenticity, the musicians behind the project elaborate exceptional sonorous connections, that are as easily beautiful as they are intrinsically proficient, in a technical, but also emotional level. 

Of course – analyzing in a more deep layer –, they really don't do anything too extraordinary or innovative; in a certain way, they follow the general guidelines of the genre. Nevertheless, their sound is amazingly graceful, cohesive and competent, they manage to deliver a decent degree of genuine vitality to their music. The intense, sensible, highly concentrated style of Mojave Sky cannot be regarded as merely generic or ordinary, as display enough virtues and qualities to be fully appreciated by its splendidly flavored and dense chemistry. 

For true lovers of post rock, Karma proves to be a fundamental album, that will easily find its way among enthusiasts of the genre. With a glorious and – at least to a limited extent – highly exceptional degree of sonorous volatility, Mojave Sky aggregates splendor and efficiency to the general groove of their melodies, sometimes discreetly flirting with progressive sensibilities, that masterfully engraves their creative standards with a vibrant and diffusive style. With a beautiful and captivating sound, filled with elements that make this album a very pleasant experience, Karma is a highly recommended work of art to all post rock lovers out there, that will certainly have a joyful time appreciating its majestically vivid musical tonalities, and its overwhelmingly fantastic dimensions of dispersive resonances. 


Wagner

post rock

Omission is an album released recently, in October 4, by German post rock act Noorvik. A very concise album — only thirty-five minutes long —, the record has only four long tracks: 1) Floating; 2) Above; 3) Hidden; 4) Dark; with sober, linear and simple, but pungent harmonies, the music of Noorvik works unpretentiously with all the ordinary elements of the genre, though they are combined in generally decent and coherent melodies, that are subtly highlighted by the uneventful tonalities of a sensible, impeccable and serene style. 

Though the music in Omission presents all the ordinary elements of the genre — appearing at first to be just a generic record —, the album manages to be a competent and salutary representative of post rock, eager to display a satisfactory array of qualities, that are indeed decently combined to converge altogether in a set of organic and gracefully conceived mosaic of sounds. Despite the technical proficiency and the creatively dispersive strength of the band, though, unfortunately their style becomes too entrenched in a monotonous and obnoxious cycle of vulgar sonorous features, which makes the album impossible to outstand itself.   

The dense uneasiness of its improbable calmness certainly can be considered its most valuable, precise and defined quality; gives substance to the form of the music, and its consistency derives its dynamic impetus from the visceral perception of the harmonies. Omission is not bad at all, its just too ordinary, too similar to other albums of the genre. For this reason — as a musical endeavor —, the work failed to develop an identity of its own; nevertheless, the record is somewhat accessible and decent, and has enough virtues to find an audience willing to appreciate its qualities. 

While authenticity and creativity cannot be considered Noorvik's greatest talents, undoubtedly, the band's technical excellence is what stands out the most. The bass guitar lines becomes exceptionally distinct in some passages, and the band affirmatively knows how to display a style able to produce a clean and robust sound all the way through. In a general evaluation, Omission is an album that can be enjoyed, albeit moderately, without any expectation whatsoever.


Wagner

post rock

The flower is an album released by Russian post rock project Escape from 1984, in September 22. Relatively concise, the record is only thirty-seven minutes long. With eight tracks — 1) Birds fly away; 2) The flower pt1 (being born); 3) The flower pt2 (purpose); 4) The flower pt3 (fade); 5) These trees will rise again; 6) Short footpath; 7) Look at the sky tonight. All shining stars have a soul; 8) Somebody drew these beautiful places; —, The flower reveals itself as a relatively simple and unpretentious work, though amazingly sensible, spectacular, subtle and graciously magnificent. The beautiful style displayed by this amazingly skilled, audacious and versatile artist certainly will leave the audience superbly astounded, and marvelously captivated by the splendidly sensational and serene atmosphere conceived by the music.

With a wonderful line of work, that departs from an overwhelming sense of serenity — that keeps intact the premises of its vastly dense and intricate layers of musical sensibility —, as I wrote above, the style displayed by the artist is simple, but filled with a diluted intensity that is as consistent, as it is subtle, and genuinely humane. The simplicity of his style is probably the best element of the music, the strength upon which the elegance of the harmonies are conceived, and the essence that draws the graceful horizons of its poetic contingencies. 

Displaying a mordacious level of originality — that is effusively aligned with a sincere quest for artistic splendor —, the music of Escape from 1984 is a delicate and gracefully defined outlook on the glorious virtues of genuine authorial creativity. As a portrait of sentimental rapture evaluated at the insight of an authentic appreciation for life, the spectacular beauty present on this album is defined by a style more concerned with substance than form, and whose harmonies delivers a sincere devotion to the everlasting artistry that interacts with the dynamic dissolutions of its own introspective contrivances.   

Definitely an excellent, dispersive, proverbial album — one that proportionally balances a very personal musical technique with the creative subtlety of unrepentant restlessness —, The flower, from start to finish, reveals itself to be a very authentic and salutary artistic endeavor, that not only redeems the sensibility of the project's mastermind, but also anyone who indulges in the appreciation of this wonderful work. While listening to this graceful record, its easier to truly awaken for the real possibilities of life, and better perceive the dignity and virtuosity of art through the dark contingencies of human nature, that usually lays dormant in the fruitless derelict densities of the soul. 


Wagner

post rock / experimental 

From Voodoo to Zen is an album released on September 20, by Polish post rock trio Tides From Nebula. Forty-five minutes long, the record has seven tracks: 1) Ghost Horses; 2) The New Delta; 3) Dopamine; 4) Radionoize; 5) From Voodoo to Zen; 6) Nothing to Fear and Nothing to Doubt; 7) Eve White, Eve Black, Jane; with a style that flirts with space rock and experimental elements, Tides From Nebula definitely displays a very peculiar and authorial musical style, whose vigorous harmonious dissonances embrace the overwhelming and overlooking orthodoxy of its own elegant and gracious authenticity, exhibiting a creative sensibility so beautifully engraved in the essence of the sound, that the soul inherent to the versatile anatomy of its glorious omniscience illuminates the most fundamental components of the melodies.

With colorful harmonies that envisions the poetic glory of a more diluted diagram of artistic ambitions, the music present in From Voodoo to Zen definitely displays severely distinct features, established in the horizon of its intrinsically dense, experimental and fugacious nature. Without any fear of being explicitly authorial, the proverbial dynamism displayed by the band reveals its sophisticated musical standards, that cannot be properly qualified into an ordinary category. With a groundbreaking sensibility — that conceives into a very introspective universe of serene vitality a musical atmosphere that seeks the splendor of an imponderable convergence of virtues —, Tides From Nebula reveals itself as a remarkable and intricate, though sober and discreet, creative possibility, able to align in a new technical configuration the absolute magnificence of sound, to be felt as a restless everlasting dream, whose natural result is its own vivacious significance.   

Probably being vastly different from everything that you have heard, From Voodoo to Zen is an exceptional album, because its audacious creative nature doesn't aspire to any ambitions, other than the music itself; the fluidity of its serene and diluted cosmogony reivents not only the essence of its dispersive artistic sensibility, but revolves around the epicenter of its uniqueness. With a sensational degree of originality, that doesn't fear the greatness of its graciously distinctive and tenacious restlessness, Tides From Nebula has conceived this work as a glorious and diligent masterpiece, that has enough virtues to be a landmark in the history of the genre. 

With a futuristic sound that celebrates the band's uniqueness, the graceful horizon of consistent majesty that can be appreciated throughout the record has no boundaries defined. Displaying formidable levels of consistency and authenticity, From Voodoo to Zen is an exceedingly proverbial experimental rock album, whose sophisticated authorial lines are surpassed only by the splendid beauty of the harmonies. Definitely, this album not only deserves to make history, but it will be a terrible heresy not to sell millions of copies. The fantastic convergence of creative proficiency and poetic deliverance displayed on this record has yet to be achieved. More than just an album, From Voodoo to Zen is a singular milestone in the continuos development of post rock in the contemporary scene.


Wagner