space rock / alternative/ electronic music

Monitor is an album released by Australian alternative / space electronic music act Laedj, from Melbourne. released on June 15. With an interesting, original, exceedingly vibrating musical style – deeply rooted in the preeminent density of expansive harmonies deliberately conceived as a tenacious space-oriented creative dissolution – Monitor reveals itself from the beginning as a marvelous, splendid and highly genuine work of art, whose authenticity defies ordinary genre boundaries, and deals profusely with an audacious and sovereign degree of introspective artistry, that not only aspires to be something inadvertently genuine, but expressively singular, unforgettable and most of all, ostensibly inimitable.  

The only terrible fault of this album is the length: at only thirty-three minutes long, Monitor is too concise. Nevertheless, when the album is over, you can appreciate it again, as I did the first time I’ve listened to this majestic and formidable masterpiece (I’ve heard two times in direct sequence). With only four tracks – Monitor, Kwingy, Heard From Space and Bad Buzz – the first and the last songs are the longer ones, having both little more than ten minutes each. With a very expressive, consistent and diluted sound, whose impressive originality designs impeccable and profoundly graceful creative harmonies in a very abrasive and elegant surface of organic elements, the marvelous and astoundingly extraordinary capabilities projected by this album is easy to assimilate, but concomitantly hard to embrace, given the fact that its overwhelmingly fulfilling, passionate, beautiful, dynamic and furiously elegant qualities surpasses with an absolute disposition the general standards currently seen in the underground scene.  

One of the most marvelous albums that I ever had the pleasure of listening, Monitor is a fascinating sonorous synergy driven by a colorful festival of original, unrestrictive and extraordinary creative audacity. With gracefully cohesive and pristine harmonies, that perpetuates the diagram of its diffusive density over the majesty of its own creative lucidity, this sensational album is a sonorous spectacle full of highly sober and vivid colliding atmospheres, that dance over the shadows of a fading horizon, in the somnolent placidity of an everlasting, but sincerely captivating personal disturbance. Although the entire album is absolutely incredible – literally out of this world –, if I have to highlight two tracks, they would be Kwingy and Heard From Space, (which, surprisingly, have vocals); the second and the third, respectively. This are two amazingly marvelous, beautiful and effectively rapturous songs, that strikes with deranged virtuosity the soul of the listener. 

Full of qualities, and with an exceptional degree of originality – never seen in the genre before – Monitor is an unforgiving, fantastic and splendorous masterpiece, whose fabulous degree of artistry deserves to be massively highlighted. With a huge potential to make history, Laedj. is a groundbreaking musical act, whose formidable level of authenticity can make them the next starlight of the alternative rock scene. 


Wagner

post rock / experimental / alternative

Toska is an album released in May 13, by experimental post rock project Fat Old Donald, from the Czech Republic. One hour long, the record has eight tracks: 1) Ibn Ezra; 2) Tünde; 3) Larva; 4) Toska; 5) Comme il Faut; 6) Lájos Bácsi; 7) Rybba; 8) Neumann; with an enormously introspective, frivolous and dense style, and exceedingly proverbial, lugubrious and somber vocals that reverberates through a clean, vast and expansive perspective a fragile and depressive, but lucid musical cosmogony, the general sound delivered by Fat Old Donald in this sinister framework is slow, diluted and afflictive, and sordidly anticipates the sentient expectation of a darkness that gradually drains all palpable resolutions of life.   

With an interesting, meticulous and methodic style – that can be quite monotonous at times – nevertheless, Fat Old Donald really knows how to properly conceive an atmosphere of dense, restless and pragmatic uneasiness, whose frigid and melancholic guitar lines are gradually revealed to be the epicenter of an emotionally vague, pale and diffusive disturbance. With a sensible beauty that underlines the melancholy of its existential playfulness, the music found on Toska displays a formidable degree of sophistication and pungent audacity, though sometimes becomes redundant, opaque and lost in the endless repetition of a predictable formula.

Despite the fact that there is nothing too extraordinary about this album, Toska displays a virtuous conjuncture of qualities, and a decent degree of originality. The diluted darkness that comes out of the melodies – slowly trespassing a subtle level of beauty that gracefully indulges in the instinctive desperation dispersed by the harmonies – reveals a consistent degree of compositional skills, whose audacious, uncommon and hyperbolic creativity certainly provides to the muscular tissue of the sound a pervasively robust and cohesive musical density. Nevertheless, underneath this spectacular disposition of tormented artistic vitality, there is a sonorous and coherent anatomic contingence, restraining the monumental order of painfulness that integrates the inherent structure of its horizontal grandiosity.

Unfortunately, you will have to undermine your patience, in order to listen to this whole album at once; despite its deeply depressive atmosphere, though, Toska displays a uniquely proverbial and sincere radiance of detrimental, but veraciously artistic agony, on a very personal scale of lugubrious darkness. Definitely, an intriguing work that deserves to be properly felt, appreciated and analyzed, this strange and bizarre, but amazingly effective, fearless and original album proves all the way through to be one of a kind.   


Wagner

industrial post wave

Almost two years ago, I ended my review for the debut album by This Can Hurt with the words: "This is another example of Belgium's talent, unique but familiar and always intriguing. I'd like to see this live one day, preferably very soon..."

Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to witness these guys yet but judging from this album, a tour is inevitable. Once again This Can Hurt has unleashed something intriguing. 'Worlds Apart' is another excellent statement about crossing genre restrictions, creating emotional alternative music and having great songwriting skills. 


Initially founded as an alternative rock outfit for Ray-M, This Can Hurt quickly developed into a unique entity in the darker regions of the rock industry. The band seemed to nudge towards gothic rock and post punk acts while also incorporating electronic elements from trip hop and industrial. At first glance, 'Worlds Apart' follows the path of its predecessor. The broody elements are still present, making most of these songs ideal for the darker dancefloor, where Sisters Of Mercy, Joy Division and Nine Inch Nails invite you to shake your hips.

But This Can Hurt has also grown over the past few years, and that results in a mature sound and several possible fan favorites. Title track 'Worlds Apart' is one of those and so is the infectious 'Rivers Run Deep'. The latter even brings Evergrey to mind, a melodic metal band. Thing is, with 'Worlds Apart' This Can Hurt tries to appeal to a broader audience. Yet, I didn't expect them to delve into the metal scene. But then again, dark rock and dark metal are very close together, just ask Trent Reznor.

My DJ-mind tells me that 'The Fall Of Mark E. Smith' will mix perfectly with 'Lucretia My Reflection' by Sisters Of Mercy. I'm going to try that out soon. Fact remains, this tune is massive, a certain dancefloor filler, even with the somewhat unusual vocals. And that goes for most of the tunes here. There is still something familiar, something from the dark eighties, but This Can Hurt adds a unique identity to their music which sets them apart from pretty much all other bands. This is the beauty of stubbornness, walking your own path and creating something brilliant.

'Some Days' is the track that mostly nudged towards trip hop, until the guitars come in. The focus here is mostly on straight forward rock music. Electronics seem to have a smaller role, which actually improves the whole thing. I think that's where the mature sound comes from. 'Diane' drives on a harsh electronic bassline but here too, the guitars eventually take the upperhand. The rest of the songs are up to you to discover. If you are a fan of dark rock music, this album definitely deserves a spot in your collection. I know, it's already a massive collection but still, I just know you will enjoy this.


​Serge

post metal / alternative metal

This is not an easy world to live in. An increasing amount of people seem to be unable to find their place in life. They wander alone, haunted by their own past and the circumstances which have lead to a life of uncertainty, emptiness and despair. To them, this hasty, stressful society feels unnatural and downright evil.

On average, these people are extremely creative but also extremely misunderstood and underappreciated. These 'lone wolves' are introvert, scared, tormented and emotional, but they also deliver some impressive music, like the quartet of Carneia, for example.

Formed by members of Miava and King Hiss, Carneia bring some solid heavy rock anthems with intense riffs and the soul shattering vocals of Jan Coudron. 'Voices Of The Void' is their fourth studio effort after two full lengths and an EP. With eight straight forward tracks, this album is a strong and well varied piece of work, showcasing excellent songwriting skills. According to the biography, the band is influenced by bands like Faith No More, Tool, Deftones and Nine Inch Nails but there is so much more to be found. For instance, 'Shadow Man' could have been a reggae tune and here and there you can hear a few death metal growls.

Yet, for the majority this albums feels like a heavy concept album by a well attuned band. While listening to opener 'The Making Of The Universe', I still had to get used to this sound, especially the rough vocals. Yet, as soon as 'Blood and Candy' started oozing out of my speakers, I was convinced of the sheer quality of the music. Element of progressive rock meet with stoner metal riffs and rolling bass. That being said, I think the bass player is the biggest Faith No More fan in this band. Correct me if I'm wrong. He does an excellent job supporting his bandmates, that's for sure.

'The Hangman' is one of my favorites here, a potent piece of alternative metal with a dark, brooding atmosphere. The sludge doom inspired 'Alter Ego' is as immersive and overwhelming as quick sand, or a container of tar. Yet, my absolute favorite here is 'Anthem For The Wasted', which mixes the intensity of heavy music with perfect songwriting skills. It shows a mature sound with a certain au-serieux, which I can appreciate. I'm sure many of our readers can appreciate this as well, so I urge you go over to their bandcamp page and check them out. Fucking hell, I love the musical output of our stupid little country...


​Serge

metal

metal / death metal

facebook

progressive rock / experimental

psychedelic rock / doom

hard rock

progressive metal

psychedelic rock /  doom

sludge metal / doom

black metal

alternative rock / psychedelic / noise rock

psychedelic / alternative rock

The Netherlands are well-known for their diverse and eclectic music scenes. From the dullest shlagers to the raunchiest grindcore, everything is being made there. That obviously includes rock music, and in this case, I'd like to call it long-distance rock.
Long-distance rock music, the kind which makes you want to step in a old Chevrolet and drive for hundreds of kilometres while cranking up the volume, that's what you get with this album by Dutch rockers No Man's Valley. Or at least, that's what I experienced, especially with the gritty, grungy and bluesy opener 'Outside The Dream'. 


The music on this album cannot be easily described, although I can throw in heaps of styles and references. While the opener was a stoner blues cracker, 'Eyeball' blends alternative rock with cabaresque experimentality. Throughout the entire thing I hear influences from bands like Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, plus, since the final track is titled 'Murder Ballad', I expect some Nick Cave references in there too. Oddly enough, that gloomy slow rock feel mostly shines through in the beautiful 'From Nowhere'.

So there is alternative rock, there is grunge, there is psychedelic desert blues but there is also a brilliant atmosphere that brings me back to underground venues and the sheer joy of discovering live music. If No Man's Valley manages to deliver the same quality on stage as on this album, I see great things coming for them. Although I doubt if any of these songs with ever make it to the charts, their solid composing skills will certainly turn some heads into their direction.

On stage, the gritty rocker 'Lies' will probably be a fan favorite. For starters, it's one of the few uptempo tunes here. It has an infectious chorus and massively enjoyable organ melodies. Many butts will be shaking, that's pretty much a guarantee. In all, I think you just can't go wrong with No Man's Valley if you're into original and authentic rock music. So yeah, I think this is a pretty damn good album, one that will quite often appear in my day-to-day playlist from now on. 


​Serge

post rock / alternative rock / noise rock / math rock

Now. is an album released on February 22, by Finnish alternative/ noise rock duo NYOS. A thirty-nine minutes instrumental album, the record has eight tracks: 1) Urgence; 2) High Five; 3) L.W.P.; 4) Zebracazebra; 5) Tiglio; 6) Mutante; 7) Death Star; 8) Aveiro; an interesting and abrasive – exceptionally authorial album –, Now. is an intriguing and sculpting experience on the alternative and noise rock subgenres, with a very peculiar sound, whose math rock melodies definitely increase their amazingly skilled and dry sonorous potential. 

With an audacity that insinuates itself at the epicenter of a singular diagram that envisions no limitations to its creative horizons, Now. definitely proves itself to be a very consistent, elegant and serious album. With a precisely defined style, its virtuous and imperative musical direction displays an artistic security that underlines an impressive and dominant degree of professionalism. NYOS is a marvelously sophisticated musical act, that understands perfectly the veracity of its meritorious grandiosity, and knows how to execute with graceful efficiency and majestic sensibility its delightful and inherently genuine perception of sound artistry. 

Since the album is relatively concise, its main musical statement also reclaims a modest and revolutionary degree of objectivity. Nevertheless, its genuine qualities and wonderful originality certainly makes this album a glorious musical achievement, whose sound navigates over the intensity of its own celebratory, restless and somewhat impulsive harmonies, though everything here mostly seems precisely calculated, premeditated and carefully sculpted. The song Mutante definitely has proved to be my favorite. Its volatile, nervous and highly concentrated density displays a cohesive degree of neoclassical elaboration, whose salutary and pragmatic devices overlaps its own vortex of utilitarian harmonious dissolution. 

Although the album has some minor moments of tedious passages, in a general evaluation, Now. is an excellent work of art, that has no faults or deficiencies whatsoever. Displaying a brilliant work merging several musical genres – and showcasing a sensational domain of math rock, upon which several harmonies were conceived – NYOS delivers to its audience a splendid and exceedingly sophisticated work, whose art and synergy are consecrated by its virtuous, incomparable and latent talent, filled with marvelous and innovative authenticity. 


Wagner

ambient / classical

Sound In Silence

experimental / noise

alternative rock / psychedelic rock

death metal

post rock

ambient / classical

doom / black metal

black metal

hardcore

metal / death metal / metalcore

facebook

hardcore / grindcore / crust

black metal

grunge / alternative metal / progressive rock

doom

alternative rock

death metal

punk rock

bandcamp

electronic

electronic / darkwave / EBM / Industrial

shoegaze

shoegaze / alternative / electronic

Shipwreck Karpathos is one of those bands that you simply love, but you don’t know precisely why. The intrinsic and majestic poetry that seems inherent to their sound makes you float through the infinite ages of a cosmogony that is designed by their music using a highly versatile sensibility, easy to follow, but hard to passionately rationalize. And to define their splendidly peculiar style – especially this album – is no easy task, since they make use of a wide range of elements, that creates labyrinths of inextricable sensitivity on the translucent oceans of your conscience, never limiting themselves to established musical ideas, or easily predictable formulas.  

Deviations is an interesting, effective and visionary work, since it is filled by remixes of other artists; so, what we have here, basically, is the creative nucleus of Shipwreck Karpathos, adorned on the exterior sonorous features of its composite musical layout by harmonies conceived by a versatile team of artists. The final result is, indeed, intriguing, unpredictable and ostensibly amazing.  

The album has an abundant and splendid virtuosity, that reluctantly and subtlety reclaims in the diagram of its eloquent qualities the highlight of its rapturous and organic impulses: the third track – Bring Down The Sky (Metavari's Prelude Redesign) – is an intermittent, but poetic, serene, delusional and profoundly dense rhapsody, that effectively makes your sensibilities to drive high on the dispersive energy of its ambivalent, but pungent mordacity. You are simply submerged drastically into an abstract universe of sagaciously obliterated parameters, that doesn’t respond to ordinary sequences, nor feel the reality as a cohesive diagram of emotions.  

Although by the middle of the album, the sound becomes more homogeneous, the primary qualities of the work are not affected. The perfect soundtrack for an endless dream that never seeks the arbitrary paradigm of a coherent layout, Deviations is an interesting experiment in sound, that definitely stands out for its audacious, stable and pure creativity. A formidable mosaic of effectively playful and transient musical dispositions, Deviations certainly deserves to be highlighted by its lucid originality, and sensationally graceful musical style. 


Wagner