dark jazz / post rock / doom

I don't really know how to start this review. I want to write about the short appearance of A-Sun Amissa in my book, 'Cecilia's World' (---->) but I also want to write about that breathtaking concert at Trix that inspired that particular passage. I want to write about how I immediately became a huge A-Sun Amissa fan and about how they expanded the entire dark jazz scene.

But I think the safest way to do this is to dig deep into this brand new album and see how this project by Richard Knox (Shield Patterns, Glissando, founder of Gizeh Records) has evolved in the past few years. 

'Ceremony in the Stillness', to be released September 14th, contains six tracks, all slow and compelling. On this follow-up to the highly acclaimed 'The Gatherer' A-Sun Amissa seems to dig deeper that ever before. The jazz elements faded to the background, making place for post rock and doom metal. On several of these tracks, including the immersive opener 'The Black Path', Knox twists the distortion knob a bit more.

Now, I can say a lot of things about this album, but there is one thing in my mind throughout the entire duration: a front seat at the forest stage of Dunk! festival. Now more than ever I see this band being a massive highlight on this Flemish post rock event, and all other related festivals around the world. With emotional rollercoasters like 'To The Ashes' or closer 'Remembrancer' , A-Sun Amissa will undoubtedly enchant audiences far and wide.

I guess it's not a surprise that bands like Mono, Stars Of The Lid and A Swarm Of The Sun come to mind more often than the Bohren or Dale Coopers of this world, which was the case on 'The Gatherer'. Lingering guitars and steady drum rhythms now make up most of the music, but the gloomy, intrinsic atmosphere remains a constant. Just listen to the fascinating anthem 'The Skulk' which does beautiful things with ambient, noise and avant garde classical music, often with the help of Jo Quail and other guests.

'No Perception Of Light' makes me realize that this project didn't really chance. It just continued its evolution towards ever more intriguing slow and murky music. Back then, I thought 'The Gatherer' was a highlight in the so-called "slowism" scene but this new work surpassed that, even though the much beloved jazz elements are now backgrounded. 'Ceremony in the Stillness' is a perfectly balanced album, one I would like to recommend to all fans of slow and dark. 


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post-metal / doom / alternative rock

dark jazz / ambient / experimental / trip hop

hardcore

acoustic blues

dark ambient / noise

doom / occult metal

death metal

black metal / doom / death metal

post punk / synth pop

breakcore / industrial

alternative rock / blues

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style of Tool and quite a bit of grunge - vocals that remind of Cobain included. So go buy this one if you appreciate something that refuses to fit into one box.

ambient / experimental

Pany Rosas Discos

dark jazz

I have just returned from another exquisite edition of Dunk! festival. It was a magical three days, loaded with post rock, doom metal and everything related. It was also quite exhausting, so for the time being I'm not going to get into heavy, fast and pummeling albums. 

Instead, I'll delve into the blissful sounds of dark jazz, courtesy of Ukrainian band The Orchestra Of Mirrored Reflections. Regular Merchants Of Air readers will probably know that this is one of our most followed acts, having appeared here several times in the past few years.

And of course, there is a real good reason for that. These guys are awesome. From day one their dark jazz has enchanted and inspired me. Their music was a constant in my writing sessions for Cecilia's World and it's basically the imaginary soundtrack to my new novel. That novel will be a gritty, harsh and dark thriller, one that can best be read while listening to these gritty and dark jazz sounds. To be a bit more specific, the title track of this album, 'Narrow Escape', has been playing while I wrote the key-scene and if they ever turn this book into a film, I want that song to be the theme song.

However, this album also contains the one Orchestra Of Mirrored Reflections track that I'm not that fond of. In my mind, there seems to be something wrong with opener 'Dissociative Fugue'. I think it's the mixing as the sax feels too loud. Yet, apart from that, I will undoubtedly recommend this album to all fans of Bohren, Dale Cooper, Radare, The Thing With Five Eyes and so on. This is pure dark jazz galore. Besides, the Orchestra easily makes up for that one mixing-misstep. 'Marvelous Journey' is exactly what the title predicts and already one of my favorite dark jazz tunes of the moment.

'Le Printemps arrive dans l'Hémisphère Nord' could as well be a part of Miles Davis' 'Ascenseur pour l'échafaud' soundtrack. It's a short tune but such a nice and atmosphere one. 'Stay Low' allows ambient sounds to take over the jazz atmosphere, making it another brilliant piece of slow and immersive music. Finally, 'Fire Burns Brighter In The Dark' delivers a classic and perfect ambient-jazz hybrid, adding a ritual element to the minimal but effective music. At the end, there is also a neat bonus track, a short jazz jam so it seems.

So yes, apart from that loud sax in the opening tune, this album is a fantastic example of dark jazz. I don't think that there is any more to write about this full-length. If any of the aforementioned bands appear in your day-to-day playlist, you definitely should give this one a shot, and while you're at it, get their previous work too. The Orchestra Of Mirrored Reflections is one of the most interesting dark jazz act on this planet. It's time the planet knows that...


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ambient / drone

industrial / metal / drum & bass

classical

metal

grindcore / crust

ambient / techno

new wave / alternative rock

black metal

bandcamp

black metal

classical / post rock / jazz

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drone doom

hard rock / metal

black metal / noise

dark jazz

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doom / experimental

Any doom fan knows that Italy is one of the places to be for dark, obscure and occult doom metal. There must something in the water over there because that country keeps on barking brilliant doom albums. So I guess it's no surprise that a band like Messa roams in the same deep waters and comes out with something unique and epic.
The band has been making a name for themselves since their inception in 2014. Their classical and occult doom metal puts them on the same cards as bands like Jex Thoth, Pentagram and Windhand but Messa likes to take things a bit further, right into the regions of jazz, shoegaze and noise. Is that good? Dûh.

The album opens with the usual intro, a two minutes lasting track that drones and noises before 'Snakeskin Drape' breaks loose, first gentle yet impending, then fully embracing the vintage doom metal feel. Personally, I'm already convinced but we're not done yet. Messa still has a lot of goodness to show. 'Leah' for example, which shows you how an antique jazz club would sound if it had today's distortion pedals. I love the jazz escapades on this track and I love how Sara's versatile and soulful voice fits in perfectly. Somehow she belongs on jazz stages, in shoegaze bands and hanging out with dark doomers. I'm happy she picked this band to showcase her talent.

Now, when I mentioned "vintage doom", I obviously also included the psychedelic aspect of that genre. Many of the passages and solos on this album feel like immense and immersive jam sessions, thriving on ancient riff worshiping and the freedom of improvisation. 'The Seer' is a beautiful example of that. But then again, so are pretty much all the other tracks. I'm not going into a track-by-track description here, especially not since you should already get the hint: this is a fantastic album and a perfectly succeeded experiment. There is not a dull moment to be found. This will be a constant in my day-to-day playlist from now on and if you're a fan of high quality and unique music, you might want to get your hands on this.


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drone / dark jazz

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In the last ten years or so, dark minded people have been infiltrating the jazz scene, much like they have been running wild through the dance, rock and metal scenes in the decades before. Since I'm one of those dark minded people, I can only applaud that evolution. In fact, it's acts like Bohren, Dale Cooper and Radare that got me into jazz in the first place.

These days, dark jazz or ambient jazz acts seem to pop-up everywhere, reserving another heap of space in my already overloaded CD-racks. But these things are too good to be ignored, and here is another beauty to add to your drone jazz collection.

I don't know much about Inabile Caos, and I'm not planning to do any more research on the project. I mean, music like this can best maintain a touch of mystery. I suspect it is an Italian one-man act and I know that James Plotkin mastered the album, but the rest remains an enigma. This album, which I assume is a debut since the title is '1.0' is loaded with calm but grungy music, balancing on the edges between dark ambient, guitar drones, doom and jazz.

I think I can best compare this album to Sunn O))) side project Ensemble Pearl, or with Earth performing in an underground jazz club. It's slow, constantly fading in and out, loaded with delay, reverb and feedback, and otherworldly and gloomy set of instrumentals. My favorite track is '3' but again, that's not an easy choice to make, mostly since I love listening to this work for hours on end. I mean, '4' even brings Black Sabbath to mind, something that doesn't often happen in the jazz regions.

I guess there is little else to say about this album, which leaves me with the task of finding a target audience for it. That's an easy one. Doomers, droners and dark jazzists of all ages should check this one out. As I wrote in the beginning of this review: this is another beauty to add to your collection, a massively recommended one too.


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doom / dark jazz / sludge metal

Goddammit, I hate it when people steal my ideas. First there was Alice Cooper who stole some of my vocal lines for 'Poison', then Tina Turner did something similar and now Soldat Hans is stealing my ideas for a new live project. I got to find a lawyer or something, and sue the hell out of these people.

I'm kidding, I'm not going to sue anybody but the rest of the previous paragraph is true. As a young boy I wrote songs, only to hear other people perform then a year later or so. I also want to form a doom jazz band in the near future. I'd like to perform again.

In a way, Soldat Hans beat me to that. This Swiss band does something interesting with dark jazz, doom metal, sludge metal, ambient and post rock. The music is slow, obviously, but immersive, like a mix of A Silver Mount Zion, Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, Amenra and Sigur Ros. That results in two long tracks, with 'Schoner Zerbirst' divided into two parts. Opener 'Story Of The Flood' is a twenty six minutes lasting doom jazz sloth combining all of the aforementioned elements. Of course, that brings a lot of variation to the whole thing, something I can only applaud, especially in dark, slow and atmospheric music.

Once, Soldat Hans was an experimental noise acts, improvising their way through gigs. You can still hear that in the music on this album. Instruments alternate often, from the usual post rock equipment to violins, sax and trumpets. The only sound I'm not so fond of is the sludge metal vocals, but that's just me. Everything else on this album is nothing less than inspiring. I am damn sure that I will listen to these tracks quite a lot from now on. I suggest you do the same. If you are a fan of slow and atmospheric you definitely not want to miss out on this one.


Serge

dark jazz / downtempo 

Ever since I founded this website, I've always been fascinated with the most unique, out-of-the-ordinary albums. In the past three years, several of those have been reviewed and still often appear in my day-to-day playlist. I think that looking for rare gems has become some sort of obsession, not only in the past three years but throughout my entire lifetime. It doesn't limit itself to music either but that is a whole different story. Today, while browsing my mailbox, I stumbled on this album by The Thing With Five eyes. It was originally coined as a dark jazz album and, even though I disagree with that tag, it's one of those unique gems my brain and ears crave.

The Thing With Five Eyes is a brand new project by Jason Köhnen, known for a multitude of bands and project, including Bong-Ra, Celestial Season, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. Recently, he also released some other exciting albums on Svartlava from Rotterdam. These will be featured on the next edition of Brieviews. Now, let's focus on this fascinating musical experience that 'Noirabesque' has become.

On this record Köhnen is accompanied by Algerian / French singer Leila Bounous. She adds Arabic timbres to the music, which somehow brings a select number of Dead Can Dance songs to mind. Besides these element, you can find a wide array of musical influences, from ambient over (dark) jazz to krautrock and downtempo electronics. But even with those influences, there is a beautiful conceptual feel throughout the entire thing.

Another helpful hand (or set of lungs in this case) is proved by Izzy Op De Beeck (Detour Doom Project) who plays the trumpet. His efforts are rewarded in the brilliant track 'Taurus', which is probably my absolute favorite on the album. Yet, rest assured, there is not a dull moment to be found on 'Noirabesque'. It's an album with nine highlights, as each song is another awe-inspiring piece of work with 'Salem' being a perfect and genre defining opener.

In the end, I think the "dark jazz" tag is definitely earned here, especially in the way that The Thing With Five Eyes can stand next to Dale Cooper Quartet and the Dictaphones, Radare, Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte and Somnambulist Quintet. Yet, just as easy this album delves into that scene, it redefines it with heaps of new influences. I have been following this scene since day one and I'm extremely happy that acts like these pop-up. 

Recommended? Almost as much as breathing...


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ambient / drone / avant garde

Eilean Records

The quality label Eilean records starts 2018 on a high note. Ljerke is a multidisciplinary live project which took form in the Frisian landscape as as source of inspiration. The project includes some music artists from Netherlands (Romke Kleefstra, Jan Kleefstra, Sytze Pruiksma) and Norway (Alexander Rishaug, Hilde Marie Holsen, Michael Duch) completed with the video artists Marco Douma (NL) and Haraldur Karlsson from Iceland. Furthermore, this debut album is mixed and edited by Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) and mastered by Lasse Marhaug. So there are quite a lot of experienced names behind this, which explains the immaculately beauty of it all.

Because yes, this is an absolute gem, exploring the regions of drone, ambient, classical music, (dark) jazz and experimental music. The result is an adventurous album with calm, soothing music interlaced with poetry. Throughout the entire album, Ljerke seems to blend Zoviet France with The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, something I personally can only applaud. Opener 'Muurv' gradually lures you in with its minimal approach and follower 'Tsjilland' goes on a mild Godspeed! You Black Emperor journey.

The music seamlessly combines modern day electronics with contrabass, trumpets and guitars. I like that, but that's not really a surprise. As a fan of all things dark, slow and atmospheric I can only recommend this thing. That, plus I recommend playing it on a rather high volume, close your eyes and let mind altering soundscapes like 'Waarbekkasin' or 'Hettekobbe' do their thing. I don't want to talk about end-year lists yet but I am damn sure that these tunes will often appear in my day-to-day playlist from now on. Do yourself a favor and add them to yours too.


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drone / doom

Today's "slow music" scene might be one of the best things that has happened to music since Sister Rosetta Tharpe invented rock 'n roll. It's remarkable how varied the world of music has become since the beginning of the previous century and it does not look like that is going to end soon.

In recent years, slow music has been making a serious comeback. Ambient, doom metal, post rock and dark jazz are now widely accepted and appreciated, which obviously is a good thing. Coincidentally, all four genres seem to appear on this three track album by Bolt.

Perhaps it's safe to say that Bolt sounds like a lovechild between Sunn O))) and Bohren und der Club of Gore. Their slowly pulsating drones seem to balance on the edge between jazz and doom, which obviously results into stunning dark music. It's repetitive, immersive and hypnotic, maybe a bit like Dale Cooper Quartet and the Dictaphones on steroids. The album contains three tracks and clocks off at about forty minutes. In that time, the band takes you on a ride across a pitch black meandering river of drones, doomed out riffs and haunting soundscapes.

The mastering was done by Tobias Stieler (Kokomo), which might explain the overall heaviness of the whole thing. Since Dunk! Records released this on a beautiful colored vinyl, I expect this trio to play at next year's Dunk! festival, preferable in the forest. I am absolutely sure that Bolt will become a highlight on the festival. So if you want your music to haunt your dreams, this album surely deserves a spot in your collection. This is a brilliant album, no doubt about it, and now let's hope that Bolt will soon crush Europe with this mesmerizing sound.


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