Category: Darkwave

Split/Cross - Rise Of Discontent

hardcore / grindcore / crust

Pennsylvania trio Split/Cross is seriously pissed off. Formed by members of The Human Race Is Filth and Bittered, Split/Cross delivers eight ferocious tracks, ranging from blackened crust punk over sludge doom to grindcore and even the harsh industrial sound of Nailbomb (in opener 'Blindspot'). That level of variation is not only very welcome but also gives the EP the feel of a concept album. The concept here being "fuck politics, fuck religion, fuck society, fuck humanity", something like that. Fact remains, this eight track is a tremendous kick in the nutsack, aggressive and raging, thus recommended!

Wan - Gammal är äldst

black metal

More fearsome aggression, this time from Swedish black metal quartet Wan. Formed in 2009, Wan have one mission: hail Satan in the most vile, raw and old school way possible. This five track EP is exactly that. Without any form of compromise, Wan unleash their grinding sound, bases on ear piercing riffs and murderous drums. If you are one of those people who wander through record stores, feeling nostalgic about the nineties and its harsh, gritty and chaotic sound, you definitely need to check out this EP. No doubt, Satan will be extremely pleased with this offering.

BufferState - Anthropy

grunge / alternative metal / progressive rock

Hailing from the city of Ghent BufferState delivers a very decent mix of stoner rock, alternative rock and metal. Although this is a mix that has been done before, BufferState does manage to create something rather exciting, something you need to listen more than once to fully appreciate. Inspired by bands like Tool, Deftones, Opeth and Alice In Chains, this is one of those Belgian bands to keep an eye on. Perhaps not on this EP but one day they will write and record and huge hit in the alternative scene, I'm certain of that. So, get your hands on this rocker so you can later tell your friends that you were a fan from the very beginning.

Doomcult - Life Must End

doom

Dutch one man act Doomcult returns with a good old fashioned doom metal album. Inspired by everything between Trouble and Mournful Congregation, this act delivers an interesting take on the age old genre. In a way, you might compare most of these tracks to funeral doom, slow, melodic and dark. Yet, the vocals are rough, without really grunting, something near sludge doom and those in Cathedral, for example. The result is a satisfying piece of doom metal, highlighting in songs like 'Sulphur' and the cool rocker 'Ashes'. Don't expect anything earth-shattering but an excellently executed set of slow heaviness, which is certainly good enough for me.

Hey Life - Masquerade

alternative rock

Ever wondered what a good version of the Spin Doctors would sound like? Well, here are French funk rockers Hey Life and their surprisingly infectious debut EP, 'Masquerade'. Opening with the butt-shaker 'Likeholic', this five track is pure pleasure. Although this delves deep into the funk and groove rock of the nineties, there is a high Michael Jackson level in this music, combined with heavy rocking guitars. 'One More Dollar' is one of those tunes that can every festival goer on his feet and shouting 'hey, hey, hey' along with the music. Yeah man, this is pretty darn cool.

Geostygma - The Die Is Cast

death metal

Here is a lesson in dealing with an album I do not like. French death metal combo Geostygma delivers furious modern day death metal with deathcore elements, tempo switches and pig squeals. Those things are not my favorites. I simply don't like it. However, I do recognize influences from bands like Aborted or Dying Fetus and I do hear that everything on this four track EP is executed to perfection. Within its scene, this definitely is a band to keep an eye on. They know what they're doing and how to maintain a certain quality. The fact that it's not my cup of tea is not Geostygma's fault. Recommended? Sure, if you're into this stuff.

Two Trains Left - Sorry & Pathetic

punk rock

We're still in France but with something more catchy and listener friendly. Two Trains Left is a relatively new band in the French punk scene, delivering the lighter side of the genre. Think Blink 182, Sum 41, Paramore or Green Day and you're pretty close to what Two Trains Left sound like. Rapid pop punk with melodic grooves and heaps of energy, plus the possibility of having a few fan favorites, that's what you can expect. Besides, while many punk rock bands drown in onesidedness, these dudes manage to be quite diverse and varied. So, punk rockers, put this in your ears and shake that booty.

Liya - Listen

electronic

Blind Mice Productions

Right, enough with the guitars for now. Let's check what the electronic scene has to offer. Hailing from Israel, singer songwriter Liya comes up with a four track EP, titled 'Listen'. While opener 'Holding On' is a radio friendly EDM track, Liya mostly loves to wander in the regions of synthpop and darkwave. 'No Meaning' showcases that brilliantly and the enigmatic 'Always About You' is a possibly fan favorite. Trip hop act Monophona comes to mind here, which surely is a huge compliment. In all, this is highly enjoyable synthpop, suitable for fans of everything between Depeche Mode and Eurythmics.

I Ya Toyah - Code Blue

electronic / darkwave / EBM / Industrial

Another interesting piece of electronic music comes from I Ya Toyah and her in-your-face album 'Code Blue'. With hypnotic beats, harsh synths and gritty electronics, I Ya Toyah brings a somewhat listener friendly version of acts like Atari Teenage Riot or Ambassador 21 and I think Lords Of Acid fans might also enjoy these tunes. Elements of electronic dance music meets with old school industrial and drum & bass, all accompanied by strong vocals. This album contains ten tracks, all coming with a familiar electronic sound but also with some unusual twists and sounds. So yeah, this might be an interesting album to check out if you're into pungent electronics.

Wozniak - The Space Between The Trees

shoegaze

Hailing from the beautiful city of Edinburgh, Wozniak comes up with a captivating six track EP, loaded with elements from dreampop, psychedelic rock, postpunk, post rock and shoegaze. Yet, for an EP, this thing is quite long, thanks to the massive and mesmerizing track 'Deceiver'. In all, there is forty minutes of pure shoegaze bliss to be found here, from the gloomy opener 'Slacker' onward. So I guess this thing could count as an album and in that case, 'The Space Between The Trees' is a highly promising dreampop album, somewhere between Slowdive and The Jesus And Mary Chain. Shoegazers: you know what do.

A Slice Of Life – Restless

10/8/2018

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

Brieviews 48

29/7/2018

October - Dark Hymns

dark ambient

A fifteen minutes EP with four tracks, Dark Hymns lives to the glory of its simple, but energetic and suggestive title. With a very dark, subtle and obscure sound, the sensitive premises of the style are afflictive to the fullest – despite being paradoxically peaceful and serene –, and seems to anticipate the imminence of a profoundly terrible doom. While the work presents to the audience a very simple and surreal sound, its nuances are dense, and the excellence of its atmosphere dissipates a graceful and somber fear over the boundaries of the melodies. There is nothing too exceptional or extraordinary about this work, but for dark ambient genre enthusiasts, the vivid, morbid intensity displayed by the artist behind the project is certainly vast, very meaningful, and spiritually consistent.

Collapse Project - Crossing Lights

electronic / darksynth / dark electro / synthwave

Crossing Lights is an album released on June 22, by German electronica/ synthwave act Collapse Project. A wonderfully splendid album, with eleven tracks – Where everything began, Crossing Lights, Arise from the darkness, M.e.n.s.c.h., Pursuit,
Bloody Dancefloor, Cemetery Walk, Starfighter, Nightshift, Test Drive and Rewind – this marvelous and majestic state of the art work has colorful harmonies, a vibrant, lucid and energetic pace, an intense and cohesive style and a superb sense of rhythmic rapture. With softly pungent, dense and dynamic mordacious melodies that engraves its formidable intrinsic strength at the voracious pace of the music, the album is fulfilled with a tremendously aggrandizing and creative originality, displaying a talent that has everything to stand out as uniquely authentic in the contemporary underground scene. Showcasing a sensational musical grandeur whose artistry is effectively sidelined with the most vivid and hallucinating melodies, the genuine musical abilities of Collapse Project is a gigantic cosmic evolutionary step in what concerns the general development of the genre. With some of the most beautiful songs that I’ve ever heard, Crossing Lights is an unprecedented milestone in the history of electronica. Certainly, deserves not only to be fully appreciated, but highly highlighted as one of the most beautiful, sensational and singular albums ever conceived.

Extremity - Coffin Birth

death metal

Coffin Birth is an album released on July 20, by Californian death metal group Extremity. With eight songs – Coffin Birth / A Million Witches, Where Evil Dwells, Grave Mistake, Umbilicus, For Want Of A Nail, Occision, Like Father Like Son and Misbegotten / Coffin Death – the record is a satisfactory, lucid and efficient, but hallucinatory and hazardous death metal album, that works decently the most traditional elements of the genre. With heavy, fast rhythms that exposes the voracity of their style, Extremity showcases a peculiar, brutal, direct style, atrocious to the core of its corrosive nature. Despite the fact that the album at some rare passages becomes a little predictable and monotonous, this does not affect the general layout of the sound, nor does any damage to the competent and precise style of the band. Their aggressive strength is somewhat inherent to the most brutal and extreme ramification of the genre, and the name of the band certainly stands for it. While you can’t expect too much of innovative features on this record, Coffin Birth displays a decent amount of virtuosity, talent and definition, and certainly honors the genre with a virulent and passionate degree of astounding sonorous hostility, that will entertain avidly the most dedicated enthusiasts of extreme death metal.

Khemmis - Desolation

grunge / stoner rock/ power metal / black metal / alternative rock

Released on June 22, Desolation is an album by alternative post grunge/ power metal rock group Khemmis. With six tracks – Bloodletting, Isolation, Flesh To Nothing, The Seer, Maw Of Time and From Ruin – this gracefully peculiar, audacious and cohesive record showcases the splendid abilities of a band that does an amazingly superb and exceedingly sophisticated work in their amalgamation of several different genres and styles of music. With a power metal core heavily infused by a post grunge alternative rock density, the music of Khemmis has its own singular and energetic creative groundwork, fuelled by an outstandingly voracious and rude nitroglycerine spontaneous synergy, that explodes directly in the brain of the listener. A little reminiscent of more classic and mainstream acts like Manowar, Creed and Blind Guardian – although exposing a formidable degree of uniqueness – the band does a surprisingly splendorous and excellent work on Desolation, that reveals itself as a marvelous, profoundly genuine and sensational album, all the way through. Undoubtedly, Desolation deserves to be classified as one of the greatest masterpieces of the year.

Lossy - Gated Soul

electronic

A beautiful, outstanding, lancinating and colorful EP, Gated Soul has four tracks: Blues For Jekyll, Last Raver, Hocus Pocus and To The Woods. With beautiful melodies, and very sensible, delightfully plausible harmonies, there is a genius spontaneity coming out from these songs that actually make you feel quite enthusiastic about it. With an exceedingly serene, but at the same time ostensibly sensational and mandatory vibe, the artist reveals a subtle, but formidable sense of originality on the framework of the sound that is the embodiment of this work. From within, the melodies gradually expand from a synergy that relocates the rhythm directly to the point of its graciously moving syncope. Exposing lucidity and showcasing an extraordinary degree of creativity, this electronic music artist from Great Britain has no fear in demonstrating his superb, masterful and singular talent, that easily reinvigorates in a more sophisticated sonorous artistry the greatest elements of electronica. Here you have four amazingly wonderful songs, that you will be pleased to hear over and over again.

Moloch Letalis - Krwawy Sztorm

black metal / death metal

A very impressive, hostile and energetic album – although widely using exceedingly crude and conventional elements by some standards – Krwawy Sztorm, by Polish extreme metal group Moloch Letalis, is an aggressive, furious and bloodthirsty album. Only thirty minutes long, the record has nine tracks: Wielka Egzekucja, Sztorm, Krwawa Ziemia, Zatańczysz Ze Mną Kurwa W Piekle ?, Przysięga, Zdychaj Psie, Palownik, Gotowy Na Piekło and Żar. With ostensive and abrupt rhythmic grievances, the style of the group is simple and direct, a little reminiscent of punk rock, given the atrocious voracity, objectivity and rudeness of its style. With a solid fidelity to the most brutal aspects of the genre, the work is amazingly competent and full of acid rage. Although there is nothing too aggrandizing nor original about the work, certainly this album is a pearl for avid enthusiasts of the genre, since Moloch Letalis literally practices closely the most ardent, extreme, raw and violent aspects of death and black metal, executing a refined breed of these marvelous genres. If you like astoundingly heavy material, Krwawy Sztorm is something you would like to hear.

McClane - The Cavern of Noise

electronic / techno / industrial

With six tracks – Entrance of Gargoyles, Dance or Die, The Order, Mechanical Vampire, The Cavern of Noise and Theunderdogme 2018hardrem1x – The Cavern of Noise, by techno industrial French artist McClane is a formidable, very intuitive and lancinating work. With abrasive and disruptive rhythms, increasingly grotesque and infuriating harmonies, cohesive dilapidation of sound and very unpredictable, dense musical compasses, The Cavern of Noise is an interesting work of art, astoundingly engraved at forefront of the best tradition of techno music. With elements that plays on the fundamental axis of the noise and industrial genres, the artist evokes at the colorful blast of the music an atmospheric vitality that rejuvenates the harmonies and the anatomy of the music. With a lucid, compulsory and graceful creativity that is exponential to the ardent mordacity of the melodies, on this album, you certainly get the best the genre will ever offer you. The title track – The Cavern of Noise – is absolutely the best, and will leave you with the dense exposition of what electro techno music should really sound like.

Blutvial - Mysteries of Earth

black metal

Heidens Hart

Mysteries of Earth, released by British black metal group Blutvial on July 5th, is a formidable, lucid and splendorous album. Fully energized, mortally intense and with sordidly aggressive, rapturous and impulsive, but lugubrious and poetic guitar lines, Mysteries of Earth is better described as a marvelous state of the art work. With ten amazingly placid and cohesive tracks – beneath the moon, black silence, existential rite, vault of unrest, carving nihil, midwinter's halls, urnacht, doomed to eternal night, in praise of noctula and where graves spring open – this fantastic work, besides its subtle originality, extraordinary grandiosity and proverbial musical audacity, consolidates firmly and brings about intrinsically the best qualities of the genre: hostile mordacity, somber harmonies, an aggressive stylish impetus, creative melodies, a rapid pace and an exceedingly volatile density. With the organic virtue of a profoundly vital and conscious musical dynamic, you can certainly highlight this record as one of the best black metal pieces released this year. Mysteries of Earth is a punctuating device and a majestic work of art in the history of the genre.

Cosmic Autumn - Cosmic Autumn

black metal

Cosmic Autumn is the debut album of an eponymous black metal project from Germany. Released on July 13, the record has five tracks: The Last Deception, Event Horizon, Indistinct Visions, Realms Of Eternal Light and Solitude (Instrumental). With a beautiful and very original musical layer, very sober and proficient, the sound is definitely strong, sensitive, dynamic and fundamentally cohesive. Although the record retains the fury typical of the genre, Cosmic Autumn is also a lesson on sincere and poetic artistry, as the music revolves itself around a shroud of mortifying serenity, like a twilight that dies in the agony of an everlasting moment of unspeakable affliction. Since the music translates into sound these imponderable passages of pervasive anger, the overall loyalty of the project’s style to the genre is emphasized, but without compromising the ability of the artist in showcasing his own peculiarities. A very good work, that certainly exposes the mordacious talent of an exponentially promising black metal artist, Cosmic Autumn is the opening gate for a musician that has everything to aggregate into the genre a whole new conjuncture of possibilities, with his audacious and ostensibly brilliant creativity.

Stone Age Mammoth - Earthborn

stoner rock/ psychedelic rock

Earthborn is an album released by Greek stoner rock group Stone Age Mammoth. Forty minutes long, the record has seven tracks: Fearless, The Dark, Whispers, The Mysterious Life Of Mr Krips, The Secret, Earthborn and My Darkest Hour. An exceedingly calm, methodic and meticulous, but exceedingly vigorous and lucid album, undoubtedly, Earthborn is a fantastic state of the art work, that dissects, reverberates, comprehends and exposes the best aspects the genre has to offer. With singular, serene and soft guitar lines, a configuration of sonorous walls that grows from the sincere stylish leniency of the group and a marvelous sense of timing that knows from instinct what has to be done, Stone Age Mammoth has a formidable artistic security and a powerful domain over the genre, that comes out naturally. Revealing itself as a graceful masterpiece as the album evolves and revolves around its own atmosphere of calmness, omniscience and existential perception, the glorious creativity of the group certainly highlights them among other bands of the genre. With a singular conjuncture of sonorous qualities, Earthborn deserves to be greatly regarded, widely appreciated and publicized as the wonderful and fantastic work of art that truly is.

ColdWorld - Nostalgia

black metal

Nostalgia is an EP released on July 23 by German black metal artist ColdWorld. With five tracks – Cosmos Devourer, Demon Speed, The Dark Ages, Let The Devil In and Silva Nigra – the EP, almost twenty six minutes long, is concise. Exceedingly beautiful, with the typical elegance that is an engraved milestone of the artist, the proverbial guitar lines and the poetic harmonies anticipates the general conflagration of its overall majestic serenity, deeply fulgurated with the sensible character of its everlasting, elegant and somber horizon of artistry. With rapid passages that are profoundly surrounded by graciously atmospheric interludes, the music on Nostalgia is overloaded with the imperial fragrances of its own rudimentary darkness, that is sustained by a lucid and dense, but marvelously whimsical ferocious resentment, whose vitality extrapolates the shadows of its own arrogant beauty. With everlasting precipices of color surrounding the rhythmic fortunes of the songs, I must confess that I wasn’t particularly overwhelmed by this work. Nevertheless, Nostalgia has all the elements that are characteristic of a ColdWorld work, and, to a certain extent, has enough qualities to be deemed valuable for its sincere and splendid level of singularity.

Phet - Return

post rock / experimental

Return is a three tracks EP released on July 25, by a musician from India, who works under the nom de plume of Phet. With three marvelous songs – Return, Distance and Liberation – Phet works very distinctively the interior perception of the harmonies, to articulate an ascendant, protuberant and expansive, but at the same time discreet, lucid and introspective degree of sonorous exhilaration. With a pungent, incisive axis of conscious melodic devices, correctly assimilated by the lenient, but purposeful stability of its glorious symbiosis of organic dissonances, that seems lethargic at first, the intrinsic nature of the rhythmic serenity that grows within this musical horizon slowly works towards the digressive elements of the harmonies, revolving around a certain complexity that obliterates the cosmic volatility of its formidably eloquent style. With a futurist, colorful, modernist musical approach that made the external shape of the songs, indeed, to sound in an exceedingly beautiful and elegant fashion, Return can be positively described as a very gracious, audacious and original work of art. The last track, Liberation, I would certainly highlight as my favorite. If you want to listen to something very surprising, astute and genuine, I definitely recommend this marvelous and surreal EP.

Wagner

Brieviews 44

30/5/2018

An Evening With Knives - Serrated

post-metal / doom / alternative rock

"Dutch three-piece band jumps on post-metal bandwagon", that would be the most negative way to describe this album by An Evening With Knives. But that would also be a bit lazy. I mean, everything Tool and Amenra inspired is popular these days and thus many musicians give it a shot. In this case, the result is an interesting set of songs, slow, doomy, fuzzy, somewhat psychedelic and bloody intense. I'm sure that fans of the aforementioned bands will appreciate these guys, even though I think they yet have to reach their best possible sound. An interesting future might lay ahead for them.

Autger - God Kissing Carrion

dark jazz / ambient / experimental / trip hop

Russian one man act Autger returns with a new full-length, a personal story based on Dante's 'Inferno'. With a captivating mix of dark jazz, trip hop and what feels like ritual dark ambient, this album is something quite unique within the dark jazz world. The music here seems to come from a completely different dimension, even though that old "sax player under a bridge" atmosphere is still present. My advice? I urge everyone who is into strange, unusual and mostly electronic music to give this a shot. I bet you have never heard anything like this before. This definitely nudges the bizarre, and that's a good thing.

Lamirāl - This EP Has No Name And It's Alright

hardcore

Right, time for extremities, courtesy of Belgian hardcore combo Lamirāl. On this EP, they catapult six heavy rocking hardcore tunes to your face, stuffed with broken glass, needles, sulphuric acid and bile. The overall tempo is suffocating, the riffs feel like sounds from behind the gates of hell and if that vocalist stands in front of you, you have exactly six seconds left to live. So if you want your miserable life crushed by the sheer intensity of music, this EP is an absolute must have. This is about as intense as a concrete boot to the teeth...

Gray Dog - The Deal

acoustic blues

Now I need something to calm down and relax a bit. This five track EP by Belarus/Poland duo Gray Dog. Their music is a mix of blues and southern rock, brought to you in a minimal, acoustic setting. The result is an interesting late night bonfire soundtrack, best to be consumed with a cold beer. By the way, the fact that this is acoustic music doesn't mean that it lacks power. 'Why Did You Fuck Me And Leave?", for example is a damn heavy tune. Fans of everything between Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash and Pearl Jam can easily appreciate this. My favorite? 'The Pray Of Hangover'.

Paulie Jan - Yukio (A Brief Sonic Evocation)

dark ambient / noise

Composed as a tribute to Japanese writer Y. Mishima, 'Yukio (A Brief Sonic Evocation)' by French act Paulie Jan is a gloomy, haunting and often remorseless dark ambient release. These are deep sonic introspections, arranged by eerie soundscapes, deep but slow beats and a fearsome atmosphere. At first, I found it hard to get into this music but gradually the whole thing grew on me like only the best dark ambient anthems actually do. Now I can't get enough of these noisy skincrawlers. My favorite remains opener 'Kimitake' with title track 'Yukio' being a brilliant second. Recommended stuff!!!

Lachrymose - The Unseen

doom / occult metal

Hailing from Greece, Lachrymose delivers an occult driven version of female fronted melodic doom metal. With influences from bands like Moonspell, Paradise Lost and Avatarium, these Greeks dwell in a dark and almost operatic region of the doom metal scene. Besides, 'This Sickness' rocks like hell and is a definite fan favorite. In all, this might best be compared to a heavy metal version of Inkubus Sukkubus or a female fronted version of Lacrimosa perhaps. All I know is that this is pretty interesting, mainly because it isn't overwhelmed with bombastic symphonic elements. This is raw gothic doom!

Disowning - Battle of Neverness

death metal

Xenocorp

I don't often pick out death metal albums to review so when I do something special must be going on. On this EP by French combo Disowning I'm extremely impressed by the old school sound and the by the vocals. I hear elements from some of my favorite bands from back in the day, including Suffocation, Dying Fetus and Carcass, but mostly I hear those awesome growls over a punishing array of drums and riffs. Opener and title track 'Battle Of Neverness is a massive kick in the cojones and my personal favorite 'Inner Emptiness' doubles the torment. So, old school death metallers, I think you need this.

Gravecoven - Coughing Blood

black metal / doom / death metal

Gods Ov War

Some more vicious torment comes from Californian duo Gravecoven and their aptly titled EP 'Coughing Blood'. On this EP you will find four eerie and fearsome blackened death/doom metal tracks, mostly coming at high speeds and with a gruesome atmosphere. Personally, I would categorize this under black metal, especially the chaotic, occult driven version. I mean, with songs like 'Furious Fires' and 'The Ecstasy Of Hatred' leading the way, the path is one of total annihilation and utter destruction. So yeah, this is a massive, chaotic and punishing EP that deserves a place in every extreme collection.

Vandal Moon - Wild Insane

post punk / synth pop

Also hailing from California but residing in a whole different musical universe is synthpop duo Vandal Moon. If you love acts like The Human League, Modern English or the synth pop escapades by The Cure, you have to check out this album. Eighties synths, romantic themes and a new wave breathing guitar, everything you love about the gloomy eighties dancefloors is here. My personal favorite is 'Computer Love' but I'm sure that every old goth, new waver and synthpop adept can easily add this album to his collection. This truly is as close as it gets and comes highly recommended for blackdressers

Sense Fracture - In My Escape I look For A Weapon

breakcore / industrial

Haunter Records

Still completely electronic but from a copletely different level comes this little gem. Haunter Records co- founder, DJ, producer and writer Francesco Birsa Alessandri delivers a mindblowing EP in which "unpredictability" is a keyword. With harsh electronic beats, uncategorizable noises and eerie samples Sense Fracture creates a unique sonic universe, inspired by dark ambient, industrial, noise and breakcore. The five tracks on this 12" are relentless, harsh and abrasive. They remind me of something between Author & Punisher and Bong-Ra. Recommended? Only if you get stand musical insanity.

Richard James Simpson - Sweet Birds Of Youth

alternative rock / blues

... or dare we call them the bitter-sweet birds of youth? On his debut album, a compilation of older and more recent work, American guitarist and singer Richard James Simpson collaborates with friends (Joey Burns, Dustin Boyer and Theo Welch). He kicks the listener back in time to their wonder years, where one day you feel like an adult in a child's body and the other day things are vice versa. The variety in musical styles reflects this unsteady period; the majority of the songs has a stingy bluesrock feel but there's also a fantastic shoegaze track, some haunting dark ambient, some post-neofolk, experimentality in the

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.

Nhung Nguyen – Oblivion

ambient / experimental

Pany Rosas Discos

And we finish this edition of brieviews with a one-track EP by experimentalist Nhung Nguyen. In this twelve minutes lasting track, Nhung Nguyen explores everything from ambient soundscapes and loops over field recordings and found objects to weird electronics and noise. Needless to say then perhaps, but this composition is a complex and mesmerizing sonic journey. Don't expect sweet and comforting ambient, much like the real world, this track is full of grittiness and strange elements. So, this comes highly recommended but only for seasoned ambient experimentalists.

Brieviews 43

21/5/2018

White Hills & Der Blutharsch And The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand - Desire

krautrock / psychedelic

White Hills

Here is an interesting cooperation to kick off this edition of Brieviews. Two interesting psychedelic music acts got together for a jam session and created this immersive summer meditation, a five track trip towards the gloomy site of the psychedelic sixties. I like the level of variation that this cooperation has generated. There is blues, shoegaze and - naturally - a big dose of psychedelic krautrock, all combined into songs that make every post-goth and neo-hippy happy. My favorite is 'Desire' but I'm sure that all of these tunes will end up in my day-to-day playlist. I suggest you do the same.

Der Blutharsch And The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand & Derniere Volonté

psychedelic rock / krautrock / neo folk

Derniere Volonte

Or how about this collaboration. Once upon a time, these two acts were genre-colleagues but gradually their sounds moved away from one-another. However, together they have recently released something pleasantly surprising. On this EP, they come up with four lo-fi songs, once again borrowing elements from krautrock, shoegaze and vintage electronica. This stuff immediately brought a big smile to my face, not because it's joyous music but because I am listening to pure and authentic jamming fun. 'L`Arc En Ciel' even flirts with synthpop, absolute brilliance. Recommended? Utterly!

Pink Cocoon - Alienation

doom / blues

website

We're not done psyching-out yet, we're just gonna add some doom blues to the mix, courtesy of Canadian trio Pink Cocoon. On the cover you can see a man worshiping an amp and that should tell you everything you need to know about this demo. The EP contains six songs, all hypnotic examples of heavy psychedelic music, complete with mind altering guitar solos, feedback, groovy riffs and trance inducing drum work. Pink Cocoon will get you levitating on massively immersive doom blues, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Fuck, I love this. This is going on repeat for a while and I'll do the rest later...

JK Flesh – Wasplike

techno

Inner Surface

There's no denying that Justin K Broadrick has had a massive influence on the world of music. Napalm Death, Godflesh, Jesu... They're classics in their respective genres. And then there was also Techno Animal and JK Flesh, Broadrick's dancefloor invitations. Well, with this 'Wasplike' EP, he no longer invites you, he drags you by the neck and lets the distorted beats punish you to extacy. This four track EP is a wild techno adventure, fueled with noise and drones but mostly pumping harsh and abrasive, especially in 'Mindprison'. So you have been warned, this thing will get you shaking your lazy ass...

Moloch - The Other Side

electronic / darkwave

Do you ever wonder what the next retro craze will be? We've had stoner rock revivals, psychedelic revivals, even new beat seems to be coming back. But as far as I'm concerned the next big craze is eighties horror soundtracks like this EP from Polish electronic act Moloch. Imagine the Knight Rider theme taking a dark turn and you'll get close to what this act delivers. Personally, I can 't get enough of this. If you are a sucker for eighties synths or old school EBM, you will absolutely adore this, I promise you. I also urge you to check out 'The Vatican Cellars', which brings you more of the same awesomeness. I'm a fan now...

Burning House - Tracer

shoegaze

This EP by British shoegazers Burning House is either an application for or a tribute to the legendary 4AD label. Just look at that cover and tell me it doesn't remind you of Dead Can Dance or Cocteau Twins? Musically, this brings everything that you used to love about shoegaze and dreampop into today's alternative rock scene. In four fantastic and intense tracks, this trio delivers pure reverb galore, complete with the high-octane drums and introvert vocals. The Jesus and Mary Chain often comes to mind and so does A Place To Bury Strangers. So yeah, this comes highly recommended...

Eye of the Destroyer - Violent By Design

death metal

To be released in the beginning of June, this two-track single by New Jersey death metal act Eye Of The Destroyer is the follow up to their full-length 'Starved and Hanging', released earlier this year. What I like about this EP is that it's not about speed. The two tracks here are slow. However, what they lack in tempo, they definitely make up in brutality. Although short, only three minutes long each, these monstrosities will undoubtedly get you headbanging and making weird hand gestures towards the sky. My personal favorite is the title track but rest assured, both these tunes will fuck you up hard...

Alexandre Navarro - Imaginations

ambient / downtempo / post rock

An interesting and original EP by French guitarist/soundscapist Alexandre Navarro, 'Imagination' brings me some much welcome chill-out tunes. I think this guy has been listening to Plaid and Boards Of Canada a lot, something I can only applaud, obviously. On these five tracks, I hear something similar; downtempo electronic music, calm and soothing but not too goody-goody. The level of variation is perfect, aided of course by a range of sounds and instruments. This really is nice stuff, stuff that makes me curious about future musical escapades by mister Navarro...

Valyria - Into the Dying of Time

death metal / power metal

Back to the heavies, this time with Canadian power death metalers Valyria and their latest EP. What to expect? Well, imagine the blend of everything in the history of melodic death metal since Children Of Bodom, Evergrey and Nevermore. The EP opens with an intro which leads way for a massive array of flashing guitars, pounding drums and a combination of power metal vocals and death growls. I guess it's needless to say that the bombast and energy blasts from the speakers and that the whole thing is a mesmerizing whirlpool of extreme metal galore. If you like your metal bombasic as fuck, you need this...

Anthony - Get Over U

americana / alternative rock / indie

On a somewhat calmer side of the musical spectrum we find Anthony, of Ceremony fame, and his four track EP 'Get Over U'. This might be one of the poppiest, cheesiest and most bittersweet things I have ever reviewed for this website. The songs here are lo-fi indie tunes about love and heartache, inspired by acoustic rock and post-punk. Somehow the Lemonheads and Blind Melon come to mind but also flashes of Pixies, Beatles and the entire jangling-guitar scene in England. Closer 'I Hope I Never See You Face' is my personal favorite here, and certainly a message towards some people...

Eyes on the Machine - Eyes on the Machine

stoner metal

Polderrecords

Et voila, another Belgian band enters the already immense stoner rock scene. Eyes On the Machine is a band from Aalter, inspired by the likes of Tool, Mastodon and "Mike Patton's Crazy Bands". The stuff on this EP sure is crazy. It's also quite unpredictable but for the most part, this rocks the fuzz out of your underpants. With groovy riffs, a drummer that possibly wants to strangle you and a vocalist who swallowed a hydrogen bomb, Eyes On The Machine make stoner blues metal sexy again. There will be a lot of ass shaking and headbanging going on in Belgium this summer and I can' be happier about it...

Råhypnos - Do We Want It?

3/5/2018

electronic / darkwave / alternative rock

Hepcat

Some of the albums we receive are a real challenge. For me, many releases are rather easy to write about but once in a while something comes along that seems to challenge and question my musical reference pool. In those cases, I listen closely, try to find something to start with, a certain sound, a similarity with another band, a connection to real life events, anything. Then I look into my ever growing English vocabulary and try to bark out some words that might get people interested in that particular release. If all goes well, several minutes later my opening paragraph is written and I can finally describe the actual music.

Writing about this album by Swedish duo Råhypnos proved to be a challenging task. For the record, that doesn't mean this is a bad album. I tend to simply ignore albums I don't like so if it appears on this website, you can bet your ass that I see potential in it. And yes, I see potential in here, a lot of gloomy, darkwaving, new waver's flavour of the year potential. The only thing is, who exactly to recommend it to? Well, I think I just wrote my own answer: new wavers, dark wavers, old school goths looking for their shot of new audible darkness.

As I mentioned before, Råhypnos is a duo, formed in Gothenburg in 2015 by Pablo Rautenberg and Nadja Virgé. Soon into their career, it became clear that one style was not enough. Initially an alternative rock act, Råhypnos added elements from darkwave, gothic rock, trip hop, intelligent dance music and even (dark) jazz. The result feels like a mix between Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Chelsea Wolfe, recorded, mixed and mastered by Portishead.

Now, I have to say that I wasn't immediately blown away by this stuff. Opener 'Pain Shrinks The Heart' is a great song, pretty much comparable to the aforementioned acts. It's downtempo and raw. Interesting yes, but perhaps a bit too much on the experimental side of things. Yet, gradually, the record started growing on me, mainly because of the level of variation. There's electronics but also rough rock music. There's male and female vocals and even those come in a wide array, perfectly fitting in with the music.

Besides, 'Damaged' and 'Insufficient Love' are awesome. 'The Land Of Nowhere' is a brilliant new wave song that will get even Simple Minds fans excited. 'Blood' is a tearjerker and closer 'End Of The Beginning' brings that other amazing darkwave act to mind, namely The KVB. So in all, this is a surprisingly interesting album, one that will definitely end up in my day-to-day playlist. So check it out. I mean, I eventually managed to write a five paragraph review about it so it's definitely worth it.

Serge

Spirals - Spirals

20/2/2018

darkwave / krautrock / drone

Pacific Threnodies

Sometimes I wonder, do bands look up their band name to see if it exists yet? I have been doing that for every single project I have ever been involved in, even in the days before the internet. Today, I see more and more bands who do not seem to care, like the noise rock act Kong who had no idea that there was already a Dutch band with that name. Or like Spirals. The search results literally gave me hundreds of pages and at least twenty bands. That must be confusing for festival organisers and fans, no? Or is that just me? Oh well, maybe I'm just becoming an old, whining man. Let's forget about this paragraph and dig into the music.

'Spirals' contains four track, each on ten minutes long and rather hard to describe. There are lingering basslines, reminding me of classic krautrock bands. There are guitar soundscapes, which come close to shoegaze, dreampop and ambient. There are slow, repetitive drums, bringing the post rock scene to mind. And finally there are vocals which somehow bring up the phrase 'Ministry doing black metal'. I know, all of that doesn't sound coherent if you read it but listen to this music and you'll be stunned out of your mind.

The accompanying biography mentioned acts like Om, Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand and Lycia. And yes, I can hear these influences. However, it feels like this music comes from deep within the souls and minds of the band members. These feel like long, dark and intense jam sessions in which the end result is way more than the sum of the respective elements. Yet, most of all, this is a surprisingly immersive album, one you can easily lose yourself in and let your mind wander. Try it, it's fascinating.

Serge

Brieviews 30

11/11/2017

Hi there

This is already the 30th edition of Brieviews, the review series where we throw an array of short reviews in your faces. I started these in an effort to promote more bands in a shorter amount of time, because time is something none of us have enough of.
That being said, we're still struggling to check out all the stuff that comes in, let alone being able to publish reviews for everything. So, I'd like to use this opening paragraph to do another call for writers. If you'd like to your our awesome team, click here.

Ihä - Esperanza

drone / ambient

Hailing from Chile, and founded in 2011, Ihä delivers three long, gentle and minimal ambient drone pieces. Minimalism certainly is a keyword here, as the music only shows minute variations. While some might find such a thing boring, ambient aficionados will definitely appreciate these lingering soundscapes. In that aspect, the track 'Un salto dichoso hacia la eternidad' might be a surprise. Here we have a melodic and highly immersive piece of ambient music. Stratosphere comes to mind but also Eno, Fripp and so on. In all, this certainly is a nice addition to your ever growing ambient collection, no doubt about that.

Parsons Rocket Project - Parsons Rocket Project

shoegaze / ambient rock

Atlanta-based Parsons Rocket Project worked on their debut EP for two years, and the result is stunning. They launch you into space and take you to planets Noise Rock, New Wave, Shoegaze, Psychedelic, Dream Pop and Post-Rock. Short as the tracks may be, they blend these genres in a wonderful way. The vocals add to the dreamy atmosphere of the whole. I'm reminded mostly of Slowdive, Archive and 65daysofstatic and I'm looking forward to hearing more from these guys and girl.

(review by Eline)

The Mayhem Lecture Series - Structures And Behaviors EPv1

ambient / experimental

More ambient music some from a different perspective. The Mayhem Lecture Series is a project by Dave Wesley, a dub techno and ambient producer. On this EP, he comes up with crackling, rhythmic but beatless music, field recordings and several spoken word samples. The result is something between Autechre and Cordell Klier or Squarepusher and Biosphere. While opener 'Intrepid' is still my favorite, the whole EP can easily satisfy my weird-ambient-needs, and believe me, I have a lot of those. So if you like a stroll into the strange and odd, this is your chance and it comes highly recommended.

Jupiter Zeus - Eyes on the Prize

hard rock / heavy metal

Australian quartet Jupiter Zeus come up with a bunch of groovy heavy metal songs, inspired by the good old days of doom and hard rock. I sense some influences from bands like Black Sabbath, Iced Earth and Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, plus a shitload of other metal bands. Yet, Jupiter Zeus easily managed to create their own sound, which give this EP a coherent sound. It's a rather doomish sound, even if the tempo goes up, and it quite often does. For real, this things is pleasantly entertaining and solid enough to become a strong mid carter on festival bills. Check it out, bang your head, go nuts!

Haema - Insurrection

industrial metal / alternative metal

Sliptrick

Hailing from Northamptonshire, UK, Haema does something interesting with industrial and alternative metal. Influenced by acts like Fear Factory and American Head Charge, this band can easily entertain fans from everything between Limp Bizkit and Machine Head. Yet, using similar vocals, Haema can also add a bit of variation to the metalcore scene. One way or another, these guys seem to constantly cross the lines between nu-metal, industrial metal and everything core-related. The result is a fascinating piece of work, one that grooves your arse and rocks your sock off. Yeah, you'll be naked after two songs...

H2SO4 - British Bangla Testament

thrash metal

Transcending Obscurity

The chemistry nerds amongst will have immediately found out where the name from this Bangladeshi band stands for: sulphuric acid. Perhaps in a way, their music is that too, as it is harsh, corrosive and biting. In fact, what we are dealing with here is a fierce blast of old school thrash metal, influenced by the lords of thrash, including Slayer, Testament, Kreator, Exodus and so on. The result is an ep that will scratch your eyes out and do something Cannibal Corpse cover-ish to your festering body. You have been warned. For brutal metallic beatdowns, look no further.

Asylum 8 - Repressed

death metal

Spotify

If you are one of those people who think melodic death metal and techno synths do not mix, you might want to check out this debut by Finnish sextet Asylum 8. One of the members is a synth wizard while the others stay loyal to the Scandinavian melodic death metal scene. That cooperation results in something fresh, something incredibly enjoyable. You can brutally band your head or just dance your butt off to this music. Bands that come to mind include Pain and Waltari, who have also done interesting things with the combination between these two arch enemies. No, for real, this is a great album, certainly an original one.

Jinthra - Transitæon

dark ambient

One half of one of my favorite contemporary dark ambient acts Druhá Smrt comes up with a solo effort, and it's already one for the ages. With gloomy and introvert soundscapes, eerie whispers and angsty percussion, Jinthra immediately showcases his skills and talent. This is a ritual ambient performance at a very high ànd a deeply personal level. There are four tracks to be found here, and it's hard to pick a favorite. Opener 'Oath Of The Edge' is brilliant and the others seem to build on that, sometimes tending towards the noise scene. Fans of everything between Raison D'Etre and MZ412 really should check this out.

Insanity Cult / Isolert - Towards the Great Dissolution

black metal

facebook Isolert

facebook Insanity Cult

Back to the extreme corners of the metal scene where we find this harsh and relentless split by Isolert and Insanity Cult. Each band delivered two gnawing tracks with Insanity Cult showcasing some of the most intense blackened vocals I've heard in awhile. Isolert follows a similar path of old school black metal. Here, the vocals seem less prominent and screeching. Yet, that does not affect the intensity of the whole thing. In fact, 'Dreams Of Emptiness' is my favorite track on this split, a fierce true black metal blaster that will haunt your dreams. In all, this is an excellent split to add to your obscure collection.

Akoustik Timbre Frekuency - Thee Essence Of Existence

dark ambient

For his seventeenth (!) release, dark ambient ritualist Akoustik Timbre Frekuency delivered one massive drone piece, created with singing bowls, gongs, bells and synthesised sounds. I could say that this is a great album, and I wouldn't even be lying about it, but it's more than that. This release invites you to calm down, to step away from the hectic and performance-oriented society for a while. Sit down, comfortably. Close your eyes and just listen. Ignore all other stimuli. Meditate. Focus on your breathing. This is one of those albums that can help you relax and set your mind at ease. Believe me, it works.

The Reed Effect - A Strange Curiosity

stoner rock / grunge

website

It's nice to see how the psychedelic stoner rock scene openly invites the world of grunge to join its ranks. Take this EP by Ontario, Canada rockers The Reed Effect for example. In six tracks they remind me of everything between Stone Temple Pilots, Kyuss, Soundgarden and Colour Haze, just to name a few. Obviously, the groove is big in this one as the thick riffs flow out of my speakers like a massive pile of green, smokey mud. I like it that way, and I'm quite sure that an entire Desert-scene is waiting for some pounding rock tunes like 'Down In Here' and 'No Way Outta Here'. Neat stuff...

Fotocrime - Always Night

post punk / dark wave

Golden Antenna

And suddenly my living room reeks of the dark eighties, where creatures dressed in black danced to Sisters Of Mercy, Bauhaus, Killing Joke and many others. R. Pattern (ex-Coliseum) clearly shares the dark visions of that era. With his new band, Fotocrime, he digs deep into the world of gothic rock, EBM and darkwave. The result is a remarkable EP with a bunch of dark dancefloor fillers. Some rock, some bring out the beats and synths, but all of them are massively convincing examples of their respective genres. My favorite is 'Always Hell', a brilliant goth rock tune. Now, this is a retro-trend I would like to see a lot more of in the near future...

Disco-Nected - Vision Division

metal

website

Hailing from Paris, France, this power trio comes up with five damned infectious metal songs. This is sheer energy, dressed in groovy basslines, ripping riffing and pounding drums. That, ànd these guys know a thing or two about the melodic aspect in the metal scene. Opener 'Here To Stay' is an absolute blast. My favorite track is 'Unity', an uptempo rocker that somehow reminds me of acts like Therapy? or Foo Fighters. Other bands that come to mind include Channel Zero, Incubus and Biffy Clyro. I don't think that is a bad set of names to be compared with. So yeah, this surely is one for a good headbanging session.

Morphine Social Club - Monolithic Gospel

stoner rock / psychedelic rock

On to Greece where we find a band named Morphine Social Club. They call their music "monolithic rock 'n' roll" and I'm perfectly fine with that. On this EP they deliver four groovy tracks with heaps of psychedelic riffs and solos. Opener 'Your Sun Is So Toxic' is a highly danceable track, one where even krautrock is welcome. 'Chaos Lover' nudges towards the punk scene and comes with a nice array of noise. I also love the industrial touch of the drums on this one. 'Swansong' seems to go a bit more post-punk/shoegaze on our asses and the closer 'Starship Of Perception' is a fuzzed-out psych tune. Wow, I'd say.

Jenn Vix - Unlocked

alternative rock / post punk

And back to the eighties and the gloomy sound of that era's pop music. Jenn Vix has worked with members from The Cure, Psychedelic Furs, De Veldt, with the guitarist for Bowie and with Dirk Ivens. On this EP she showcases her experience with five highly enjoyable pop songs. There is a bit of post punk, some synth pop and the touch of the alternative rock by Garbage. There is a nice sense of minimalism here too. None of these songs are too complex or over-dramatized. They're just nice tunes to listen to. In all, this is another excellent invitation to the dark dancefloors, one which I will obviously recommend.

Pylon Reenactment Society - Part Time Punks Session

punk / alternative rock

Chunklet

Athens, Georgia based alternative rockers Pylon Reenactment Society crawled out of the ashes of Pylon in 2014. With the raw power of early punk and the in-your-face vocals of Vanessa Briscoe Hay, the band is on an interesting and infectious course. It's like a harsher version of B52's. There are Blondie references, Bikini Kill comes to mind. Yet, most of all, I think this is a band that clearly enjoys making music together. They seem to have fun and they easily manage to pass that fun to their audience. Undoubtedly, they have the right attitude, the right sound and the right playfulness to entertain you. Check it out.

Dreamgrave - Monuments

progressive metal

This EP by Hungarian progressive rock act Dreamgrave is one from a stunningly high level. Opener 'Drop The Curtain' is an epic piece of work which fans of Within Temptation or Nightwish will certainly appreciate. From there, things take on a more progressive approach, more progressive than metal actually. 'Monuments' is a complex and bombastic piece of music that will shock and awe you multiple times. These people know how to play, that's for sure. Closer 'The Passing Faith in Others' is my favorite, a huge whirlpool of musical ingenuity. If you like your music complex, technical, narrative and masterfully played, you need this EP.

Mortum - Eheieh Chaos

black metal

Time to throw a vile and putrid slab of primitive black metal through the speakers. For such an occasion, American du Mortum seems to be a perfect candidate. Lo-fi production, the aggression of a rhino stampede and the ice cold atmosphere of old school black metal, those are the elements. Plus, somehow Mortum managed to push a sense of melody into the whole thing, not too much. With seven fierce tracks, Mortum delivers an excellent album which quite often goes to hyperspeed but also contains highly immersive mid tempo passages. If you want old school, this one comes highly recommended.