grunge / alternative / stoner rock

A marvelous record, Or Die is an album released on July 30 by wonderful stoner/ post grunge band Highfly from Warsaw, Poland. With six tracks – On the Disappearance of the Dwemer, Ab Urbe Posnani, Spooky Guy from the FBI, T. Bone Rocket, Swear to God and The Ballad of Larry Flynt – Or Die is a great album, with amazing guitar riffs and astounding melodies. On this album, we have the spirit of stoner, deeply inserted in a more relaxed, but exceedingly stunning – and sometimes reflexively poetic – post grunge atmosphere, a remarkable sonorous experience that will enchant your soul, your body, your sensorial perceptions, in a highly ascendant journey of proverbial intensity, that will revolve endlessly around your whole comprehension of the genre. 

With an amazing and intelligent unconventional approach, Or Die is a groundbreaking experience on wild rock. Labeling themselves as “surf metal”, the irreverent spirit of the band, a little reminiscent of bands like Faith no More, is brightly fused with a post grunge appeal that remembers Tantric in its “glorious” days (if they really had something that we could call this way), as well as Soundgarden and Pearl Jam (but these two just a little). Influences apart, Highfly has its own style: a surprising sound that conquers the listener instantly, and reveals a deeply infused touch of savagery, with a melodic perspective that stands over the perceptive sensibility of a cosmic emotional infinity, guarded by a restless soul lost in an immensity of touching serenity, encircled by a marvelous sonorous chaos of sincere comprehension.  

A very intriguing album, Highfly has what it takes to be considered a great experiment on their genres of choice. A rebellious, categorical and very sophisticated group with qualities of their own, Or Die gets close of being considered a masterpiece. Bringing with them all the formidable traditional qualities inherent to the genre, but working them over their own organic sonorous anatomy, there is a touch of exceedingly sensational originality into them that immediately captivates the listener. And other than that, the music is simply beautiful. 

A marvelous album that you should listen very attentively, Or Die is a giant record, fulfilled with wonderful music from the beginning to the very end. A deeply aggrandizing authorial work, filled with a genuine and authentic creativity, Highfly deserves the best praise for this incredible record. With killing tunes and powerful melodies, this is a highly fantastic album, that will generate a tremendous commotion on its audience.   


Wagner      

grunge / alternative rock

black metal / death metal

doom / black metal

psychedelic rock

psychedelic rock

grindcore

black metal 

ambient / electronic

progressive metal

alternative rock / blues

black metal

hard rock

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Serge

black metal

krautrock / post punk

hard rock / grunge

dark ambient

classical

grindcore

stoner rock / psychedelic rock

drone / ambient

thrash metal

doom metal

black metal / folk metal

post rock / ambient

electronic / downtempo / psychill

electronic / downtempo / dub

Mindspring Music

grindcore

drone / black metal

doom / avant garde

progressive rock / alternative / grunge

After the heavy party hard rock from the previous review, it's now time for something a bit more progressive and complex. Although, this Norwegian band seems to know a thing or two about decent riffs and infectious grooves. That and songwriting, they know something about songwriting too.

Formed in 2016, Underwing quickly found their own sound, influenced by vintage rock music, grunge and the progressive approach of bands like Tool. Their debut ep is a promising collection of songs, well varied, well written and powerful enough to stand out in today's alternative rock scene.

All five songs on this album are well thought out rock anthems. They're not so much party hits, for that the progressive aspect might be a bit too present, but they show four talented and experienced musicians. Black Sabbath comes to mind, but also bands like Black Crowes, Toto, Alice In Chains, Reo Speedwagon, Pearl Jam and Boston. Come to think of it, personally I would simply place this in the "classic rock" section. I suggest you do the same, especially if you prefer music with a certain amount of complexity. In all, this is an excellent album, one that will certainly grow on you. These songs are going right into my day-to-day playlist and I'm sure I'll be listening to them for a long time from now on.


​Serge

hard rock / stoner rock / grunge

Tunes From The Void is an album by hard rock/grunge German group Grained, released on June 2. Forty three minutes and twenty five seconds long, the record has nine tracks: Gasoline, 35°28'N 138°39'E, Floods, Circus, Shadow Of The Sun, Deadlock, Closure, Interlord and L.O.R.D. A very interesting and rejuvenating album, with a sensible anatomy, designed over fluctuating rhythms increasing in an ever expansive and sophisticated sonorous dynamics, Tunes From The Void departs from a somewhat amazingly fresh, free-flowing, intense and delicate combination of hard rock and grunge, with a contemporary flavor that ads to their music a flexible perception of higher artistry, that easily matches a modern mosaic of graceful melodies with the more hazardous hardline of an explosive, but simple, convergence of savage freedom.

With engraving melodies, beautifully adorned and astoundingly elaborated, at the same time – being exceptionally radio-friendly –, the group has great possibilities of achieving a wider audience through airplay (if radios in their home country give them this chance), since Grained is certainly one of the best hard rock bands to come recently from Germany, in particular, and to appear on the global underground scene, on a wider scale. With a very original sound that doesn’t renounce nor try to renegade its roots, Tunes From The Void, track after track, reveals itself to be a captivating and lancinating piece of awesome and incredible originality. With filthy, abrasive, aggressive and thoroughly genuine guitar lines, Grained remembers a little the best bands of the genre, being a lot more superior than mainstream groups like Seether and Creed. 

Sincerely, I only have the best to say about this album. Track after track, you get surprised, with explosive melodies, beautiful and even poetic harmonies – driven by softly inspirational and deeply reflexive emotional intonations of serene imponderability –, as well as an everlasting feeling that comes from a universe where the music is perpetually seen as a detachment from our own soul. Summarizing, I have to say that, besides surprising, Tunes From The Void has it all: hostile and delusional guitars, pungent and perfectly aligned vocals, sensational and profound melodies, sidelined by a formidable eschatology of disturbed furious sincerity and disgrace, and amazingly graceful horizons of rhythmic dissonances dancing over gray oceans of joyful rapture. Really, there is no other album like this one. A masterpiece that has soul and intensity, in each and every note of its perfectly envisioned music.         

Well, what more can I say about Tunes From The Void, besides the fact that this an almost perfect album, an amazingly vibrant masterpiece, a colossal and astoundingly balanced mixture of hard rock and grunge, elaborated with the authentic gracefulness of creative values, like you have never heard before in your life? Well, that I’m dying to hear it again, of course!        
       

Wagner

alternative / grunge / rock / blues

Somewhere in the early days of Merchants Of Air, I reviewed 'Extended Play' by French alternative rockers Poste 942. I remember calling it a decent rock/hard rock album and that these guys are excellent songwriters who needed a bit more experience.

Well, here is 'Long Play', an awesome alternative rock album that effortlessly combines Black Crowes with AC/DC and Pearl Jam with Nirvana. So yes, it seems like these youngsters have listened to what I had to say in my previous review. I couldn't be happier about the result.

Poste 942 plays blues driven hard rock, alternative rock and grunge and 'The Color Of Red' is exactly that. I don't think they could have chosen a better song than this one to open the album. It's followed by the bluesy 'Whiskey', a world class song that reeks of AC/DC, especially with the bagpipes solo. You could say 'that has been done before' but just listen. It's bloody awesome. It could get everybody's rocking shoes on.

From the very beginning of this album, I have been impressed by the sheer quality of the music. I hear flashes of Alice In Chains and Led Zeppelin but most of all I hear a well attuned band crafting some amazing rock music. I also hear a highly versatile vocalist who has both the emotion and the raw power this music needs. On 'Punky Booster', they experiment with - you guessed it - punk rock. And that too works perfectly.

I'm not going into a song by song description here but I will say that all of them are excellent and certainly deserve your attention. 'Grace' and 'Lonely Day' rock beautifully while the 'Psycho Love' duo nicely shows the softer side. However, here the Metallica - and mostly James Hetfield's voice - references return, for the first time on this album which obviously means that Poste 942 has become more versatile and mature than on the previous album.

So, to finish: 'Long Play' is a stunner, a great testament and tribute to the beautiful world of rock music. If you love any of the the bands I mentioned in this review, you should get your hands on a copy of this gem. You can't go wrong with Poste 942. I hope I get to see them live soon...


​Serge

alternative rock / grunge

French alternative rock band Mallory returns with the next chapter in their musical biography. The last album dates back from January 2016. The story started in 2012 and follows a woman on her journey to a new, adventurous life. In this episode, released in the beginning of May, the woman finds herself in a Mexican prison. As expected, life there is tough, which is perfectly represented in the gritty rock music that tells the story.

With lyrics in English and French, this album might not be very easy to follow but the nice alternation between heavy grunge rock anthems and lingering ballad makes up for that. 'Riot' opens the album in a very convincing way, with blistering guitars and heaps of energy. 'So Wet' is an immersive ballad that reminds me of the good old days of Led Zeppelin and thier colleagues. Perhaps, 'So Wet' is my favorite song on this album too.

In all, 'Sonora Rf Part II' is not an uplifting and easy digestible rock album. But that obviously does not mean that it is a bad one. A song like 'Vertige,' for example, is a very well written rock song that breathes the hot, thick air of a Mexican prison and the sorrow and despair of its inmates. Here, suddenly, 'The Wall' era Pink Floyd comes to mind, perhaps not so much musically but the whole album has a similar conceptual feel, which I like.

The most difficult question in my situation is: who am I going to recommend this album to? Well, most of all to fans of good old fashioned and honest rock music. There is plenty of so-called "classic rock" to be found but also some decent doses of grunge, blues, psychedelic rock and stoner rock, as illustrated perfectly by the brilliant 'Dilemma'. So go ahead, check it out, you might be pleasantly surprised a few times...


​Serge