progressive rock / post rock / experimental / alternative

Naegleria is an album released on October 12, by Greek instrumental progressive/post rock band Movement Of Static. Almost forty seven minutes long, the record has ten tracks: Slowlly We Are..., 57 084 INICIAL' 76 16 56 79, The Passage, 77 56 01 51 AGGRADACIYA 05 51 55 97, Mountain Of Life, 6EQUJ5, 80 516 GANOMATIT 21 23 86 25, Diaspasis, 93-882-NAIMINA-74-14-35-74 and ...Fading From Our Existence. An exceedingly authentic, sensational and creative post rock act, whose organic sound deeply penetrates and collides with the omniscient harmonies of its virulent, but consistent splendor, the melodies on this album seems to deliberately fluctuate between a groundbreaking serenity and a solitary aggressiveness, that anticipates the energy of a ferocious, but rational agony, with a formidable level of vitality, that completely dilacerates all the reticent labyrinths of its enigmatic and profuse restlessness. 

With a proficient elusiveness that concurs with the gentle, but somewhat abrasive spontaneity of its expansive sonorous nature, the music delivered in Naegleria is a virtuous and unexpected journey throughout the abysses of a diluted, but circumspect mordacity, that gradually reinvents in a liquid ocean of abstract sagacity the glorious elements of a dilated sentimental grace. At the innermost gravity of its surreal kingdoms of timeless rapture, some fabulous passages are almost meticulous studies on the flexible art of space, and its correlation within discreet undertones of placid tenacity and peripheral melodies of lugubrious elasticity; everything sidelined with ardent, but brightly philosophic guitar lines, that decipher in the nucleus of its impeccabilities a complex diagram of sensibilities, that aspire to be a wandering soul completely submerged in the vicinities of a long lost everlasting sadness. 

With a poetic and melancholic nature, that doesn’t surpass its vibrant and transcendental qualities, I should point it out that the name of the group – Movement of Static – basically describes their style: the music will make you feel stagnated in some distant horizon of the universe, but at the same time, the relentless motion that keeps the mind moving makes the listener to be aware of the life around him, as well as the life inside him. The lucidity suggested by their organic, but marvelously pretentious style makes you collide towards a universe stagnated, but euphorically in constant movement. The pungent lucidity of consciousness redirects the entire existential grace of an infinite dimension of majestic dormancy, that anxiously surpasses the pain of reality, marvelously engraved in the arid territory of dreams that recognizes the fragile grace of life as its main fuel.  

Although I wouldn’t qualify Naegleria as a masterful nor fantastic album, because some passages are – to a certain extent –, predictable and monotonous, the album gets very close of being classified as a masterpiece of the genre. With a natural fury, an organic atmosphere, a latent execration of ordinary musical parameters and a surreal level of originality, this album certainly deserves to be regarded as an exceptional work, abundant in systematic artistic virtuosity, and genuine musical development. 


​Wagner

progressive rock / post rock / experimental

Four Light Years from Home is an album released on October 1, by instrumental progressive rock group Across Seconds, from Mumbai, India. A very concise album, only thirty two minutes long, the record has seven tracks: Flow, T Minus 10, Astral Drift, Mayday, A Perfect World, Four Light Years from Home and Ebb. A very good, incisive album – despite the fact that, at least at first, there’s nothing too exceptional nor superb about it –, the group has an interesting sonorous dynamic. The songs are well created, and their general melodies are indeed very beautiful and pleasant to hear. You can appreciate this album without any fear. Despite some rude limitations, there is a sincere and organic plasma of genuine creativity here, that it’s definitely enjoyable and lucid.  

With generally slower and calmer harmonies, Four Light Years from Home has virtuous and solid melodies, that dance over the sonorous frontiers of its own cadences. With bold guitar lines – that, paradoxically, feels a little generic, following a pattern that definitely seems exhausted by the genre – the rhythms exhibit a general layout of passionate serenity, whose uncompromised sensibility virtually delivers innocently the proverbial tenacity of its ardent musical rules.     

With an intelligent sonorous mordacity that comprehends its own creative limitations, the expansive musical universe upon which the melodies display its vigorous potential for artistic dilution is exceedingly satisfactory, despite the fact that – on the rapturous density of its solitary continental calmness –, the group could have pushed their instinctive boundaries a little further beyond the line. Nevertheless, the constrained modest greatness of their creative ambitions definitely fit into their sensational colorful horizon of sweet melancholy, that waits for the sunset to arrive, before the departure of all the souls in the abyss. 

With interesting poetic elements that gracefully emphasize the generous kindness and delicacy of their music, Across Seconds definitely conceived Four Light Years from Home as a beautiful and touching work of art. One that you definitely will feel compelled to hear, several times. 


Wagner

doom / sludge metal

Most musicians, and certainly rhythm sections, know that guitarists are usually annoying smart-asses who think the world revolves around them. Quite often, you can't jam with them without hearing a horrible look-what-I-can-do guitar solo. That is, if they're done twisting the knobs on their amps and telling the soundman to turn the guitars louder.

Luckily for real musicians, technology has been improving enough to be able to rock out without the need for a guitar player. Several bands already ditched their attention-whores and some just start jamming with out them.

That brings me to German doom & bass trio Moto Toscana. A drummer, a vocalist, a bass player and a truckload of fuzz is all they need to blast venues to pieces. To me, that raises comparisons to English duo Bismuth who also come up with grinding doom riffs. Yet, while Bismuth focuses on fuzzed out tsunamis, Moto Toscana adds a touch of progressive doom to their recipe, mainly coming at you in strong lyrics, the melodic vocals and neat bass lines.

But perhaps the most surprising aspect of this music is the strange resemblance with funk. I mean, un-fuzz the bass and the whole thing can be a solid foundation for Earth, Wind & Fire tunes. Opener 'Sickandtwisted' got me both banging my head and shaking my hips. The same goes for a lot of tunes here, except for 'Craving' and 'Exclusive' which bring something grungy to the whole thing. By now, I'm pretty astounded by this trio and their surprising variety.

I think the biggest surprise on this album is the huge amount of possibilities within their minimal approach. As I mentioned before, this setting could be the foundation for a lot of different styles, from Black Sabbath to Linkin Park to Primus and from funk to grunge to punk. It depends on what you want to hear in it. The only certainty is the fact that this grooves and rolls like crazy. My personal favorite is closer 'Among The Dead', which spells pure doom but obviously I recommend this album to all doomers and bass addicts out there. 


​Serge

ambient / post rock / classical

An often recurring theme in the world of literature and movies is the sudden disappearance of humans, the "last person on earth" experience. 'Earth Without People' is a fascinating documentary series about how the earth will react after all people are gone. 'The Stand' by Stephen King uses the same theme to build up to a final battle between good and evil. It happens to be a theme from one of my own stories-in-the-pipeline, and it also seems to be the starting point for this new album by Indian one man project Mixtaped Monk. In this story Arka finds himself all alone on the planet. Everybody else is gone. With those emotions and questions he recorded a splendid soundtrack.

Musically, Arka Sengupta travels in the worlds of downtempo music, including classical piano melodies, post rock compositions, classic rock ballads and ambient tunes. Opener 'Chronicle of the Ending' mostly seems to function as a calm and rather impending intro. Here, the artist finds himself alone, here the questions and fear appear and here this long journey begins. The first real highlight comes with 'Sunshine on a Desolate Road', something the might be inspired by listening to Brian Eno jamming with Pink Floyd.

The album continuously drives on this slow, gloomy paste with serene rhythms and looping soundscapes. Yet, there is also a certain amount of unpredictability here. Although calm and introvert, sometimes eerie melodies appear, sharp and uncomfortable. In a way that perfectly resembles the overall theme of the album. You're alone in a vast world. It sure is silent and tranquil, apart from the often scary sounds of nature, the collapse of building structures and your own heartbeat when panic strikes.

On 'Distant Stars' we see the last human gazing into the night skies, to the twinkling of the stars. I wonder what he is thinking? The song makes way for another Pink Floyd inspired anthem, 'From Loneliness to Solitude'. I guess it's clear what he is thinking now. Being the last man on earth can't be a very happy and joyful occasion, but is sure comes with beautiful music. Perhaps that music is a bit too sweet and easy digestible at times but it is an excellent soundtrack for one of the earlier mentioned movies and documentaries.

I can imagine elaborate drone images over an empty city while 'Birds, Seas and Mortals' is playing. I can see the man sitting down in despair and loneliness during 'Maybe a Bright Future Waits'. This album is based on a dream. After listening, I would like to see that dream, see what happens, see how the last person on earth copes with that destiny. No doubt that this album would make an interesting and well varied soundtrack.


​Serge

progressive rock / post rock / shoegaze 

Spectra is the most recent album released by American progressive/ stoner/ shoegaze group Alone on the Moon, from Houston, Texas. Forty minutes long, the record has eleven tracks: Say Again, Scatterbrain-ed, Pool of Tears, Kings, Bishops, and Pawns, Bright Bite Wound, Some Day It'll All Go Dark, Suicitation,
Spectra, The Digger, Naked Lady Park and Small White Object. With gracious, diligent and strong guitar lines, that really incorporates the tenacity of its flexible and indulgent, but methodic and pungent musical elements, Spectra is a gracefully proverbial album, exceedingly technical to a certain degree, although without losing the quintessential volatilities of its monumental effervescent soul. 

The salutary creative provinces upon which the melodies easily flow seems to voluntarily depart from the vicinities of an infinite realm of innocent, intrinsic and spontaneous serenity, that persistently embrace the shadows of its sonorous descendant highlight. The style of the group is intelligent, vivacious and quite remarkable, for sure, and its strongest virtues are cohesively dense, expansive and abrasive guitar lines, that drags to the epicenter of its sentimental horizon the lugubrious hemisphere of a purely dimensional strategic space, that comprehends on the placid melodic reverberations of its titanic sonorous possibilities the ostensibly sensible, but lucid graciosity of an indefinite diagram of musically entangled vertical parameters, easily configured by the band.  

Unfortunately, the album presents some fragile issues, although they don’t compromise the general competence displayed in the work. The melodic variations are not strong nor distinctive enough to avoid a modest degree of monotony, and the general uniformity of the sound – added to its superb, but excessively disdainful level of musical technicalities – makes the album somewhat too predictable, sometimes resembling more a recorded guitar lesson than an actual art album. Nevertheless, I do have to say that the musical groundwork is beautiful, and Alone on the Moon has all the necessary qualities to surpass the current limitations presented by their latent, but stagnant style.  

Alone on the Moon is a band that concentrates an expressively sensible amount of talent; indeed, the group have a tremendous potential, that overlooks all of its relatively insignificant deficiencies. They just have to let their natural virtues flow out of their creative musical axis, and the magic will just naturally happen. They have to learn only not to worry so much about technical grievances. Besides that, they are very close to be qualified as the next marvelous act on the underground scene.  


Wagner 

psychedelic rock

It's strange to experience memories from festivals I have never been to. Especially with the recent psychedelic rock revival I often picture myself at an event like Woodstock or Jazz Bilzen, enjoying the wild guitar solos and immersive bass lines of the bands on stage.

On one hand it's unfortunate that those days are over. Festivals no longer have that "free" feeling. On the big ones, there are more security people and police than people on stage. The sound is rarely at a satisfactory level and the whole thing has to close at eleven in order to avoid complaints from neighbours.

Then again, when the right music makes a solid return, so does the outrageous festival experience. Smaller ones are popping up like mushrooms, pleasing crowds with surprisingly vintage sounding bands. The hippies will dance again, the doomers will smile and the psychedelic rockers will once again float beyond the clouds. That is basically the feeling I have when I listen to this new album by French psych-rockers Domadora.

'Lacuna' is their third album after 'Tibetan Monk' (2013) and 'The Violent Mystical Sukuma' (2016). The album contains four tracks, each one lifting the jam-capacities to new and unheard levels. 'Lacuna Jam' opens the whole thing, immediately delivering the goods. With heavy guitars, almost tangible bass lines and energetic drums, Domadora quickly gets the audience on their feet and shaking their behinds.

Basically, the album is one long jam session. It seems like the bass guitar delivers a firm foundation on which the rest of the band can freely improvise. That results in some wicked psychedelic passages but also in soothing post rock and groovy stoner doom. The massive 'Genghis Khan' is a perfect example of that. This tune is certainly capable of entertaining large groups of traditional psychedelic rock fans.

There a plenty of big names to compare this music to, from krautrockers like Can or Amon Düul II over the psychedelic music of Pink Floyd to the groovy rock of Hawkwind and Led Zeppelin, it's all here. Closer 'Tierra Last Homage' comes up with some neat vintage Black Sabbath riffage too, only adding more level of high quality rock 'n roll to the whole thing. So yeah, this is a brilliant piece of psychedelic jam rock, recommended for everyone at those hot summer festivals.


​Serge

post rock / progressive rock

Into the Known is an album released on June 1st by German post rock group Planisphere. Almost fifty minutes long, the album has eight tracks: The Future Needs Roots, Festive And Peaceless, [A]maze, Nautical Jaunt, Chin Up, Chest Out, Looming Lights, Juncture and Origins Embraced. With beautiful, sensible and straddling guitar lines, the group in this work presents wonderful melodic qualities. The harmony lines are relatively simple, but quite symbolic, symmetric and elegant, and the general rhythmic sophistication delivered easily outstands itself smoothly, with marvelous, serene and stylish elements that gives the group unique musical features.    

Although at first they seem to follow the general conventional principles of the genre, soon you perceive that they have a very singular identity, as they vividly play with progressive elements in their music as well, and with competent security. There is also a colorful sentimental component in their sound that makes impossible not to feel enthusiastic while listening to it. The guitar lines, indeed, are quite splendid at times, and the creative musical features that group presents to its audience throughout this superb sonorous journey showcases a wide range of abilities and artistic appetite, that doesn’t fear at all being experimental and genuine, at the essence of its nature.    

This album certainly exhibits secure musicians in their best form, exposing a tremendous amount of organic synergy between them, that shows how they converge exceedingly well together, and how they are amazingly synchronized. The style can be defined as quite impeccable, and – despite a few moments of monotony – the album highlights itself by the greatest amount of masterful and splendorous originality presented by its daring and fearless style.

Interesting for enthusiasts of the progressive and post rock genres, Into the Known is a very mature and solid work of art, that really exhibits a coherent group – secure of its abilities and uniqueness –, that really knows how to create, deliver and display a sincere, cohesive and fascinating work of art.  
 

Wagner

progressive / doom / sludge

A Crypt in the Stars is an album released on July 6th, by British progressive doom metal trio Lowen. A relatively concise album – only about thirty five minutes long – the record has five more or less extensive tracks: Ashurbanipal's Request, Krenko's Command, The Fortress of Blood, A Crypt in the Stars and In Perpetual Bloom.

​An interesting record, indeed, a very beautiful one, whose musical echoes dance over a fearless and genuine style, a little experimental, for sure, the proverbial, intense and calm melodic reverberations present on the harmonies are ostensibly captivating, and the serene, but at the same time exceedingly consistent and heavy pace of their mainly slow rhythmic lines, is also a major stylish feature.

Possibly, the serenity present in their music is their most outstanding quality. But they are very skilled in the dilapidation of more peripheral areas of their music as well, like their conscious abilities to display the honest beauty of their dramatic sensibilities. The female vocals proves to be a formidable and very splendid virtue, and their lengthy appeal gives a sense of solitary displacement to the heart, that seems to be the perfect place of exile for the soul. The deliberate lethargy engraves a tranquility into the sonorous atmosphere, that functions like a major sedative for the senses, propitiating a peaceful quietness that seems to take over the universe by assault.

Since A Crypt in the Stars isn’t a heavy album – on the contrary, it is quite melodic, simple and completely destitute of empty ambitions –, it has a more “easy listening” vibe, that certainly can attract and appeal to a wider audience. The musical competence of the group is beyond any question, and the length of the album is also a major intelligent intuitive artistic fact check. Given the nature of their style, exceptionally frozen, atmospheric and slow, it certainly would have been monotonous and tedious, if they had made it considerably longer.  

Certainly one of the most beautiful, moderate and dense that I had the pleasure of listening in the style, I highlight A Crypt in the Stars, by Lowen, as an excellent work, of the highest quality. The sound is astonishing, the atmosphere is profound and consecrating, and the honest nature of their style clearly exhibits their exponential, latent and natural talent, throughout a very organic, expansive, direct and plausible sound. 



Wagner

progressive rock / trip hop / electronic / rock

Apart from the complete lack of salary, being a music reviewer is the most awesome job in the world. You receive new music on an hourly basis (for real!). Once you picked out an album to review, it gets easy as hell. Press play and start typing whatever comes up in your mind. There are billions of references to choose from, hundreds of genres to link to and thousands of words waiting to fall down on the keyboard. Easy-peasy. But then there are bands like Manes, whose only goal is to make categorization as complicated and impossible as it can possibly be. Those are not only the hardest ones but usually also the most interesting. 

I mean, the album opens with 'Endetidstegn' which begins with something Autechre could have written. Then the song drags in elements from trip-hop and progressive rock, quite often gracefully balancing on the thin edge between rock and metal. A little further on in the record, by the time 'Chemical Heritage' has kicked off, my mind is comparing this to a whole festival of bands, as if the aforementioned Autechre joins the line-up of Tricky, Queensryche, Massive Attack, Archive, Porcupine Tree, Black Sabbath and David Bowie.

That is indeed a whole lot of variation, perhaps risking to tumble into an overkill of different sounds. However, Manes seems to have everything under control. In fact, they managed so blend all these different influences into one unique sound. Besides, it's frightening how much the vocals sound like Ozzy in 'Therapism'. This is one of my favorite tracks on this album, not only because of those vocals but also because of the psytrance-sequence that supports the whole thing. Yes, that's possible and it's brilliant.

Perhaps the most "normal" song on this album is the rock ballad 'Last Resort' (not in any way related to the Papa Roach tune). This partially acoustic driven song reminds me of another unique band from back in the days, namely Thought Industry, or perhaps of a power ballad by Death Angel together with The Gathering. Fact remains, this isn't even my favorite track on the album but it still is a masterfully crafted musical epos. There is a stunning sense of grandeur and bombast present allover the album.

Another one of my favorites is 'Night Vision', mainly because of the weird and dark overtone. I mean, here some of the bands from my gothic-era come to mind, especially the guitars based ones. I can easily imagine my young self headbanging to this stuff, even if it is slow. And all of that with clean vocals, reminiscent mostly of indie rock bands. Varied you say? Actually, not really. Sure, there are a lot of different elements in this music (noise too? Yes, in 'Ater', where Archive meets Merzbow meets Author and Punisher) but the most surprising aspect of it all is how coherent it all sounds. 

Right, that surely was a challenge. I had to dig deep into my own musical history to find references. Yet, somehow I don't think I needed to do that. The truth is that this album completely took me by surprise. I didn't know Manes before so for me this was a first listen. Many more will follow, undoubtedly as I love the hell out of this album. So I can only recommend it to all... well, to everybody who loves original and immersive music, be it rock or metal or trip hop or power pop. Stunning piece of work, that's for sure.


​Serge

progressive rock

Your Own Story is an album released on May 25 by the Polish progressive rock guitarist known by the artistic moniker of Distant Dream, featuring guest musicians. A relatively concise work – forty minutes long –, the record has nine tracks: Images, Luminosity, Gradient Space, Reflection, Lost In The Universe, Falling Leaf, Darkest Moment, Endless Destination and Until It's Over. A beautiful album that explores vividly and brightly the exceedingly expansive nature and the overtly colorful melodies usually associated with progressive rock, the serene harmonies and the expansive soundscapes of the creative universe of the artist reveals the album to be an interesting journey diluted through an elegant space of sonorous and eloquent beauty, where everything that is filtered by the sensitivity of perceptions creates an hermetic diagram of personal and pungent moderation. 

With a sophisticated tenacity of marvelous and innocent enchantment, that on the other hand maintains the simplicity of a graceful and imponderable sense of infinity, what first and foremost draws the attention within the album is the guitar – being the instrument that primarily leads the entire album, its work is significantly cohesive and consistent, and creates a wall of magical despondency that elevates the perception of the listener into a whole new degree of sonorous placidity and intimacy, despite the fact that ostensibly deciphers and exposes the inherent qualities and sublime intentions of its artistry as well.   

Presenting a calm and lucid style that penetrates over the walls of a vulnerable conscience, Your Own Story is a grandiloquent, but restrained work, that deals only with the necessary elements of its creatively ludic hyperboles, marvelously deprived of all excesses, so easy to find abundantly in works of the genre. 

Showcasing a technical and creative security that masterly embraces its elusive and powerful competence – displaying a degree of maturity that makes this album so incredibly distant, and amazingly introspective at the same time – Distant Dream certainly has evaluated on the vicinities of its artistic aspirations the correct elements that enabled the artist to come up with such a marvelous result. The abstractions of his heart are basically simple pretensions, converted into a purely precious narrative of creative and inherent sincerity. 


Wagner