post rock/ progressive rock / alternative rock

The Shape Of Things To Come is an album released in November 16, by progressive rock project No Sudden Moves, from Melbourne, Australia. A very concise musical effort, the record is just over thirty-six minutes long. With eight tracks — 1) The Shape Of Things To Come; 2) Cause And Effect; 3) Stroll On; 4) First Contact; 5) Nothing's Easy; 6) The Space Between; 7) This Is The Life; 8) I Wander; — The Shape Of Things To Come is a sensationally beautiful album, despite the fact that it does not bring any extravagant innovation into the forefront of the genre. Nevertheless, the record display phenomenal virtues, that deserves to be highlighted. Its light, clean and well-diluted sound is harmonically cohesive, exceptionally vivid and radically authorial, at least to a certain level. 

The style of the artist is technically consistent and displays a respectable degree of proficiency; as a matter of fact, each track possesses its own singular qualities. The serene poetic densities of the third track, Stroll On, and the oblique tonalities of the fifth track, Nothing's Easy — whose melodies ultimately converts into a moderately progressive tune —, exhibit a thoughtful and efficient eclecticism, that over the course of the entire album, demonstrates in a very undisputed fashion that the artist is quite secure even in an expressive range of musical territories, though he never leaves the genre, knowing how to explore lucidly, and how to add especial flavors, even to the assiduously traditional diagrams conceived by the wonderful mosaic that his spectacular style invariably becomes. 

With a sensible and serene sonorous disposition, that eagerly projects over the diffusive lines of its melodies the dense elements of its own introspective horizon of dispersive and abstract creativity, the music exhibited on this work — despite the extensive use of elements that make the sonority, to a certain degree, quite predictable —, is also surprisingly versatile and distinct, because the artist already in the beginning displays his ability to explore wisely and profusely the most diverse conjuncture of tonalities, resonances and harmonies, within the expansive dimensional context of his restless and proverbial style. 

There's no doubt that the overall sound displayed by the artist is profoundly sensible and original. With a serene, but at the same time colorful gracefulness, the artist conceives a world of sound so dehydrated and detached — whose unimaginable beauty stands beyond the horizon of its own soul —, that the fantastic tranquility crafted by the music creates a renitent splendor, that floats endlessly towards the everlasting poetic nature of its wonderfully sensitive and delightful melodies. 

Despite the fact that — in a general evaluation — the music displayed by this artist is quite simple, The Shape Of Things To Come reveals itself as a majestically unique and very audacious work of art, whose most virtuous elements come from its subtle authorial ambitions, that at first doesn't stand out, but slowly expand to all sonorous spaces, like the sunlight, that slowly illuminates the whole morning. With primarily organic compositions that exalt the full vigor of its elegant beauty, this album is a remarkable milestone of ambient rock music, that deserves to be fully appreciated, and above of all, recognized by the graceful uniqueness, the authorial sensibilities and the splendorous consistency of its versatile and dynamic musicality.


Wagner

progressive / alternative / rock / metal

Originality in the music business nowadays is very rare. Almost every band likes to say that they are pushing the boundaries of what they are producing but in reality what transpires is more of the same but with maybe a small twist. Step forward anonymous collective Sleep Token. The band say they worship a deity with an unpronounceable name, but for the purposes of their music, it's pronounced Sleep. 

They burst onto the scene a few years ago with their debut EP 'one' which sounded like nothing else at the time. The mix of dreamy pop with the incredible voice of front man Vessel mixed with downright obscene heavy breakdowns was a breath of fresh air and instantly got the attention of music lovers everywhere. Over the two EP's they seemed to accumulate more acclaim each week. In fact, the only criticism of them it seemed, was that they were a bit of a one trick pony. Would there debut album be more of the same or would they be able to produce something else? Well, the answer to that question is that they have produced something incredible.

The album starts off with the dream like 'The night does not belong to god' which does a brilliant job of accentuating Vessels sublime vocal skills. He sings with such emotions that at times, it sounds like he is close to tears. This segues into 'The Offering' which is an absolute highlight and one of the heavier tracks on the album. The disgustingly good breakdown is glorious and it's at this point you start to realise that not one single note is out of place on this album, the musicianship of the whole band is first class but special mention must be made to the drummer who although anonymous is absolutely at the top of his game. 

The next couple of songs showcase Vessels talents again and reign in the heavier side of the group but this does nothing to diminish the impact of the songs, which vear from catchy dreamy pop into lush guitar driven passages so beautifully you'd think that this kind of thing was easy, it's not, far from it, in fact it's bloody difficult getting something that sounds this natural to be anything other than a mess, and they nail it, completely. The two song combination of 'Give' leading into 'Gods' sounds like it shouldn't work with the former songs deftly building gorgeous arrangements butting up against the latter songs immense heaviness, but again, it does work. 

The upward trajectory of this band is something special indeed. If a group can lure in fans from cross genres then they are onto a recipe for success, I would not be at all surprised that if you went to see them live, you would be just as likely to bump into some wearing a Meshuggah t-shirt as you would someone in a Sam Smith or Florence and the Machine top. I cannot recommend this album enough and you really should give it a listen if you are interested in music that moves you.


Simon

progressive rock / post rock / experimental

Revolution is an album released in November 19, by Spanish post rock experimental project EXXASENS. A very interesting, dynamic and energetic album, that fluctuates over a variety of ecletic atmospheres, the versatility of this fantastic project is something almost out of reach. With a cohesive, solid musicality, and a proverbially clean style, Revolution reveals itself as a primordially graceful, effusive, pristine, elegant and very audacious work of art, that generates in the apex of its diluted style a proficient and sophisticated diagram of creative synergy, whose singular strenght is able to reach an extraordinary vortex of artistic splendor.  

Sixty-nine minutes long, the album has sixteen tracks: 1) Massachusetts; 2) A Space Odyssey; 3) Twenty One Years and One Day; 4) Revolution; 5) Why Not?; 6) Bye Bye Moscow; 7) Vega; 8) Eden; 9) Dream Is Over; 10) Another Space Odyssey; 11) Inside My Brain; 12) Since I Met You; 13) Eden's Place; 14) Dreams Are Over; 15) Autumn Storms; 16) Air; as a project that explores the overall density of a very proverbial and authorial musical proposal, EXXASENS does a surprising work on this fantastic album. With a cohesive, but at the same time easygoing style, a formidable creative horizon and exceedingly sober vocals — at least in some songs, the vast majority of the album is instrumental —, Revolution is a deeply pronounced ambitious album, that expands the creative formula of the artist's perception of sound.

With prog rock being the basis for the sound, the artist's style works from the musical conjuncture of this genre. Nevertheless, the marvelous atmosphere displayed by the harmonies conceives a serene universe of sound, whose magnificent technique anticipates the wonderful grandiosity of the project's somewhat innocent, but overwhelming artistic pretensions. The music is felt as simple, but splendorous at the same time; certainly, the diluted consecration of the formidable melodies that are poured through the edges of the sincere tones of the sound gets more and more rapturous, as the album progresses. 

Betting on a diversity of genres, letting the authenticity of his style reverberate over each one, the artist has crafted a formidably great, excellent and versatile musical universe, full of unexpected arrangements and colorful tonalities, that doesn't recognize boundaries nor limits for its fantastic creativity. The eleventh and fourteenth tracks — Inside My Brain and Dreams Are Over — are my favorites; the most beautiful songs in the album, in my opinion. 

A very interesting album, whose deeply authorial style and audacious experimental sensibilities captivates the listener already in the beginning, Revolution is a majestic work of art, whose gloriously creative ambitions make this work stand out for its ingeniousness and sonorous grace. Despite the fact that the album is a little too extensive — and invariably you become somewhat bored in the more repetitive passages —, the end result is fabulous, to say the least. Revolution manages to be a sensational musical experience, whose extraordinary creativity has definitely crafted a peculiar work of art, that deserves praise for all of its quintessential tenacious virtues.   


Wagner

post rock / progressive rock

bandcamp

Ineffable is an album released on November 5, by Hungarian musician József Tóth, under the alias Abehrum. Almost forty-three minutes long, the record has six tracks: 1) Aquiver; 2) Mellifluous; 3) Hiraeth; 4) Ineffable; 5) Ethereal; 6) Cromulent; a beautiful work of art — with powerfully exhilarating harmonies —, the musical style display an abundant, pristine and dense cohesiveness, whose melodies rely almost entirely on the redemptive eagerness of a dispersive and colorful atmosphere, that is perfectly inserted in a dynamic conjuncture of profoundly expansive and profusely dilated creativity.   

Although the sound seems simple at first, the exceptional creativity displayed by József Tóth is immersed in a horizon of infatuated authenticity, whose splendorous and magnificent beauty becomes gracefully correlated with the majestic sensibility of his musical style. With poetic, but straightforward guitar lines — perfectly aligned with a passionate and expressively authorial density, whose genuine proficiency circumnavigates the horizon of its own intrinsic nature —, the formidable sonorous journey engraved by the artist's personal musical ambitions elucidate the reason of a projective sensibility, that emanates directly from the creational perspective of an inherently graceful, restless and objective mind. 

Despite the fact that the sound goes down in generally abstract paths, the style of the artist is expressively clean, sensible and direct. While the melodies can be entirely appreciated over the strikingly graceful elements of dissolute beauty that define its structure, its graceful harmonies float above the existence of a pure and simple tenderness, that mantains consistently the impeccable nature of its wonderful paroxism, as well as the technical proficiency that gives the music an extensive support to generate accurately a perceptive and marvelous sense of spectacular infinity. 

Although the sound becomes too homogeneous after some time, the style of the artist is overwhelmingly dynamic and exceedingly promising; his ability to make spectacular music is easy to perceive from the beginning of the record. While the best tracks, in my modest opinion, are the first two — Aquiver and Mellifluous —, the entire record is an extraordinary sensorial experience. Undoubtedly, Ineffable is a very good album, that deserves to be discovered and widely appreciated. 


Wagner

post rock / progressive

There are some bands who definitely state their idea of music within the name itself. The Kompressor Experiment from Switzerland is one of these bands, with a name that is partially German and English, even though Kompressor is only spelled a little differently. Nevertheless, what is a Kompressor Experiment? Are they experimenting with compressing air or rather – are they trying to push a lot of ideas into a record? 

Well, the Sion-based quartet shows with the title and cover of their new record already which musical concept they are following: “2001” – more than a nod to Kubrick’s famous science-fiction classic – is a record that is as much influenced by movies as it is (seemingly) following bands like Tides from Nebula, Cinematic Orchestra or Oh, Hiroshima. The record is pure post-rock but with a lot of sounds seemingly straight from the modern movie alphabet. The cover is like a scene from Gravity with one astronaut apparently lost in space hanging on to the thin air tube for dear life.

“EMP.AI” is a good example for the cinematic aspect of the record as the track follows a long winding road through America’s Monument Valley with a lot of dust being whirled up because of a long trail of horses following a single rider trying to escape the attack of the wild west gang behind him. Or it is an astronaut finding himself in a sandstorm on Mars – both ideas are being promoted by the western-like, sandy sound of the guitar which purrs like taken from a Sergio Leone – movie. 

However, there is more to “2001”; the band is capable of playing crunching and gut-wrenching riffs, especially “Monolith I” (a kind of non-linear triptych on the album) is able to show real force and power and to combine all of the band’s ideas and motifs. The beginning could be a soundtrack to a new science-fiction movie with all its industrial synthesizer-like sounds – resembling the engine of a spaceship slowly passing by – opening the album before a strong, powerful riff kicks in and leads the track into a futuristic wasteland scenario. 

The three longtracks are not always nicely balanced, some parts may be a bit long – to use a movie-like comparison: Not all movies are one-shots. Nevertheless, by and large, the band really shows a lot of promising ideas and blends them into a more than solid post-rock record with a strong concept and a lot of nicely ambiguous details.


​Thorsten

progressive rock / post rock / experimental

bandcamp

Eðli. is an album released in October 11, by a French progressive rock virtuoso, under the alias of Ju. Sixty-six minutes long, the record has eleven tracks, whose titles have all the word Chapter into it, followed by the track order; for example, the first song is named Chapter One, the second song is named Chapter Two, the third song is named Chapter Three, and this goes on, until the last track, titled Last Chapter. A very intesting, colorful and serene musical work, the melodies are quite vigorous, and its renitent harmonious contrivances definitely highlight the superb creative abilities displayed by the artist. With simple, but profusely genuine authorial skills, Ju. manages to create a very decent, cohesive and dense album, that effectivelly satisfies all types of genre enthusiasts, from the more occasional to the more avid ones.  

With soft, serene lines of guitar, that develops the harmonies from the more pristine elements of its relentless solicitude, Eðli. reveals itself as a very diffusive work, whose dispersive melodies complement the beauty of its intrincate splendor with sensible majesty; though sometimes along the way, you may become a little exasperated by the despondent homogeneity of the style displayed by the artist, its general structure is cohesive, exceedingly concentrated, and delicately inserted into a sonorous vortex of sentimental magnificence. 

The delicacy of the artist's sonorous approach is very relevant for the creation of the diluted nature of his style. The uneasiness of all the majestic creative elements that circumnavigates the epicenter of the melodies floats towards the emotional sensitivities of the listener, that inadvertently absorbs the restless urgencies and the quiet resolutions that gravitates in between the external stimulus provided by the impredictable exhilarations of the sound and the sensational rapture that becomes invisible in the horizon of its dense expectations.  

Nevertheless, the guitar work displayed on this album is quite magnificent, and the diligent proficiency exhibited by the artist deserves praise. Ju. certainly knows how to conceive a marvelous sound, creating music that has soul, vigor and essence, being neither too technical nor too dispersive. The predominance of a salutary wave of calmness in the music — and yet, concomitantly, the vitality displayed by the guitar lines are quite resonant and resourceful — remains the basis of its splendorous and graceful strength. 

Unfortunately, the album has some monotonous passages, though in general, this doesn't compromise the spectacular degree of beauty and excellence displayed in the music. In fact, Eðli. is a very good album — that has an original, dense and intrincate musical layout —, that deserves to be highlighted, and mostly, widely appreciated. Undoubtedly, art rock and progressive rock enthusiats will find this album interesting, to say the least. Despite some minor stylistic limitations, Eðli. manages to be a relevant musical experience, that has all the necessary qualities to be classified as a marvelous work on its genre. 


Wagner

progressive / sludge / post metal

When in Rome do as the Vandals, an old idiom says which implies that you turn everything topsyturvy and leave no stone untouched. Believe or not, this could also be applied to Juggernaut’s third album “Neuroteque” which was released a few weeks ago.
The Roman foursome took quite some time to release new music after their second full-length “Trama!” which is already five years old. However, this becomes understandable when listening to the new record which was recorded in Rome by Valerio Fisik over the course of 2018. It is noticeable that it took such a long time because the musical landscape ranges from miniscule glockenspiel use to bass-driven harshness.

This is also one of the strongholds of Juggernaut, they can build tensions and with a snip of a finger deconstruct all any upward aggression the song might have had before. The very beginning of the record sets a great example for it, the guitars build up toward a kind of brutal relief or harsh turn but then the band turns around with their version of a funky bassline and a drummer that definitely steps forward and tells his story.

Not denying the good guitar work by Andrea Carletti and Luigi Farina its fair share of the glory but
this record is driven by the rhythm section of Roberto Cippitelli and Matteo D’Amicis who have
found their way of telling a story without words. No matter if it’s Cippitelli’s dynamic bass or
D’Amicis’ drumming and percussion parts – here we have a tight-knit union of minds alike that
dominates a song without taking away room from any other instrument and without being just about themselves, the duo serves the song – not their own pride. The air they leave can then be filled by the guitars’ sprinkling touches of ambience and pearly shine.

This record needs earplugs to show how much it has taken from bands like Hidden Orchestra or
Pelican, from The Cinematic Orchestra and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Sometimes a bit more elaboration and the courage to leave an even bigger pause would turn this very good album into even more of a frontrunner of the neo-instrumental wave we witnessed over the last few years. But sometimes a good measure of humility should also be rewarded. However, there is one thing that might be changed: on their Bandcamp page the band states they make “Threatening music, harmonies of disappointment” - well, there are more soothing than threatening sounds of harmony and fulfillment in this record than stated. Humble they are, proud they can be. 


​Thorsten

progressive rock / alternative / experimental

Ravage is an album released in September 8, the debut work of nooM, a French progressive and experimental rock project. Thirty-six minutes long, the record has seven tracks: 1) 12:34 AM; 2) Crescent; 3) Nuages; 4) Leave Me; 5) Parting; 6) When We Look At The Stars, We Whisper; 7) Where The Night Ends Us; with a serene and fugacious, almost melancholic musical splendor, the style displayed by this amazing artist is simple, but elegant, refined and masterfully cohesive. Delivering a sound agglutinated by a sensitive, but dispersive consistency, the dynamic vividness of the melodies are graciously perceptive, but also synchronically convergent. Its protuberant calmness dilacerates the introspective restlessness that subtly resides in the essence of its magnificent artistic splendor. 

The marvelous easiness of all the progressive elements are gracefully inserted into the music. The style displayed by the artist anticipates on the dynamism of its iridescent insurgencies the arduous glories of its sincere and vigorous creative possibilities. Despite its strong, homogeneous and exceptionally grounded style, the artist displays a colorful and intricate level of eclecticism and versatility. The fifth track, Parting — which in my opinion is the best — proves that perfectly. Featuring the exceptionally beautiful voice of singer Louise Dissous, the graceful vivacity of her voice certainly adds a tender element of exotic mystery to this song, that not only fits the melodies with gracious intensity, but also complements wonderfully the general guidelines of the rhythm. 

Although in a general evaluation the album can be considered very simple, Ravage is a cohesive and genuinely authorial work of art, whose creative strength is a musician that not only understands perfectly  how his most salutary qualities work, but also has the wisdom to use his technical excellence and creative virtues to conceive a sublime universe of dispersive majesty, where everything can be converted to a sonorous diagram of colorful proficiency, ostensibly crafting a dimension where musical sensibility and dynamic  pragmatism come together, to conceive restlessness as a new form of sentimental freedom.  

With gracefully renitent guitar lines that evokes the purity and calmness of a universe that has never seen light before, the music displayed in Ravage is exceptionally beautiful, and filled with a gracious imponence that is not only sincere, but also exponetially lucid and proverbial, though essentially somber in nature. Nevertheless, the style delivered by nooM is dense, dynamic and relentless, but paradoxically vivacious and splendid. Definitely, Ravage is a very intriguing, resonant, quite eventful album, a masterpiece whose  practical peculiarities redefine musical boundaries, within the diluted framework of a creative mind, that knows no limits or restricitions to its magnificent audacious nature. 


Wagner

progressive / rock / metal

bandcamp

I'm normally not a big fan of instrumental metal, but I'll gladly make an exception for Apprentice Destroyer's "Permanent Climbing Monolith", which has been released on September 20th. Well, technically it's not instrumental, but since there's only some sparse vocals on two songs, let's not be too picky... 

Apprentice Destroyer is not a band but rather a project led by Steve Peacock (also member of Ulthar, Pandiscordian Necrogenesis, Pale Chalice and Mastery), who is assisted by a number of guitarists and a drummer. Having 4 guitarists might explain the incredibly dense guitar work.

Apprentice Destroyer released two other records in the past, but this is the first time I heard of them.

But how does it sound? Well, if you can imagine music as mathematics, riffs as squares, triangles, octagons, ... then you're pretty close. It sounds like musical Tetris, with riffs tumbling over each other, everything fitting perfectly together. Hmm, that didn't make sense, did it... Musically, it leans a bit towards Krautrock, infused with Liturgy. The songs are very repetitive and hypnotic, most of the time starting with one (dissonant) riff, and then building up with drums and additional guitars thrown in.

Expect no blast beats, this is solid mid-tempo work. A nice touch is the metallic guitar sound, which sometimes reminds me of Big Black (may they rest in peace). In any case, the production is crystal clear, which helps convey the power of the songs. There's also two short modular synth intermezzos, nice and fat, and slightly detuned, just like an analog synth should sound. This
obviously adds to the Krautrock-ish sound.

Even if I compared this music to mathematics, don't expect a cold or Djentish sound. "Permanent Climbing Monolith" is able to take me on an immersive emotional rollercoaster ride. My only complaint is that, even at 42 minutes, it's too short... and that's high praise.


​Koen

alternative rock

When we took a first glance at the cover of this promo we were already teased by the chaos and depth of the artwork (Mark Cruz Teix). The story of The Morganatics is one of progress. The debut album (Never Be Part Of Your World) followed by a live recording of a radio show and their second full recording (We Come From The Stars) were all released  in 2015. The band produced an album (Eternal Return : An Horizon of Infinite) with acoustical versions of songs from the two previous albums in 2016.



The Morganatics call their creations “rock based with a voice of Linkin Park meeting Archive’s atmosphere with Porcupine Tree's guitars”. Well, let us tell you that they have a point but… the two vocalists Seb  (also rhythm guitars and keyboards) and Chris (female vocals, sample and keyboards) have the same timbre as late Chester Bennington. We needed to listen very carefully to distinguish who was actually singing because they sound very alike… The album contains wide range singing with deep emotions and energy. We had mixed feelings with the track Gloria. The vocals sound like a mealy hymn for a commercial add. 

The atmosphere of the tracks is far-reaching, from psychedelic to moodiness and to avant-garde with electronic effects and samples. This band from Paris reaches, indeed, out to Porcupine Tree with their guitar sound. Lauris (lead & acoustic guitars) listened very good to Anathema, his guitar solos are inspired by the two Cavanagh brothers’ weeping sound. There are some unclean vocals by PM (also bass)on this recording. We would have welcomed some more for better variation and balance in the singing. There are two drummers mentioned in the info. Nico, original core member and drummer announced his departure during the production of this album,so Frank took over.

The Morganatics are strange duck in the music pool. Their music is very fused with all kinds of genres and styles, which gave them a somehow an original sound. We’ve  heard creative chemistry with shredding guitars combined with intense and emotional melodies. Melancholy and experimental drift were added to the energetic formula called The Love Riot Squad vs The F-world, which is to our opinion their best work, until now. 

Bands with the same experimental approach but different in style are Område (France) and Thy Catalfaque (Hungary) and Diabolo Swing Orchestra (Sweden).

​
Patsker