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

alternative rock / crossover / nu metal

Ever since I founded this website, I've been surprised by the French a lot. For some reason, French music doesn't often reach this side of Belgium. Yet, they do seem to have an interesting alternative rock/metal scene, one that doesn't care about genre boundaries and restrictions.

With the French, it seems that everything is welcome, as long as it's rock music, and then - obviously - you get some interesting xenogamy. Don't look so weird, I looked it up, Xenogamy exists. It's a big word for cross-pollination, something certain plants and many rock bands love to do. 

The album begins with 'On The Edge' and immediately the influences from bands like Tool and Deftones shine through. However, somewhere hidden in the groovy basslines and the funky rock drums, one of the guitarists can't hide the fact that he is a blues fan. Here and there you can find such a nice vintage blues lick. Someone else clearly is a fan of nu metal, especially acts like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit. Perhaps there is a Paramore fan. Finally, it feels like the vocalist has had lessons in pop and only recently moved towards something a bit more extreme.

The band constantly balances on the edge between alternative rock and progressive hard rock, here and there harshly crossing the line with some intensely passages. Yet, for the majority, this album sounds like a well written modern day rock album, one I will certainly recommend to all nu metal fans out there. 'As Leaders' is probably my favorite track and '2099' rocks and blueses like crazy but I'm sure that most of these tunes can set festivals and venues ablaze everywhere. So check it out. Perhaps you find a new favorite.


​Serge

drone / experimental / progressive

The ancient Romans had a simple but effective torture technique called 'The Endeavour'. They used it to see if a person was guilty of certain crimes. They boiled water and threw a pebble into the liquid. Then, while the water was still boiling, you had to reach in and grab the pebble, which obviously was extremely tiny for such a big bowl of hot water. Your hand would burn severely. Once out, they would take good care of your hand, wrapping it in bandages. After a few days, they then came to check on the wounds. If it didn't heal well, you were guilty. If it did heal well, they would simply repeat the procedure. There, that's a thing you know now.

'The Endeavour' is also the new album by Belgian atmospherimentalist Barst. Yeah, I just made that word up. I think it describes Barst's music very well. Once one of Belgium's many drone-ambient acts, Barst has made an impressive evolution in the past several years. His previous album, 'The Western Lands', had been very well received by press and fans. In fact, the album appeared in many end-year lists. On that album the ambient and drone music got company from a wide array of genres, including psychedelic rock, electronic dance music, EBM and whatnot. Topping something like that would surely be...

(bada-boom)

...an Endeavour.

So I guess the big question here is: has Barst been able to at least repeat that masterfully arranged album? Before we an answer, here is a list of people who cooperation on 'The Endeavour': Niels Brown (Vonnis), Gregory Simons (Vonnis, Arise Fair Sun), Messy Mathi, Mathlovsky (Mathlovsky), Tokyo Oyo, William Lacalmontie (OVTRENOIR) and Mike Armine (Rosetta). And since we're making lists, here is a list of acts that come to mind when I listen to 'The Endeavour': previous Barst, Lords Of Acid, The Cure, Atari Teenage Riot, Author & Punisher, Amenra, Wiegedood, Tangerine Dream, Godflesh, Autechre, Worriedaboutsatan, Nine Inch Nails.

Yes, my dear reader, Barst has managed to create something I can only describe as "flabbergasting". In 42 minutes, he treats the listener to a massive array of soundscapes, electronics, beats, sequences, guitars and whatnot. Barst is like a sponge that sucks up all possible sounds and live experiences and transform that into a surprisingly coherent entity. So yeah, I think he managed to top 'The Western Lands'. That album was already incredible but this one...this is simply astonishing. By now you'll probably already know that this comes highly recommended. This one is going to end up in many end-years lists, no doubt about that.


​Serge

black metal / progressive / experimental

Behind the Sun is an album released on April 27 by American black metal act Stoicism. Almost fifty-two minutes long, the record has seven extensive tracks: Intoxicated Ones, Transmogrification, Decay, Unearthed, Threshold, Four Colors of the Rising Moon and Wanderer. With an ascendant, positive and very energetic sound, the music of Stoicism can be best described as vigorously elusive and fast black metal, oriented by a salutary coalition of surreptitiously power and progressive metal elements, that converges to dilapidate an harmonious picture of melodies laboriously and graciously inserted at the epicenter of its surreal and sensitive cosmogonies. Perfectly equalizing brutal and ferocious harmonies with serene and peaceful interludes, the artistic proposal of Stoicism is to get out of ordinary musical grievances, and introduce the listener to a world of more creative and unpredictable possibilities, which this musician do in a very sophisticated and personal style. 

Despite all of his creativity, the general linear basis of Stoicism’s music is black metal in its purest and most brutal form, although the rapidness of its signature style, and most prominently, agonizingly grasping vocals are the main elemental features of black metal present on this album. Departing from this basic tenure, the sonorous structure of the music is expanded to abduct more intricate forms of expression, with an interesting level of experimentation that is not excessive, and introduces itself with subtle longevity in the correct passages. With rapid, indulgent rhythms, framed by elegant algorithms of intransigent fury, the overall sound on Behind the Sun is a gracious preamble of sagacious vitality, that dilates the harmonies of the songs on the frontier of its more nervous and ardent vicinities, while concomitantly inviting the listener to dive deeply into its introspective universe of abstract splendor. 

Although the sound sometimes appear to be plastic, cohesively immersed in a brute state of sidereal dehydration, the infinite sensibilities upon its omniscient creative instincts are explosive to a certain degree. Despite the fact that certain specific passages sounds redundant, the record has a general integrity and a peripheral cohesion that ostensibly communicates the voracity of its expressive sensibilities in very simple and humane tonalities.  

A beautiful record that, despite having some major limitations – mostly on the sometimes excessively uniform sonorous diagram of its structure, that changes too little times all the way trough – Behind the Sun is an interesting and different album, that has a distinct proposal of graceful and sensible beauty, that discreetly, but competently showcases on its music the coherence of its motivations. Deeply and consistently touching the proverbial nuances of a sound that becomes as drastically revealing as it is progressively dramatic, without fear of truly exposing its content, this work sincerely exhibits a very flexible, sensitive and dynamic artist, that is really attentive to the truth of its talent, and to the perceptions of its possibilities.  

 
Wagner

progressive / death metal / black metal

Right, time to dive into the pummeling world of metallic extremism again, and what better way to do it than with an album like this one. I don't really know what "Mot" means in Italian or English but in Dutch "een mot op uw bakkes" means "a punch in the face".  Actually, that pretty much describes this album. 

Thirty five minutes long, this release by Italian metalers Will 'O' Wisp is a complex, multi layered and awe-inspiring piece of death metal. It's laced with influences, not only from black and death metal but also many other metal subgenres and then there's even more.

From the very beginning this album smashes your eardrums to pieces. Most of the time they do that with mindbending death metal, seemingly inspired by acts like Nile, Krisiun and Dimmu Borgir. Fierce guitars, an array of growls and screams and an overpowering drums attack will mercilessly assault your sanity. But, like I said, there is more. How about influences from good old fashioned thrash metal, the likes of Kreator, Testament and Slayer? These tunes contain some intense riffs.

To top it off, Will 'O' Wisp added heaps of orchestral instrumentation and atmospheric synths, ranging from ancient horror movies soundtracks to bombastic classical compositions. This must have been an amazing journey to write, rehearse and record. Getting all these elements together in such a coherent way is definitely not an easy task but somehow these Italians have pulled it off. In all 'Mot' is a mesmerizing piece of extreme metal, one that obviously comes highly recommended.


​Serge

post rock

doom / sludge / psychedelic

metalcore

folk / alternative rock

facebook

post rock / shoegaze

Spotify

alternative rock

progressive rock

dark ambient

experimental / avant garde / classical

bandcamp

stoner rock / alternative / metal

funeral doom

funeral doom / ambient

bandcamp