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

jazz fusion / rock / electronic

'No Pussyfooting ', by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno (1979); E2-E4, by Manuel Gottsching (1982); Warsawa, by Praxis (1999) and Manifesto, by Stringmodulator (2018). This is how this album imposes itself after listening to it: as an updated continuation of works that used the electric guitar and electronic sounds together (since Les Paul and his modified overdubs). This style has been in continuous developing until the present day, either by using a simple backing track, some loop pedals, or simply the super interesting concept that this German duo "condensed" just using one bass, one guitar, electronic equipment and a two channel recorder (with no overdubs, something almost unbelievable).

It all starts with 'PROLOGUE' creating the right mood for the tracks 'THUMP & SHRIEK' and 'GROWL' which, together with 'WHITE NOISE', have excellent flirting with darkwave; 'BEETWIXT & BETWEEN' and 'ECHO CHAMBERS' could be classified as Nile Rodgers playing some "hard industrial music"; 'HORROR VACUI' has an excellent mix of ballads, industrial rock and soundtracks from 80's low budget horror movies that, along with 'GUITAR SABOTAGE ', reminded me - a lot - of some tracks from John 5's solo albums; 'MILES' BACKING BAND' could be a dubstep version (with lots of energy drinks) of an imaginary band for Miles Davies' electric period, possibly a tribute to the jazz study of the duo's members; 'A QUIET PLACE' could be an 80's style ballad (seriously, it seemed like Sting was going to sing at any time up to 40 seconds of music). This last track seems to involuntarily refer to the famous story about the creation of Dream House style, by Robert Miles, where there was a need for some quieter music to be played before clubbers get their way home, thereby reducing the number of car crashes in the Italian 90's clubbing scene. This kind of "calm down" was something needed to give maximum contrast on such an interesting album!

Of course the comparisons I made may even sound like an anachronism, at the same time, this is the best characteristic of this work, because "old" electronic music styles are evident in what concerns the aesthetics that they were influenced by, however, there is an update with the ocean of styles that have emerged till this days (something that may even be unconscious). This is what makes 'Manifesto' such a good album, because Jan and Fabian had the ability to perform an excellent re-reading of krautrock, electronic music and even jazz without intending to become "cults", and this lack of malice, in addition to an extremely freedom of creation, is the power that can make 'Manifesto' a remembered album trough the years!

Glauber

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Here we can see how the duo play the song Flow (from their first EP) in a live session

jam rock / psychedelic rock  

Jams Of Inner Perception is an album released on August 12, by German instrumental psychedelic rock group Circle Of The Sun. Forty minutes long, the record has six tracks: Buffalo, Acid Dream, Liquid Sand, Jamming In Paradise, Moongroove and Desert Sun. Despite the generic songs’ titles, the record has a tremendous amount of virtues and qualities, and is completely filled with abrasive, flexible and intelligent archetypes of spontaneous jams and grooves, so beautifully entangled, that you instantly become captivated by this insanely proverbial, vivacious and volatile record, whose soul is distilled in a marvelous palace of liquid flames, standardized by a glorious galaxy of peculiarly aggrandized sonorous rapture. Definitely, there is such an abundant degree of intuitive sensibility on this record, that you rapidly feel yourself encircled by a transcendental crest of serenity, that revolves around itself in an infinite cloud of vehemently sagacious and levitating melodies.  

The sound of Jams Of Inner Perception is quite remarkable. The beauty of its musical philosophy comes out of its profound cosmogony of colorful harmonies naturally, and the placid, but lucid creativity of its concentrated synergy extrapolates the inner vivacity of its horizontal harmonies in a perfectly passionate, but methodical sonorous expansion. While its musical barriers are restrained to a certain degree – and this is easy to attest – the meticulous greatness of its style is simply beyond impressive, plausible or perfunctorily audacious.  

 Although the record is somewhat concise, its musical greatness is markedly engraved on the walls of its omniscient sonorous narrative. Its stylish revenue is – to a certain degree – very simple; therefore, easy to assimilate and to appreciate. But it is also necessary to emphasize the colossal degree of creativity present in the work, that is assembled in a very modest and effusive manner, inserted in such a graciously harmonious outlook, that its lucid veracity contributes to enlarge its formidable degree of artistry.   

This is also one of the first works that I’ve heard where the bass guitar is worked in a very diligent, interesting and relevant fashion. Undoubtedly, this album – made almost entirely of jams and acid jags – is an exhilaratingly unique work of art. Although I cannot rate this album as perfect nor excellent, certainly gets very close to it. Jams Of Inner Perception is definitely a fantastic, singular and refined work, whose gracefully perennial level of originality is absolutely beyond a formal definition.  


Wagner

psychedelic rock / acid rock  

Get In The Van is an album released on August 21, by American psychedelic/ acid rock band Grass. Forty minutes and fifteen seconds long, the record has ten tracks: Lay It On Me Brotha', Shaggy Dog, Get In The Van, Right On, Leadfoot, Where Are You Sam?, Day To Day, Grasstronaut, Big Bad Sam and Back From Space. With cool, fast and direct acid rock harmonies, and somewhat diligent, very elegant grooves, Get In The Van is an unmistakably sensitive and clean record, despite its straightforward simplicity, which comes in all honesty as part of its charm. With eloquent, laudatory, crispy and colorful guitar lines, framed by surreptitiously vivacious melodies, the vocals – that most of the time resembles more of a spoken word work than actually singing – are clean and sober, despite being sporadic, and definitely appear to be gracefully engraved by a sensational conjuncture of qualities, that has on its extraordinary psychedelic appeal a coherent set of merits, upon which a delusional level of originality certainly emerges as the first. 

To a certain degree, you definitely feel yourself to be in a sixties acid party. The general layout of the harmonies is simple, but whimsically delineated, and the creative mordacity of the music is a very torrential aspect of the work. The melodies do change constantly, but the group maintains a solid and cohesive style, that definitely highlight them as an exponentially genuine and groundbreaking exemplar of the genre. Although they can be described as a very simplistic band – at least, in technical measurements –, Grass compensates their lack of structural virtuosity with a voracious, audacious, humorous, amazingly fun and superbly authentic level of creativity, that knows no boundaries, which is definitely a more relevant element. 

 A little reminiscent of Dead Kennedys – not so much on the musical layer, but in the anatomy of its intrinsic artistic attitude – Grass certainly is a modern exemplar of a long lost line of bands, whose irreverent and sardonic levels of gracious exhilaration leaves them at the gates of an inherited youth insurrection movement, that captures their soul with a notorious flavor of The Stooges and The Strokes, which is also preeminent in the group. Definitely, they can’t deny their musical origins, although I must emphasize the fact that they present an abundant degree of originality on this work, that captivates the audience with their signature qualities amazingly highlighting them as a pretty charming, vibrant, irreplaceable and unique band. 

Even if you are not a big fan of acid rock, you will definitely love Get In The Van. This album is thoroughly captivating, from the beginning until the very end. The group has a consistent and solid musicality, that embraces not only the true spirit of the genre, but vehemently justifies the quintessential verve of its very existence. Undoubtedly, this is a fundamental record, that amplifies on the axis of its greatly monumental possibilities the true potential for the development of the genre, in the future.   


Wagner

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 

post punk / new wave / goth rock

Heading from Bristol, Naut decided to ignore all current trends and to look back to the dark eighties. Now, this five-piece comes with a baffling debut EP, containing five pitch black goth rock tunes. Influences from bands like Sisters Of Mercy and Killing Joke run rampant and come with the overwhelming energy of post punk acts like The Jesus and Mary Chain. Song like opener 'Disintegration' and 'I'm Here' are destined to fill dark dancefloors everywhere. My personal favorite here is closer 'XVI'. It makes me curious and hungry for more, but for now I'm sure that this EP will be an excellent addition to every post punk / goth rock collection. 

doom / sludge

Sheffield doom mongers Kurokuma return with a two track EP, based on the Dope Rider strip from High Times in the 70s. The artwork comes from Paul Kirchner, the creator of the strip. The music is another slab of severe psychotic sludge doom, five and eight minutes long. Part 1 also showcases something industrial, reflected by repetitive, almost methodical drums. Part 2 simply continues to slow but brutal pummeling. Fans of bands like Conan, Dopethrone and Yob can easily trust Kurokuma to deliver the monolithic riffs and fierce vocals they crave so much. So if you want your sludge metal as destructive as a wrecking ball, this EP should do.

post-metal / doom / alternative rock

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Several months after the release of 'Serrated', Dutch heavy rockers An Evening With Knives unleash three songs that did not make the album because of the limited space on the vinyl. Yet, these songs were to important for the band to be ignored. Opener and title track 'Fade Out' deals with the death of Marco’s father due to Alzheimer disease. It's a long, heavy and cathartic lamentation, showcasing the darkest side of this band. The other two songs follow that example, be it a bit shorter. They all walk a similar path as the songs on 'Serrated', and thus would also fit perfectly into every sludge, doom and grunge collection. These guys are growing steadily, that's for sure.

electronic / ambient / experimental

An alienating two track EP that will leave you confused and entangled, that is what Soho Rezanejad delivers. Subtle electronics, minimalist drones, gloomy soundscapes and her vocals come together in two lengthy modern day folk songs. I can't help but think about a mix between Zola Jesus and Diamanda Galas, be it a bit less creepy than the latter. Yet, there is emotion, there is fear, mourning, wonder and hope in these two tracks. There is a mystifying atmosphere, one that borrows elements from dark ambient. Yet, above all perhaps, this is a unique piece of work, reminding me of an act like Dark Ensemble. Recommended only for eternally wandering souls.

post rock / post metal / stoner / sludge

In today's post rock scene, new bands pop up like mushrooms. Würzburg residents The Man Within are one of those newcomers. Mostly, that first effort comes with a low production and a careful introduction in what the band really is capable of. Yet, here that results in a full-blown post metal album with seven outstanding tracks. Most of them, including 'Mount Santo', my favorite 'Institution' (that rolling bass is hot!!!) and the massive 'Limitless' can easily entertain audiences far and wide. Although firmly rooted in the post-scene, elements from sludge metal, psychedelic rock and stoner rock are never far away. A great introduction, now let's hope they can confirm this in the near future.

dark ambient

The new brainchild of Nachtzeit, the man behind ambient dark metal project Lustre, comes up with an interesting dark ambient album. Although playful at time, this album takes us back to the mysterious  and dark age of the Norse gods. Early in 'Drömmarna' acts like Mortiis (on Cold Meat Industry) and Wongraven come to mind. Synths, soundscapes and dreamy melodies guide the listening on a musical tour of medieval Europe, so it seems, highlighting in 'Löftet' and 'Tårarn'. Strangely, the title track 'Hädanfärden' has an X-Files OST feeling about it, which isn't bad, on the contrary. Fans of old school medieval dark ambient can easily appreciate this album.

alternative rock / hard rock / grunge

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Belgian hard rock duo Breakfast At Midnight proves that two is enough to create heaps of noise. On this debut EP they blast seven tracks through our speakers, beginning with the heavy rocking 'Kidi Coke'. From then on, the rock doesn't seem to stop. Inspired by anything between Tool, Queens Of The Stone Age and Stone Temple Pilots, these two feed an everlasting fire. Most tracks drive on sheer energy but in 'What I'm To Say' and in '1813', the band delves deeply into the Pearl Jam version of grunge rock. Here, the vocals are excellent and clean while the other tunes contain heaps of aggressive screams. Not that I mind, this is pure rock 'n roll: raw, rough and heavy.

black metal / death metal

Grab onto something now because Ukrainian trio Goatsperm is about to unload a hellish, chaotic and vulgar EP, loaded with orthodox black/death metal. 'Voice In The Womb' contains three tracks, each one being a pummeling piece of extreme metal, as dark as Satan's butthole but with an ambient breather here and there. Somehow, this trio manages to combine atmospheric passages with sheer metallic terror, something that might indeed make a lot of banging heads turn their way in the near future.  Besides, 'Into The Deep Waters Of Catacombs' is one of the fiercest black metal tunes I've heard this year. If you're a self-respecting extremist, you need this.

krautrock / shoegaze / punk

What would have happened if Ramones used My Bloody Valentine's guitar effects? What would a punk rock cover album of Neu! songs sound like? Well, Finnish six piece Teksti-TV 666 might have a decent answer for you. 'Aidattu Tulevaisuus' delivers six high-octane krautrock tunes with the raw energy of punk and the immersive nature of shoegaze. I admit, it is something different from the usual slabs of rock 'n roll that appear here but 'Turbo-Mondeo' and 'Aidattu tulevaisuus' can easily get your behind shaking. My favorite here is the somewhat slower 'Rauhankone', which might be described as a down-to-earth space rock track. Recommended? Hell yeah!

ambient / electronic / experimental

Hailing from Porto, Vitor Joaquim is a sound sculptor and visual artist, active around the strange borders between soothing ambient and otherworldly noise. This new album, 'Impermanence' contains seven tracks, revolving around repetitive soundscapes, almost subconscious loops and immersive musical textures. Here and there vocals samples have been added to increase the narrative nature of the music. That, along with the minimal soundscapes, makes the title track my favorite here but I'm sure that every fan of decent ambient music can appreciate these sounds. Obviously, this comes highly recommended.

ambient / drone / experimental / noise

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An even more noisy and experimental variation on ambient sounds comes from Han, a project by Vitor Joaquim and Emidio Buchinho. This album revolves around live improvisation and real time processing, which results in something severely unusual and highly experimental. Yet, behind the gritty freestyle on the guitar, beautiful ambient loops lurk. These seven tracks are weird, immersive in one way, yet restrained and peculiar. Somehow this album feels like the early days of drone experimentation, when artists were exploring the other possibilities of their instruments. In all, this is an interesting release to dive into, but only for experienced avant gardists...

Serge

indie / alternative rock

Once upon a time, many summer festivals were small and filled with joy. Back then, pretty much every town had its own rock festival, sometimes with a few big names, sometimes with a local pop rock cover band trying to get some attention from the audience.

Quite often, those festivals featured sweet indie rock bands. They weren't big names but they did make people dance and smile. There was nothing complex, nothing unique and nothing overwhelming about those bands but still they easily managed to get the audience shake their behinds.


I like to compare American trio Dentist to some of those bands, playing on a Saturday afternoon on a sunlit meadow. Like them, the music that Dentist delivers is straightforward. The songs are short. The atmosphere is friendly. Fronted by Emily Bornemann, Dentist simply delivers pure joy, inspired by everything between indie pop, punk, alternative rock, shoegaze, surf rock and jangle pop. Opening with the uplifting 'Upset Words', this album is a nice collection of summery rock tunes, not too complex, not too clean either. Just rock 'n roll.

Of course, being a female fronted band clearly drives Dentist towards the "sweet" and somewhat innocent side of the rock spectrum. It will probably not be a surprise that bands like Belly or The Breeders come to mind. Another big influence must have been The Pixies. I recognize those gritty guitar lines and those intense outbursts here and there, especially on rockers like 'Tight Spot' or 'Remind Me'. 

So, if you're nostalgic to those brilliant nineties, this album is your chance to relive the whole thing. Even the gloomy, grungy side is represented in the sad ballad 'All Is Well (In Hell'). I guess this is one of those albums to show to people who say "they don't make good rock music anymore". Dentist proves that sweet, simple pop rock is far from dead and I couldn't be happier about that. So check it out, you'll end up smiling from ear to ear...


​Serge

dark ambient

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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. 

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. 

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.    

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.  

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. 

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. 

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. 

black metal

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.     

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. 

stoner rock/ psychedelic rock 

bandcamp

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.

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.    

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

indie rock

The Netherlands might be one of the most underrated countries as far as music is concerned. I often talk about their bands with other people and they just lift their shoulders. Yet, bands like Golden Earring, The Gathering, Shocking Blue, Pestilence and Junkie XL have certainly put their mark on their respective genres. Besides, let's not to forget Eddie Van Halen, who is still regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. There is a massive amount of talent in The Netherlands, with many artists exploring the boundaries of genres, finding unique ways to express themselves and paying tribute to the wonderful world that music really is. 


Mummy's A Tree resides in Nijmegen. The band was formed back in 1996 by Stefan van den Berg in order to cope with his mother's early passing. Inspired not only by this tragedy but also by the 'Jesus Christ Superstar' musical and Beatles albums, van den Berg started composing his own songs. On his first concert he tells people that his guitar is made from a graveyard tree. More concerts and three albums followed. 'Strange Darling', 'Loft Music for Millions yet Unaware' and 'Cadmium' each came with a different line-up and a different musical vision. Now, 'Goodbye Stratosphere' has been released. For this album, Stefan invited Martin Luiten (guitars), Rick Weren (bass) and Imre Elzer (drums).

The album opens with 'A Little Lightness' which immediately showcases the emotional yet experimental nature of the music. In a way, the music follows a path similar to artists like The Beatles, David Bowie and Pink Floyd but van den Berg is not afraid to deviate from that path and get lost in the woods. 'Oak Tree Yard' is a quite strange but mostly fascinating song, borrowing from psychedelic rock and Americana. It has a very narrative nature, a gloomy overtone but still something playful. The gritty but immersive ballad 'Heaven Is A Game' is one of my favorite tracks here. Here, hints of grunge rock seem to appear, coated in an emotional singer-songwriter jacket. There must be at least on Buckley album in van den Berg's collection.

Now, there are some big names in this review and I have to say that Mummy's A Tree didn't borrow their easy-listening capacities. Most of the songs have an experimental nature, which needs more than one quick listen to be fully appreciated. That obviously doesn't mean that you can't enjoy the excellent guitar work in '1000 Years', not at all. It just means that this album needs to be explored, needs to grow on the listener. It will demand your full attention. But if you are a sucker for deeply emotional music, songs like 'I'm Going Down' and 'Pyjamas & Snow Boots' are definite must-hears. This is all excellent indie rock, laced with old school psychedelic pop, recommended for everybody who like his music a tiny bit different.


Serge