black metal

Since its rise in the early nineties, the darkest of music genres has come a long way. While those early records were influenced by thrash metal, punk, religious oppression and the occult, today black metal comes in an impressive array of forms. Of course, there are still plenty of bands who stubbornly hold on to the vintage and traditional style but others have adapted a variety elements into their music, from shoegaze over gothic rock and ambient to crust punk, classical music and folk. The possibilities seem endless.

However, (apart from a few dark ambient like intros) none of that is to be found on this raging assault from Swedish traditionalists Khaospath. Their way is harsh, bleak and relentless. With piercing riffs, ferocious blast beats and hellish screams this trio elbow themselves in the region of old school black metal and seeks the company of acts like Marduk, Watain, Gorgoroth and so on. Perhaps, in a way, '...For The Devil Speaks The Truth' sounds like many other black metal releases, perfectly blending in with the scene, but then again, there are some brilliant songs to be found here.

'Under A Bloodstained Nightsky' is such as song, on average a lot slower than the others but as immersive as a lavaflow. Personally, I've always preferred the slower songs over the blast-beats driven ones, especially with the shrill sound that makes this genre what it is. Nonetheless, 'Under A Bloodstained Nightsky' is a stunning piece of music, perfectly suited for your after-midnight rituals, whatever those may be. Besides, the song is followed by my favorite fast one, the grim and thrashy 'A Blade At The Edge Of Sanity'. Both songs fit quite well together too, adding a sense of concept to the whole thing. 

'Oraculum Strigoi' is another highlight, and an excellent single/video to promote the entire album. It contains plenty of variation between slow and fast, harsh and harsher. It incorporates some clean vocals, some tiny resemblances to gothic rock and even a hint of industrial. Most of all, obviously, it's a prima example of the skull battering black metal, one which the fans of the genre can easily appreciate. Same goes for the entire album, as it is simply an excellent piece of work. Recommended? Fuck yeah!


Serge

stoner rock

bandcamp

Machine Sun is an album released on January 17, by Russian stoner rock project Ritual Haze. With five tracks – Fire, the eponymous title track Machine Sun, Dark Night, Desert Alias and Dither Haze – Machine Sun is a typical, yet amazingly strident, pungently pervasive, astoundingly rude and rewarding stoner rock album. With powerfully shifting and almost psychedelically uplifting guitars, this record manages to be a great achievement, with its qualities relying on carefully elaborated rhythms, and massively huge exhilarating rock components, something which certainly elevates the standards of the work, that manages to be among the highest representatives of the genre.

Although some songs have slow rhythms, which are somewhat common to this type of music, Machine Sun is no ordinary album. Being somewhat laconic and concise – the album is only thirty seven minutes long –, which is something that certainly helps, the masterful, smooth and deliberately unexpected guitar traces that makes the musical fiber of these songs are very intelligent and precise sonorous components. With not even a single minute of monotony, the underlining musical craftiness is encrusted in detail, and an emotional melancholy emerges beautifully in precious moments of artistic sensibility. In very poetic patterns of calmness, deeply inserted in a perfectly established transcendental style of introspective creation, you rapidly perceive that each song has its own unique feature, firmly rooted in a coherent musical diagram, which has its own sphere of sonorous peculiarities. Nonetheless, the album has a clear and cohesive identity, exceedingly enthralled in the vast panel of an expansive horizon of profoundly proverbial musical proficiency. 

Although Machine Sun is not exactly what I would call a masterpiece, it certainly gets close to it. A captivating album, filled with reverberating rhythms, and a true sonority that honors the authenticity and the distinguishable features of stoner rock as a genre – without becoming a generic or simplistic album –, here you have an abundant set of qualities, that makes Machine Sun worthwhile listening. 

With some incredible pearls, which makes easy to consider all the five tracks great musical compositions, unlike many albums of the genre, you never feel bored while listening to Machine Sun. A brilliant instrumental stoner rock album, that elaborates new standards for the genre – but at the same time wisely reinforcing its true core, sonorous shapes and original values – this is a magnificent work, that should be regarded as one of the modern pearls of stoner rock, and, as such, an astounding reference and a splendid example to be followed. A cornerstone record, that could inspire – and certainly will – a lot of bands along the way, in the future to come.            


Wagner

black metal

Plague of Plagues is an album released on January 15, by French record label Drakkar Productions. A work by Norwegian black metal act Enepsigos, the record, almost one hour long, has eight tracks: the eponymous Plague of Plagues, Rütne Engler, Pagan Rites, The Cold Bones, Manifestum, Massedrapssalmer, Ghoul and Askenatt. A little hard to properly evaluate, Plague of Plagues is as equal as is different from a lot of other albums in the genre. With solid harmonies and a very consistent technical work, their style rely primarily in very rapid rhythms, upon which pungent vocals – more firm and abrasive than grotesque –, aggressive guitars and perpetually disdainful drums perfectly complement the sound, in a cohesive musical alignment, that rapidly makes you acknowledge that these skilled artists really known what they’re doing.

Although not a typical album by the classic Norwegian black metal standards – the record has too much death metal features in it, although not to the extent of being categorized as blackened death metal –, Plague of Plagues is exceedingly interesting. Despite not being a masterpiece, or a great work of art, the record is not merely a generic black metal album either. With an interesting degree of originality, upon which the sound can be comprehended as unique, this work has a great deal of soul on the consistent layer of its sonorous structure, as well as a great domain of musical technique behind it.

Don’t get me wrong: you will hardly be impressed by this album. On the other hand, it is exceedingly necessary to acknowledge the fact that this work has several qualities. Plague of Plagues undoubtedly is a very intriguing, lucid, cohesive and decisive black metal work, that has its own peculiar structure, a genuine approach to the genre, a solid style, and a vehement sense of purpose. Never an imitation of any kind, even less a generic record, Plague of Plagues deserves a special place on the underground black metal scenario, for its groundbreaking musical consistency, fearless authenticity, overwhelming vigor and dispatched sense of creativity. 

With an authorial sound of their own, Plague of Plagues managed to be a very different black metal album, that hardly reminds or parallels the more emblematic Norwegian bands of the genre. Nonetheless, this is a very favorable and positive point, since they developed very well their own style of black metal, differentiating themselves exponentially from other groups in the genre. Exactly like I wrote above, Enepsigos haven’t managed to do a groundbreaking record, but if they stay on this way, they are certainly close of doing it, very soon, in the near future.  


Wagner

post rock

I, emotion is an album released on January 16, by Walking Over Strings, a post rock project of Venezuelan musician Efraín Alejandro Méndez. One hour and six minutes long, the album has nine tracks: intro – Fear, Fractured, Goodbyes, Remembered, Euphoria, Forgiveness, Anger, Loved and outro – Calmness. With beautiful iridescent melodies, I, emotion is a surreal album, with a lot of poetic elements reinventing the songs. With pragmatic components reenergized to deeply fulfill the sound with reflexive, melodic and melancholic elements, splendid harmonies arise altogether, in an elevating scale of dissonant ascendancy, over a sculpting delicacy of abundant primordial artistry, that surprisingly reinvents the genre, putting post rock in a deeper and sensible anagram of artistic values, in a way that you certainly haven’t heard before in your life.

With an amazing creativity and a poetic intuition that knows how to elaborate beautiful harmonies, Efraín Alejandro Méndez, with this I, Emotion, has really conquered a new path of musical sagacity, that never follows the commonalities of the genre. With originality, audacity and authenticity, he creates a personal musical style of his own, that impressively maintains the elusive features of the genre, never disfiguring it, nor distorting it. Expressing his art through a sound characterized by all the dominant elements of the genre, being always distinguishable, Walking Over Strings is destined to become a groundbreaking reference in the history of Post Rock. I, emotion is a profoundly cohesive, but nonetheless complex album, that exhibits cardinal influences from genres like atmospheric black metal, melodic black metal, alternative rock and traditional rock’n’roll.

With amazingly poetic and heavenly beautiful melodies, strikingly primordial and full of a benevolent angelical exhilaration for life, a reenergizing force of vitality spreads throughout the vivacious rhythms. I have never heard something like this on South America. With an audacious and genuine hunger for an authorial style of musical creation, Efraín Alejandro Méndez vivificates a positive energy unparalleled in the history of the genre. And this mainly occurs because I, emotion, is a masterful, brilliant and unconceivable work of art.    

Working from the linear sidelines of several genres to create something powerfully unique, that he can ostensibly call his own, I, emotion, by Walking Over Strings, is an insurgent and vital force in the history of post rock in several different levels: as a musical genre, as a genuine expression of art and as a sonorous shifting cohesive communication between souls and galaxies, highlighted as an expedient for the beginning of something original. And it’s impressive that an album this long of a genre usually calm and predictable managed to be so beautiful and emotionally impressive. Although I really love post rock, only a handful of albums on the genre had made me so astonished or profoundly impressed. But none of them on the same level as I, emotion. Truly beautiful, wonderful and full of profound mysteries and invisible colors, it was evidently conceived with soul, sincerity, formidable detailed technicality, spiritual joy and an effulgent sense of amazement. Into a transcendental vibration of cosmic sensibility, I, emotion, stands high as one of the most important records of our time. And this mainly was possible due to the boundless and phenomenal musical talent of Efraín Alejandro Méndez, one of the greatest avatars of post rock in South America, and possibly, in the entire world as well. Certainly, this album not only deserves, but should make history. A furious, lancinating, vigorous and consistent work that overflows poetry, humanity, conscience and a restless sense of profound harmonic excellence, this record is undoubtedly one of the best ever to be released.    


Wagner     

black metal / folk metal / avant garde

Skadi is an album released on January 20, by American melodic folk metal band The Flight of Sleipnir. Forty five minutes long, and with five tracks – Awaken, Tenebrous Haze, Earthen Shroud, Voices and Falcon White – Skadi is an interesting album, that features a complex mixture of melodic black metal, post metal, folk metal, psychedelic rock and stoner rock, creating a genre entirely new, exceedingly difficult to categorize. 

Nevertheless, setting classifications apart, Skadi is a very intriguing work. Unraveling a band that has created their own peculiar style, most of the music developed by The Flight of Sleipnir showcases a stoner sound, with pronounced black metal vocals all the way through. With a dignifying and unusually compelling technical work, splendidly developed as well as the creative harmonies, Skadi is a singular and largely unexpected album. Heavy and rude, but with slow harmonies, here the apparent contradictions not only work out very well, but solidifies the cohesion of a style amazing to discover, and to listen out loud. After the first two tracks, you rapidly come forward to the conclusion that certainly The Flight of Sleipnir is the pioneer of a genre yet to be named and properly understood. But it certainly sounds not just amazing, but enthusiastically promising.

Sometimes sounding almost like a soul-fueled prog-folk version of Jethro Tull, The Flight of Sleipnir is able to instantly intrigue anyone, and after a few minutes into their sound, they easily captivate the attention of intelligent listeners. I mean, there is so much curious and different elements perfectly combined together on this album, that you suddenly realize that the musical possibilities conquered by this formidable band are effectively endless. Skadi scores high in magnificent moments, being exponentially poetic, philosophic, cosmic and reflexive, all at the same time. With beautifully splendorous guitar lines, amazingly aligned with the sky in an endless night of unforgiving majesty, this record has all the right components that a true and genuine album of melodic Avant-garde metal should have.    

With calm, but imperial and transcendental harmonies, that have at the core of its artistic primacy the majesty of a kingdom of splendor lost somewhere in the sky of a glorious universe unknown, Skadi is a multifaceted and versatile album, whose sound evolves in the linear movement of constantly reshaping waves, that perfectly agglutinates on its superb style the coherence of an integral unity, bound by a marvelous sonorous soul, profoundly capable to shine from within. A fantastic album, unique in the history of the underground scene, Skadi certainly has generated a new path towards the development of exponentially relevant and excitingly new perspectives in the metal genre, as a whole. Sensational, inspirational, monumental, amazing and surprisingly fantastic, we have an enormous debt of gratitude with The Flight of Sleipnir, for creating this peculiar work of musical excellence, for the delight of our ears.   
  

Wagner
 
  

black metal

bandcamp

Misanthrope is an album released on January 23, by German black metal project Donarhall. With eight tracks – Intro, Nebelfeld, Ergrauen, Verdruss, Dunst, Schwaerze, Frust and Hoerigkeit – this is a very common ground black metal album, excessively simple and ordinary. Although it’s not terribly bad, on the other hand, it is not excellent either. In fact, it’s not even good. It has so little beautiful passages, that this album, as far as my personal evaluation goes, categorizes, at the best possible scenario, as a total waste of time. 

Basically a raw black metal album with good rhythms, the guitar lines are undoubtedly strong and self-sufficient, holding the hard harmonies in the extreme boundaries of a heavily colossal and aggressive sound. Unfortunately, the sound is deeply uniform, and the musical sphere hardly goes anywhere beyond the ordinary proposal of a usual and very simple black metal album. With a despicable lack of innovation, Misanthrope manages to be just another BM album that hardly deserves any attention.

Don’t get me wrong, the guitar work is competent, but it’s tiresome. The guitar riffs have little variations, and you eventually become too exasperated with the sound. The album is plagued by a dreadful monotony, and faster than you think, the album is not near the end, but all the way through, sounds exactly the same, from the very beginning. 

Sorry, but I cannot point it out any relevant, interesting or dignifying quality here. This album is overall too poor. And this is strange, given the fact that the songs are not that long; on the contrary, they have the average length of normal songs, which is four to five minutes. There is heaviness on this album. There is aggression, fast guitars and very fast drums. Nevertheless, it’s hard to tolerate. And while I sincerely appreciate the level of musical input that the work evidently showcases, the final result is a rather simplistic record, that hardly deserves any review or sincere appreciation.     

I sincerely don’t recommend this record to anyone, even to the most ardent enthusiasts of black metal. In the end, Misanthrope is a waste of time. With no values or qualities to highlight, this is a too much ordinary album, to receive any widespread attention.   


Wagner

dark ambient

Ex Machina is an album released by Italian electronic dark ambient group Vena, consisting of musicians Francesco Maggi, Stefano Tocci, Enzo Stante and Riccardo Martucci. With thirteen tracks – being them Prologo, Origins, Avatar, Abduct, Mental, Elohim, Progeny, Descent, Singularity, Horizon, The Solution, Ascension and Zeroclock – Ex Machina is a very smooth, simple and discreet dark ambient album, that revolves around a calm atmosphere, relying primarily on a constant sonorous axis of ecstatic acquiescence and rhythmic omniscience. 

With a stylistic approach that understands ambient music as an exercise on patience, but mainly as an ecstatic sonorous moment, Vena, on Ex Machina, comprehends the progeny of its musical universe on flexible ambivalent virtues, standardized by the consolidation of sagacious harmonies, that are as good in the composition of its sonorous shapes, as they are on the execution of its literal technique. With a sound that flows naturally throughout the expressive ordeal of an infinite galaxy of monumental emptiness, Ex Machina captures the ecstatic parameters of a moment frozen in time, to dissect the frames upon which its molecules writes the agony that frivolously wanders lost at the confines of a universe splendidly unseen, uncategorized and unknown.

Although the genesis of their music is exceedingly simple, they are amazingly genuine to the basic ordeals of the genre, creatively inserting their own peculiar elements and devices into the development of a genuine and more authorial musical context. Despite the lack of extraordinarily amazing passages, Ex Machina manages to be a very good record, that not only relies on an authentic disposition that embraces the genre in a consistent, but flexible validity of intuition, but also works in a profoundly envisioned and wider musical rhetoric, that ostensibly dissipates a formidably concentrated sound, that reveals the strength of a mature and fully developed style, maybe easy to imitate, but certainly hard to genuinely conceive or create. 

Ex Machina is a very well done album. Far away from being just another generic or simple dark ambient record, here you’ll feel intensely profound and dense elements, like soul, passion, energy and, mostly, the sinister and evasive discretion that a good work on this genre should have. You may at first not be impressed at all by Vena, but – if you really like dark ambient – as you listen to this record, wonderful tracks will unfold behind your ears, slowly revealing the sound of ethereal realities, completely unknown by the measurement of ordinary standards.                  


Wagner

dark ambient / electronic

Eprom is an album released on January 20, by Italian electronic dark ambient musical duo Diaspora Psichica, consisting of Francesco Maggi and Riccardo Martucci. With eight tracks – Transmission, Vision, Equilibrium, Daleth, Vertigo, Aeternum, Hysteresis Human Mind and Thelema –, Eprom reveals itself to be a deep, transient and dense dark ambient album. With a somewhat awkwardly ostensive sense of originality, there is a coherent and expressive sense of objectivity present on this album, which greatly helps the development of its purpose, intensity and musicality.

Besides the ostensibly slow harmonies prevalent on the album, here the calmness of sound, the exhilaration of silence and the anxiety of expectation are brilliantly combined, to greatly express the agonizing drifts of the genre. Like a slow shadow descending into the nothingness of an abyss of conformity and obscurity, Eprom revolves around a salutary, creative and deep understanding of the genre, as the two musicians behind the project magnificently elaborate – from a genuine correlation of concept – their own style of sound. 

Contrary to a lot of other albums on the genre, Eprom is coherent, lucid, discreet and evasive, and you never gets resented of any boredom. Astoundingly building a resonating wall of delusional musicality – although the sound is merely concrete – Eprom is a great example of a Dark Ambient album done in the right way. It’s never vague or tedious, and its primary harmonic expansions are quite unique. A strongly recommended album, it’s by far one of the best I’ve heard on the genre. With very singular tracks – each one having its own musical characteristics –, but retaining a solid unity, Eprom is a very good record! Far from being redundant, ordinary or generic, this is an impeccable album, that not only deeply comprehends dark ambient, but thoroughly and truly communicates to the listener the real meaning and the primary purpose behind the genre. 

The right choice for each and every enthusiast of dark ambient, Eprom, by Diaspora Psichica, have the potential to become a reference in the genre. With an impressive sonorous quality that easily functions as a bridge between the reverberation of a marvelous sound and the ecstatic dread of a very subtle, but hopefully imminent darkness, this album has everything the genre demands, combined in the right order, with the correct components, exactly as it should! Nobody could have done this better.  
     

Wagner

black metal

…And All Will Be Ashes is an album released on December 19, 2016 by Spanish black metal band Dantalion. With seven tracks – Fleshly Sin, A River of Depravation, Crimson Tide, Desperation Nights, Tears of Ash, Shadows Doomed To Die and No Place For Faith – …And All Will Be Ashes is an amazing and excellent black metal album. Full of strength, vigor and profoundly shaped rhythms, amazingly crafted in lucid guitar lines, this is a powerfully amazing album, more delightfully inserted in the technical rhetoric of harmonic purity than in the sinister soundscape of savage and crude black metal. With an amazing set of melodies that revolves around the distinction of an authorial style, Dantalion really has conceived on this …And All Will Be Ashes a surprising work of poetic sensibility.

…And All Will Be Ashes sometimes shifts and evolves into a plastic, but exceedingly evolutionary and melodic form of blackened death metal, being a solid and vigorous album, with slow harmonies, and beautifully poetic, subtle and melancholic guitar solos. Being almost artistic black metal, the softness and the delicacy of the sound vividly contrasts with the usual rudeness of the genre. Bur Dantalion, like I wrote above, have developed its own style, and apparently on a very mature and concrete basis, upon which their musicality intensely reverberates, throughout the intimacy of a distant, but proficient galaxy, where all souls collide at the interior of a light that never fades away. 

Their creativity is amazing, and what I definitely liked the most is their ability to explore and expand rhythms into the crystal beauty of slow and soft harmonies. Never tedious, but enthusiastically melodic, without being shallow, the strength of guitar lines in the album are close to arbitrarily insane and captivating, as they extend the boundaries of an afflictive sense of ingenuity, that apparently seems to reveal the essence and the spirit of a purpose that constantly inserts into the music the life that threatens to escape the devices of human condition. 

With an amazing energy of their own, Dantalion manages to be exceedingly technical, without being automatic, and amazingly melodic, without being fragile. In the clear vicissitude of the development of a personal style, this incredible band managed to extend and highlight new paths to explore in the genre, doing a seminal work in the history of metal.  


Wagner

stoner rock

bandcamp

Electric Abyss is an album released on January 18, by Greek stoner rock group Hazy Sea. Almost forty minutes long, and with seven tracks – Storm In My Head, Ghost Rider, Under The Mountain, Run Run Run, Amigos, Deadly Dance and The Road –, this album is a formidable exemplar of the genre, with strong guitars, a solid sonorous presence, and an underling strength of musical relevance, being a spectacular and precious record, that elevates stoner rock into an art sound category. With slow, but bruising, pervasive, pungent and marvelous guitar lines, this album is one of a kind: you will feel profoundly astounded and captivated after hearing the wonderful tunes this album presents us. With almost electrifying harmonies, that are as soft as winds in a spring morning, but concomitantly as incisive as hazardous fire flames incinerating your eyes, Electric Abyss has warm and expansive rhythms – brilliantly shaped by sharp and strident riffs –, that are probably among the best that you will ever hear, in the history of the genre.      

Probably, as you have found by now, the guitars are the driving force behind this magnificent album, although not exclusively. Powerfully sculpting the amazing harmonies of the songs, the musical creation as a whole is a major achievement, giving Electric Abyss a very special signature. Being very far away of an ordinary or common stoner album, this work is a lucid combination of timing, musical form and strikingly crafted melodies. Certainly the work of skilled, technically talented and very proficient musicians, they obviously managed very well the creation of a very authorial style of instrumental rock. 

There is not a single song on this album that I would evaluate as minor or insignificant. And, although the rhythms of the songs are predominantly slow, you will never feel bored or unsatisfied. And this highlights a paradox: the overall harmonies of the songs are quite simple, never too complex or arranged in incomprehensible mathematical patterns. Nevertheless, they brilliantly stand at the height of a monumental musical excellence, easily extracting a formidable, impeccable and sensational sound of virtuous artistic input, marvelously amplified by the intuitive nature of their organic sonorous synergy.

Electric Abyss is a fabulous album. With influences of southern rock, and traditional rock’n’roll as well – perfectly diluted in the overflowing originality of their own sound – Hazy Sea is a spectacular and passionate stoner rock act from Greece, that has everything necessary to achieve their place on the scene. I have never a heard a band with such a simple music, that could sound so ostensibly wonderful. Electric Abyss is simply a great album! You have to listen for yourself, in order to possibly believe.   


Wagner  

black metal

In recent years, my black metal collection hasn't been growing much. There used to be a time when the genre took up half of my album collection and pretty much constantly blasted through my speakers or headphones. Yet, gradually I grew out of it, not because I no longer care about black metal but mainly because I had a feeling that the best albums already had been written and released. These days, black metal album only occasionally pass the revue but when it does, it is a stunning piece of work, like this one by Australian one-man act Astral Winter.

On this album, his third, Astral Winter explores the edges of symphonic and atmospheric black metal. Although the majority of the music here is ferocious and intense, there is plenty of room for epic keyboards and even progressive sounds. 'When Moonlight Evokes The Frozen Nights' also comes up with clean vocals, apart from the haunted scream that make this genre what it is. Besides, Josh, the guy behind this project (and in Atra Vetosus, Hammerstorm, Lost in Desolation & Take This Life), knows his way around a multitude of instruments.

There are awesome piano passages and dark, eerie keyboards to be found on this album, adding a brilliant conceptual feel to the whole thing. In that aspect, his album is a stunning example of cosmos-inspired extreme metal.  'As I Embrace The Winter Winds', for example, is a masterpiece of atmospheric black metal, opening with an epic synth melody which eventually turns out to be the lead of the whole thing. Yet, the progressive and technically skilled guitar play makes this song - and this album as a whole - a stand-out in today's blackened scene.

Even hardcore fans of the so-called post-black metal scene can easily appreciate this gem. It contains a lot of highly immersive passages, each of them being perfectly suited for a trance-inducing headbanging session. Bands that come to mind, include Dimmu Borgir, Acherontas, Limbonic Art, Summoning, Drudkh and Lantlôs, to name a few. In that, Astral Winter certainly is in excellent company   The only downside is, chances of ever experiencing this live are close to nihil, since this is a one-man act that never tours. 

'Forest of Silence' is a long album with songs reaching up to fifteen minutes. In most cases, the total duration of seventy minutes would simply be too long for the average black metal fan. Here however, the level of variation and the almost insane multitude of sounds, influences and instruments turn the whole thing into an awesome sonic adventure which never gets stale. I named only a few songs in this write-up but you can rest assured that none of the other tracks will disappoint you, on the very contrary. This album deserves a spot in your collection, no doubt about that.


​Serge

progressive metal

dark ambient

post rock

shoegaze / psychedelic

symphonic doom

grindcore

alternative / metal

dark ambient

indie rock / pop rock

punk rock

rock / blues

funeral doom / black metal

noise / drone / spoken word

heavy metal

death metal / black metal

Serge

classical / ambient

I love how versatile and inspiring music can be. Half an hour ago, I was cleaning the house while some groovy death metal blasted through my speakers, which obviously provided me with plenty of energy. Right now, I'm in a completely different zone, a calm and relaxed one. Inspired by the always blissful sound of the piano, I'm now ready to write and chill down for a moment. So I guess I'll simply start writing the review and see where the whole thing takes me.

Nathan Shubert is a pianist, composer and keyboard player from Canada. According to his biography, he draws influences from Nils Frahm, Steve Reich, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Philip Glass and Erik Satie. So it will not be very surprising that we're dealing with a piano driven piece of music. The tracks on this album are quite minimal instrumentals, warm, gentle and somewhat romantic at times.

I mentioned a bunch of artists to compare this album with, but the most striking comparison actually comes from right inside this very house. I have a few musical neighbours, one playing trumpet and two pianists. On a regular basis, the sounds come through the walls and silently fill the room. They're not perfect, there is a tiny error to be found here and there, but they're human, warm and comforting. For me, they are some of the most beautiful sounds on this planet.

And that's exactly what this album does. Tracks like 'Chairs', 'Fencing' and 'Encampment' are so nice to listen to, even though they don't reach a technical precision. Most of the tunes are friendly explorations of the piano. They show a seemingly introvert musician in a respectful conversation with his instrument. Sometimes they're uptempo and uplifting, sometimes slow and narrative, but they are always immersive.

My favorites are the two (way too short) 'Aurora' pieces, which somehow serve as ambient interludes between the piano pieces. Closer 'Gaze' is another favorite by the way. However, I would indeed recommend this album to all fans of classical music and ambient. It's a warmly recommended addition to your collection. I'm going to add it to my day-to-day playlist and I suggest  you do the very same thing.


​Serge

doom / industrial

The first month is not over yet and one thing is already starting to become clear. 2017 will color black, yellow and red (mostly black). There is no denying that Belgian bands are about to dominate the musical landscape and, as a result, plenty of end-year lists in December. Bathsheba and Wiegedood already set the standard in their respective genres and now Emptiness is aiming for the absolute top in whatever genre it is they play these days.

That being said, I have no idea how to correctly describe the music on this stunning full-length. The follow up to their 2014 album 'Nothing But The Whole' simply shatters every genre restriction you can think of, eventually resulting in something between Anathema, Godflesh and Massive Attack. I know, those are miles away from each other, but somehow Emptiness managed to throw these and other influences into something that actually deserves the term "unique".

It opens with the awesome track 'Meat Heart', a dark metal tune with plenty of keyboards and soundscapes but still damn catchy and immersive. I really dig the vocals here, along of course with the pitch black atmosphere. The vocals seem to come directly from a haunting horror movie, which adds a lot to whole concept. 'It Might Be' follows a similar path, but on the same time adds some elements from the whole post-black metal scene.

With the addition of Ashtoreth's Peter to the line-up, Emptiness brought in someone who know his way around drones, noise and soundscapes, something you can clearly hear on this album. 'You Skin Won't Hide You' perfectly illustrates that. This is one of my favorite tracks here, somewhat reminding me of Nadja covering The Cure and using these awesome dark grunts over it. Yep, apart from everything I already mentioned, this album also breathes shoegaze-galore.

So yes, in a way this album contains plenty of variation but at the same time it showcases a coherent and conceptual sound. Even the dark jazz influenced post-doom track 'Digging In The Sky' fits perfectly in this concept, even though this song issues an atmosphere of increscent madness rather than the pitch black darkness in the other tracks. And if all that is not enough, 'Ever' comes up with synthpop meets gothic death metal and still sounds convincing.

After listening to the album a few times, the phrase "I hope this is Emptiness' 'Wildhoney'" appeared in my head. With that, I was thinking about the conceptual feel, the lower tempo and the domination of atmosphere over aggression but also about simply breaking through. With this album, Emptiness added an absolute blast and certainly a landmark in their career. Obviously, this comes highly recommended for every fan of dark metal or "angst rock".


​Serge

hard rock

A hot summer afternoon. You are standing in front of a stage with a cold beer in your hand. Someone asks who is playing. A band is performing and you do not know the name yourself. Attracted by expressive guitar solos and an intriguing soaring voice you start asking around, because now you really want to know who is responsible for this sensational atmosphere you start noticing. A big hairy fat guy with tattoos all over his body, an old school metalhead all the way, answers you. You learn that it is ‘Four Star Revival’. Catchy. To the point. You start concentrating on their music. You are certainly amused. 

Four Star Revival (Dayton, Ohio) is described as the world’s hottest new hard rock band having an 80’s metal sound with a modern twist. I think this is indeed the best way to present them to you. Listening to their latest work gives me some kind of sense of nostalgia.

Their debut album ‘Knights of the revival’ received enthusiastic reviews by the press. Now Jack Emrick (vocals), Benny Bodine (guitar), Ed Girard (bass) and Paul Strausburg (drums) released their brand-new EP ‘The Underdog’. The band brings us a highly entertaining five-song collection. Is it something new? Not really. Is it something revolutionary? Not to me. Is it enjoyable? Very much. Is it something I would buy? Yes. 

Although 4SR has a very recognizable sound the tracks on the album are all quite different. It never becomes boring at all. Jack Emrick has an impressive voice which is in perfect harmony with the rest of the instruments. Not only can he to bring more power when this is needed, but he is also able not to exaggerate. The variation he brings on a vocal level is absolutely a surplus. 

Also, Bodine succeeds in intriguing me with his mature guitar work as well. Sometimes I am taken back by his melodies, to the eighties, nineties… but when I almost feel lost in time I am suddenly brought back. Heavier, faster guitar riffs similar to thrash destroy my speakers.

‘The Underdog’ will, in my humble opinion, not become a “classic EP” but it definitely deserves respect. It is an entertaining high quality product created by a promising band. Older, more experienced hardrock fans will undoubtedly appreciate possible singalongs like ‘Broken’ and ‘The Garden of Good and Evil’. 

Michiel

post rock

Now, that's a good question. "What makes us human?". Is it the fact that we have some sort of consciousness? Is it the illusion that we are on top of the food chain? Is it our imagination, our self-destructive behaviour? Or is it the fact that we have discovered a way of expressing emotions, events and ideas by using symbolic and abstract compositions? We sure know how to manipulate the world around us and we sure know how to describe it with art. That's what makes us human, I guess? Perhaps that "art" is also why there is now a band with the name This Makes Us Human.

Hailing from Rome, this post-rock quartet comes up with a nice and gentle approach to the genre. Inspired by bands like Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Ros, Caspian and This Will Destroy You, these Italians drench us in an excellent debut, but also into one that raises the expectations for if and when there will be a successor. The biggest advantage of this album is also its biggest flaw, but that's often the case with these debuts. Like I wrote, it is a splendid album, one that clearly was inspired by the mentioned bands and for now, that's perfectly fine. However, This Makes Us Human will still have to prove themselves and work hard to stand out in the vast world of post-rock.

Opener 'Glare' is a beautiful track, very genuine and extremely loyal to the genre. There no doubt in my mind that every single post-rock fan can appreciate this tune. This Makes Us Human create elaborate sonic landscapes on which the listener can easily travel through his imagination. The entire album seems to flow on that approach, highlighting in 'Ask the Wolf', a track that brings A Swarm Of The Sun to mind. All the tracks showcase high levels of musical craftsmanship and professionalism. Buuuuuut... I somewhat miss the experimental flair that made post-rock the stunning genre it is.

And by the end, the criticism eventually fades away. Closer 'Apology For a Revolution' doesn't only have a brilliant title, it also showcases the fact that minimalism and genius often go hand in hand. Here we have a song that could be a classic in the genre, long, cinematic, narrative, immersive, just the way I like this style of music. So yes, I do recommend this album to post rock fans. It's an excellent debut, promising even better things to happen in the future. It makes an excellent addition to your collection too and it certainly will end up in my day-to-day playlist. So check it out, because in the end, checking these things out is what makes you human...


​Serge

black metal / avant garde

Beyond is the most recent release of Arkhaeon, a Swiss black metal project of which very little is known. With only one track – titled Beyond – being almost thirty four minutes long, this album is an interesting exemplar of a very functional mixture of raw, melodic, symphonic and esoteric black metal. 

Exploring very well the essence of its melodic possibilities, Beyond is almost a symphony of melancholy, relying in an ocean of forgetfulness and desolation, searching for redemption in a place of sorrow, disdain and coercion. With calm guitar lines, and sometimes beautifully poetic acoustic passages, Arkhaeon is a very peaceful, quiet, self-reliant, reflexive and philosophic black metal record. Nonetheless, growling vocals, fast guitars and rapid sonorous passages are prevalent throughout the whole album, which makes Beyond to be quite a unique record, with a digressive, but somewhat objective style, that manages to conquer its own boundaries of artistic intuition, in a high level of lucid proficiency, that makes the album – in fact, the track itself – to portray a lot of different emotions, colors and nuances, drawing different pictures and setting different contexts into a track full of surprises, emotions, setbacks and atmospheres.

With a formidable layout that seems to be always changing to achieve a new level of sensibility, this track really explores the wider possibilities of an atmospheric sound, into a very black metal background. But evoking different perspectives and antagonistic choices, a rebellion seems to explode into the heart of the unknown. Always surprising the listener with unforgiving elements that integrates new components into the music, Arkhaeon does a fine work on this album, elaborated at the height of a perception that explores wisely all the different nuances and perceptions that are possible in the genre, never falling into ordinary clichés. Although I sincerely can’t categorize this work as a masterpiece – yet – Beyond is undoubtedly a serious and magnificent work, that rereads and reworks the genre in a more stoic, experimental, sophisticated and complex manner, while exonerates the fate of an ordinary approach with the transcendental ambition of its poetic values. 

Beyond is a very intriguing album. Although it will hardly please enthusiasts of the more conservative wing of the genre – although Arkhaeon is neither progressive nor DSBM [although closely resembles] – this work deserves all the compliments for its audacity, creativity and originality. It certainly deserves to be among the most interesting avant-garde black metal albums of the decade! 

  
Wagner       

black metal / avant garde

Arctic Sunrise is an album released by veteran German hard/ black metal band Spectral, on January 13, by Boersma Records. With nine tracks – being them an Intro, the eponymous title track Arctic Sunrise, Evil Takes Control, Invaders, Nuclear Assault, In Battle With Fire & Steel, Path Of The Damned, Vengeance In Blood and Fuck Off And Die (Metal is Forever) – this is a captivating, intense and exceedingly good album! With balanced and well-shaped rhythms, Arctic Sunrise manages to be a very decent record, done with a remarkable degree of originality, mixing elements of black metal, dark metal and power metal – amongst other subgenres –, to solidify an excellent and genuine style, that has everything to be considered the best of its kind to strike the scene, so far. As the songs are objective, and not too long, the exchanging dynamics presented on the album makes the sound to be rapid, functional and delightful, impossible not to be appreciated in a well-deserved manner, as it delivers agitatedly an astounding, innovating and relentless type of metal, unforgiving and destructive to the bones. Powerful, overwhelming and proverbial, this is a very definitive record, that has all the necessary qualities to make history! 

With heavy melodies, great solos and amazing guitar lines, the compositions are solid, and reveal a very experienced band, secure of what they’re doing. Never underestimating their talent and musical capacities, they create an intriguing style of their own, exponentially authentic, that relies on the major force of their trustworthy objectives. Although in some songs black metal elements predominate a little, nevertheless, they match black and death metal perfectly for the most part – without becoming what is usually called blackened death metal –, as they play with a lot of components from other genres as well, showing a formidable compromise with anyone, except with the solidification of their own peculiar style.

Rapid rhythms and fast guitars predominate all the way through, although their music does present a more technical aspect in its multifaceted layers, in several passages. With a complex musical ordeal that reveals excellent musicians firmly compromised at creating and executing the best songs possible, Arctic Sunrise reveals itself as a major musical work, that perfectly matches the most traditional elements of metal with new and audacious possibilities, without fear of innovating, in a more embellished and polished musical panel, but always maintaining the basic precepts and the core of true metal. And – although the entire album is good – special mention goes to the last two songs on this marvelous record: Vengeance In Blood and Fuck Off And Die (Metal is Forever). I promise these two extremely amazing tracks will definitely blow up your mind, in such an astounding way, that you never have experienced in your life before. 

An interesting record, that certainly has everything to captivate the most ardent enthusiasts of the genre, Arctic Sunrise is a major album. Approaching metal in a brilliantly experimental manner, and effectively doing a mixture of different subgenres, adding new colors to it without losing the essence, Spectral proves why they are a relevant energy on the scene, and will remain as such, as long as they live.  


Wagner

black metal

The Lucifer Principle is the most recent album by black metal group Panzerfaust, released on December 19, 2016, by Italian record label Avantgarde Music. With only four tracks – being them The First Con Man, The First Fool, The Jerusalem Syndrome, Axis Mundi and God's Gonna Cut You Down (a Johnny Cash cover) – The Lucifer Principle is a conceptual album, that analyzes the conditions upon which evil rise in the human heart. A very good black metal album, slow and raw, but meticulously worked in a dramatic axis of aggressive harmonies, this is a record that really came to aggregate new elements into the genre.

Despite the fact that there is nothing really new on The Lucifer Principle, in terms of sound or technique, an inconceivable degree of originality is immediately perceived already in the first moments of the first track. With a lucid, sinister and cautious black metal style, Panzerfaust reevaluates the sphere of interaction upon which the genre solidifies its lugubrious sonorous proposal, corroding with their ominous melodies the most imperceptive traits hidden in the dark abysses of the human behavior.

The sound is a typically sinister black metal symphony, that relies more on the fear evoked by its conspicuous harmonies, than any aggression inserted at the verge of the style. With coherence, strength and a fearless imposition of their own standards, Panzerfaust does a very decent work on The Lucifer Principle. Although the album is a little bit short, black metal enthusiasts will certainly be delighted with this release. 

The last track is a very good surprise as well. A black metal styled cover of a Johnny Cash song, God's Gonna Cut You Down was reignited as a formidable black metal anthem, with acute, primordial and stringent guitars, that revolve around a proverbial system of shadows, casting aside the most funereal harmonies ever conceived in the history of the genre. An astounding, superb and excellent rereading of a beautiful song in a very different genre, the final track certainly is the cherry on the top of the cake. 

The Lucifer Principle, by Panzerfaust, is a very good album. Effectively working on its own genuine style of black metal, this record has all the qualities required to reach and please its audience. With an almost total absence of negative aspects – even the length of the album is marvelous, being exceedingly objective and direct to the point – evidently, the Lucifer Principle is a major record, fundamental for understanding the evolution of black metal, in the contemporary scene. 


Wagner

death metal

Released on January 2, Legbah is the debut album of the eponymous Swedish melodic death metal band. With seven tracks, and a total length of only thirty one minutes – Sorg, Ignited By One, Words Will Not Return, Vision And The Void, Höstvisa, The Destroyer and Towards The Burning Path – Legbah definitely set higher standards for melodic black/ death metal. With powerful melodies, dramatically poetic at the same time, this album excels in originality, with a great amount of vision and dedication put into it, which becomes somewhat visible all the way through.

With reflexive melodies, there is little aggression, here, although rude and visibly strong guitar lines are present all the time. The harmonies are well-written, and apparently transcend time, corroborating its laconic and sincere approach throughout a cosmos of disillusion, that unravels itself in a set of perfectly conceived rhythms, that remembers technical death metal in great scale. With a vivaciously solid sound, built in the apex of a genuine amalgamation of genres, Legbah – the album – expresses the splendid vision of technical death metal as the appendix of a scenic and reliant sensibility, with the cohesion and the illusory discipline of melodic death metal.

With a genuine sound, that really has a multifaceted string of colors to offer, Legbah – the band – does an excellent work on their debut. A terrific album, despite being so short, you will be very delighted while hearing this great work of art. Although sounding a little repetitive some times, the album is solid, coherent, strong and incredibly lucid. Opening a new paradigm of style possibilities, Legbah as a record is a well-shaped conceived piece of artistry, that came to light to guide into a seriously new path these genres, that are so much in need for new inspirations. And Legbah does offer a whole new universe of possibilities, concerning their astounding level of creativity. 

With calm songs, fulfilled by the strength of a philosophic soul, the music of Legbah has everything to enchant its audience: amazing guitar solos, perfect melodies, poetic harmonies, imperial desolation and a distilled melancholy imprisoned at the heart of a delusional night, amongst many other qualities. But above everything, they achieve a formidable apex in what concerns technical and melodic death metal, being the most perfect amalgamation that I have ever heard on the genre. With carefully detailed harmonies, that sound spontaneous as well, Legbah is the future and the perfection for an entirely new category of death metal, that has started to develop, thanks to them.   



Wagner