progressive / math rock

Madness, I tell you, absolute madness! As if Helmet stole Maybeshewill's equipment to recreate some tunes by Wagner. Or as if Dillinger Escape Plan and Godflesh cover Autechre. Yes, this is something strange, complex and intense. Yet, after a few listens, I have to conclude that this is quite an interesting musical study, one with an experimental attitude that can compete with many free jazz musicians. 

A Jane Doe is a one-man project from Vitebsk, Belarus.  Originally a black metal musician, Sergey Mihajlovich decided to go his own way with this solo project. He claims to be influenced by bands like Meshuggah, Animals Are Leaders and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza and that might be a decent description.  However, I still sense that gloomy blackened atmosphere somewhere.

The ep consists of six instrumental tracks, each expressing a different temperament. It's an interesting approach to making music and in a way the songs do represent their given temperament.  However, the whole remains a harsh, complex and dissonant piece of work which obviously isn't suited for everyone. Like with many math & noise rock bands, many people will lose track of all those unexpected hooks and surprising elements.

Does that have to be a problem? Of course not. This is the stuff that keeps the music industry fresh and evolving. Yeah, this might be too weird for some people but fact remains that there is a skilled and motivated artist behind this. So check it out and then check it out again. This ep needs to sink in before you see the true value but once it is there, you're in for something you won't easily forget...


Serge

progressive rock

This is another story of genre-defying music, something I quite like, even though it makes it hard to review. With stuff like this, the song is always superior to the instrumentation or even to the musical style it is presented in. I'm sure that if Charly Sahona, the man behind this band, was a classical schooled cello player, this album would have sounded completely different but equally interesting.

However, Charly is a rock musician and so are his teammates. Somewhere in 2014, Charly Sahona wrote a few compositions, made his friends listen to them and invited them to join in. From those compositions, the band started to grow and the music became a group-effort. It's this chemistry that makes this scene so fascinating. A few people come together and before you know it, an excellent album entertains countless of people.

But all of that doesn't make this album easier to review, although I did find a few possible references. 'Light Of Day, Sense Of Life' has a little Anathema feel to it, mainly in the overall feeling of melancholy. 'Fires Of Passion' is perfectly suited to become a massive arena rock hit. It has a modern, technical yet emotional atmosphere which I like a lot. 'On This Winter Night' shows a nice deal of electronics and turns out to be something between trip-hop and rock music.

In that aspect it might not even be so strange to mention Archive in this review. Rock and electronics coming together in an immersive orgy of sound, what else could you possibly want? For older rockers, how about Thought Industry or even Queensryche? I can't help but thinking that bands like these have been an influence on Sahona.  Of course, in this genre, there is always Dream Theater but I like Sahona more, I really do.

In the end, all references aside, I actually feel like this is simply excellent melodic rock music which can easily compete with giant bands like Linkin Park, Muse or pretty much everything on the main stages of rock festivals. Yet, maybe these songs are a bit too complex for the average audience member. Yet, this album is full of adventures, well written and dynamic tracks. I surely hope the come to Antwerp soon...


Serge

psychedelic rock / doom

"The heavy side-project of singer/guitarist Stuart McLamb and drummer Thomas Simpson of indie stars The Love Language", that's how this band was announced to me. Now, in all honesty, I don't even know The Love Language (I will pick up on that soon) so for me these are pretty new names. Why I don't know them yet? I'm not sure, different music scene maybe? Yet, for now that doesn't matter because these guys just dropped an awesome album and I'd like to focus on that.

Although their facebook page mentions 'Soon ain't doom', I think this album will make a lot of doomed heads turn into their direction.  But yeah, perhaps that tag is too easy.  Sure, this album is loaded with distorted guitars and slow but dynamic drums. Yet, these guys come from the indie scene, and that is clearly noticable, mainly in the melodic aspects of this album. The vocals sound like a blend of indie rock and shoegaze, which works quite well.

Opener 'We Are On Your Side' is a brilliant piece of work, let's just call that 'doomgaze', shall we? It's a melodic but monolithic song, and one with a relieving message too.  Gruadually however, I feel more psychedelic rock influences shining through.  At one point in 'Burning Would' I imagined Tom Yorke providing vocals on an Electric Wizard track. I'm not sure if that's a compliment, but you get the idea.

The album continues to surprise, because behind those distorted guitars, there seems to be a whole range of influences, from post rock to heavy metal.  'Mauveine', for example, suddenly turns the whole into an old folk atmosphere. I can imagine this song being played around a campfire, a bit like the Therapy?'s version of 'Diane' perhaps. Again, I'm not sure if that is a compliment, but I really like both songs. Furthermore, it proves that there's a lot of talent in this band.

Certainly as far as songwriting is concerned, and perhaps that is where Soon distinct themselves from many other doom metal bands. While they focus on a sound as heavy as possible, Soon merely seems to function the song. Maybe it's good that I didn't know The Love Language before because now Soon feels like one of those mysterious but awe-inspiring bands like Master Musicians Of Bukkake.  And that definitely is a compliment.

Now, Soon, I know you don't want to be seen as a doom metal band, but you better get used to seeing a lot of doom fans with hooded sweaters in front of your stages. With songs like 'Datura Stramonium' and the droning closer 'Rise', those people will come in flocks, worshiping the massively immersive riffs you have created. Perhaps it's your own fault for making such a stunning album, but now, you're one of us...


Serge

 doom metal / experimental / black metal

Every once in awhile an album appears that smashes all my expectations. Albums like these start out in a "not-bad" and end with "what the bloody hell have I been listening to?" It's actually this kind of stuff that keeps the whole, ever-evolving music industry interesting for me.  In this particular case, it's an evolution on its own. At one point I even thought "this is what The Breeders would sound like if they were a doom metal band". But to be honest, that flag doesn't cover the load.

Eight Bells are a three piece band from Portland Oregon.  Their sole purpose seems to be to experiment with metal and ethereal elements.  Yet, unlike some bands who combine these two, this didn't turn into a gothic metal act.  Instead, this turned into a stunning blackened doom metal band, perhaps the most unpredictible of their kind as well. I've always been weary about the term 'progressive', certainly when combined with doom metal, but here it works perfectly. Besides, even then there's a lot more going on.

The album opens with the song 'Hating', which actually starts out as a psychedelic rock song, evolves into something between shoegaze and grunge and suddenly blasts out in what sounds like a doom metal ballad. I really like these clean, ethereal vocals but I feel like this isn't everything these women can put out of their sleeves, or throats. And as often happens, I was quite right. The song is followed by title track 'Landless', which breathes a post-rock/metal air and introduces the bleakness of black metal to the album.

From then on, this album rages on between all these genres, from traditional doom metal over thrash induced black metal and shoegazing darkness. Perhaps it's not a bad thing to reference Kayo Dot here, certainly with all the surprising twists and hooks.  'Hold My Breath' might be the most progressive noise rock song I've ever heard, or perhaps the noisiest progressive rock track. 'The Mortal Suite' could be a cooperation between Barn Own and Cocteau Twins. Closer 'Touch Me' returns the old school doom sound of the opener to complete this odd circle of songs.

So takes it from me, this is a strange but interesting album which deserves your full attention. It drags you everwhere you want to go and everywhere you definitely do nòt want to go. It's dirty, it's eerie, it's harsh and it's beautiful. If you have ever listened to a church choir and thought "this needs distorted guitars and some brutal drums", you have to buy this album. That'll teach you to try to think in church...


Serge

black metal

Time for some vicious old school black metal. This is the stuff for those gloomy, angsty underground cellar venues where die-hard fans have the time of their lives, worshiping the most evil of music genres. I dwelled in many of those venues, each being more frightening than the previous one, each containing more musical madness than the other. But oh, how I loved it, how I loved that atmosphere.

Hokedun is a duo from England, specialized in the traditional style of the genre. Obviously, that means fierce riffing, haunted screams and a good slab of skullripping blast beats here and there. Yet, they also know their way around ancient and acoustic instruments, including folk guitars and the dudok, an ancient woodwind flute.  These elements give the whole a deeper, more occult atmosphere, which obviously is awesome.

 Don't get me wrong, Hokedun isn't a pagan metal band, songs like 'Overwhelmed By Anguish' and 'Hailing Desperation' are furious blackened demons, scratching an gnawing on your tormented soul. It's just that these Brits alternate these with nice breathers, such as 'Black Ribbon', an acoustic track that almost could have been a post rock anthem. These bring a lot of variation to this album, and also a certain credibility for their musical skills.

'Under Debris' is also worth mentioning, mainly for being my favorite track on this album.  I've always loved these slow to mid-tempo black metal songs, maybe even preferred them over some of the blastbeats-driven ones.  This one is no different, even though it alternates in tempo a few times. This is an awesome song, period.  Hell, this is a great album, varied, gloomy, eerie and immersive, but you will need a bit of an open mind to understand that...


Serge

stoner rock / thrash metal

Well, this is my first review from my new desk. Instead of sitting in my living room where cars and busses pass by, I moved to a back room with a terrace and a beautiful view over trees and loads of birds.  So what better way to celebrate this new found tranquility with some thrash metal induced stoner rock at high volume. I'm sure the trees and birds will appreciate the groovy riffs and the pounding drums.

Because that exactly what Buffalo Theory MTL stands for.  Influenced by good ol' fashioned thrash metal and by the popular TV show 'Cheers', they decided to start a stoner rock band.  In fact, the bandname comes from a scene from that exact show (watch). Now, these Canadians (because 'MTL' stands for 'Montreal') have released an ep upon the world, one which will raise alcohol consumption everywhere they perform.

The ep opens with the heavy rocker 'Conspiracy In Paranoland'.  This track clearly shows what these guys do.  It reminds of something between Anthrax and Kuyss, combined with hardcore punk vocals.  It's the perfect opener for this ep too, because many people will definitely favorite this one, certainly in a live setting.  So do I by the way, but that doesn't mean that the rest of the songs are inferior.

'Punishment', for example, thrives of these awesome thrash metal riffs, indicating a fast song. But no, suddenly the drums come in and the whole thing seems slower than it is.  Yet, the dynamics and energy remain the same. Title track 'Skeptic Knight' digs deeper into metal history by coming up with some great Black Sabbath meet Pantera riffs.  This is in fact the most doomy track here and perhaps my favorite.

So yeah, if you're in for half an our of headbanging bliss, you might want to chech this one out. If you worship the mighty power of the riff, more specifically the thrash, stoner and doom metal ones, you can't deny this. Well, you can but you probably shouldn't. Go ahead, make yourself happy and blast this bunch of buffalos through your speakers. You know you want to.


Serge

doom / drone

These days, several bands are competing to become the heaviest band in the world. Several of them are trying to be the second Sunn O))) or a thick, sludgy version of Om, for example. Technology made it possible to create vast drones and thick, fuzzy riffs, two elements that are adored by doomers allover the world.  I admit, I am one of them. I just can't get enough of those pulverising sounds and with Bismuth, it was love at first sight.

I watched this English duo at the Incubate festival in Tilburg, in a venue which I like to call 'the discovery cellar'.  Over the years, I've been in that cellar many times, adding band after band to my favorites list.  Bismuth immediately ended on top of that list at that year's edition. I 'liked' them on facebook, the most common form of fandom these days, and started following them. You can also find an interview with Tanya on this website. (read)

'Unavailing' seems to be the logical next step to that awesome gig.  With this album, they seem to have perfected their sound.  Opener 'Tethys' rolls on like a thick slab of mechanized tar, while Tanya growls and screams her heart out. This song is incredibly heavy and smashes pretty much all the competition, instantly.  Even when the intensity goes down a bit, and when vocals turn clean and somewhat sweet, this thing keeps stomping on your eardrums.

​Then, and that is pretty unexpected, 'Of The Weak Willed' starts in a different fashion.  There is almost nothing left of the monolithic heaviness of the previous track.  The riffs are more gentle, the drums are modest and the vocals are angelic and dreamy.  Has Bismuth suddenly turned into a shoegaze act? Not really, but I can definitely hear some Bohren Und The Club Of Gore influences here. For the record: this song is brilliant, a nice surprise but still quite typical Bismuth.

'The Holecene Extinction' seem to continue that milder approach but suddenly turns back into the massive gnawing and scratching beast that we know Bismuth for.  More thick riffing, more distortion, more fuzz, more screams.  Here another band comes to mind, namely Winter, which is obviously another great compliment for this duo. The album closes with the equally destructive 'Solitude And Emptiness', perhaps my favorite track here.

So yes, Bismuth certainly managed to come up with one of the most varied albums in today's slow metal scene, and perhaps also one of the heaviest ones.  This stuff certainly comes highly recommended.  If you are into immersive drones and stomach turning madness, this definitely is something you need in your collection.  Now let's hope this album is followed by a tour. I want to see this live again...


​Serge

soundtrack / ambient

Sometimes I think my job on this planet is to bring and gratify a touch of friendliness onto this world. I live in a city where people are not being very nice to each other, something which has been bothering me for decades. So, whenever I encounter a friendly email from a modest musician, asking me politely if I would like to check out his newest release, the whole thing gets a certain charm and immediately raises my interest. So, Jakob, this one is for you, for being such a nice person.

Of course, that's not the only reason why I really wanted to check this out. The other reason was the music, obviously. It is the soundtrack for "Skörheten" (Fragility), a documentary movie, described as a "heartfelt and poetic depiction of a woman's struggle with depression and childhood traumas".  With a story like this, I would indeed expect a soundtrack with piano, soundscapes and an emotional atmosphere. And that is exactly what you get.

Although the piano seems to be the central element, this album is loaded with a blend of modern classical music and experimental ambient. Some of these pieces, mainly the ones where the piano is present, are deeply emotional pieces of music. Minimalism seems to be a keyword. There is not a note or touch too many and the whole breathes at atmosphere of solitude, loneliness and perhaps even hopelessness.

The latter certainly is present in some of the gloomy drone pieces on this album, where a gentle but continuous drone functions as the foundation for other instruments to thrive upon.  You can almost feel the emotion the protagonist of this story feels, you can almost place yourself in her place and cry her tears, feel her desire to step out of the destructive vicious circle. I haven't seen the film but I know for a fact that this music has the ability to make it a massive tearjerker.

In short, this started out as an act of friendliness in reply of a nice email and turned out to be such a beautiful and inspiring piece of work.  Music can indeed make or break a movie and this one certainly does the first.  If you are a fan of ambient, modern classical and emotional movie soundtrack, you should check this out. We're dealing with a tremendous talent here. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to cry for a few hours...


Serge

post-rock / psychedelic

Today, I decided to do my reviewing job a little different.  While I usually select the albums based on normal criteria, such as release date or genre I feel like at the moment, I decided to pick the most brilliant band names and go ahead with the review, whatever genre it is.  The previous one, Chestburster, proved to be a nice surprise, musically that is.  Currently, it's no different. The Gentle Art Of Cooking People, awesome.

The Gentle Art Of Cooking People is an instrumental rock band from Krakow, Poland.  Since their inception in 2006 these guys have been working on their own specific sound, somewhere between psychedelic rock and post rock.  The result is this epic album, a massively immersive piece of music, divided into four huge musical adventures.  Needless to say perhaps, but I love the hell out of this.

The album opens with the speediest track, 'King Tukan II', reminding of something between Kong, Ozric Tentacles, Meniscus. and Monkey 3.  Other names that often come to mind are rock bands like Colour Haze, My Sleeping Karma and Karma To Burn.  Yet, if I have to be really honest, I actually like The Gentle Art Of Cooking People a tiny bit more, and besides, this first track is not even my favorite one on this album.

That would be 'Fly Like a Bird Die Like a Fly', a quite slow but highly dynamic piece of music where every single tone and instrument perfectly seems to fall in its place.  This song might be more post-rock related than the previous track, with some similar soundscapes to the big names in the genre.  'Dead Horse' delves a bit deeper into stoner rock and perhaps even doom metal and quickly turns into something repetitive and hypnotic, much to my delight of course.

The album closes with the equally impressive 'Flying Sharks Sleeping Tardigrades' and by now I'm definitely a fan.  Wait, are those whale-sounds hiding behind the music? If so, genius, if not, no worries, still genius.  But in all seriousness, this album is a masterpiece of psychedelic music, one that will find the way to my music machines a lot more from now on.  If you are into stoner rock or psychedelic musical journeys as a whole, you should buy this album, that's for sure.


​Serge

sludge / punk / hardcore

Well well, this is a delightful shitload of noise, dragging itself through my speakers like a thick slab of tar, blackening everything it touches.  Ok, maybe not tar because tar is way slower than this thing.  But before I go into the review, let's complete the list of genres. We have sludge, hardcore, punk, doom, thrash metal, noise, black metal, new wave, grunge, alternative rock, death metal, grindcore, blues, stoner, progressive, noise rock and psychedelic rock. And I'm only halfway through this album.

Chestburster is a trio from Kouvola, Finalnd. Besides from being a pretty damn heavy band, they are obsessed with horror movies, which obviously explains the band name.  According to their biography, they make music whenever they manage to drag themselves away from the Alien-boxset. As far as I'm concerned, judging from what I'm listening to now, they can do that a lot more from now on.

The first thing that came to mind when I was listening to opener 'Faces In The Rain' and follower 'Experienced Virgin' was: "this is what The Ramones would have sounded like if they were a sludge metal band".  With thick, fuzzed-out guitars and dynamic, up-tempo drums, Chestburster immediately convinced me, which sometimes isn't easy.  Yet, these sludgy punk songs suddenly made place for something different.

'Gas Station Pilgrim' for example, or the bluesy follower 'The Arm Stretches Out' slow the whole thing down and turn this album into a psychedelic doom metal thing. Then there are slabs of grunge, with depressed, clean vocals and also some outbursts of blast beats.  Some of the solos remind me of old Slayer or Testament stuff while other passages seem to come close to Fields Of The Nephilim.

'Rojo Sangre' might be one of the most varied songs here, blending about half of the aforementioned genres into one epic song. 'Licking Letters' feels like something from the dirtiest corners of the grunge scene in the nineties, and so on.  I'm not sure if you can still follow but that's ok.  By now you should be aware of two definite facts about this album. One: it's heavy. Two: it's varied.  So if you like heavy analog music with plenty of variation you don't have to buy any other album than this one this year.  This one will certainly do...


​Serge

industrial / metal

Ok, one more before I go indulge myself in Italian food and Irish coffee.  I selected a nice piece of brutality for your headbanging needs, courtesy of Canadian industrial metal act Projekt F.  This ep handles the relationship between man and god, which is a strange and often fearsome one. It follows their previous releases, 'Skins' and 'Under The Skin' and is frankly a fierce piece of modern industrial metal.

Perhaps you could compare the music on this ep with the guitars of Rammstein with the vocals of Combichrist and the experimental nature of Nine Inch Nails.  So yes, we're definitely talking industrial metal here, but there's also this modern post-metal or post-hardcore edge, mainly perhaps in the sheer intensity coming off these songs.  The single 'Tongue' and follower 'Cut Your Wings' could certainly be enjoyed by industrial heads and post metal adepts alike.  Hell, even death metal fans might find something they like here.

'Unbegun' has a little nu-metal feel to it, well, most of the songs do.  But before you go think 'oh, this is Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit crap', think again.  Yes, there are electronics and yes this sounds very present-day but I'm sure that Projekt F can smash both of them right off stage anytime. This is a lot more dynamic and energetic than most nu-metal things, hence of course the industrial-tag.

Another band I think of, is Clawfinger, especially in the uptempo songs.  Yet, again, this is way heavier than Clawfinger, or any of their colleagues for that matter.  'Fat Man' is Korn meets Pitch Shifter, which obviously means 'awesome'.  I guess you should have a decent image of what this ep sounds like, and I will give one last tip before I urge you to buy this stuff.  Projekt F is the heavy brother of Nine Inch Nails.  There, that should do...


​Serge

shoegaze / dream pop

About a week ago I posted a list of stuff I was looking forward to in 2016 (read). I also wrote, and I quote (‘quote’ being a fancy word for CTRL-C, CTRL-V) “This is just a handful of stuff, no doubt there will be countless of amazing releases”. And what do you know: completely out of the blue (for me) there is this, the second full-length of Russian shoegazers Pinkshinyultrablast.

With their debut album ‘Everything Else Matters’ it was apparantly sort of a big deal they were Russian. “What? Russian shoegaze?” Pffftt, as if the place you come from necessarily defines what sort of music you can or can’t make. As if great music can’t come from anywhere on this wretched ball of dirt.  I mean, it’s 2016, there are no boundaries when it comes to genres and nations. So, I’m not going to make a fuss about their heritage, I’m just going to focus on what’s important. This amazing album.

Amazing it is. I’m not going to say it never happens, but it is very rarely that I get instant goosebumps and I’m instantly smitten with music. No Joy, for instance, is such a band where I had that instant magical feeling of discovering something very special. That ‘this is what I want, this is what I need’ feeling. But here it is again, with Pinkshinyultrablast.

This 5-piece pushes so much of my buttons it’s hard to begin describing this. It’s not quite shoegaze because there’s a lot of indie electronica in it. It’s not quite indierock, because it’s far too noisy for that. It’s not quite dreampop because there’s a lot of math-rock in it. It’s not quite postpunk because of the huge distorted wall of sound.. It is a glorious concontion of all of those things. What works exceptionally well are the transitions between the softer, dreamier parts and the loud, noisy eruptions. At times it sounds almost angelic and at times it feels that there are jumbo-jets flying just a couple of metres above your head. That, and the fact that it has bucketloads of reverb and echo thrown over it. And I love reverb and echo.

A lot of shoegaze is basically just hazy, dreamy blurred guitars (nothing wrong with that, mind you) but Pinkshinyultrablast have layered ‘Grandfeathered’ to the max and there’s just a ton of things going on in every song. Great guitar hooks, a brilliant rhythm section and loads and loads of synths and effects. The dynamic range of everything in general is just spot-on. It is quite remarkable that with all the noise going on that everything stays quite clear at the same time. I know that’s a bit of a contradiction, blurred and noisy and clear at the same time but Pinkshinyultrablast are just unique in that aspect I guess. The cherry on the proverbial icecream is Lyubov’s lovely angelic voice. She’s been compared to Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser and I can sort of hear that but I feel she is unique enough by herself and doesn’t really need those comparisons. Sometimes the vocals are barely there, sometimes buried underneath the big wall of sound, sometimes drifting and soaring above it almost like a synthesizer melody. But always lovely, just lovely.

So there we have it, yet again a highlight for 2016 and yes, it’s still only February. I’m very curious to see if they can live up to my high expectations live so here’s hoping that ‘Grandfeathered’ will be followed by a big tour with sold-out venues. Because they sure deserve it..


Bjorn

indie / rock / alternative / grunge

With all the metal on this website, we often tend to forget that there is a lot of other awesome stuff to discover.  Of course, we regularly take the time to check out some ambient and post-rock albums but so-called 'regular rock' music doesn't often appear on this website. It's a bit of a shame I know, but we just can't handle everything that comes in and our rock-music reviewer suddenly disappeared.  However, I'd like to present you this little gem I just found in my inbox. 

Lucy Dacus lives in Richmond, VA, USA. Inspired by the Springsteen records her parents played, she bought an acoustic guitar and taught herself some chords.  Perhaps she wanted to be the cool girl at school, a bit like some people would see girl rockers like Avril Lavigne or Anouk. In school she was introduced to the music of Broken Social Scene, Yo La Tengo and Ava Luna, bands that seemingly inspired her.

However, judging from what I hear on this album, Lucy slowly moved towards a rougher sound, leaving the radio-friendliness of some of the earlier mentioned bands behind her.  The acoustic guitar was replaced by an electric one, the distortion went up and a solid rhythm section was hired. What remained was her fragile voice over some strong rock music. It certainly is something I'd like to witness live this summer.

If I have to compare Lucy's music to other acts, I wouldn't add Avril Lavigne by the way.  No, Lucy has a different sound, one that comes closer to The Breeders, Veruca Salt or even Garbage.  Oh, didn't I mention grunge rock yet? Go ahead, put this album in your grunge collection.  The single 'I Don't Want To Be Funny Anymore' is a brilliant rocker and so is 'Strange Torpedo'.  Mid- to uptempo guitar pop which is pretty irresistible.

Yet, Lucy also knows how to kick out a few nice ballads, like the acoustic 'Trust' or the almost jazzy 'Green Eyes, Red Face'.  With the upcoming festivals in mind, I can only recommend checking this album out.  This is a breath of fresh air in an overwhelming and often obtrusive rock scene.  


​Serge

post rock / progressive rock

In the past few days, I've been listening to this album quite a few times, each time discovering new elements, new sounds and new stories.  The first time was when I was doing the dishes, something which has to be done from time to time.  I wasn't sure what to expect since Huminoita was presented as a rock band, nothing more, nothing less. So perhaps I was expecting something Lemonheads like, or Pixies or maybe even a bit of Slowdive. I really had no idea.

Huminoita hails from Finland. Originally they're a five-piece but sometimes other people join in. Their music is adventurous, cinematic and loaded with atmosphere. The songs are pretty much long jam sessions, or so it seems.  Driving on a slow tempo, calm riffs and a number of soundscapes, they somehow remind of a rock version of bands like Rinôçérôse, Royksopp or Air. I know that might sound odd but it's true.

As far as the post-rock scene is concerned, this act fits well with bands like Monomyth, Tortoise and maybe Kreidler. So yes, a bit of a different approach, influenced by psychedelic rock, jazz and soundtracks by Ennio Morricone.  Opener 'The Sheriff' for example contains a beautiful gloomy jazz piece, reminding me of soundtracks for David Lynch movies.  It also contains some shamanic sounding chants by the way.

'The Pilgrim' even digs deeper into the jazz scene by incorporating a brilliant saxophone solo, dynamic drums and an immersive bass line. At the same time, the song thrives on slightly distorted rock guitars and a vintage post-rock overtone.  The combination is both strange and hypnotic, an inspiring journey through the history of progressive and psychedelic music. In a way, it really feels like late sixties or seventies here, certainly when the organ comes around.

My favorite track on this album is 'Hymn 23', a highly immersive piece of music.  However, that was a tough decision to make because the entire album feels like a concept, an adventure even. The music continuously alternates and varies without losing its grip. The more you listen to it, the clearer it becomes and the more you will actually like this. I know because I've been listening to this album eight, nine times now and I still can't get enough.


​Serge

post-hardcore

France, you are still a very strange country as far as your music is concerned.  I don't mean that as a bad thing by the way.  French bands seem to be a bit more headstrong than bands from other countries, stubbornly paving their own way with their own sound.  A Time To Hope from Montpellier is no exception. They just discovered a way to turn Living Colour in a noise rock induced post-hardcore band.

The main focus for A Time To Hope seems to be a positive message and an energetic live show. The energy is clearly present on the five complex and strange songs on this album.  They continuously seem to change, alternate and explore new directions.  The result is a mesmerizing orgy of intense metal, drenched in something I can only describe as noise rock. Just listen to opener 'Rosarosa' or 'Sweet T' and you'll know what I mean.

You'll also understand why I mentioned Living Colour.  Apart from the typical post-hardcore screams, there are some clean vocals which remind me a lot of Vernon Reid, not only in timbre but also in vocal lines.  It's a fresh approach I must say, one that definitely gained my interest. And then there are even some more surprises, like the instrumental, almost post-rock resembling, 'VII' or the soundscapes in 'Lemon Cupcake'.

In all, these are quite complex songs with a flair for both fierce riffs and insane experimentation. You'll notice that there are some damn good musicians behind this project, capable of adding thrash metal to hardcore and post-rock to progressive noise, or something like that. I have to admit that I was a bit weary of the post-hardcore tag, which isn't really my cup of tea.  Yet, after listening to this, it really feels like this genre has started to evolve again, courtesy of A Time To Hope...


​Serge

punk / metal

Sometimes I have no idea what genres to put on top of a review.  Usually, that's quite easy, mainly because the band or label tells us.  However, in some cases nobody tells us exactly what it is, so I take a look at the band's facebook page for more information.  In this case, even that is pretty impossible because these guys mention Punk, D-beat, Crust, Hardcore, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Speed Metal, Progressive Metal and Gothic Metal.  

So let's play the elimination game.

There is very little gothic metal to be found here, certainly not in the overdressed female fronted scene, so let's kick that genre out.  Punk, D-beat, crust and hardcore are quite similar and since they're all here, we can just combine them into the tag 'punk'.  Fast guitars, uptempo drums and an in-your-face attitude, that's what we get on these five tracks, reminding me of some old school punk bands and acts like Motorhead.

On to metal then, judging from the vocals, we're dealing with a death metal singer, or someone close to that.  Some of the riffs say thrash metal and the overall tempo says speed metal, leaving us with progressive metal and black metal to be detected.  I can't find them, except maybe for the blackened element in a very, very, very old school approach. So, out with progressive too since this is far away from acts like Dream Theater and company.

Right, what do we have left?

Well, we got four fierce songs, borrowing elements from thrash metal and hardcore punk, raging on in sheer intensity and influenced by horror movies.  In fact, some horror movie samples are present on this album too. There is also an Ennio Morricone like outro, which obviously is somewhat calmer than the four nutkickers we heard before.  Recommended? Well, if you like your music to be fast, vile and dirty, you should get your hands on this piece of work, that's for damn sure.


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thrash metal / hardcore

Oh what fun, writing a review on this page and suddenly seeing our provider refresh the page, asking me to log in again, only to see that the whole damn thing is lost.  Now, I'm not an aggressive man but bullshit like this really pissed me off.  I actually threw a drinking glass through the living room in pure anger.  Believe it or not but it bounced against a pillow and landed on a blanket. The damn thing is completely unharmed.  

(Unlike my mood, fucking Weebly...)

Anyway, nevermind that, I'll just write the review again, copying the text on a regular basis so this stuff can never happen again. On the other hand, something else will probably happen in this stinking, fucked up and dystopian society we are forced to live in.  And with that sentence, we're right back into reviewing this brutal piece of work. This album is one massive indictment towards our current society, raging on with sheer aggression.

Kicking off with two fierce and fast piece of hardcore, Slovakian act Wastage immediately makes an impact.  Their main influences are thrash metal bands like Sepultura or Slayer and hardcore acts including Biohazard and Sick Of It All.  The latter are certainly present in the opening tracks 'Away From The Darkness' and 'Slave To The System'.  I can easily see the moshpits forming when Wastage blasts off on stage.

From then on, the tone is set and Wastage opens all registers to make this a brutal album. However, there is still plenty of room for some melody, some awesome thrash metal riffs and a bit of experiment.  'Ham-Let' and 'You Can't Stop' even bring bands like Soilwork or Machine Head to mind.  Even Meshuggah appears in my list of references. That being said, yes this album is quite diverse, even if you keep in mind that this is one brutal motherfucker.

Honestly, I'm not really a fan of hardcore music, but this album is way more than that and that is why I am recommending it.  Thrashers and hardcore fans can blindly trust Wastage to come up with something good, something that even old school death metal fans can appreciate.  So check it out but whatever you do, be careful. This will spike your adrenaline and there might be some innocent victims in the aftermath.

I need a smoke...fucking Weebly...


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black metal

Passion, torment, fear, emotion, those are some decent elements to put into a black metal album. They are also exactly what you can expect on this debut ep.  Yet, what else would you expect from seasoned musicians like these.  Ghost Horizon, formed by Daniel Stollings (ex-Severed Receptors and Psychobliss - Guitars/Bass) and aided by Uræus (Vocals/Drums/Additional music), is a deeply personal project, that's for sure.

In almost twelve minutes, Ghost Horizon spew their brutal and immersive black metal over the listener, showing absolutely no mercy.  Their approach towards this genre is intense, fierce and modern, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Wolves In The Throne Room or Woods Of Ypres perhaps.  Yet, there also seems to be a massive nudge towards the vintage, old school version of this genre.

This ep is a taste of things to come, or so I hope. It shows an act that stubbornly go their own way, do their own thing and try to make the best of every possible situation.  Black metal fans should not deny this, that's for sure.  If you're into a haunting and massive sound, this surely is your cup of tea.  I hope this ep will be followed by a full-length soon, and a vast number of tour dates or course...


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black metal

What better way to start a writing session than with some venomous black metal?  The music usually does the trick of waking me up and getting my mind in the right mood to throw some words in this little corner of the internet.  The first question usually is: what kind of black metal do we have here? After all, this genre has been widening since the beginning, incorporating elements from all kinds of different genres. 

So what kind of black metal do we have? Well, a bleak, raw and harsh version apparently. Polish grandmasters Inglorious seem to delve deep into the history of the genre, loyal to the vintage style but always looking for new ways to express themselves.  That is perfectly audible on this album too.  In a way this could have been one of the highlights on the nineties scene, but just a much it could be a massive piece of work in today's scene.

I'll explain.

The album opens with an intro, one that hints towards the modern post-black metal scene. However, shortly after, the track 'My Death' rages on in sheer old school ferocity, reminding me of some of the old masters, including Emperor and Darkthrone.  'Masowa Mogila' follows with similar intensity but takes on a bit more of an experimental approach, mainly in the weird and chaotic ending.

'The Next Step' is a breather, but could have been a blackened sludge song if it were longer. 'Otchlan' is another fierce track, honoring the ancient tradition of the genre.  Together, these songs form the first half of the album and I must say I'm quite pleased with the sound and with the level of variation.  I also hear some awesome musicianship.  Some of these riffs seem to hint towards something progressive and death metal.

What follows is actually more blackened goodness, again widely varied and well-written. In 'Manifesto' I can hear some different instruments being used. The addition of violins to this fierce, blast-beats driven piece of music makes the whole complete, it certainly makes this my favorite track on the album.  And then there still are some more brutal works to be discovered, but I'll leave those up to you. Check it out if you're a black metal fan, you won't regret it...


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modern classical / ambient

After the previous sludge-metal assault, I really needed something to calm my nerves.  On those occasions, it's nice to see an email from Eilean Records coming in.  In the past months, this label has always managed to come up with something I really, really, really like and I don't think they will disappoint in the future.  In fact, Eilean is becoming synonymous with high quality ambient like ECM is synonymous with high quality jazz and Cold Meat Industry was synonymous with high quality...well, whatever CMI released.

Jason Van Wyk is a composer and producer from Cape Town, South Africa.  For this album, his second, he delves into the world of modern classical music.  Armed with piano, synths and electronics and aided by violin and cello players, he tries to immerse the listening into the elements, the calm atmosphere of an ocean, the inspiring appearance of stone, water or air. Does he succeed? Obviously, if not, Eilean Records wouldn't have released this beautiful piece of work.

It's very easy to compare this album to works of people like Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm or Sebastian Plano.  However, I feel like that doesn't honor this album as it should.  In fact, it's because of people like Jason Van Wyk that I've started to realize that Arnalds can be a bit too modern, electronic and cold for me, that Frahm is sometimes too experimental and that Plano might be a bit one sided.  

Don't get me wrong, I love those people's music. I spent countless of hours enjoying them.  It's just that I think I will enjoy the warm soundscapes and the fragile piano of Jason Van Wyk more. There's also plenty of variation, some pieces are minimal pieces of modern classical music, others, like 'Outset', my favorite, have a certain rhythm, reminding me of Tangerine Dream, for example. That variation gives the whole a nice flow, perhaps even something narrative.

Of course I recommend this album to everyone who loves ambient music and modern classical stuff, perhaps even to some new age adepts out there.  This is a warm, gentle and seductive album that will often appear in my playlists.  I can only advice you to check it out and let this gentle storm overtake you.  It's a soothing journey, I can promise you. 


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