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Benjamin Finger - Pleasurably Lost

31/3/2015

Creative centipedes are a special breed of people. Somehow they seem to entertain us in a number of different cultural departments. Take Benjamin Finger for example. After graduading at the Oslo Photo Art School, he started directing shortfilms and music videos. Furthermore he is a photographer who held several expeditions and a DJ. In 2005 he started writing and recording music as well, 'Pleasurably Lost' being his latest output, a pretty weird one too... To me, being a bit of an experimental composer myself, I can only admire and respect works like these.

Using an immense array of both analog and digital instruments, Benjamin Finger seems to explore the outer egdes of music. He continuously balances on the line between ambient, trip-hop and experimental noise, sometimes even to the point where it gets almost improper to keep calling it 'music', at least in the generally accepted meaning of the word. Although the piano seems to be the central instrument, an impressive amount of soundscapes, strings and vocal samples drift in an out of the music. At moments they become repetitive, offering a hint of rhythm.

'Lull In The Momentary' is an early highlight on this album. This song seems perfectly suited for film noirs (or anything by David Lynch for that matter). 'Phoney Distaster Of Laziness' reminds me of Olafur Arnals but with a bleaker, colder sound. Title track 'Pleasurably Lost' bring acts like Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones to mind, mainly in the highly experimental and electronic approach to jazz. The music often is supported by lenghty vocals, quite similar to witch-house music like White Ring.

This ever evolving combination of advanced electronics and classical instruments makes this quite a stunning album. Only after a while I started noticing the jazz elements, probably because this album opens a bit weird, as if Benjamin Finger commences by warning us for the experimental nature of what's about to come. It also took me a while to fully appreciate this nature and the eerie atmosphere of the album. However, halfway through the album it starts to be clear that 'Pleasurably Lost' deserves its place on the shelf, next to the earlier mentioned artists.

'Edges of Distortion' is a pretty good example of what I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Somehow you can see this as a modern classical piece. Piano and strings, beautiful. However, this piece is loaded with weird soundscapes and a cold, scrapy sound. This nullifies the easy-listening effect and challenges the listener. 'Ferdydurke' follows the same, almost provocative path. This track isn't far removed from becoming a noise track, quite mindblowing stuff. 'Once Upon Her', my favourite one on this album, sounds like a Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble / Skullflower hybrid and completely destroys every hope of this being an easy-listening ambient album.

Simply put, 'Pleasurably Lost' is a brilliant piece of work, be it a bit too experimental for the majority of mankind. Luckily, we at Merchants Of Air (and undoubtedly most of our readers too) love stuff like this. So I'd like to conclude this review by expressing my respect for Benjamin Finger for not choosing the easy road but to search and explore the edges of creativity.

Serge

Zayn - Fields Of God

31/3/2015

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"Instrumental rock/metal": when encountering this tag, people will probably immediately think about post rock. After all, post-rock's the ultimate instrumental rock genre and is immensely popular these days. However, we're not dealing with a post rock band here. We're dealing with a progressive metal band that just doesn't need a vocalist. Face it, who needs vocals when you can make music that is powerful enough to stand on its own?

Zayn, a three-piece from Croatia grew tired of negativity and the depressive atmosphere in their country. To cleanse themselves, they started playing music together and somehow this seemed to work pretty well. The line-up has been the same since 2011, except for the guitar player who left for six months and then came back. Field Of God is their first album. It shows an enthousiastic and energetic band, searching their own niche within the instrumental rock world.

The songs on the album are pretty short pieces (two to seven minutes) of instrumental rock, placing this band between acts like Kong, Monkey3, Sleepmakeswaves and Sardonis. Note that these are all mainly live bands and I have a feeling that Zayn is no exeption. I can imagine this music working very well on stage, probably because one of the most potentially annoying elements, the vocals, are just not present. Instead, Zayn treats us to an intense amount of fuzzy riffs, pounding drums and often complicated, almost chaotic and dissonant structures.

Zayn's weapon of choice is distortion, that's for sure. After the drony intro, 'Ungodless' kicks in with some destructive force, fierce and intense enough to entertain yours truly. The rest of the songs follow similar patterns of heavy passages and short breathers. Highlights are 'They Will Not Have The Stars' and 'Emperor, Guide Us'. The first few songs on the album aren't bad at all but it seems this one continuously improves and gains more and more power, pretty much like a diesel engine.

There's little need for lengthy atmospheric passages or symphonic elements. Zayn mainly wants to rock and that is perfectly fine. However, I have a feeling that Zayn has more potential than they show on Fields Of God, certainly live. This is a band that can grow and become a solid standout in their chosen niche. Title track 'Fields Of God' is actually the living proof of that possibiliy. This is simply an awesome piece of music, somewhere between stoner and post rock with a touch of psychedelica.
I'm going to keep an eye on Zayn and so should every instrumental rock music. You don't often have the chance to see a band grow and become the best version of themselves. With Zayn you actually can't go wrong. This is high-potency rock music with a tremendous DIY-attitude

Alva Noto - Xerrox vol. 3

29/3/2015

Raster-noton

It's been five years since Alva Noto released vol. 2 of these series, based on the aspect op copying. These series have been presented as 'Vol. 1 - Old World' and 'Vol2. - Heading To The New World'. By recording, copying and manipulating a diversity of sounds, German sound artist Alva Noto creates a sonic world of his own. The original sounds have been manipulated until they became something completely different and thus original again. It's an interesting concept, without a doubt, but how does it sound?

Well, It sounds out of this world, something that is actually not a real surprise. This third volume in the Xerrox series is dubbed 'Towards Space', as if the music gets a bit of an extra-terrestrial character. The outlandish soundscapes indeed create an atmosphere that can barely be called earthly. Furthermore this album is influenced by childhood films like Tarkovsky‘s adaption of “Solaris” and “La Isla Misteriosa Y El Capitán Nemo” based on Jules Verne‘s “The Mysterious Island”. In that way it's also the most personal and emotional album by Alva Noto to date.

The music on Xerrox Vol 3. can best be described as electronic ambient with several glitch and experimental influences. Seeminlgy endless soundscapes are being supported by minimal bass lines or percussion, perfect for those who love to dream away while listening to beautiful music. This truly is beautiful music, floating through the room like a gentle warm wind on this cold, rainy day. Alva Noto possesses the ability to experiment and incorporate weird, almost distracting elements without ever getting pushy and without ever becoming too arty-farty.

Naming a favourite track on this album is quite impossible. This is not the type of music where you pick one or two songs to play and leave the rest for what they are. This is an album best enjoyed as a whole, maybe while doing some housework or, better yet, while resting and meditating, possibly doing something creative like writing, drawing or (why not?) sewing. To me personally, music like this induces creativity when you set it free and let it live its own life.

In short, Xerrox Vol. 3 is a beautiful ambient album and definitely a recommendation for everyone who likes to relax and dream away from time to time. Each of the eleven tracks on this album is a tiny little world in Alva Noto's outlandish universe. If you're into anything from Biosphere, over Pete Namlook and Brian Eno to Boards Of Canada, check this one out. You will not be disappointed.

Serge

Black Royal - The Summoning Pt I

28/3/2015

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Well, it was only a matter of time before stoner rock and sludge started melting together with death metal. After all, we're dealing with metal here, the most flexible and adaptable genre. Maybe it's also not a surprise that this very interesting mix of both genres has risen in Finland, arguably the most 'metal' country on earth. Once again, we're here to present a brutal steamroller, crushing everything in sight in a bit over twenty minutes.

Black Royal is a quartet dedicated to big riffs, gut-wrenching growls, beer and diesel and influenced by Lucifer and burning rubber. Their first effort, 'The Summoning Pt 1' contains six, mostly pretty slow but very effective songs that seem to be influenced by both stoner rock and death metal There are also some classic rock and even some progressive elements present. However, above all, this is excellent driving music, perfect for the open road.

One of the first (and only) bands that come to mind while listening to this e.p., is Entombed. I think that's mainly because of the extreme 'groove'-quality of the music. Another striking element is the perception that this e.p. seems to accelerate. Opener 'Black Royal' is a pretty slow, almost
stoner doom song while 'All Proved Stupidity' is uptempo, somewhere between groovy death metal and hardcore punk. Closer 'Reformation' is a whole lot slower again but in no way lacks power.

My favourite track is the heavy rocker 'Festering Truth', which drives on an awesome riff. This is one of the songs that would make a live audience go completely crazy. Everything about the music on this e.p. is perfectly suited for live performances by the way. I don't even know which element has the highest capacity of audience-entertainment, but the extremely high sing-along quality of some choruses definitely does.

Vocals are great on this album. The predominant old school gutteral growls sometimes alternate with clean vocals that remind me of some prog- or folk metal and even some punkrock bands like Pennywise. To make it even more complicated to classify this, Black Royal incorporates some keyboards here and there to add a dark atmosphere in the vein of some modern black metal bands.

With this e.p. Black Royal proves that sludge and stoner rock are already evolving into new combinations and new genres while still being very powerful and enjoyable. The Summoning Pt I is a lot better than I first expected, to be honest. These Fins might have found a way to stand out in the enormous pool of sludge bands these days and that is a very good thing. We're dealing with an excellent example of modern day rock 'n' effin' roll that has the power to entertain fans far and wide.

Serge

Bestiality - Stuck In Bestial Vision

28/3/2015

Old Temple

Several years ago, I owned a record store, mainly specialized in metal. One of my customers was a 45 years old postman who only bought the most vile, chaotic and abhorrent black metal releases I had in store. He didn't care one little bit about atmospheric passages, clean singing or any else that sounded 'new-school-isch'. I never asked him why he only wanted the most extreme stuff I had but it was a bit weird, mostly because he was one of the nicest and most timid guys I've ever met in those years. I don't know his name and I have no idea how he is doing today but I'm absolutely sure he would have bought Stuck In Morbid Vision by Polish horde Bestiality if I still had that store today.

This rancid quartet arose in 2013 and has been focusing on nothing more but old-school black/thrash metal in the vein of Bathory or Destroyer 666. The band started out as a duo but quickly brought in two more members to play live gigs and record a number of demos. Shortly after, they got picked up by Old Temple, which resulted in this half hour compilation of the sickest and most morbid songs Bestiality have written in the past year.

Most of the songs are short, two to three minutes lasting pieces of blast-beat driven incantations,
except for 'Blood Red Like Sodomy', which actually is a six minute blast-beat driven one (with a short keyboard passage at the end), so to speak. Chaotic thrash-riffs and some (not very much) tempo switches are the main weapon of distruction for this act. My favourite track, even if most of the tracks are pretty alike, is also the most extreme on the album, named 'Way Of The Cross'. This song is just plain sick.

Everything about Bestiality breathes the old school of black metal. As the earlier mentioned postman would love, there's no room for clean vocals or lengthy atmospheric soundscapes (except for the earlier mentioned 'Blood Red Sodomy' and the opener 'Ode To The Dead - Tales From The Crypt'). There's also no need to overproduce the music, making the result sound bleak, cold and haunting.

Lyrics are in no way poetic or mystical, just sickening and gore. Titles (and the whole songs for that matter) like 'Raped By The Devil' or 'Ritual Genocide' are perfect examples of this 'true' persona.

Verdict: this is one hell of a black metal album and actually a very welcome throw-back. There are still a lot of fans who are disgruntled by the direction their beloved genre is heading lately. Luckily for them, bands like Bestiality still feel the urge to stick to what they feel is 'true' black metal. From the artwork, over the band-image to the fierce and intense music: this as old-school as it gets.

Serge

Mindfall - Post-Apocalyptic Grind

27/3/2015

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Don't you just love how metal secretly is the most popular musical genre in the world? Especially in recent years, metalbands have been praised for both their technical and songwriting abilites, even by people who come from totally different genres. Metal, in all its different styles, must also be one of Finland's greatest export products. I have no idea why, but Finland sends us one awesome metalband after another. It never ends... which is a good thing.

So here we go, the next awesome metal band from Finland. Today we're here to review a young band, named Mindfall, which is about to unleash a devastating debut upon mankind. The band claims they play heavy metal, but I'd like to add the words 'melodic', 'death' and 'progressive'. The music this quintet plays is brutal yet melodic, refreshing yet familiar and powerful yet enjoyable.

This e.p. immediately opens with ferocious riffs and blast beats. Who needs intros, right? After
that the music gets a bit more melodic, sounding like an In Flames/Arch Enemy hybrid. The other tracks follow basically the same structure where technical qualities easily alternate with almost Amorphis-like melodies.

What Mindfall does, actually is nothing new but the way they do it is ashtonishing. In four tracks,
of which the final one 'Shadows Grow Deep' is my favourite, they truly convince the listener of their capabilities. Besides melodic death metal, I clearly hear some early (Puppets/Justice) Metallica influences. (I miss those years). But the deep, strong growls breathe death metal all the way.

Thing is, Mindfall only appeared on the metal horizon last year and this e.p. is their debut. Sure,
theres guys have been playing in several bands before, but it strikes me how they have managed to create a solid identity this quickly. Somehow I have a feeling that the three reference-bands I mentioned in this review have to watch out for these young Fins.

Serge

Triumvir Foul - An Ode Of Blood And Fire

27/3/2015

Godz Ov War
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Today's metal escapades have somehow brought me back to the blood spilled, rotting flesh infected days of the nineties, where Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death ruled the gory underworld and where album covers were censored because of the horrid images. For some time I thought this scene was dead, overthrown by black metal and electronic filth. But boy, was I wrong. Here's Triumvir Foul, an old-school death metal duo, preparing the world for an upcoming assault. In other words, this scathing e.p. is the forerunner of a full-length coming later this year, if the world hasn't perished by then.

An Ode To Blood And Fire lasts for sixteen minutes but in those sixteen minutes Triumvir Foul demolishes everything in sight. This 7" contains four tracks, the final one being an Autopsy cover. The self-written tracks however are easily classifiable as brutal old-school death metal, often nudging towards its little brother, grindcore. Most of the time we're treated to blastbeats, ferocious riffs and deep, gutteral growls. The fact that this e.p. almost sounds like a basement-recording, makes the whole thing even better and more powerful. Truly an interesting piece of throw-back-ism...

Now my neck needs some rest...

Serge

Outre - Ghost Chants

26/3/2015

Godz Ov War Productions
Third Eye Temple
Essential Purification Records

If you ever feel like taking some time to explore the deepest and darkest places within your own soul, take my advice and play Ghost Chants by Outre while you're exploring. This album will surely encounter you with the most unholy and evil parts of yourself and, if you survive, make you a strong, independent individual in this weird and wicked world. However, beware. This journey will confront you, strangle you and slap you in the face time and time again. But, it's worth it.

Enough with the poetry already, let's try to translate the sheer brutality and darkness of Outre into something readable. This five-piece black metal band from Krakow, Poland has just released a crushing debut, filled with chaotic riffs, dramatic passages, blastbeats and haunting vocals. Its main weapon is unpredictability. Everything on this album continuously changes and seeks new way of destroying everything in its path.

The album opens with 'Chant 1 - Departure', a droney intro with some mantra-like voices. This song mainly functions as a terrifying omen because what follows is as intense as Behemoth, Altar Of Plagues and Deathspell Omega combined. 'Chant 2 - Shadows' immediately kicks in with furious riffs and intense drumming, accompanied by both growls and screams. Outre maintains this intensity until they take a few steps back with 'Chant 5 - Equilibrium'. Yet, this song promises more malice.

And indeed, the final two chants are epic black metal anthems, perfectly combining all 'schools' in the genre. Ghost Chants is a furious album with an intensity I've rarely encountered. With almost continuous blast beats and double bass drums reinforcing the ferocious guitars, Outre creates a bleak but massive wall of sound and spews an impressive amount of misantropy over the listener.

So, be warned, this is about as extreme as black metal can get. This also is nothing else, nothing less or nothing more than black metal. There's no influences from anything besides the old and new school, but there is enough variety and energy to keep the listener in its grasp. Ghost Chants is just an outstanding black metal album and a very promising debut from this vigorous quintet, period.

Serge

Breaking Fuel - More More More

26/3/2015

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Ok, albums like this should come with a warning: "Attention, too many surprises, might become hazardous for your sanity". When I listened to this album for the first time, I really didn't know what to think of it. Now, after a few listens, I'm still a bit confused but not in a bad way. This high energy rock album is loaded with different musical styles and influences and is guaranteed to make a lot of people smile and dance.

Breaking Fuel is a rock band from Bordeaux, France. This debut album is the result of several years of writing, recording and performing on stage. There's also a few guest appearances by members of O.P.A., La Réplik and The Mars Volta. The band also mentions this album was recorded, mixed and mastered on analog tapes. However, the most important element on this album is the wide variety. Besides indie rock, there's a lot of ska, punk, blues, classic rock and reggae influences present, often within one track.

'Lady' is such a highly danceable blend of reggae, ska and rock. The tempo regularly shifts, often even to the extent where this can actually be called 'experimental rock'. Most of the songs remind me of acts like Frank Zappa or Mr. Bungle. 'Stoner', for example, is a weird, messed up rock song with even weirder vocals, truly challenging the listener. These vocals might take some time to get used to. Usually they're high pitched, sounding almost nervous.

Yet, like several albums before this one, I have a feeling that this is mainly a live band. This shows in the enthousiasm Breaking Fuel has put in their music and in the energeric sound. The music arguably is better suited for the live stage than for the living room. Yet, it breathes this warm, enjoyable atmosphere of summer that only talented bands can create. Summer is coming, so prepare and take a listen to More More More. You just might encounter them somewhere in the next six months...

Serge

The Crotals - Fuel! Flames! Blast!

26/3/2015

Tenacity Music

Is there such a thing as too heavy? For some people there probably is, others say something like that simply doesn't exist. Fuel! Flames! Blast!, the debut album by Swiss trio The Crotals might be one of those CD's that people think are just too heavy. It's not a 'happy happy joy joy' album, that's for sure.

Fuel! Flames! Blast! mainly is an aggressive steamroller, filled with crushing riffs, brutal vocals and drums that somehow remind me of Therapy?. However, don't get me wrong, compared to The Crotals, Therapy? is a soft rock band. This album is an intense combination of stoner rock and sludge metal, perfect for fans of High On Fire or Buzzov-En.

The Crotals don't seem to care about elaborate instrumantal passages or about offering any form of breather for that matter. Instead, they blast their in-your-face metal at full force, possibly destroying some eardrums in the process. There are some influences of doom metal, hardcore and punk but all of them lay hidden beneath a thick layer of fuzz and destortion.

So yes, for some people this is just way too heavy and way too aggressive but the die-hard sludge crowd will undoubtedly embrace this band immediately. Picking a favourite song is, at least to me, pretty impossible. There's a bit of variation but all the songs are built on the same foundation and carry the same level of intensity.

To conlcude, dear sludge fans, it's about time to check out The Crotals. Sludge rarely gets as vigorous and powerful as this. Others, well, beware, this is the stuff that might make your brain explode or at least provide you with a firm and severe headache for the rest of your life...

Serge

Cień - Ecce Homo

25/3/2015

Hailing from Poland, this unholy quintet has been around since 2005, although they see 2009 as their official birth year. Over the years they have been growing as a band and started incorporating some very interesting elements into their sound. Somehow you can see Cien as a band that stands on the egde of black metal and post-black metal genres. They seem influenced by the Scandinavian hordes just as much as by the more recent twigs on "the evil tree".

Ecce Homo simply is an awesome album where dramatic, heavy passages of depressive black metal seemlessly alternate with blastbeats driven violence, only to flow into lengthy atmospheric sceneries and weird, scary soundscapes. Tradionally, this music is supported by shrieking vocals and screams. The result is an extremely varied black metal album, and to me personally, one that can make me enjoy this genre to the fullest extent again.

Yes, there was a time that I absolutely loved black metal but somehow I lost interest for quite some time. Ecce Homo might not have been the first album that pulled me back in, but it's definitely the most pursuasive one. Cien blends all the needed elements and influences together with such precision and furious tempo that they often succeed in creating an intense, trance-like atmosphere. In 'Lustfullness', my absolute favourite track on this album, the long instrumental passages are simply perfect and the highspeed brutality is immense.

However, Cien doesn't seem to mind including a bit of melodic death metal as well. 'Slave Of Life' reminds me of the old Season Of Mist and Candelight era, when black metal overthrew everything we thought extreme music was about. Yet, in my opinion, Cien does it even better than some of the bands on the previously mentioned labels. This is probably the result of more modern-day sounding technical possibilities but also of the excellent songwriting skills Cien possess.

So yes, you might say Cien is my latest discovery and that they go straight onto my 'genre-favourites' list. I can only recommend checking this album out. Ecco Homo is not only a well-varied album, it's also filled with surprises. Yet, of course, most of all this album is wicked, dark and evil like any decent black metal album should be. Most of the songs on this album are indeed a perfectly balanced mix of black, death & thrash metal, punk, post-rock and a hint of folk. At least, musically. Lyrical (both in English and Polish) and in terms of ethos, this is about as black and ill-natured as it gets.

Serge

Yeallow - Homebred (promo-ep)

25/3/2015

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When I got this little e.p. in my mailbox, I didn't really know what to think about it. The cover shows a lovely muffin with way too much sugar for a healthy lifestyle, and the title 'slices of the forthcoming album HOMEBRED'. So I decided to play the CD and quickly catched my feet tapping along with the music. After playing all the tracks for the first time, I realised why. Yeallow reminds me of a band I loved years ago, Nemo. Not many people might remember (or know) Nemo but I loved (and still do) their straightforward indie rock.

And yes, I also love the straightforward indie rock of Yeallow. This French rockband exists since 2010 and has been playing live a lot. The four songs on this album can probably be compared to bands like Pixies or Lemonheads. Pure, (mostly) uptempo pop rock songs that sound clean at first but come with a rough edge after a few listens. This is sunny afternoon music, at least on festivals it is. I can indeed imagine Yeallow playing this live on a warm day while several people (for some reason, mostly (post-) hippie chicks) dancing barefooted on the cool grass.

Yeallow smells like summer...

Serge

Doleful Lions / MTVGhosts - Split casssingle

25/3/2015

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You have to admit, the music 'industry' is one giant pool of endless creativity, filled with millions of different influences, ideas and opinions. From every single corner of the world, something new and completely unexpected can pop-up. This is what I love about it and that's exactly why I have the utmost respect for the people behind releases like this one.

This two-song split cassette is the seventh in the Impossible Colors Club series, which focuses    on a wide variety of Chicago based bands. It's also available as a digital download. The songs here are exclusive to this release. Let's go over the two songs on this one.

'Cincinnati Chapter of the Crowned and Conquering Child' by Doleful Lions is an eighties sounding electrotrack that has a pretty high dancefloor calibre. The uplifting tune surely has the power to put a smile on your face.

'Unsuspected' by dreampunk band MTVGhosts is an equally enjoyable pop rock song that somehow reminds me of the era of Madness, The Damned and other bands who filled up the niches after the punk era.

This is, at least for Merchants Of Air, 'the lighter stuff' but that doesn't affect the quality of the music. Personally, I'm quite happy with this release. It proves to me that creativity and music as a whole never die. If you could only see me smile now :)

    Serge

Headless Kross - Volumes

24/3/2015

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Let's start off with an anecdote from my personal life. The first time I played this album my wife and I were doing the dishes. Very short after the first riffs my wife, someone who loves dark music as long as it's not too obtrusive, asked if she could put this louder. I, loud doom fan, said 'sure'. So she did and we continued to throw our dirty, evil plates into the gaping throats of lost, restless souls. And, damn, it felt good. About fourty minutes later (it was a huge pile of dishes) we decided that we already had another candidate for our 'best of 2015' list, and it's only March.

Headless Kross is a psychedelic doom band that formed in Glasgow in 2011. Volumes is their second full-length after Bear (2011), Demises e.p. (2012) and two splits. It will be released on vinyl and cassette (Black Bow Records), CD and digital download (Burning World Records) on April 1st. There's three songs on Volumes, but 'songs' is not really a good word for these. These are whaling psychedelic steamrollers, powerful enough to make cracks in a person's skull when played loud. But, strangely enough, these songs are not just built on pure heaviness, there's a lot more going on.

The music is slow. That's for sure. 'Rural Juror' starts out as a pretty typical first song on a
doom album but suddenly the listener is captured between vintage doom riffs, modern day guitar psychedelics and drone noise. A while later, on the following tracks, some sludge influences come shining through, especially in the vocals. This amount of variation, in only three songs, is quite rare. Besides, it's exactly this aspect that keeps the album interesting and refreshing. Clearly Headless Kross found a blend of genres and completely made it their own.

Another striking and surprising aspect is the rock 'n' roll feel that this album breathes. Sure, people who don't like doom metal think it's all about being as evil and depressive as possible but they do have to respect the blood, sweat and tears that went into creating an album like this. Keeping a song interesting for ten minutes is hard work, let alone a twenty two minutes lasting monster. As a musician you need a solid know-how and a firm belief in your potential to be able to maintain this quality. You need to say the f-word to everything keeping you away from pure, uncut rock 'n' roll.

In all, Volumes surely is way too violent and heavy for the faint hearted. Its side effects might be headaches, loss of sanity and a strong dislike toward humanity. There's a lot of dynamics and pounding repetitive blasts of noise coming your way. However, if you're experienced in extreme music, you got to give this a chance. Headless Cross might become one of those bands who break some boundaries between doom and headstrong uptempo metalheads, just because of the awesome musicianship that has gone into this. And if you're not very experienced, go listen some decent vintage metal and try again...

Serge

Embrional - The Devil Inside

24/3/2015

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Hello, and welcome to our torture room. We hope you have a very pleasant stay. Nevermind the blood, gore and guts, these are quite common elements here and rarely seem to bother the other guests. Maybe that is because of the fact that most of them have already been decapitated, slashed, ripped to pieces and infested with things you really don't want to know anything about. We will be back later to dispose of your corpse.

Embrional is an unholy quartet from Poland and short for Embrional Necrophilism, an agressive and nihilistic form of death metal, often mixed with some black metal influences. They have been active for quite some time and released several full-lengths, e.p.'s and demo's before embarking on their latest demonic quest. The Devil Inside, a 42-minute lasting corporal punishment, is filled with technical and often complicated riffs, loads of blastbeats and brutal growls.

The intro sounds like the first paragraph of this review. Embrional really is welcoming us into a place where no person should ever go. What follows is a violent assault in the vein of bands like Vomitory, Aborted or Six Feet Under, perfectly suited to headbang yourself a brain injury. This is about as brutal, hellish and horrifying as music can get.

Besides all the brutality, there's actually a lot of variation and an immense technical level of musical craftsmapship present on The Devil Inside. In the past twelve years, Embrional definitely gained a lot of experience, both with their instruments as in songwriting capacity. This experience constantly shines through, making it a very mature sounding album, which is something extreme metal bands often lack.

From a lyrical standpoint, this album is as hateful and distasteful as it can get. The protagonists in these lyrics do not have a very enjoyable time, that's for sure. But you know, probably they deserved it so f**k'em, right? This album is extreme, intense and actually simply awesome, a highly convincing example of modern day death metal and a true recommendation for fans of the wicked and the extreme.

Serge

Secret Admirer - Pale Shelter

24/3/2015

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Weird, this project is presented as a black metal act but I don't really hear this genre on any of the two songs on this debut-single by Secret Admirer. However, genres aside, this sounds pretty promising and quite good. At least, if you're into a bit of utter darkness once in a while.

Secret Admirer is a cooperation between Heinali, Matt Finney and Gilded Lily vocalist/lyricist Andrew Helinski. This two-track single should function as a teaser for the upcoming album. The second track, 'Pale Shelter' is a Tears For Fears cover, stripped down to a minimal dark ambient piece. To me, yes, this is the best Tears For Fears cover ever.

The other song, 'Billowing Perfume' is also mostly a dark ambient effort, dressed in an industrial cloth and adorned with several electronic jewels. The result is something between dark ambient, shoegaze and post rock. If this truly is a teaser for an upcoming album, I would very much like to hear what Secret Admirer has to offer us.

Serge

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Au-Dessus - Au-Dessus

24/3/2015

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Post-black metal seems to be an upcoming genre, gaining popularity among the original black metal fans and other extreme music loves alike. Still firmly rooted in the evil Scandinavian style, several bands are taking on an exprimental approach, which somehow results in something that is more evil, bleak and fatalistic as traditional black metal.

Take this Au-Dessus debut for example. This Lithuanian band incorporates influences from shoegaze and drone doom into the distinct sound of the genre, making it sound like something between Emperor, Nortt and Jesu, which is pretty intense and maybe a bit similar to what Altar Of Plagues and Landlôs do. They succeed in creating an intense, trance-like state.

There are five tracks on this album, the first one not even being an intro. Instead, they immediately treat us to blastbeasts and heavy riffs, enforced by a dark mantra and shrieking vocals. This is a short, but intense warning of what 's about to follow. A warning the unexpecting or unexperienced listener definitely needs.

The other four tracks are pieces of organised chaos, both atmospheric and brutal at the same time. There's not very much vocals on the album but when they are, they sound as evil and wicked as they should be, mixing in perfectly with the music. In 'III', and especially in the bass guitar, there also seem to be some punk influences present.

Slow, haunting passages seemlessly alternate with brutal, hyperspeed assaults. The overall atmosphere is cold and desolate, as if the album was recorded in an ancient cottage in an extensive snowy forest in Norway. So all the elements for a great post-black metal album are present, making this one quite outstanding. This is one extreme piece of music, not to be taken lightly...

Serge

The View Electrical - Roseland

24/3/2015

In my digital music collection, there's a folder named 'Sad Rock' and this outstanding debut album by Swiss The View Electrical is going right into that folder. There they will be accompanied by jewels from South San Gabriel and Applecraft. However, the way in which this band incorporates other genres into their sound is ashtonishing and will probably make it one of the most played Sad Rock albums in this household.

It took The View Electrical two years to write and record Roseland. The band featurers members from Cortez, Kruger, No Sun In San Francisco and Sonograph. This can explain the mature and intimate sound of the twelve songs on this record. Most of them are beautiful rock ballads, sounding warm and comfortable but still with an intense sense of sadness.

So yes, this is pretty modest rock music. If I close my eyes, I imagine a tent with a stage and several hunderd people sitting or laying on the grassy soil, letting the music overtake them. A quiet haven on a noisy festival. An instant favourite for everyone who broke up with their lover at that same festival. But, beware, because as pretty and lovely as The View Electrical might sound, this kitty can scratch and bite.

From the beginning of the first song, 'Haunted By A Dream', I heard something between Tiamat and Slowdive. Dark shoegaze with a distinct, subdued voice. This is one of those songs that maintain their strength, both in a minimal acoustic setting as when played by a full-blown band. 'At All Costs' however, suddenly borrows from trip-hop acts like Massive Attack or Tricky, floating on electronic percussion and dreamy guitars. 'It Was Time' proves their songwriting capabilities, becoming my favourite real ballad on this CD.

But I said this kitty bites and scratches, remember? Well, title track 'Roseland' and closer 'We Won't Stay' suddenly overthrow everything you expect from a band like this. Completely unexpected, the music bursts into a post-hardcore climax, not as extreme as with the bands in that genre, but still. This really is a surprise. 'Protect Us' pulls us into darkness again, with a creepy intro, electronic drones and a frightening choir. In this song, The View Electrical suddenly becomes a darkwave band. So, I'm going with this one if I have to choose a favourite track.

I have to be honest, at first I hadn't really expected much from this album. Usually, this subgenre I like to name 'sad rock' becomes one-sided and often boring. The View Electrical have managed to surprise me with this excellent, varied and atmospheric album. All the different influences turn this music into an extended journey through numerous emotions, genres and movements. As often, I can only hope that these guys take this album on the road because I really want to see how they pull this off on stage.

Serge

Spoiwo - Salute Solitude

22/3/2015

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There's probably thousands of post rock bands these days, making it increasingly harder for a young band to stand out. Some bands try to be a bit different by incorporating electronics of vocals, others cross the thin line between rock and metal. Yet, there are bands the just focus on creating beautiful, intimate soundscapes on an almost minimal level.

Spoiwo is an instrumental band from Gdansk, Poland. They're mainly a post rock band but along the way they have picked up elements from ambient, modern classical and soundtrack music, which they succesfully incorporated in their own sound. Salute Solitude, their latest effort, is now available on their bandcamp page and to be honest, it's worth your time and even a little bit of money.

The music Spoiwo makes has no need for heavy guitars or pounding drums. Instead, they work with two synths, creating lengthy and dreamy ambient sounds where bass, drums and guitars can freely build upon. Even when they do get a bit heavier, the music never gets obtrusive or overwhelming. It just keeps on floating through the room, very close to the listener but still always unreachable.

As for post rock influences, I feel like GYBE is a bigger one for Spoiwo than Mogwai is. However, I would even go as far as to claim that people like John Carpenter and other soundtrack composers are even a bigger influence. 'No Kingdom' is a beautiful example of this calm, cinematic approach on their music. 'Flare', opening with piano and bowed guitars, slowly builds into my favourite track.

But to be quite honest, the entire album breathes this almost epic atmosphere, indeed perfectly suited for soundtracks, living rooms and concert halls alike. This is simply an excellent album by a very talented and enthousiastic band. If you're in any way into post rock music, you should check this out. Spoiwo might become one of your new favourites in the genre. For me, they already are...

Serge

Undobar - Dark & Rusty

22/3/2015

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Stoner rock inspired country, folk and blues, brought to you with two guitars and a minimal set of
percussion. Well, that's quite a surprising combination but somehow it works pretty well. Oh, and there's even more. Get ready for a trip through some huge, empty American desert with this pretty interesting French duo.

What Undobar does might not be extremely original but that really doesn't matter. Somehow the music reminds me of Johnny Cash covering rock songs. The setting is quite minimal but even in these riffs you can clearly hear influences from blues, alternative rock and stoner music. These influences are stripped down and undressed into a naked, fragile version, which is perfectly suited for folk festivals and Irish pubs.

However, I have a feeling that there's even more going on. Add a bass player and a drummer and most of these songs definitely become solid rockers, capable of entertaining huge crowds of QOTSA-fans or other rock and blues listeners. It's clear that Undobar has a lot of experience in songwriting by playing in several bands before going on this intimate journey.

There's eight songs on Dark & Rusty and they all do sound a bit like the album title mentions, 'Dark & Rusty'. My personal favorites are 'Promises', 'Wait' and the awesome closer 'Fuck'. By getting this album, you can assure yourself of half an hour of gritty and a bit creepy country blues. If you're into these genres, this is absolutely recommended. Yet, if you're a (heavy) rocker, you should also check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Serge

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Benjamin Finger - Pleasurably Lost

Zayn - Fields Of God

Alva Noto - Xerrox vol. 3

Black Royal - The Summoning Pt I

Bestiality - Stuck In Bestial Vision

Mindfall - Post-Apocalyptic Grind

Triumvir Foul - An Ode Of Blood And Fire

Outre - Ghost Chants

Breaking Fuel - More More More

The Crotals - Fuel! Flames! Blast!

Cień - Ecce Homo

Yeallow - Homebred (promo-ep)

Doleful Lions / MTVGhosts - Split casssingle

Headless Kross - Volumes

Embrional - The Devil Inside

Secret Admirer - Pale Shelter

Au-Dessus - Au-Dessus

The View Electrical - Roseland

Spoiwo - Salute Solitude

Undobar - Dark & Rusty

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