2015 - Releases

Freitag, 20. Feb 2015, 21:16

Wasn't sure if this was going to happen, but not having a scrappy journal I forget to update regularly has left me feeling slightly 'without'. I've just agreed to start contribting to a new webzine too, which should be fully launched by April, but I'm hoping to keep this going as well, or at least use this as a drafting tool for more in depth reviews or articles. There is already a plethora of insanely good albums to imbibe your senses with this year. One thing I'm doing this time, is linking bands in more useful ways, so you won't have to stray from this page to get all the info you need on a band. Adding 'Bandcamp' links where I can and at least one link in the review to the band's facebook page (so you can make a habit of "liking" the stuff for further updates). Also, I used to shy away from likening projects to other bands too much, but I've found it draws ideas out of me if I do this, and the only reason I dislike reviewers who do this is that they rely too much on it to avoid describing a bands sound. So please explore and keep engaged in messages and comments.

2014 JOURNAL

2013 JOURNAL

2012 JOURNAL

2011 JOURNAL

My own DIY project:
Courtsleet - Facebook | SoundCloud | bandcamp |

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The Body & Thou - You, Whom I Have Always Hated
(97%)
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I had heard the news of this collaboration last year and was sort of reticent about the implications of this amalgamation of sonic forces (really, because it seemed far too good to be true). Prior to the release of 'You, Whom I Have Always Hated', I'd only indulged some (admittedly totally awesome) DIY live footage of the two bands simultaneously converging upon some basic but utterly crushing ideas. What makes this collaboration a truly special event is the fact that Thou and The Body (fb links) are both totally distinctive in their realm… it's not as if 2 generic doom bands have just decided to play at the same time. There's elements to each band's sound that are brought in and actually play out simultaneously in a cacophony I can honestly describe as being one of the very heaviest dins I have ever subjected myself to. The Side A on this album is from the EP that was only released on vinyl last year, and hence this is my first time hearing those songs. Although the collaboration feels like it's in its infancy in this first half, this only exacerbates a primal ferine element which most sludge bands would sell appendages to acquire. Come the 2nd half of this LP, it feels like the super band have become completely aware of the devastating tools at their collective disposal, and what follows is nothing short of disorientating. Beyond the Realms of Dream, That Fleeting Shade Under the Corpus of Vanity (official video) is the first of the "new" tracks and It contains everything that makes each band unique and brilliant in their own rite with even some new ground being covered in the 2nd half of the track which breaks down into huge slack pulses of bass which build until the cymbals crash back in simultaneously with Chip King's completely terrifying wails, which at the best of times give the amygdala a traumatizing workout. This moment just erupts in my system, sending paralyzing waves over me. It's quite widely available on CD and vinyl, but here's a link to Thrill Jockey Records' stock:
buy.

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Grimoire - L'aorasie des spectres rêveurs
(96%)
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Few bands still induce that "where has this music been all my life" reaction in me during the first 50 seconds of their new EP. Québec's Grimoire (fb link) instantly set a drastically epic tone - the stage beautifully laid out for cavernous vocals to howl over gloriously balanced drums, guitars and bass… not to forget that summoning pastoral synth layer which runs throughout. This operates in the same circle as more well known projects such as Woods of Desolation or Germ, but somehow never manages to carelessly spill it's epic and hopeful tones into the superfluous realms, which the Australian masters of this genre can at times be quite guilty of. When clean vocals ornament the hoarded arrangement, the feeling of specters violently swirling around the room becomes a reality and during the opening of 'Cachot De Cristal' a momentous choral melody reigns over the long droning chord progression and reminds me sincerely of Mehdi Safa's ebullient and emotionally disarming approach to the vocals in his project *shels. Available to hear and purchase for a modest price: bc.

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Dynfari - Vegferð Tímans
(94%)
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Dynfari (fb link) are a two piece atmospheric black metal band from Iceland playing with the sort of seminal, spirit accruing epic musical visions one expects from a nation largely made up of ancient glaciers and eerie barren, lunar landscapes. At the moment there are plenty of rumblings about Misþyrming, a fellow Icelandic collective with an epic and devastatingly sinister edge. I'm feeling really in my element with these 2 releases right now and am sincerely hoping the combination of the two records will draw more eyes to this emergence of sheer quality from Iceland's extreme music scene. The young duo are tapping into the same emotional dream world as Alcest and Les Discrets, with progressive arrangements and a massive sounding production, a morose nautical perspective is reflected. Hafsjór, A song containing some of my favourite moments on Vegferð Tímans is currently being streamed on Metal Hammer (direct link). Also, the label is hoping to use 'crowd funding' to release this on Vinyl. If my opinion means anything to you, this would be an extremely worthy addition to anyone's music collection.

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Misþyrming - Söngvar elds og óreiðu
(93%)
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Misþyrming (fb link) are a frigid force of raw, bitter and destructive self expression. This core 2 piece unleashed their debut full-length “Söngvar elds og óreiðu” (Songs of Fire and Chaos) in February and it has since been met with nothing but awe and adulation by the black metal community. This is evidenced by the Vinyl selling out almost instantly and the band landing their name on the roster of some of the more respectable metal festival line-ups later in 2015. Proving true to their name (Icelandic for Abuse), buzz saw riffs and organic drums find themselves perfectly balanced to deliver violence in a nefarious and understated production which summons the moss enshrouded spirit of bands like Gehenna, Vemod or Earth and Pillars. Although for reasons of proximity Misþyrming are more commonly being compared to Svartidauði and Sinmara, but for me, there’s something a little more refined to sole composer, Daugar’s irreverent sermons. Where Dynfari embrace the cold and translate it into a beautiful poignant hypothermic malaise, Misþyrming firmly reject it as a fucking nuisance – the unwelcome discomfort venting in to their appendages substantiating further justification for anger bordering on grief. But in their malice for the nature of their homeland, an even stronger co-creative connection is nurtured. bc.

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Hypnologica - Quantum
(93%)
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Hypnologica (fb link) is a post-black metal project belonging solely to Adam Magnox, who composes and transmits his blissfully crafted woe/cosmic musings out of the beautiful and rurally cocooned UK city of Lincoln. This project made a great impression on me last year with debut album Sonar. In opening track 'Gravitanium', we're greeted with a swell of dilatant synths, hinting at an 'adagio for strings-esque' quality of melody, which is soon blown out of the heliosphere and into true interstellar space by the guitars and drums which cascade in, creating a blinding, perfectly balanced wall of pure but brutal energy. Try not to allow yourself to be so awestruck by this opening track that you forget to give the closer 'Cosmic Water' it's own independent listen (I only say this because I was guilty of just repeatedly going over this first track without letting the rest of the album play out properly). This is 35 minutes of scintillating epic music, which shows tenderness in some isolating ambient passages, and then ferocity through pummeling arrangements with almost alien touches of melodic character. There are some huge ideas here and like the best black metal, although a progressive nature pervades through the composition, Magnox knows when an idea should be allowed space to breath and as such the best moments are returned to and given repetition in a most rewarding fashion. Go experience this for yourself at bc.

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Ecferus - Prehistory
(92%)
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Ecferus (fb link) is truly inspired and unique black metal from the US. This is product of a sole contributor known as Alp, who brings science and mythology together in a concoction that is perfectly represented by the music which creeps, crawls and seethes with the murk of an early Caïna record and the natural ubiety seeded deep within Negura Bunget's opus 'OM'. I really love this album for many reasons. One being it has this fervid misery instilled in every movement - dynamically it can be in a section that feels like it could have been more 'filled out', but there are layers left sort of open, which gives the vocals or acoustic instruments room to breath and also makes way for the subtle, individual textures on the present instruments to really come into effect. Although there are plenty of moments when we're treat to full throttle black metal, they don't dominate, making this reminiscent of bands who really allow their compositional process to reach outside of aspiring to retain more officious, overwhelming dynamics. One such example of a band who also does this well is Nucleus Torn, where metal is kept back in reserve only for the darker acts in their wider story. Get on this now:
bc. It is another 'name your price' jaw dropper.

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Devouring Star - Through Lung and Heart
(92%)
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Devouring Star (fb link) is a newly evolved project from Finland, playing exactly the sort of galvanizing black metal you don't quite dare to hope you'll find right at the dawn of a new calendar year. The musical ideas are built around expansive dissonant riffs, with glorious clashes creating gleaming and monolithic girth in the bands maliciously execrable, yet grandiose and honed sonic palate. Bands I would say are perfectly healthy reference points here would be Kreigsmaschine, Aosoth and Carpe Noctem. It's pretty much thanks to the feeling of discovery related to this band that I felt the urge/inspiration to keep up to this years best releases and start another journal of the same ilk to previous ones. 3 of the tracks are available to stream over on Daemon Worships Prod's bandcamp - bc.

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Sea Bastard & Keeper - Split LP
(90%)
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This split was specially chosen to adorn my new setup. I'm just not the type of person this kind of shit happens to… that one day I receive a call from a very close friend/ex band mate who is obsessed with hifi gear, offering me his rebuilt/reconditioned Wharfedale E-50s for the cost of nothing but love… he was desperate to know they were going to a good home (every time I've seen him since, I've given him an expensive bottle of vodka). So this split arrived shortly after I'd assembled this audiophile's mecca in my room. I think My eye balls have been an inch further apart ever since. I had never heard of or heard anything by Keeper (fb link) until I stumbled on a special preview of '777'. I'm quite shocked this band isn't making more ripples right now, although they are both very new and seemingly in their embryonic stage, which is a terrifying prospect, given how veteran they sound already. I predict their next full length, whenever that will be, is going to be absolutely huge. Sea Bastard (fb link), I am already a little more acquainted with. Their contribution is a slightly longer track. It's every bit as awesome and has a similar pristine, organic and bone crushingly vast production. From what i can make out, both bands brought their 'A game' here, which is what I really want out of a split, because it shows the bands are honouring one another enough to put a piece of their soul onto the record, instead of just chucking in some song that didn't fit on the last full length etc. Anyway, although I am totally ritualistically listening to this exclusively at my new shrine to sound, here's the bandcamp to get acquainted.
bc.

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Kalmankantaja - Metsänkulkija
(88%)
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So it was 13 days into the new year, and I was starting to feel edgy. I quickly scanned my body for where this unease was emanating from, and it was my black metal gland, weeping out for something new, harsh and more than just half-decent. I had a dig around and this was one of the first things that came up. Kalmankantaja (fb link) is Finnish black metal. It is perfectly rough, and actually for something so awash with noise, it sits gloriously in my ears. It's not what you call a good a production, it's what you call an appropriate production… which is far more important. The only band from my repertoire I'd liken this to in the response it elicits is one of my very favourite black metal acts Finster. Despite the fuel for this project seeming to be the primal energies drawing truly from an absolute black essence, the riffs are all abundantly packed with harrowing and emotively imprisoning melodies, all carrying the genuine prestige of the best 'second wave' black metal. Go and enjoy probably the 'truest' thing that will appear on this years list:
bc.

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Imperial Triumphant - Abyssal Gods
(88%)
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Imperial Triumphant (fb link) are avant-garde black/death metal from New York. They are symbiotic of the emergence of challenging ideas prevailing this region. This music is deeply organic in texture and production and fiercely technical in performance. The heaviness isn't achieved through conventional measures, a clue to this being the fact that they actively site Penderecki's tone rows as an influence, which further still should give some idea of what levels of dissonance Abyssal Gods descend to. It also has the geographically characteristic use of psychotic and terrifying brass and strings in some atmospheric reprieves. Although I'm putting a lot of emphasis on this album belonging to it's scene, this is only so because of the illustrious experimentation and stature musical explorers based in the big apple share (Think, Epistasis (shares a member), Time of Orchids, Krallice, Castevet, Kayo Dot and Behold the Arctopus). I was a big fan of their 2013 EP release Goliath (bc), so am delighted they've formed a partnership with Code666 (fb), who have the album available for purchase for a sweet price: Order. If you want to taste the poison first, CVLT Nation are streaming this beast in it's entirety.

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Kalpa - Sequences*
(85%)
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Kalpa, hailing from Athens Greece, gave me one of those weirdly satisfying "bandcamp" discovery moments. It's a strangely analogous feeling to stumbling on some rare gem in a dusty independent store while idly thumbing through record sleeves. I sort of have to keep returning this to see if it's as good as I remember. And every time it's even better than I remember. With the panache of similar post-metal/rock/instrumental acts If These Trees Could Talk, Sunpocrisy, Kokomo or Exxasens, Kalpa know how to paint vibrant panoramic epics with tasteful build-ups, creative riffs and not a whole lot of need for anything else. They are not afraid to just get straight to the point, which is refreshing. A common flaw for alot of aspiring post-rock artists is that they try to recreate Sigur Rós' 'Popplagið', but just do not have the tools or dynamic depth to pull it off without actually being horrendously boring and ineffective. Kalpa completely avoid this trapping with pristine production as fulfilling as any of the aforementioned artists. The fact that this is 'Name Your Price' is really quite astonishing bc. This is also Kalpa's debut album, so don't be tempted to keep this one to yourself. Be Kind. Spread the word.

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Phantom Winter - Cvlt

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Keeper - The Space Between Your Teeth

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