Brain Tentacles are an experimental/avant-garde/jazz/grind/doom metal band from the US. This is their debut album.
Experimental/avant-garde/jazz/grind/doom metal is a bit of a mouthful, and in all honesty doesn’t even properly do justice to the sounds that this album contains at any rate.
In addition to the usual drums and bass you’ll also find synth, piano and horns on this release. But no guitars. Continue reading “Brain Tentacles – Brain Tentacles (Review)”
This is the third album from US experimental blackened death metallers Veilburner.
Veilburner have produced a monster of an album. This is 60 minutes of blackened death metal, filtered through a corrupted lens of experimental dissonance and pseudo-industrial undertones.
In a way it’s difficult to separate the disparate influences at play in Continue reading “Veilburner – The Obscene Rite (Review)”
Coma Cluster Void are a death metal band, (of sorts), and this is their debut album. They have an international lineup, with members from Canada, Germany and the US.
This album features not one, but two ex-Cryptopsy singers. You heard that right. To be fair, one of them, (Lord Worm), is only a guest vocalist on a couple of tracks, but still. The other, (Mike DiSalvo), is only one half of the vocal attack, the other half being provided by Continue reading “Coma Cluster Void – Mind Cemeteries (Review)”
Nox Formulae are a Greek black metal band and this is their debut album.
This is ritualistic/occult black metal that combines a raw delivery with elements of the avant-garde and atmospheric.
The band take the second-wave black metal template and mutate it into something a bit more atypical. Synths and dark Continue reading “Nox Formulae – The Hidden Paths to Black Ecstasy (Review)”
Crowhurst are from the US, and are an extremely prolific band with lots of noise/experimental/etc. releases. Their self titled album from 2015 was especially of interest, as it was essentially a pure black metal album, and a very good one at that.
Fast forward a year, and they have now released II. This continues the black metal theme started by their previously mentioned album, only this time with a wider scope and with industrial/sludge aspects, as well as contributions from members Continue reading “Crowhurst – II (Review)”
This is the fifth album from Todtgelichter, who play progressive/avant-garde black metal.
Rooms comes across as a combination of Enslaved and Madder Mortem, with a side-order of some of Arcturus‘ work. The resultant mix reminds of a post-black metal version of Obscure Sphinx. Which, considering who good Obscure Sphinx are, is an exciting proposition.
The music generally fuses elements of Continue reading “Todtgelichter – Rooms (Review)”
This is the second album from VIII, an Italian black metal band.
VIII have produced an ambitious release that spans 50 minutes across three sprawling, ugly tracks. This is not an album for people who like polished, shiny music. Oh no. This is the sound of dying, decay and forgotten dreams.
Decathexis sees the band playing raw, underground black metal with a mean, dispirited edge. Alongside the Continue reading “VIII – Decathexis (Review)”
This is the third album from Norwegian black metallers Sulphur.
Here we have an interesting release that combines a few different things into one. Omens of Doom is black metal that adds progressive, sometimes quirky, layers onto the razor-sharp modern style that it employs. Some elements of death metal and the avant-garde get a look in too, all incorporated into the comprehensive song structures.
This is the début EP from French Progressive Metal band Gargantua.
Gargantua play Progressive Metal that combines some quite eclectic influences to produce a 26 minute calling card that shows off what they can do quite effectively.
To give you a flavour of their style, imagine a mix of The Meads of Asphodel, Sigh, The Black Dahlia Murder and Akercocke, among others. It’s essentially a form of melodic Death Metal with added folk, avant-garde and progressive influences, allowing the band a freedom to experiment and be playful with their influences.
The keyboard and accordion aspect of their sound is quirky and endearing. While not as completely over-the-top as some of the stuff that Sigh get up to, this part of their sound can still be demanding and attention-seeking.
The more aggressive Metal that lays the foundation of their music is tempered by their other influences so that the majority of the riffs have a lot of other stuff going on; the avant-garde and more-emotive aspects of their style are never too far away.
Thrash Metal-esque shouted growls, barely-holding-it-together screams, progressive cleans, operatic choral parts, emotive theatrics; there’s a plethora of different styles employed on Avant-Propos via four of the various band members.
A very promising first release. While not perfect, it shows a creative band willing and able to push boundaries to achieve the sound they want. With a few tweaks here and there to tighten the songwriting up, they could become quite a fearsome proposition in the future.
Check them out.
This is the seventh album from German Black Metal band Todesstoss.
At 75 minutes in length this is a long album that only contains 3 tracks. I mention this purely to set the scene for the kind of sprawling, unconventional, Blackened vision that Todesstoss have.
This is Experimental Black Metal that takes the serrated core of Black Metal and adds Electronica, Ambient, Martial, Dark Rock, Avant-Garde and Depressive tendencies to it, creating songs that are unhinged marvels of deranged darkness.
Various instruments and flashes of sound compliment the core instrumentation and the mangled, psychotic vocals punctuate the music like stab wounds. His violent outbursts are quite disturbed and fit the uncompromising music.
Think bands like Bethlehem/Burzum/Deinonychus/Dødheimsgard, only stretched out to the extreme.
There are a lot of themes and moods spread across these tracks and it’s clear that a lot of work and effort has gone into perfecting the meaning and rationale for the existence of every part of this music. To some listeners it may seem as if occasional bits of noise or instruments are randomly inserted here and there, but I suspect that everything is where it is for a reason.
These certainly aren’t songs in the traditional sense, but rather canvasses of sound that are used for exploratory experimentalism by their creators to give voice to what dwells inside them. It’s a fascinating insight into a warped psyche as portrayed via the medium of mutated, corrupted Black Metal.
This is not an album you enjoy in the traditional sense. It’s an album you survive, and then, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, you develop an affinity for the abuse it puts you through and eventually go back to it time and time again for more punishment.
Let your re-education begin.
Wonderbox Metal 