This is the latest EP from Swiss progressive/post-metal band Nevborn.
A progressive post-metal EP that is just a single 19 minute song? Count me in! What’s that? It also features the supreme vocal talents of the singer of The Ocean? Stop, stop, you’re just overselling it now… Continue reading
This is the latest EP from First Signs of Frost, a modern rock band from the UK.
Inspired by the likes of Deftones, Glassjaw, and the less-harsh aspects of Periphery and Sikth, this short EP is 18 minutes of emotive and anthemic modern music that’s played with obvious passion. Continue reading
The Restitution is a one-man progressive metal band from the US and this is his second album.
2013’s Waves was a very enjoyable and impressive release, and I can’t believe it’s been four years since it came out. Continue reading
Foreword is Disperse’s third album. They play progressive rock/metal and are from Poland.
Disperse take elements from both old and new progressive music and incorporate them into their thoroughly modern take on the style.
Complexity, syncopation and Continue reading
Ghastly Sound are a metal/hardcore band from the US and this is their debut EP.
As much as I luuurrrvvvveeee the distortion of a good guitar, I do always like it when I come across a band that eschews this in favour of the primal heaviness of just drums and bass. Continue reading
Suicide Silence are a metal band from the US and this is their fifth album.
I haven’t heard anything Suicide Silence have done since their 2009 album No Time to Bleed, so was very interested to finally catch up with them once more. I didn’t expect them to be the same band, of course, and they really aren’t. Continue reading
Riviẽre are a progressive metal band from France and this is their debut album.
This is an intriguing blend of styles that uses progressive metal as a base to launch forays into post-rock, post-hardcore and alternative metal.
As you may be able to ascertain from Continue reading
This is the fourth album from Appollonia, a Metal band from France.
This is Modern Metal with a Stoner/Progressive edge, somewhat akin to a mix of Mastodon, Baroness and Deftones.
Dull Parade has a strong production and everything sounds loud and heavy. The band strike a good balance between polished and gritty.
The vocals vary between cleans, semi-cleans and rougher shouts. These are performed well and have an undeniable charisma to them. All three band members contribute vocals to this release, so there’s a decent amount of variety and vocal layering going on. Melodies and harmonies abound, all richly textured and enticing.
The songs can be rawkus and confrontational or more emotive and considered, either way there’s an undercurrent of raw emotional intensity to the tracks, helping to give them longevity and depth.
Dull Parade is a thoroughly enjoyable modern interpretation of Alternative Metal with catchy songs and emotive content. It’s also heavy and uncompromising in its vision for what loud music should be.
Highly recommended.
A Secret Revealed are a German Post-Metal band and this is their début album.
This is emotive Post-Metal that has a good mix of upbeat misery and negative energies.
The Bleakness is an interesting listen as it combines a few different styles of Modern Metal into a coherent assault on happiness. Post-Metal, Modern Metal, Post-Hardcore and even the odd bit of Doom, Shoegaze and Extreme Metal all get incorporated into their overarching depressive aesthetic.
The vocals consist of impassioned screams that are very much in the blood-curdling, emotive Hardcore style.
The music is nicely varied and revolves around the central motif of the band which is ultimately one of bleakness, it seems, (hence the album title).
Although it’s largely a heavy affair, the band never go too far into ultra-heavy territory and instead use the guitars for maximum emotional content. This is backed up and reinforced by the expressive leads and melodies as well as the odd bit of orchestration here and there.
This is a band who are enjoying the freedom of Post-Metal by doing their own thing with contemporary Metal music. They have eschewed the Doom route that most Post-Metal takes and instead has chosen the road less travelled by bands like Deftones and Devil Sold His Soul, only more Metallic.
The Bleakness may be just that, but it’s also a triumph.
Highly recommended.
Devil Sold His Soul are from the UK and this is their latest EP. They play Progressive/Post-Metal.
I’m a big fan of Devil Sold His Soul’s early work, but somehow I never kept up with them and this is my first exposure to them in a while. I was interested to hear this EP for this reason, especially as this is their first release with a new vocalist.
As always their music is impassioned, expansive and very heavy when it needs to be. Their songwriting has become even more developed than their older work, however.
It’s immediately apparent that their new vocalist fits the band like a glove. Scathing screams seem to spike painfully into your mind, but you like it anyway; soaring cleans rise gracefully from the emotive riffs whilst cascading leads swell up around them. Replacing a vocalist can be a very tricky thing to do successfully, but I’m immediately sold.
These tracks, (of which there are five), combine crushing guitars and soothing, sombre tones to create a collection of songs that pluck at the heartstrings as well as trying to pull them out.
The combined fiery melancholic nature of the guitars mix with vocals that veritably drip with emotion; these songs reveal a band that are at the height of their powers.
It’s like the power and passion of Year Of No Light, the dynamic energy of Deftones and the flawless delivery of Cult of Luna all rolled into one exciting package.
I love this. You will too.
