Skullcave are a progressive doom band from Australia and this is their debut album.
I was drawn to this album by the enigmatic album cover, and then reeled in by the description of the music – “an ambitious, qualitative blend of thick doom, dreamy instrumentals and layered vocals.” Continue reading
Witchkiss are a doom/sludge band from the US and this is their debut album.
Here we have a very compelling 42 minutes of heavy doom metal. Mixing in elements of sludge and post-metal, the songs thunder their way through the playing time with a mixture of brute-force intensity and intricate nuance, although the latter is frequently more prevalent than the former. Continue reading
Split Cranium are an international hardcore band and this is their second album.
This album features members/ex-members of Isis, Old Man Gloom, Converge, Mamiffer, and Circle, (as well as others). The band play crusty d-beat hardcore punk, with a decidedly more simple and straightforward approach than a lot of the band members’ other projects. Continue reading
Built-in Obsolescence are a progressive/post-metal band from Italy. This is their debut album.
Here we have 61 minutes of post-metal with progressive tendencies. Modelled on influences such as The Ocean, Cult of Luna, Isis, and a touch of Tool, Built-in Obsolescence mould elements of these to satisfy their own vision of what heavy music should sound like in 2018. Continue reading
This is the debut album from Irish post-metal/doom band Third Island.
After the initial promise of Third Island’s debut EP Dusk, the band have now returned with a full 48 minutes of material. This is direct, forthright post-metal, which also takes in influences from doom, sludge, post-rock, and progressive metal. Continue reading
Soldat Hans are a doom band from Switzerland and this is their second album.
Es Taut contains 55 minutes of music spread out over three tracks. This is a colossal and ambitious album, one that’s delivered by a band with matching talent, skill, and ability. Continue reading
Below a Silent Sky are a German post-metal band and this is their second album.
I enjoy a good album cover, and this is one I very much like. Here we have an instrumental post-metal band that offers up 56 minutes of music that contains progressive and post-rock elements. Continue reading
Dreamarcher are a Norwegian metal band and this is their latest EP.
Dreamarcher’s 2016 self-titled debut album was notable for its atypical approach to emotive heavy music. It was an enjoyable album, and Harding is even more so.
The impressive musical skills of the jazz-trained band members are put to good use across these 18 minutes of non-standard delivery and passionate intensity. Continue reading
Forming the Void are a progressive stoner/sludge metal band and Pyreship are a post-metal band, both are from the US.
Forming the Void open the split with a single six and a half minutes of pleasant and personable modern progressive stoner metal. Continue reading
Vexes are a US modern/post-metal band and this is their debut album.
Although Deftones are the obvious starting point for comparative purposes, elements of The Unguided, Poison the Well, Glassjaw, and Cave In can also be heard in the band’s sound, as well as some more atypical moments in the style of, perhaps, Norma Jean, Between the Buried and Me, and Isis. Feelings of the late 90s/early 00s are strong with this band, and from my point of view that’s no bad thing at all. Continue reading
