Post-Metal – Page 53 – Wonderbox Metal

He Whose Ox Is Gored – The Camel, the Lion, the Child (Review)

He Whose Ox Is Gored are a Progressive Doom band from the US. This is their début album.

The band have in interesting and individual take on music, fusing elements of Doom, Progressive Rock, Shoegaze and Psychedelia, into a tight ball of Progressive Atmospheric Doom, (for lack of a better term).

This is music that uses Doom as a base and adds Progressive Rock and Shoegaze elements to it to create something a bit different and a lot special.

The music has multiple vocal styles, delivered by both male and female singers. These are diverse in delivery and used sparingly as necessary to complement the needs of the songs. Frequently understated, but always relevant, the vocals act as additional instruments used to enrich the music further.

Synths are employed to enhance the already well-textured songs and allow the eclectic music to have a firm, emotive foundation on which to build their diverse music.

This is highly textured music that plays with mood and emotions freely and easily. There’s a resplendent Post-Metal quality to the music that rubs shoulders with the grittier nature of the Doom influences and harsh male screaming, as well as the in-the-background-but-essential-anyway nature of the synths.

The Camel, the Lion, the Child is an exemplar of individualistic music done right and a shining example of a band ploughing their own path through the overburdened musical scenery. If you like music with a lot of character that isn’t afraid to be itself then I heartily recommend this album.

Vidian – Transgressing the Horizon (Review)

Vidian are a Polish Post-Metal band. This is their second album.

This is Post-Metal with some Progressive and Modern Metal elements, as well as a minor Death Metal influence, making for an interesting album with quite a few good ideas and interesting avenues explored.

If bands like Gorguts and Dementia Senex are Death Metal bands that are slowly evolving their Progressive Death Metal styles into Post-Death Metal ones, then bands like Vidian have already taken the next step. There’s hints of Death Metal lineage in some of the heavier parts, but for the most part this is firmly in Post-Metal territory.

Think of a band like Isis, then make the heavier bits heavier, the vocals harsher and throw in a trumpet here and there; now mix in a pinch of Tool and a few Modern Metal elements on occasion; Vidian don’t sound too far away from this description.

The vocals combine cleans and shouts, both being performed well. The shouts are tinged with a raw emotion and hark back to a more aggressive influence – almost Death Metal but not quite. The cleans have a certain amount of grit to them, allowing the songs to have an edgy feel even when there’s no shouting involved.

These songs are heavy and dark while also being surprisingly melodic and actually quite catchy on occasion. Post-Metal is not usually a sub-genre that lends itself to catchiness, but Vidian manage it in places on Transgressing the Horizon.

The light/heavy, build/release Post-Metal mechanics are maturely done, and the band have an advantage on the heavier parts as they’re just that little bit more crushing than the norm.

This is a solid album that probably won’t convince you of Post-Metal’s merits if you’re not a fan of the sub-genre, but nonetheless displays depth and skill throughout the 52 minutes playing time. Vidian have a knack for this kind of music and there’s a lot of decent material here.

Highly recommended.

Dementia Senex/Sedna – Deprived – Split (Review)

Dementia Senex are an Italian Death Metal band and Sedna are a Blackened Sludge band. They have teamed up to create Deprived – one track from each band, designed to complement each other, sharing a similar space but from a different perspective.

Dementia Senex are up first with their track Blue Dusk. After their interesting début EP Heartworm demonstrated their atypical take on Progressive/Doom/Sludge-infused Death Metal, I’ve been keen to see how their style has developed over the last couple of years.

The song starts gently, almost tentatively, before crushing guitars land like a ton of bricks. The band impress again with their Gorguts-inspired take on Progressive Death Metal, and seem to be slowly moving away from the core aggression of the genre and more and more into Post-Metal territories. Post-Death Metal? Pretty much. Aggression is still here though, just done in a non-standard way, with even the blast beats surrounded by off-kilter chaos.

After this it’s Sedna’s turn to shine with their track Red Shift. Prior to this split I was not familiar with Sedna, although it seems that this has been my loss as this song is the equal of the previous one.

In contrast to the Death Metal-based heaviness of Dementia Senex, Sedna are more firmly in Black Metal-influenced Post-Metal/Sludge territory. Red Shift has the trademark Post-Metal build/release mechanic down to a fine art, with the track gaining momentum slowly but surely throughout the playing time, only to periodically explode with Blackened Post-Hardcore violence. It’s a good combination of slow burning tension and vicious aggression that nicely builds atmosphere with harsh shouts and screams being unleashed over the ever building and expanding music.

This is an exemplary split between two quality bands. I highly recommend giving this one a shot.

Behold! The Monolith – Architects of the Void (Review)

This is the third album from US Doom Metallers Behold! The Monolith.

The band play Doom mixed with Sludge, producing an album that sits outside of the normal template for both sub-genres and is all the better for it.

In addition to the usual Doom staples, there’s also an anger here. This is manifest in the aggressive vocals and the more upbeat aspects of the songs.

The tracks are a combination of Doom, Sludge and even a bit of Classic Metal and Post-Metal on occasion. This is an interesting and less-travelled path for a band to tread, and in this way Behold! The Monolith remind me of the equally compelling Khemmis.

Architects of the Void is a heavy and dark album, full of slow, agonising crawls through a landscape littered with broken dreams and dying hopes. That’s not to say it’s a completely nihilistic and bleak album like some Doom; this is actually more of a well-rounded release than that, with brighter parts, epic feelings and groovier sections included too. Overall though, it’s heavy, dark and very engaging.

The songs sound introverted and personal, albeit through the lens of a public-facing band. This sounds more like music played for the sake of musical catharsis and outlet than for the need to simply rock out or any such thing. There’s a lot of feeling here, sometimes bubbling beneath the surface and sometimes right in your face.

Due to the mixing of the sub-styles, (Doom/Sludge/Metal), this is quite a varied release and each song has its own personality. The album works well holistically and there’s a lot of depth, nuance and longevity to be had on this release.

Like the tastiest of Metal feasts, Architects of the Void will leave you feeling satisfied and satiated.

Very highly recommended.

Estuarine – Lucid/Entheogen (Review)

Estuarine is a one-man band that’s currently based in Sweden. This is the second album from his project.

This is Extreme Metal that’s rooted in differing elements of Death Metal with a pinch of Black Metal to produce a concept album that deals in the subject of psychoactive substances. The first 6 tracks are regarding their modern use, while the last 4 tracks deal with their traditional usage.

The music is a mix of Progressive and Technical Death Metal with a subtle modern Black Metal influence. If you think of Extreme Metal bands such as Zyklon, Between the Buried and Me, (minus clean singing), and Mithras then you’ll have an idea of the kind of landscape that Lucid/Entheogen inhabits.

On the first half of the album the songs have a delightfully brutal method of attack that sees the Technical Death Metal aspect take the lead, with the Progressive Death Metal aspect coming second. Slower/lighter introspective parts, occasionally bordering on Post-Metal territory, add flavour and depth to the music, although the extremity is never far behind.

On the second half the roles are reversed somewhat, with the Progressive Metal aspects shifting to the fore and the Technical mayhem relegated to a close second place. It’s a subtle shift in many ways, but it is noticeable and results in songs that are longer, more expansive and a bit less brutal, (although this is relative as everything here is still highly aggressive and technical overall).

The vocals alternate between growls and screams. The growls are convincing enough, but it’s the screams that sound particularly good to me.

The recording is a good one and everything sounds solid and in your face. Sometimes the production on one-man projects can sound a bit flat or one dimensional, but this is certainly not the case here.

Although by no means perfect, this is still better than most. Ambitious, forward-thinking and brutally proficient; Lucid/Entheogen is an impressive accomplishment and anyone who has a penchant for interesting and individualistic Extreme Metal should make a beeline for it as a priority.

Really, really enjoyable and extremely highly recommended.

Favourite Track: Towards Infinite Kaleidoscopic Dimensions.

Old Witch/Keeper – Split (Review)

Old Witch are from Canada and Keeper are from the US. Both play Doom. This is their split, containing 58 minutes of crawling, evil music.

Old Witch start us off with their half of the split. Their take on Doom is dirty, nasty and filled with malevolent hatred.

Taking the template as laid down by Khanate, Old Witch proceed to bury this in the soil for a thousand years before digging it up and slowly flaying it alive.

The slow, thoughtful assault of their earthy-sounding Doom combines at once an unforced naturalism and a feeling of urban decay and darkness. The minimalistic Khanate-style approach is enhanced with eerie melodies and textured nihilism that has shades of Funeral Doom.

Other apt comparisons would be the murky Sludge of Culted, only without the Blackened elements, or the marathon of filth that is Venowl, only with more of an emotive presence.

At any rate, this is my first encounter with Old Witch and they have turned out to be an extremely gratify proposition. Their name held a lot of promise as it pretty much evoked images right from the off that gave me high expectations of their sound. I have not been disappointed.

After the grim majesty of Old Witch, many bands would be found wanting. Thankfully, Keeper are not just any old band. Unlike Old Witch I’m already a firm fan of Keeper’s crushing Doom from their recent split with Sea Bastard and their EP The Space Between Your Teeth.

Keeper are heavier than Old Witch and sound like an avalanche of Sludge Metal descending from a great height to destroy anything it lands on.

The acerbic vocals always provide a wonderfully acidic focal point that the guitars seem to congregate around as if feeding off them.

Maybe it’s keeping company with Old Witch, but Keeper sound blacker and darker on this release. The shining, contemplative Post-Metal side of their style is still present and correct, but even this sounds more villainous than usual.

These two songs are just as impressive as I’ve come to expect from Keeper and the entire split, almost an hour of Doom, is a fantastic release that I can’t recommend highly enough.

Definitely one to get.

Interview with Locrian

Locrian’s new album Infinite Dissolution is a highly textured and multi-faceted release that requires repeated spins to really make its wonders known. In an effort to delve deeper into all things Locrian I got in touch with keyboardist/vocalist Terence…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

I’m Terence and I play keyboards and do vocals in Locrian. I live in Baltimore while the other guys live in Chicago.

Give us a bit of history to Locrian

We started in 2005 as a duo of just Andre on guitar and myself on keyboards and vocals. In 2009 Steven joined on drums and we released “The Crystal World”, we’ve collaborated with Mamiffer, Christoph Heemann and Horseback.

Where did the band name come from?

Andre came up with it, it’s a mode in music theory but it’s also a lost civilization in antiquity.

What are your influences?

It’s really diverse, for the band it’s a lot of progressive rock, noise, German kosmiche music, Industrial and metal – everything from Voivod to Emperor. Personally I would say Einsturzende Neubauten, Skullflower and Brian Eno are big for me.

What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

The new Container LP just titled LP is nice. Chaos Echoes “Transient” LP is beautiful I think.

The cover for Infinite Dissolution is pretty special – tell us about this

I am a visual artist and I used to be an art critic and had to review a show that I saw some of David Altmejd’s early work in. I’ve always been enamored with his work and just kept following it as it got bigger and more immersive. Anyway I thought a mirror was kind of this negating surface to compose with mirrors is a way to dissipate an image or presence – it just fit.

Is having a visual aspect to accompany the music an important thing to you?

Absolutely.

Locrian Band 2 What are the subjects/themes of the songs on this album?

The extinction of humanity. By the elements and by our own doing.

What’s your favourite song on the album and why?

The whole album is a story you can’t really pick one – just listen through.

Your songs are quite complex and feature many different parts – what’s the creation process like?

Thank you. Our process is very intuitive we use the studio to create and we just want to surprise ourselves and the listeners. I don’t think there is much new under the sun but I hope we can try and get people excited.

How did the recording go?

Great! We recorded at Electrical Audio with Greg Norman in our favorite space, studio B. It was great. I got to use their Mellotron and an EDP Wasp. Just a great time.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

I’m not sure, we kind of go where we want and where the narratives go.

What’s next for Locrian?

Well we will be playing on the west coast in August 13-22 and are really excited to get there and celebrate our decade of existence in November with some special dates in the Midwest.

Locrian – Infinite Dissolution (Review)

Locrian are a US Experimental Post-Metal band and this is their latest album.

Featuring an album cover that makes me feel uncomfortable and like I’m going to go insane, (courtesy of David Altmejd), this is music that caters to people who want more from the bands that they listen to, and more is what Locrian provide.

Locrian play Post-Metal that contains Avant-Garde, Black-Metal and Industrial elements. Electronics, keyboards, piano, samples and a whole host of other instruments grace this album in addition to the standard instruments. Two songs also contain guest female vocals as well. All of this should give you an insight into how much depth, variety and interest there is to be had here.

Elements of Drone, Noise, Industrial, Post-Metal and Black Metal all clash into a wonderful melange of music that reminds of some twisted cross between Russian Circles and Blut Aus Nord.

This is a highly textured and multi-faceted release that requires repeated spins to really make its wonders known. There’s a lot of different things going on here and it’s easy to miss some of it the first time around, especially as there’s a lot of subtle sounds and effects going on in the background, almost behind the main event, so to speak.

There’s a resplendent darkness that seeps from this music like a sentient and malevolent oil stain that’s searching for ways to get into your body. Something here doesn’t have your best interests at heart and it’s subtle, insidious and unfaltering in its desire to do harm.

This is music to get lost to and get lost in. The band have a talent for creating soundscapes that sear your thoughts and burn the mind.

Highly recommended as your dose of something different and sublime.

Bearstorm – Americanus (Review)

Bearstorm are from the US and play Progressive Black Metal. This is their second album.

Bearstorm. Say it again, slowly. Bearstorm. Fantastic name. I was expecting something utterly ferocious with a name like that, but Bearstom are nothing if not surprising. They do have a ferocious element, but for the most part there’s a whole lot of other stuff going on here.

The music is a curious mix of Progressive wanderings, Blackened bite, Technical Death Metal Jazz-wizardry, Post-Metal experimentalism and Southern Sludge.

Their sound is pleasingly hard to pigeon-hole actually. The Progressive Metal influence is apparent from the start and infuses everything else at a deep level. The Black/Death/Sludge/Post-Metal influences in their sound take their cues from this and the band have interesting music at the very core of their being.

I suppose…Mastodon meets Enslaved meets Opeth meets Inter Arma meets Ephel Duath meets Pyrrhon…

The songs are varied and individual affairs. There’s a lot of ideas on display and Bearstorm never shy away from being different or going their own direction. It’s to their credit, as too many bands simply ape what has gone before them, so when a band like this comes along it’s a real pleasure to see them doing something different form the norm and attempting to forge their own sound.

Vocally the singer has a largely Blackened scream that’s supplemented with pitch-black growls on occasion. In many ways the guitars are the focal point of Americanus and the vocals provide an undercurrent to these. They’re done well though so there’s no real complaints from me on this score.

Clearly a lot of time and effort has gone into Americanus, to the point that the band have re-recorded the entire album for maximum effect; this is a re-recorded and re-issued version of their 2013 album. Having never heard the original version all I can say is that this version sounds pretty damn good.

An interesting, exciting and fresh-sounding record; Americanus is more than deserving of your attention.

Favourite Track: Glacial Relic II. An epic that’s Progressively atmospheric and even contains a Country influence. Amazing.

Thy Art Is Murder – Holy War (Review)

Thy Art Is Murder are from Australia and this is their third album. They play Death Metal/Deathcore.

Thy Art Is Murder have produced a mature and interesting record that brings Deathcore and Death Metal together in such a way that both styles are enriched. Deathcore, as I’ve said before, is really, really easy to do badly. With this in mind, Holy War is somewhat of a different beast to that of the Deathcore masses.

Heavy riffs and breakdowns are in attendance, make no mistake, but the more Death Metal side of things ensure there’s enough straight-ahead brutality on display to please the most virulent Metal maniac.

More interestingly, however, are the Post-Metal and Black Metal influences. “What?”, I hear you ask? Well, these are not the biggest part of their sound, admittedly, but they’re an important component of the songs here as these two influences help raise Holy War up from an enjoyably brutal listen to an enjoyably brutal listen that has more to offer than is normal for the style.

The Post-Metal influence shows in the melodies. Alongside the blast beats and the chugging beat downs are the occasional transcendently resplendent melodies, which are not normally associated with Extreme Metal of any kind, unless you’re the likes of Fallujah, of course.

The Black Metal influence is more subtle, more subversive than the Post-Metal element. This manifests itself through some of the riffs, lending a Blackened bite and atmosphere to the proceedings where another band might go for un-emotive blandness.

Both of these influences are second to the Death Metal/Deathcore side of the band, of course, and ultimately Holy War is an aggressively heavy and nastily brutal listen that takes no prisoners and expects nothing but total domination.

I have yet to mention the vocals. Suffice to say that the singer positively roars his way through these 40 minutes like a man possessed by an urge to kill everything possible. Supplemented with higher screams, his performance cannot be faulted.

In a world where Deathcore is ruled by a handful of top quality bands who oversee a multitude of mediocre ones, Thy Art Is Murder have definitely ascended to the upper echelons of Deathcore royalty. Like most Deathcore bands, they’ve achieved this through a combination of good songwriting skills and by moving away from the core of the genre itself, (pun intended), and into more individual waters.

Holy War is positively divine.