Neck of the Woods are a Progressive Metal band from Canada and this is their début EP.
Music like this is an exciting prospect; birthed of Metal in all its glorious forms, Neck of the Woods don’t constraint themselves with just one style and instead coherently incorporate lots of influences into their musical framework.
This is interesting, stimulating music for fans of Converge, Between the Buried and Me, Devil Sold His Soul, Mastodon, etc. – essentially any band that’s pushing the envelope, playing music from the heart and daring to be a bit different.
Under the overall aegis of Progressive Metal, Neck of the Woods pack Modern Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Post-Metal and Technical Metal into nearly 29 minutes of playing time.
The throaty roar of the singer’s voice carries the deep resonance of Extreme Metal while the music explores the boundaries of its self-created domain.
The band can certainly play and they have a good side-order of technicality dished up with their meals. The complexity serves the songs though, rather than the other way around; the guitars carry the listener through landscapes that are familiar and yet fresh at the same time.
For all of this, the band are a very easy listen. The songs are vibrant and satisfying in the way that only good Metal can be. They have personality and seem to have been created purely for the love of it, as should be the way. Yes, there is aggression here, but it’s not of the nihilistic, hate-fuelled variety. Although I’d stop short of describing this as friendly music, it certainly is personable and agreeable. If you’re into heavy music, that is; the average person on the street would probably just view this as noise, as they tend to do with anything even vaguely Metallic.
Neck of the Woods are an exciting new addition to the worldwide Metal scene and I’m eager to hear what they do next.
Oh, and they also have a song called I Know Where I’ll Bury You. Class.
Wrvth, (otherwise known as Wrath of Vesuvius), are from the US and play Death Metal. This is their third album.
Well this is a little different. Progressive/Technical Death Metal is always a pleasure to hear when it’s done well and Wrvth pull all of the right moves on this release.
Although it has its fair share of fretboard wizardry and crazy, complicated playing, there’s a lot more here than is the norm for Technical Death Metal. This release also features a melodic edge and a good groove when it wants to. Add to this a keen Progressive edge that borders on the Post-Metal, (Post-Death Metal?), in places and this album is a stormer. Oh, a saxophone also makes an appearance too.
Mixed in with the chaos and carnage are some introspective moments of calm that largely seem to be there just to make everything else sound heavier and crazier. It works, of course, and the songs on this release are a complicated melange of Progressive restraint and chaotic mayhem.
The musicianship is first-rate and these songs expertly combine Progressive elements into a Technical Death Metal framework that allows the band to steal the best from both worlds. Technicality is apparent but the Progressive elements keep the songs focused and allow for emotive passages rather than just a procession of impressive riffs and time changes.
It’s like a strange cross between Protest the Hero, Pyrrhon, Gorguts and The Faceless. The reality is that Wrvth sound every bit as good as that mash up sounds. The only thing missing is the clean vocals.
Speaking of vocals, the singer does his best impression of someone attempting to destroy their throat. He screams himself almost hoarse and when that’s been accomplished he switches to hostile growls and roars.
This is an innovative and impressive release from a band who are clearly not content to be average. I love releases like this. Here we find a winning combination of aggression, restraint, feeling, depth, chaos and outright passion.
Wrvth have just become one of my new favourite bands.
Barús are a Progressive Death Metal band from France and this is their début EP.
The music that Barús play is complex and unforgiving. This is not music for the weak.
The band’s take on Death Metal is one that combines the Technical and Progressive Death Metal sub-genres into something pretty special. There are even some hints at Post-Metal and Black Metal here and there.
The songs evoke complex reinterpretations of bands such as Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Mithras, Nile, Akercocke, etc. – bands that are not content to be constrained by the norm and reach for greater and higher. Barús now join their hallowed ranks.
The dense guitar riffs seem to layer on top of themselves and Barús’ music seems to have levels upon levels of extremity to hide itself in. For all of this though they are also aware that sometimes simpler is better, but even here there’s usually a lot going on.
Sometimes twisted melodies appear to float up out of the chaos to bring an otherworldly element to their already esoteric sound. A great deal of variation exists across these 4 tracks and each song is both self-contained and part of a greater whole.
The vocals are predominantly deep grunts but a whole load of other vocalisations are used too, from semi-clean moans to spoken word to chants and everything in between, including, briefly, actual singing.
I love it when you find a band like Barús who are willing and able to take the standard Death Metal template and experiment with it until it’s mutated into their own personal view of the genre. This EP has a personality and style of its own and these songs are involving and engaging from start.
An extremely promising beginning for Barús. This EP is a strong start to their existence and if they manage to keep up the quality levels then their début album will be fantastic. Here’s hoping.
Tyranny is Tyranny are a US band and this is their latest album. They play Post-Hardcore.
As soon as the first song, Or Does it Explode?, starts it’s immediately clear that Tyranny is Tyranny are a band that are emotive and expressive. This is apparent from both the music and the vocals.
This is a kind of Hardcore-based music that’s moved beyond its original parameters, (hence the term Post-Hardcore), without losing the vibrant nature of the style. It’s been expanded though to include more introspective and Shoegaze-esque elements and the band have embraced this direction.
The vocals have a lot of personality and have a kind of fragility to their delivery that allows them to convey greater feeling than if this was absent.
The closest band I can think of to compare them to would be Australia’s No Anchor. Both bands share a similar style of music that’s exploratory, expressive and heavy without becoming too heavy. They also share singing styles in the sense that their vocalists have a lot of personality and gravitas while remaining highly emotive and engaging.
There’s a lot of moods and feelings on this album and each song takes part in the overall theme of the release but still manages to cover a lot of different ground.
The political nature of the tracks and the highly-emotive, reflective music results in songs that resonate in the mind long after the last chord has died.
This is an impressive album that holds the interest throughout. The emotional delivery and richly evocative musical choices mean it stands out from the crowd and its longevity is assured.
Due to this, Pathway has been somewhat eagerly awaited by yours truly.
The band’s brand of Doom is one that mixes Atmospheric/Progressive Doom and Post-Metal to create an interesting soundscape for the listener to drown in.
On Pathway they have continued to progress their sound. The heavy parts sound bigger and more imposing while the lighter parts sound more nuanced and well-rounded.
The album boasts a particularly vibrant and organic production where all of the instruments sound completely clear and very strong. The drum sound in particular is an impressive one, although in a way it’s unfair to single out any one instrument as they all have a very satisfying finish.
Vocally we continue to get an impressive array of voices, from cleans to screams to shouts to growls. Pretty much all bases are covered and all styles are used according to how they best convey the band’s message.
These songs are gorgeous Post-Metal/Progressive Doom essays that take in multiple textures and rich imagery in their running times. The songs, overall, are slightly shorter in length than Secrets of the Sky’s previous work, but this is not to their detriment; they’re exactly the length they need to be to achieve what they want to do.
Secrets of the Sky have enough talent to dominate at whatever they try, it seems. Whether this be the heavier, the lighter, the progressive, the aggressive, the angelic clean melodies or the Blackened screaming…it’s all an aural treat for jaded ears.
I always like music that seems to take you on a journey and in this regard the album is aptly named. These are superior compositions that should see Secrets of the Sky propelled to the upper echelons of the Progressive/Doom/Post-Whatever pantheon.
Like a canvas painted in sound, this is destined to be a masterpiece.
I can’t think of a single reason you shouldn’t have this in your music collection. Can you?
A Secret Revealed have recently released their début album The Bleakness. Bleak it may be, but it’s also a Post-Metal tour de force. Join me, as we attempt to pierce the darkness…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
Hi! And first of all: Thank you for the interview! We are A Secret Revealed, a five piece band from Würzburg/Germany. We play Post-Metal anchored in melody with equal measures of Black Metal and Hardcore influences and just released our first full length album “The Bleakness” via Bastardized Recordings.
Give us a bit of history to A Secret Revealed
The band was founded in 2012. After releasing our first EP “Lay My Memories To Rest“ we had several line-up changes and played shows with Bands like “Agrypnie“, “Der Weg Einer Freiheit“, “Ära-Kra” and many more. In 2014 we found our final line-up and recorded our début album in collaboration with Nikita Kamprad. We know each other for a long time from different bands in our hometown and so it was quite natural to form a band.
What are your influences?
All our band members have different musical backgrounds, so our musical influences are quite various and reach from Post-Rock to Black Metal or even Pop. Overall other Post-Metal Bands like Devil Sold His Soul, Cult of Luna or Pelican are the biggest influence for us.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
At the moment I’m listening to a lot of bands. But these I’d like to highly recommend. If you don’t know them, you should give them a listen:
Fjørt – D’Accord
Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Stellar
Capsize – The Angst in My Veins
Red Apollo – Altruist
Polar – Shadowed by Vultures
Oathbreaker – Maelstrøm
Devil Sold His Soul – Blessed & Cursed
What did you want to achieve with your new album?
Of course we also wanted to reach more people with the album, but most of all it’s very important to us, that everyone who listens to “The Bleakness” can feel the atmosphere and empathize with the deep despair that we pack into our songs.
How do you write your songs?
Our guitarist Ralle and I usually compose all our songs at home and record a pre-production of them. After everyone in the band listened to it and approved it, we rehearse them and work on small changes if necessary. Once a song is instrumentally finished Lukas or our vocalist Paul add the lyrics to the song.
Your sound takes in a wide-range of different styles. How did you decide what you wanted to incorporate into the album?
To be honest it wasn’t a real decision which styles made it into the album, it all happened completely natural when we wrote the songs. Nevertheless the most important thing for us is that, whatever kind of idea someone comes up with, the idea/the riff should support the atmosphere and fit into the song.
Are you happy with the final result?
We are very pleased with the final outcome. For our recordings we collaborated with Nikita Kamprad (Der Weg Einer Freiheit) who is responsible for the powerful and differentiated sound we wanted to achieve. We are very satisfied how everything worked out in the end. Of course there are always some new ideas and stuff that came into our minds after finishing the record, but these ideas have to wait for the next songs.
What’s you favourite song on the album and why?
This is a real hard one. Eventhough i like every song in its own way, I personally like “Drowning” the most. This song changes between fast blast beats and slow atmospheric clean parts and the guest vocals of Nikita make this one very unique.
What can you tell us about the lyrics and theme of the album?
We think the whole album is very good summed up by our title “The Bleakness”. All of our songs deal with a lot of personal struggles, disappointments and experiences. Even though every song stands on its own, they all create a melancholic and oppressive ambiance and make the album work in its entirety.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
That’s hard to say, because we just released the album, but there are already some new ideas coming up. We think that our songs probably will be longer and a little bit more atmospheric.
What does the future hold for A Secret Revealed?
Near-future plans are definitely booking shows and promoting our first full length record. We don’t really know where this journey will take us and what we can expect to happen but we are highly motivated and can’t wait for the upcoming months.
Here they treat us to two tracks of ultra-heavy Doom that snarls and crushes yet also has a contemplative side.
The vocals are so serrated that this EP should come with a health warning. Their scathing assault is a reminder of how truly harsh screamed vocals can sound from the right singer.
The music is down-beat Doom which is slow enough to cast a grim shadow where it falls but energetic enough to keep a beat to. Although they specialise in the heavier side of Doom, the songs also carry a multitude of melodies through these tumultuous waters. Said melodies are largely low-key affairs content to hide just below the heavier rhythms, although this is not always the case.
The band’s more nuanced side manifests through these streaks of melodic colour and also through some Isis/Cult of Luna-esque Post-Metal moments.
The entire package is rounded off with a strong sound that accentuates all of the band’s strengths, leaving them free to pursue the music through to its logical conclusion.
Keeper have released a devastating calling card with their new EP, one that will surely, and rightfully, gain them many accolades.
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.
Sea of Disorder are a Post-Metal band from Austria, and this is their début album.
The band play a combination of Post-Metal and Doom that combines the atmospheric with the harsh.
As well as the standard instrumentation Sea of Disorder also use keyboards and effects to get the sound they like, as well as including a fair few guests from other bands.
As alluded to earlier, Sea of Disorder mix the lighter, more introspective elements of Post-Metal with the louder and heavier aspects of Doom to create long songs that tell a tale in atmospheres and moods.
Deep vocals that seem to come from the bowels roar out accompanied by large riffs and atmospheric heaviness. This is juxtaposed against the more Post-Rock instrumental moments of tranquillity as the band build themselves up to a peak.
Cleans also appear on As the Clouds Disperse and they fit Sea of Disorder’s style well.
In Cauda Venenum are a Post-Black Metal band from France and this is their début album.
Consisting of only two tracks, each lasting a touch over 21 minutes in length, this is an ambitious release that makes good use of the longer playing times to explore darkened themes and Blackened music.
Post-Black Metal is such a rich sub-genre that has so many opportunities to impress, and In Cauda Venenum take advantage of all of these.
The band play harrowing Black Metal that’s epic in scope and spiced up with enough Post-Rock/Metal elements to claim the Post-Black Metal tag as its own.
The music is masterly crafted and very atmospheric. Blackened riffs and blasting drums meet introspective restraint and Progressive explorations.
Both songs are very well written and it’s clear that a lot of time and effort has gone into their composition. Dynamics, pacing and mood have all been carefully considered and the end result is 42 minutes of elite Post-Black Metal that in many ways skirts the best that both genres have to offer.
The vocals are of the ultra-high, almost-static variety that work so well with Atmospheric Black Metal.
The recording is a quality one with the guitars in particular having a good tone. A clear, powerful sound gives the drums plenty of strength and as a whole the production strikes the right balance between underground ice and polished darkness.
As I say; in addition to the vocals and drums though, I do particularly enjoy the guitars on this album. They have the requisite Blackened bite and melodics in spades but they also benefit from being heavier than the norm for the style and employing some choice riffs throughout the songs.
A hugely impressive release. In Cauda Venenum have produced two remarkable songs of high Blackened art.
Neck of the Woods are a Progressive Metal band from Canada and this is their début EP.
Wonderbox Metal 