Borders are a modern metal band from the UK. This is their second album.
Borders impressed with their 2017 EP Diagnosed, which they followed up with the enjoyable Purify in 2019. Now the band are back with 31 minutes of new material on Bloom Season, and they sound bigger and more ambitious than ever. Continue reading “Borders – Bloom Season (Review)”
This is the third album from Aviana, a metalcore band from Sweden.
I really enjoyed 2019’s Epicenter, so was pleased to see Aviana return with some new material. Well, they’re back with 36 minutes of the stuff, along with a new lineup that sees only the singer returning from Epicenter, (he seems to be the main band member, as far as I can tell, with the other members remaining anonymous). Continue reading “Aviana – Corporation (Review)”
Ghegga are a Scandinavian band and this is their début album.
Ghegga play Electronic/Industrial-influenced Alternative Rock. These influences are embedded into the core of the band’s sound; rather than just add a few keyboards to their main instruments as some bands do, Ghegga incorporate these additional noises, sounds, etc. into everything they do so that the Industrial aspect is an integral part of their approach.
Obvious references would be a band like Nine Inch Nails, although it also brings to mind lesser known acts like Sunna and Gravity Kills. Think of these, add a more Techno/Aphex Twin influence to things; then strip away everything glossy and bright and you’ll have an idea of the Ghegga sound.
There are some good beats on this release and the songs work well as a stylistic whole. This is a bit too Industrial to be overtly commercial and is more like an underground Techno band who have discovered Rock and the beauty of guitars.
The vocals add to the underground Techno feel of the album. Sometimes melodic, sometimes spoken, sometimes threatening, sometimes conspiratorial, sometimes roguish; the vocals are a bit different and wielded like any other instrument to be warped and manipulated artificially by the band.
The tracks are very inorganic; they reek of mechanisation and industrialisation whilst maintaining a techno-darkness undertone that informs the central theme of the tracks. This is the soundtrack to an urban nightmare set to the backdrop of street-level warfare.
This is an interesting release from a band who have chosen to go down the road less travelled for this style of music. It would have been so easy to inject a glossy sheen to this kind of style and have anthemic choruses covering everything like sickly-sweet sugar. Instead we have a grittier vision of the future of music, one where urban decay is rampant and mechanised grime stalks the innocent.
If you’re looking for something a bit unusual then look no further. Delve into the world of Ghegga, just make sure you bring something to protect yourself as this land is not for the unwary.
Interesting and different.
Wonderbox Metal 