Brume are a doom band from the US and this is their third album.
I’ve been awaiting this with great excitement, but also great apprehension. Why? Because even though 2017’s Rooster was a damn good record, (appearing on my year end list), 2019’s Rabbits was so fantastic it rightfully topped it. The apprehension comes from worrying whether they can match it or not. Can lightning strike twice? Continue reading “Brume – Marten (Review)”
This is the fifth album from one-woman experimental black metal band Cicada the Burrower.
The follow up to 2021’s very enjoyable Corpseflower, Blight Witch Regalia brings us 31 minutes of new material from this talented artist. Although tagged as black metal, this record has moved on from that description really. Fans of the classic blackened sound are Continue reading “Cicada the Burrower – Blight Witch Regalia (Review)”
Bosco Sacro are an Italian doom band and this is their debut album.
Inspired by the awe of the natural world, Gem is a 32-minute journey into textured darkness and emotive sound. Continue reading “Bosco Sacro – Gem (Review)”
This is the debut album from US doom band Frayle.
I enjoyed 2018’s The White Witch, which was a hugely impressive entrance into the doom metal scene. We now have the band’s first full length album, and across 37 minutes the band prove that their first EP was no fluke. Frayle have got a real talent for their charismatic and atmospheric form of doom. Continue reading “Frayle – 1692 (Review)”
This is the fourth album from Abstruse, an experimental rock project from Greece.
Well, there’s a lot going on here. This is music that refuses to be just one thing, and exists as a constantly-shifting mass of musical styles and content. Amazingly, Submerge:Ritual works with this well, and doesn’t come across as disjointed or a failed science experiment. Continue reading “Abstruse – Submerge:Ritual (Review)”
This is the second album from Uniform & The Body, a collaboration between industrial rockers Uniform and experimental metallers The Body. Both are from the US.
I haven’t reviewed Uniform before, but I like 2018’s The Long Walk. As for The Body, you can see some examples of my appreciation for their work here, here, and here. Continue reading “Uniform & The Body – Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back (Review)”
Manes are a Norwegian avant-garde rock band, and this is their fifth album.
New Manes is always a pleasure to hear. This is the band’s first material since 2014’s Be All End All, and once again they show why they are so highly regarded. Continue reading “Manes – Slow Motion Death Sequence (Review)”
Igorrr is a one-man project, (with guests), and this is his fourth album.
How to describe this? It’s not easy. Well, I think I’ll just sidestep the entire issue and call it a metal album and be done with it. Then I’ll run away and hide. So, ‘metal’ loosely covers it in a general sense, I suppose, but what an injustice a simple genre tag can be.
This is an album that’s as insane as the album cover. Continue reading “Igorrr – Savage Sinusoid (Review)”
Corpo-Mente are from France and this is their début album.
Now this is something a bit different, a bit special.
This is exotic, sensual music that combines Dark Rock, Trip-Hop and Electro Avant-Garde.
This is powerful stuff that grips from the start with its highly individualistic sound.
The songs seem to slip and slide through the musical landscape and they seem to pulse with a deeply vibrant internal heat. The way the album moves through the running time is almost carnal in nature.
The vocals are operatic in nature and yet somehow still manage to remain intimate and personal. The singer has a strong voice and is extremely talented at what she does. She injects personality and charismatic inflection into the singing which results in the music avoiding the trap of rather faceless, impersonal operatic vocals that some bands who employ them can sometimes fall into.
The music is multi-textural and richly evocative of sumptuous soundscapes. It’s also filled with haunting melodies and quite beautiful compositions. There is a definite darkness here, sometimes quite menacing in tone.
With enough “hair-standing-on-end” moments to stop anyone in their tracks, this is a must. What a highly accomplished collection of songs!
If you like bands like Ulver, Lethe, Manes, etc. then this is a definite highlight to be seized.
A surprise and a pleasure; Corpo-Mente have made a firm fan here.
Manes are from Norway and this is their fourth album.
Following on from their last release Teeth, Toes and Other Trinkets, which was an anthology, this is the first new Manes album in seven years.
Manes play a beguiling blend of artistic Rock, Darkwave Trip Hop, Avant Garde and 80’s-style Pop. It’s subtle, charming, disarming and insidious.
These songs have a laid back quality to them that’s almost detached from the actual music; as if something has been created by the music that hovers just out of view yet its effects can be felt by a lasting aura of deceptive comfort and false familiarity. This lends the songs a certain flavour of the otherworldly and the different.
There is a low-key catchiness to the tracks as well. Again, it’s a subtle affair, as even though the songs obviously contain hooks the first time you listen to them, it takes multiple listens for them to fully work their magic. Such is the nature of all great albums that have true longevity and depth.
There is so much to experience here. Manes create across a vast canvas using a rich palette of colours. There’s a lot that’s easily missed on first glance and only after taking it in for a good amount of time can you really appreciate what they have done here.
The singer’s captivating vocals are on strong form and the bleak-yet-uplifting-yet-not melodies that he uses complement the instruments perfectly adding layers of emotion to already emotive and layered songs.
This is music for dark nights and even darker activities. This is music that drips with soul and is ethereal in nature.
Fans of bands such as Arcturus, Ulver, Lethe, Dødheimsgard, Green Carnation, In The Woods…, etc. will lap this up, and with good reason.
It’s time to enter the world of Manes.
Wonderbox Metal 