Blog Archives
Album Review: The Moth Gatherer – A Bright Celestial Light
The Swedish duo The Moth Gatherer’s debut album is quite interesting with its unconventional style of experimental/sludge/post metal. They have created an ambitious and tasteful mix of different music styles combined with lots of effects, which results in heavily atmospheric songs that aren’t always an easy listen. This is haunting and hypnotic music suited for fans of ISIS, Cult of Luna and Neurosis. It’s very difficult to describe it due to the pure emotional nature of the songs.
Album Review: Oddfellows by Tomahawk
As with any project Mike Patton’s name is attached to, you know you are going to be getting something unique to listen to. Even his most famous and accessible project, Faith No More, was considered to be outrageous and ground breaking when they hit the scene in the late 80′s. When he’s trying to be contemporary (see: his orchestral Italian vocal pop song cover band Mondo Cane), he can never drop that avant-garde stigma he’s branded himself with. And while he does have some really weird projects you couldn’t get me stoned enough to enjoy, for the most part, for as experimental as they are, almost every project he does I feel that even those not particularly into experimental music would find something to like in them. His latest release into the music world is Oddfellows, the fourth album from his project Tomahawk, which also consists of guitarist Duane Denison of The Jesus Lizard, bassist Trevor Dunn of other Patton projects of Mr. Bungle and Fantomas, and drummer John Stanier of Helmet. Needless to say there is a ton of pedigree in the band.
Theme Thursday: Fun and Quirky Metal
When the descriptors ‘avant-garde’, ‘cross-over’, or ‘experimental’ gets tossed onto a metal band many people tend to look away as thoughts of music that is too strange for their tastes comes to their minds. And honestly, ya, sometimes that is often the case, but as always it is not de-facto. So, as par for the course, I’m going to highlight some avant-garde bands that are some quality listens and have an experimental style that will appeal to those that don’t like anything too strange (to an extent, there will be a couple deeper cuts). To take it a step further, the songs and bands in this collection will be more on an upbeat note leaning towards having fun with their music as they experiment with what can actually be done within the metal genre. So, call ‘em avant-garde, experimental, cross-over, or WTF metal, but don’t say that they didn’t make you smile. Enjoy! Peace Love and Metal!!!
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Full Album Streams: Years Past Matter by Krallice
After releasing their monumental atmospheric black metal album Diotima last year, NY’s Krallice wasted no time working on their follow-up album. Just released this weekend (Aug. 25, 2012) Years Past Matter follows in its predecessor’s path in creating dense songs filled with multifaceted layers of beautiful discordance. Stylistically not too much is very different other than the previous record had a more ‘nature’ feel to it, this one is more focused on the ‘astronomical’. I really like the long musical passages in this record, and given the density of them I look forward to hearing how they open up with multiple listens. If you need a record that will remind you how small we are in comparison the universe, this album will definitely give it to you. If you haven’t already, fans of bands like Wolves in the Throne Room, Isis, and Panopticon should check this out immediately.
Years Past Matter is a self-funded release as the band is no longer with the Canadian label, Profound Lore. So be sure to spread the word about this release, and if you dig what you hear, grab a copy of the record off their Bandcamp page. Enjoy! Peace Love and Metal!!!
P.S. No, there is nothing wrong with the song titles in the player below. The songs are actually called “IIIIIII” and “IIIIIIIII”.
So Far, Everything I Expected and More
Those of us who are eagerly awaiting the release of the Mikael Åkerfeldt and Steven Wilson collaboration, Storm Corrosion, have been pleasantly treated with our first good taste of things to come. The official video for the song “Drag Ropes” is out now and both the video and the song are great. Both the artists styles shine though throughout the song and meld together wonderfully. It is more or less how I was envisioning it would sound like. It’s creative, experimental, dark, haunting, and beautiful. Same goes for the Tim Burton-esque video directed by Jess Cope. Check it out and let us know what you thought! Peace Love and Metal!!
