Latest Reviews
There are way too many records released every week - which one should you listen to? We want to help you by reviewing lots of records every week and you can also check out a little teaser before reading the whole thing. And if you want to, you can also browse through our archive and have a look at the amazing records you might have missed out on.
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KITE - Currents
22 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Post-Metal, Post-HardcoreThere is a very productive and highly efficient small scene brewing in Oslo. The central figures are the masterminds behind several mighty interesting bands: Hymn, Sâver and KITE. The latter have recently released their third full-length named Currents and of course one should check it out if Post-Metal is also just slightly interesting.
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Wozniak - Bruises
21 Oct 2021 - Pat O'
Post-Rock/Shoegaze/InstrumentalWozniak are never afraid to experiment and tinker with sound. From great cinematic soundscapes to passionate, hard hitting “post-rock” crescendos, these guys have talent in abundance. Bruises encompasses all these traits and conjures up a deeply atmospheric and moving album.
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WORM - Foreverglade
21 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Floridian Swamp Funeral DoomIs it a bad thing when one of the things coming to mind after the third or fourth spin of a Death-Doom-Metal record is that this in some strange ways is a ‘fun’ record? Well, maybe yes and maybe no, but for some strange reason the third full-length by Floridian Death-meets-Doomsters WORM has a certain fun element to it. How can that be when talking about a record that is definitely on the dark side of things? Let me explain…
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Ember Sun - On Earth And Heaven
20 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Blackened Funeral DoomHow to find a good record to review: Step 1 – good name? Ember Sun; okay check! Step 2 – good label? Code666; definitely check! Step 3 – acceptable cover? skulls on dark dark green with a dichotomy of modern script and old-looking symbols; okay check! Step 4 – appearance? hooded figure; definitely check! Step 5 – genre? Funeral Doom; always check! Step 6 – listen! CHECK, we got a winner!
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Alda - A Distant Fire
19 Oct 2021 - Knut
Cascadian Black MetalAlda has once again dipped the wand in the pond of Black Metal and bestowed the metal community with a release immersed in alluring and meditative sonic landscapes. Listening to this new album is like walking on soft wet moss in the forest at dusk on a clear autumn evening. However hard and harsh the music can sometimes be, it leaves you with a mellow and soft impression.
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Dust Mountain - Hymns For Wilderness
18 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Psychedelia, Folk Rock, Progressive RockThere must be something in those Finnish waters as the country between Hanko at the Gulf of Finland and Utsjoki in Lapland seems to have found an endless fountain of musical youth spilling out band after band after band. And with Svart Records, located in Turku on the Western sea-front, there is a label that brings those bands onto the international scene. The latest one is Dust Mountain from Tampere, who play a mix of progressive ideas, psychedelic structures and bewitching Folk harmonies. Really enchanting, not for lack of better word, but for the pure, undeniable appropriateness of the word here!
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Jü - III
17 Oct 2021 - Stephan
Experimental, Jazz, AvantgardeWe all have this label, right? Or let’s better say those labels! Or is it just me? You get their newsletter, quickly fly over it, thinking “Whoa, I bet this shit is awesome” and then you decide that you’ll better not check it out, because there’s already such a giant amount of great new stuff out there and you don’t want to end up placing yet another order right now. RareNoiseRecords, who are specialized in the fringes of Prog, extreme Jazz, Experimentalism and uhm… Noise, have received this ungrateful treatment from me more than once. Luckily I was so intrigued by the absurd perpetuum auto-mobile depicted on the cover of Jü’s III (how frustrating that there’s no legal possibilty to change your driving direction!) that I couldn’t live without examining if the quality of the music lived up to the artwork. And oh Jü, it does!
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Teethgrynder - Hostages
16 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Noise, Alternative-RockUsually we tend to publish our reviews one week before release, but with this record I felt the urge to do it earlier for two reasons: First of all because it’s awesome and amazing, second because more people need to know about one of the most interesting records of the year. Hell, everyone should know about it!
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Low - Hey What
12 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Indie-RockThe second-most famous musical contribution from Duluth, Minnesota, proves once again, that their musical output doesn’t have to “fear” Bob’s shadow, even though they are not as famous as Robert Alan Zimmerman – unfortunately. But – if you hope that they return to being the mostly guitar-oriented band they started out as – please revisit their former masterpieces in that genre. In 2021, Low are still a band whose musical output is based on a different form of Indie-Rock, and their music is as exciting as it was 20 years ago!
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Läjä Aijälä & Albert Witchfinder - Centuries Of Youth
10 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Experimental Noise / Ritualistic Rave / Downbeat AmbientWhat is “punk”? A style of clothing like Vivienne Westwood’s clothes? A kind of music somewhere between the Ramones and Sick of It All? Or rather a kind of mental attitude trying to challenge everything? Läjä Äijälä and Albert Witchfinder have an answer for it and some of you won’t like it! I personally do!
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Kehlvin - Holistic Dreams
09 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Post-MetalCan we imagine a Post-Metal band playing their songs like a cross between Cave In’s imbroglio-style Metalcore and Dirge’s earthiness-in-Post-Metal? A band that doesn’t shy away from complicated structures and yet always comes up with a very direct approach to its audience? Well, we can – if we listen to Switzerland’s Post-Metal-comeback-album-of-the-year Holistic Dreams by none other than Kehlvin.
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Seims - FOUR
08 Oct 2021 - Daniel F.
Experimental RockSeims are one of those bands that present something of a paradox for reviewers. Should we hone in on their eccentricity or their furious approach to songwriting, the undying melody or their tendency to write larger than life soundtracks that dazzle and lodge themselves in our skulls? The reality is that Seims are a breath of fresh air, a contemporary masterclass in post-progressive whatever-the-hell they are and damning evidence that different is best. The Australians might concoct something of an earful, but it is a privilege to sift through their mesmerising soundscape and try and make sense of the chaos.
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The Lovecraft Sextet - In Memoriam
08 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Doom-JazzHow elegant and appealing can an album be without aiming for popularity and the mainstream? When listening to Jason Köhnen’s latest project, The Lovecraft Sextet, and their debut full-length, one finds a clear answer: Very elegant and highly appealing without sacrificing the overall idea of the record. In Memoriam is really good at exactly that!
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Demersal - Death Routines
07 Oct 2021 - Thorsten
Blackened Post-Hardcore691 seconds. Six-Hundred-Ninety-One seconds. Danish Emoviolence/Blackened Post-Hardcore outfit Demersal do not need more to prove to the world that they shouldn’t be ruled out or forgotten, when talking about the spearheads of modern Hardcore. Their newest EP Death Routines shows a band atop of their game that is able to incorporate many little details into their maelstrom
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Hippotraktor - Meridian
06 Oct 2021 - Gene
Progressive, Post MetalAs if out of nowhere comes a stellar progressive post-metal album to complicate our year-end lists.
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Abstract Void - Wishdream
05 Oct 2021 - Gene
EBM, Experimental, SynthwaveJoyous synths and Black Metal strange bedfellows in the righteous new outing Wishdream , 3rd drama from enigmatic experimental project Abstract Void
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Those Damn Thieves - Coherent
04 Oct 2021 - Pat O'
Experimental/Electronic/Post RockStunning artwork and brilliantly original musical wanderings make Those Damn Thieves mini album Coherent fascinating. Merging various musical styles and genres, this experimental release will shepherd you down many different alleyways and passageways. There is never a dull moment listening to Those Damn Thieves.
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Snares of Sixes - MoonBladder
03 Oct 2021 - Knut
Dark Ambient/Electronic/Dark Wave/NoiseIt seems that the collective of artists that makes Snares of Sixes led by multi-talented Jason Walton never stops evolving. While the first release of the band left an Industrial musical impression, this new release might best be looked at as an Ambient musical poem, a thirty minutes long movement that challenges you and lets you float in an ever-changing, often dark, soundscape.
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Burial Dance - Structures
02 Oct 2021 - Pat O'
Screamo/Post-Punk/ExtremeCreated by the exploration of intertwining melodic passages, heavy dissonant riffs and chaotic screams, the captivating sonic narratives of Structures should not be missed. Hold onto anything you can find that’s cemented deep into the ground, as Burial Dance tears up all that’s in its path.
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Abstracter - Abominion
30 Sep 2021 - Stephan
Avantgarde Blackened Death-DoomWhenever Sentient Ruin Laboratories announce a new release, one thing is for sure: Whether it’s Avantgarde Black Metal, Old-School Death, Industrial, Experimental Noise, Doom, Punk or whatever kind of band or project they drag out of their dystopian hell cellar - it will always be a ridiculously abrasive over-the-top assault on the senses. Or sonic warfare, as the label describes itself right on point in just two words on Bandcamp. Such a concept can of course wear out and get tiring fast if consumed too often, so my personal decision if I want to indulge the call for aural punishment or not, usually relies on the first couple of minutes I hear. Abstracter’s Abominion however had my interest within less than ten seconds!
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Fotocrime - Heart Of Crime
29 Sep 2021 - Thorsten
New Wave, Post-Punk, (classic) EBMRyan Patterson is not only a singer from Louisville, Kentucky but also a veritable chameleon skinning his musical appearance with every new record. Having been the frontman of Coliseum, one of the most highly praised Hardcore/Punk bands this side of the millennium, he afterwards turned towards the more Post-Punk and New-Wave-affiliated kinds of music. And what is the most irritating thing? His output is still relevant and vitally variable!
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Kesem - Post-terra
28 Sep 2021 - Knut
Progressive Rock/Jazz Rock/Punk/Psychedelia”If you listen carefully, we will prove our ability to transfer our thoughts to you.” A sampled voice begins the first full-length release from Los Angeles-based quartet Kesem that way. This concept album not only tells a story about leaving an uninhabitable Earth, it also transfers you back and forth between present time Progressive Hard Rock and to the early 70s Jazz-Rock and Psychedelia scene. It makes for an exhilarating listen.
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Theodore Wild Ride - dto.
27 Sep 2021 - Thorsten
Neo-Classical, Experimental,When was the last time you were mesmerized by music from the first moment those simple audio waves touched your ears and nestled in your brain till nothing else mattered? If it’s too long ago, maybe the debut album by new-formed experimental Neo-Classical meets improvisational Avantgarde artist Theodore Wild Ride can help you become re-acquainted with that feeling.
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Spirit Adrift - Forge Your Future
26 Sep 2021 - Simon
Heavy metal, Hard rockSprit Adrift return with a forward looking ode to the glory days of heavy metal
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Shy,Low - Snake Behind The Sun
25 Sep 2021 - Pat O'
Post-Rock/Post-MetalThe Pelagic Records roster has come up trumps once more with the addition of Shy, Low to the family. Their new album Snake Behind The Sun is a post music rollercoaster of groove, melody and ferocity that’s cleverly and carefully restrained by moments of rich melodic interludes. Everyone will be talking about this album for a long time to come.
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