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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Witte Wieven - Dwaallicht
17 Apr 2023 - Thorsten
Atmospheric Black MetalI very clearly remember seeing this act at Roadburn some years ago, because of standing in the audience and thinking that they could go far. Buying the album and a split on the spot and what shall I say – they are still spun here regularly. Now, Witte Wieven finally give us that long awaited debut many have been waiting for, and man, no disappointment here!
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Terzij de Horde / Ggu:ll - Van Grond
15 Apr 2023 - Stephan
Black Metal, Sludge MetalTo be released as a 10” on Record Store Day, which always happens to fall onto the Roadburn weekend, this split EP with a twist features two Dutch bands, which are not even playing on this year’s edition of the festival. Yet still there are several very good reasons to include them in our Roadburn special.
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Stabbing - Extirpated Mortal Process
14 Apr 2023
Brutal Death MetalYo, psst! Have you heard Stabbing? I, too, laughed when I first heard the name, but I assure you this is no laughing matter. This is serious brutal death metal. Now you’re thinking this sounds like a cult. Allow me to settle that concern up front. Yes, this is a cult, and you wouldn’t believe what they want you to eat. Are you ready to be inducted?
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Otay:onii - 夢之駭客 Dream Hacker
13 Apr 2023 - Stephan
Electronic Avant-GardeMost fans looking forward to see Chinese-American artist Lane Shi take on the Roadburn stage probably know her as the singer of the Sludgegaze quartet Elizabeth Colour Wheel, which will play two shows during this year’s festival edition. Yet if you’re on the edge of severe WV Sorcerer Productions addiction like me, you might have been introduced to her Electronic solo work as Otay:onii first and thus be equally excited about experiencing her in this role.
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Wovenhand - Silver Sash
11 Apr 2023 - Gene
Rock, Gospel, Indie-Folk, ElectronicaThat blustery fall evening in Brooklyn seemed awash in afterglow. The stage at St. Vitus was either littered with hay, or… was it all in my head? It turns out that in memory, as in music, the real and ethereal are often interchangeable. Playing as a trio, Wovenhand didn’t merely perform some of the strongest material under their belts, as well as one or two 16 Horsepower show-stoppers, they wove a spiritual that pulled us out of our own preoccupied lives and into their pulsating esoteric ritual. Theirs was a pervasive, anachronistic seance evoking an unlikely rapture in a pair of NYC skeptics. My bassist friend was reticent to approach David after the set, but your humble pundit – devoid of musical training and social tact – lacked the capacity to be daunted by the stature of talent before which we stood. Regardless, we found David and Pascal, both, humble and gracious as they expressed surprise to find a few fans so far from home who claimed to be following since the early days. I may or may not have gushed over Folklore, in particular.
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Sana Nagano - Anime Mundi
10 Apr 2023
Jazz, ImprovisationalIf the name Sana Nagano doesn’t trigger a cascade of the bleeps, the sweeps, and the creeps, then check your radar. It’s probably been jammed. While you weren’t looking, the intrepid violinist and composer has gathered under her command a motley fleet of intergalactic invaders drawn from all corners of the musical universe to steadily occupy the open space around you. Go ahead, check your screen again. Can’t you see the situation you’re in? Are you in the now, now? Then, it’s past time you engage.
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HYPNO5E - Sheol
09 Apr 2023 - Gene
Progressive, Extreme Metal, Post-MetalPulling from any modern style, not just of music, but of art at large, Hypno5e absolutely shine on the new record. This one is a kill!
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Poison Ruïn - Härvest
08 Apr 2023 - Martin
Dungeon PunkConfronting reality through fantasy escapism. You say what? I say Poison Ruïn!
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Various Artists - You Matter Part II
07 Apr 2023 - Knut
Black Metal, Blackgaze, Post Black Metal, Doom Metal, Post Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge Metal, Thrash Metal, Post Rock, Hardcore, Grindcore, Screamo etc.Back in December 2021 Ripcord Records released the first You Matter compilation. Here is the amazing 11-hour-long sequel.
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The Infinity Ring - Nemesis & Nativity
07 Apr 2023 - Thorsten
Gothic Rock, Dark Folk, Post-MetalWhen you listen to the debut by newcomers The Infinity Ring, you might come to the same point as yours truly: I got lost in thoughts and images. Many of them of scenes long gone and vanished in time, some of them decades ahead in an unknown future. Both directions shared one thing – the same soundtrack: Nemesis & Nativity by the New England-based band which is able to connect both “periods” by means of music from the present!
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healthyliving - Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief
06 Apr 2023 - Knut
Alternative Rock/Post RockThe transnational trio healthyliving releases an album with music rooted in the alternative underground scene of metal and Post-Rock related music, with a title as evocative as any Leonard Cohen album. Add the strong clear vocals, which we know from Maud the Moth, and there is also a timbre of Indie Singer-Songwriter style to the music. The melodic themes from the diverse vocals and the heavy guitar mixed with deep bass and drums balance the music perfectly between mellow and discordant textures. This debut from the relatively young group of seasoned and visionary musicians is a feat.
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Alison Cotton - The Portrait You Painted of Me
05 Apr 2023
Folk, DroneObsessions over genre are, frankly, boring. Rarely do they contribute to enjoyment of the music; often they just create noise, yet another excuse to commodify and compartmentalize your attention. Do you really need another algorithm in your life, a plug-and-play list of “relatable” content, another automaton spitting out pre-programmed FFO comparisons? I’d wager no. There is hardly any experience left, very little value in that robot’s game. The music of Alison Cotton is about giving yourself over to the experience. So, listen, with your whole body. Dump all the data—you are not a computer, nor should you think or feel like one—and get reacquainted.
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The HIRS Collective - We're Still Here
02 Apr 2023 - Thorsten
Screamo, Avantgarde, PunkBeware when reading this review. You might encounter dizziness, mindblown-ness, fearfulness, and some serious confusion-ness. Why? First of all, because of the sheer amount of guests that The HIRS Collective has gathered for their latest full length We’re Still Here and secondly because of the overpowering beauty and force of their music. Let’s kick the former off with: The Body, Garbage, Converge.
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Tribunal - The Weight of Remembrance
01 Apr 2023 - Thorsten
Blackened Funeral DoomOur brilliant new writer Martin has been saying it for years now – but one cannot underline the truthfulness of his words too strongly: 20 Buck Spin might be the best label for EVERYTHING heavy at the moment! They have hellishly awesome Death, Doom, Black and all-genres-metal bands and they have one who can make you forget that you hated Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and all the other Symphonic shit bands who use good female vocals to make people forget how useless their music really is. Enter: Tribunal from Vancouver and their record The Weight of Remembrance!
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AARA - Triade III Nyx
30 Mar 2023 - Martin
Melodic / Atmospheric Black MetalA small creek, when it swells with rain and snow and rushes down from the heights, it becomes a stream - a raging mountain stream. As we know, even though nature is beautiful and nurtures your soul and body, it is also wild and merciless. A duality of opposites in its essence. No equilibrium or friction, no change or evolution. There would be nothing without this duality. - Therefor the beautiful and relentless scenery in front of you just is. Here the majestic mountain with his wall of sound and there the anguished river rushing down and carrying you away to somewhere else. We have no choice, but to surrender to these elements. And how could it be any other way.
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The Black Cat's Eye - The Empty Space Between A Seamount And Shock-Headed Julia
29 Mar 2023 - Stephan
Psychedelic RockRoger Waters is lost. Whatever he’s doing or saying right now – we’re better off not granting him any attention. But just as a backwards-sillywalking John Cleese cannot diminish my enjoyment of Monty Python, one will never be able to deny Water’s legacy with Pink Floyd. But if you’re having a hard time ignoring that stain and even the persistence of Gilmour and Mason cannot wash it away, why not take a break from the original for a change and listen to the debut of a band from Frankfurt which boldly claims to be based on the idea of continuing right were Animals left off?
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J.A. Deane & Jason Kao Hwang - Uncharted Faith
25 Mar 2023
Jazz, Avantgarde, ElectronicHigh autumn winds gust golden, coppered caches of coin. Cold, driven nails of rain plumb the fleece of ageless pine, jostling limbs in silvered erratic dance. Raked midflight, tattered leaves and mast fall to ground sodden and purchaseless. Dubious campaigns officials wage as everywhere wars rage, hosts unhoused by flood and famine scatter, and disease stalks the horizon, while in the provinces signs of a chill harvest augur stores unreplenished for the dark months ahead. A cry too far to be heard above these earthly bellows, my friend, still I think of you, your toil and tarry, and long to return your echoing call… Sometimes faith is all there is to ensure we might sound each other to the depths of this experience. Like writing letters, each as if the last, to the dearest friend in the thick of circumstance, J.A. Deane and Jason Kao Hwang imbue their remarkable final collaboration, Uncharted Faith, with hope beyond bounds that we might better know ourselves in perpetuity.
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Tilintetgjort - In Death I Shall Arise
24 Mar 2023 - Stephan
Old School Avantgarde Black MetalTilintetgjort’s debut is yet another allegedly unique Black Metal album wearing the Avantgarde-tag. That kind of already makes you know what it sounds like, right? Sorry not sorry, but these Norwegians might radically subvert your expectations with a much more traditional-not-traditional take on the genre than expected.
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Lamp Of Murmuur - Saturnian Bloodstorm
23 Mar 2023 - Thorsten
Black MetalBelieve it or not, but even someone who writes so many things here for VoS has a slight writer’s block. Just for a few days, but one notices and then needs a record to short-fuse that spark. For me, that record is the new Lamp of Murmuur at the moment, and yes, I know – everybody is talking about it, but believe me – there’s a reason for it: it’s another proof why that mysterious M is a true artist. Saturnian Bloodstorm is simply great Black Metal!
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Upcdownc - Duel
22 Mar 2023 - Gene
Stoner Rock, Noise Rock, Sludge Metal, Post-MetalUpcdownc have worn many hats in their long career. But I did not expect an album like this – a nearly pure Stoner Rock throwback to a time three decades past now (wow!). A time when the genre was flourishing. A time when albums like Welcome to Sky Valley were blowing minds and destabilizing Alt- and Pop-Rock’s stranglehold on the airwaves, poised on the imminent pyre of Grunge and the dubious artistry of what was to come.
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Cultro - Nerthus
21 Mar 2023 - Knut
Post Metal/Ambient MetalThe visionary musicians behind the Post Metal band Cultro are out with a new album. It lasts around 32 minutes and could be called an EP. But because of the elaborate structures and textures, the vast soundscapes and the mere plethora of musical ideas behind the release it feels like being immersed in the music for an hour or more, even with repeated listens. Let´s call it an album!
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Spectral Lore - 11 Days
20 Mar 2023 - Knut
Black Metal/Dark Ambient25954. Anger, frustration, incensed contempt, rage. That is not an unfamiliar concept in the realm of Black Metal related music. But it is not often aimed at a specific cause. Spectral Lore, or the person behind, Ayloss, releases an incredible, emotive, and furious album to raise more awareness of what happens in the Mediterranean Sea where boat refugees are risking a trip across the most dangerous sea route to reach Europe, and thousands have perished or are missing.
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REZN - Solace
19 Mar 2023 - Thorsten
Doom, Shoegaze, Heavy Psych“Solace” means “help and comfort when you are feeling sad or worried” (Cambridge Dictionary). Does Rezn’s latest record provide Solace? Maybe. Is it a warm album? Surely. Welcoming? Definitely. Is it something to listen to? For sure.
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Thumos - Symposium
18 Mar 2023 - Gene
Post Metal, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, ProgressiveThumos triumphantly return with chisel-precision to carve out a stake in the Post-Rock Pantheon of Symphonic Doom!
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Fargo - Geli
17 Mar 2023 - Knut
Post RockThe past and present time rumbling, the past and present time crumbling, the past and present time in chaos. The ruin and resilience of the people who are victims of decisions made far from their reach. This is the backdrop for this new expansive album by the German Post-Rockers of Fargo. It might be as close as we come to music reflecting the turmoil of our times and at the same time reflecting a ravaged Europe nearly eight decades ago.
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