Black Metal History Month- Bosse-De-Nage : "Hidden Fires Burn Hottest"

 

The band has a history of being Black Metal, though in recent years, a more hardcore energy infused their sound. It's a little more blackened at first, though working of a taunt syncopation. By the second song, they are experimenting with a more melodic tone and spoken work vocals that would not sound out of place coming from a Chat Pile album. Music is not made in a vacuum, so they could just be reading the room here or grow in a different direction. They hammer back into a heavier sound mid-way into the song, so it is not a total departure. The jerking you areound wit hthe time changes is more pronounced on this album. 

They go in a more sonic Swans inspired direction with the ringing clang of guitars guiding you into "In the Name of the Moth".  I am not going to complain about the post-punk direction this one goes into. "No Shrug" feels like it is finding the band once again crossing over into noise rock, though I do like the chord progression of the verse. It is not the most focused song we have heard from them this time around. The vocals have more of this coarse noise rock rasp that is yelled more than screamed even going into "Trinagular Dream," which is under two minutes more of an ambient noise interlude where the song is swallowed by interstellar chaos. 

There is a more defined riff to "Underwater". The vocals are still on the spoken sidde of unhinged. Not as dark and heavy as Chat Pile, but possessed by a more organic feel thanks to the production of the guitars. It's not wrong, just different. I think some of the indie rockers that are more punk-leaning will dig this album for sure. "Frensy" combines an undercurrent of blast beats, which eventually finds itself against a dirgey riff to create the album's most blast metal moment. Things go in a more post-rock direction for "Immortality Project" with spoken word over the thick ambiance. The last song also flirts with some of the black metal aggression, though it is angular, it is not that dark. It howls amid the stormy chaos which some black metal fans might appreciate. The main dynamic shift occurs later in the song when more melody is explored by the guitars. I will give this album an 8.5, not what I expected but good for what it is. If I were personally going to listen to noise rock, I would go with something darker, like this Jesus Lizard.It's the defining bandwagon of hipster metal, so it's obviously coming out on the Flenser March 6th

pst77

Julie Christmas : "Ridiculous and Full of Blood"

If you do not know Ms. Christmas from Made out of Babies then I am going to just go ahead and assume you know her from the album she did with Cult of Luna. The musicians she recruited to help her with this album provide a reasonable expectation of what sonic zip codes it's going take us in, as they include the guitarist from Cult of Luna, the drummer from Spotlights, KEN Mode's bassist, and John from Candiria adding guitars as well. So pretty every genre with post in front of it. Julie adds a playfully unhinged enthusiasm to her vocal performance, that reminds me a little of Rasputina. But with less baroque wistfulness. 

The first two songs are straightforward almost rock songs and the more profound experimentation does not occur until "The Ash" which lumbers like a robot coming to life. The angular ambiance works well to counterbalance her more emotive performance. If Bjork were to dabble in rock music that rocker harder than the Sugarcudes the results might be similar. "Think Skin " hits hard, with a burly bass and her more screamed vocals. She does not commit to her full-on growl until "End of the World" which wanders into more sludge-infested waters, though with rock hooks worked in. At 48 her voice continues to hold up well.  "Silver Dollars' covers more ground, but is less focused, though very true to who she is. 

"Kids" is more hopeful, almost coming closer to an Arcade Fire-like celebration of sound. 'the Lighthouse" wanders back to a more reflective groove. This gives her voice more room to be fully nuanced. It builds into a heavier explosion, that feels like a 90s soft-to-loud moment. "Blast " is more chaotic and carries noise -rock tendencies. The last song looms like a storm as it moves with a doomy trudge. Her vocals dictate the dynamics. Lyrically I can appreciate the "no god or heaven" sentiments. Overall this album is a great listen, she is true to her creative identity and always full of surprises, I will give it a 9.5, and see how it grows on me. 

pst287

Nebulae Come Sweet : "De Lumi​è​re"

This band out of Belarus caught me by surprise, as they go above and beyond to take things in a different direction. This album came out in March and sadly flew under the radar. They feel more European than American in the almost classical manner they go about this. They blend dark melodic brooding with big grandiose choruses. They prove just because you are singing it does not mean you can not do so in a commanding fashion that has balls to it. There is a progressive current to their songwriting, though perhaps at their core they are a doom band. 

They are not afraid to use saxophones to lead into "Candor". The song has a dark progressive slither as the notes swirl around before the more Opeth-like riff kicks in. The way they use atmosphere is more recent Tool than say Electric Wizard or even Pallbearer. They ride the line between doom and progressive. The vocals come closer to Pink Floyd than Black Sabbath. Rather than get heavier for the climax the guitars build the sonic dynamics. "Splendor" is even more romantic in its introspection. It moves almost more like a shoe-gaze song until the drums pick up the pace. It is not until the final moments of the song that the guitars crunch down in a metallic manner. 

"Claritas" finds things gaining momentum to build into a stomping metallic throb. The vocals are belted more aggressively. It builds impressively to ebb down to a fragile piano melody. "Fulgor" is a dramatic shift into tormented darkness. Some spoken musings fill in the gaps, but the screamed vocals are full of pain, in a manner that excedes black metal when it comes to sounding unhinged. It however sounds cool,. but feels more like an interlude than a song. 

The songs flow really well on this album. Melancholy strings lead out from the wash of ambient synths that closed the previous song when "Lux" stirs to life. It builds into a more sludge-like pound. With the vocals erupting into a coarse roar. The range they cover is impressive. This makes both ends of the spectrum more effective. The last song is an instrumental that serves as more of an extended outro, that feels like a real song in the light of the compositions this album has already displayed. But as it stands I will give this album a 9.5, and see how it grows on me even if I am unsure what exactly I am listening to. 

Holy Fawn : "Dimensional Bleed"

 I am a fan of shoe gaze and dream pop, Holy Fawn obviously are as well.  It goes beyond this when they make fleeting attempts at going to a more Deafheaven like place on the second song and lead single. It's almost as awkward as being friends with someone who tries to fuck you. Wait I thought this was an exploration in dream land now you have screaming in the background. With that said it floats really wells sonically. In many ways the androgynous vocals, give this a sound that is what HEALTH might sound like if they decided to play shoe gaze instead of industrial. On "Lift Your Head" the drummer is ready to rock out by the end despite the more electronic feel this song flows with, the harsher vocals are buried in the background even further than on the previous song to make it a non-issue.  

Guitars reappear on "Empty Vials" but hide out in the background almost like the Deftones remixing HEALTH.  It's darker as it sounds like nighttime, but not darker as in depressing or evil. I prefer depressing and evil, but willing to work with this off its sonic merits. There is more of an indie rock, if by indie rock we are talking about the Postal Service feel, to "Amaranthine". The drummer continues to impress while the introspective pondering of the vocals kept this one vulnerable even amid its floating wonderment. The atmosphere gets thicker as nighttime falls once more over the feel of this song. The vocal arrangement is pretty interesting. The surreal groove of this song works well.  The title track finds the metal creeping in again this time more apparent in the snarling chords crashing down. 

The more ethereal vocals take the spotlight on "Sightless. with their gazing finding more direction while still floating largely on a cloud of heavily effected guitars, and weighty bears. The screamed vocals taking a somewhat large role, though it would still be hard to consider this a metal album. The vocals to "Void of light" drown in the ambiance of the song. that takes on a more abstract post-rock feel. The overall dynamic of the song does build into the heaviest moments of this album so far.  "True Loss" feels like a cross between Bright yes and Explosions in the Sky. The song wanders for almost three minutes before going anywhere.   The last song is almost more invested in the sound than the song until it kicks in with the dynamic shift.  Everything kinda flows with the throb on this album rather than paying a great deal of attention to sogn writing so I will give this a 9.5, an excellent album for those into atmosphere.      

November is Doom- Kuan : "Ice Fleet"

Here is a band from Estonia , which means they are going to have both Finnish and Russian influence to their sound. This might factor into the dark woodsy sound that might even bring Agalloch to mind at time.  To call this band atmospheric doom is a bit of an exaggeration at this point in time. They have a very expansive sound. They are mournful and sonically intense so , it might be fitting to say they at least color their songs with a similar shade of melancholy as doom does. It is not until the  hear something that has a metal attack. It opens with a piano piece that moves with the languid flow of melancholy, When the harsher vocals come in they have more of a black metal snarl to them than the lower more death metal sound we more commonly think of doom having. They weave a wide range of dynamic highs and lows into this song. 

The dark lurking in the woods with atmospheric wailing while lingering on a woeful throb is a feeling captured with " Kutsu" . Male singing comes in midway and adds to me seeing this lean in more of a doom direction, if w are talking about bands like Paradise Lost or Moonspell.  "Raivo" holds off until unleashing it's more explosive metal elements , but does so in a way that is not following a rigid blue print of what metal needs to be in terms of guitar tone, as the chords are allowed to clang and ring. The stage they are creating is not traditional songwriting in the lets give you and ear worm, but painting a cinematic backdrop while still giving you enough to remind you they are metal in some way. To contrast this on "Ole" they drop back into more of a folk ballad. They build it up with the kind of buzz normally found at the intersection of black metal and post-rock. 

They low into the last song riding the wave of synths from the previous song. They do not make you wait as long for the more powerful electric guitar sounds to crash into you. They ride this is a Gathering like soaring wave rather than what we think of as metal.  When they do pound the point home here they do it in a very almost Swans like way. This is post- doom I suppose if we have to lump it into any where, the metal moments that do crop up might split the difference between doom and black metal. Whatever this is it is excellent and I am surprised I did not hear more about this back in March when it came out.,  This album is certainly another feather in the cap of Artofact Records  

Wear Your Wounds : " Rust on the Gates of Heaven"

Jacob of Converge has established a more permanent line up that consists of members of The Red Chord, Cave-in,  Trap-Them and Hate Breed. But do not let that deceive you this has metallic elements in play but could only loosely be called a metal band. Ben Chisholm of Chelsea Wolfe fame, contributes as well. So does Gared  from PlanesMistakenforstars. His appearance I was most excited about though it is often relegated to the background since this is Jacobs show and it can be hard to tell their voice apart in places.  Jacob's singing voice has improved. Granted he has effects on it and is not projecting it. But he can hold a tune. Gared from Planes comes in behind him to bolster the melody. I like that this is darkly melodic. I comes with a  heavier build that is not metal, but works. It would most easily be filed under post-rock. "Paper Panther" is more straight forward sonic rock with the post rock atmosphere dialed down.

 There is am ore spoken tone to his voice on "Tomorrow's Sorrows" which winds it's way around to a heavy chugged riff. "Brittle Pillar" also has some heft to it. I like the fact he is using restraint since if this was a Converge album he would have already been screaming. It turns into a sludgey rumble. "Truth Is a Lonely Word " manged to be darker un expected ways that are not tangible and best heard. I can say this song has some great guitar playing. "Rainbow Fades" has some sounds that are already familiar to this project like soft whispered vocals and an almost ballad like intro. The guitar playing gets more Pink Floyd like when we are in the meat of the song. "Love In Peril " mood-wise feels like it could have come from "Crack the Skye".  The weak spots in his voice come through on "Lurking Shadows" thought it still works because he has made no illusion as to begin a great singer and exploits this fact in Converge"s earlier work. There cool touches of country in the guitars to this song.

If Pink Floyd's "Obscured By Clouds " had been the soundtrack to a movie about a serial killer the sound might have been like "Shrinking Violet". The  album ends as it began with a instrumental piano centered piece.  I will give this one an 9.5 . The guitar playing on this album is fucking great. It's not Converge, but it doesn't need to be.

Illrya : "Carpathian Summit"

If you blended Deafheaven with Between the Buried and me the results would be similar to this band. Less post rock and more metallic than Deafheaven for sure. The guitars drone less and create more intricate patterns . The sung vocals are more Myspace metal. Emo without being whiny. If you think these guys are black metal, then you must not know anything about black metal. First and foremost they are not very dark. They are interesting in some of the groove they create. They car about their songs. More influenced by hard core than black metal for sure. Things get much more melodic going into "Autumn Fades Away" which is almost a ballad. Four minutes in and they come closer to black metal than they have thus far.

"Echo 2" confirms my hard core suspicions. Musically they are more adventurous than your average hard core band. There is touch of math rock in their progressive leanings. 'the Second Day of Spring" blew right past me. It has more of a post rock indie rock clean jangle. In the final minute the song does build up much like the one before it, so a formula is in place despite their more progressive side. "Swansong" remains interesting even with the Deafheavn vocals. The song after this decides why stop with a goof thing and sounds like "Swansong" did not end . That is until the blat beats , which are no more black metal than Deafheaven's most recent album, which is none. The title track is a 13 minute power ballad that is one of the album's most progressive songs. The screaming does come in midway through. The bass player really proves their chops on this one.

"the Final Bastion" is a more straight forward stab at what they do that leans more into the metal side. The last song finds them delving deeper into their emo side. The bass player provides a often jazzy bass line. When the harsh vocals come in they are lower and more death metal which is a welcome change. I will give this album an 8.5. It runs the gambit from post-metal, to emo to progressive , if you like Myspace era bands but also like Deafheaven then this is for you. It is not something I Would lidten to on a regular basis, but i can not deny how well done this is, so I will give it an 8.5
8.5

Wayfarer: "Old Souls"

This band from Colorado creates some dark brooding metal makes you forget they are from the States. Primarily they strike me as being a blackened death metal band with the vocals leaning them more in the death metal direction. When the pace picks up a little toward the end the shadowy feeling reinforces the looming black metal influence, but over all there is just a great mood and atmosphere coating this death metal which gives your ears the impression of black metal. There is more of a strum to the interlude "Frontiers" which strikes as just the intro to "Old Souls New Dawn".  This song begins much more melodically, sure their are some moments that might make you think this is pagan or folk metal due to the more epic scale they build this upon, but the same could be said for Unleashed who is a death metal band.

The songs are all on the longer side, tipping the scales at over ten minutes, but this is time well spent. Things get increasingly melodic, but never drone or grow stagnant. "Catcher" has an almost accessible groove to it. The song swings with the drums sitting back in the pocket.  Two minutes in things switch up with a cleaner guitar part that the drums play around rather than locking in with, however in this case it works. They really cram so much into this four and a half minutes it makes me wonder if they needed to use all ten of those minutes on the first song. "Deathless Tundra" backs off a little allowing a spacious bleak melody to form. They build the tension and then let you glide over in a very progressive fashion. They song throbs and pulses more than it tries to beat you over the head with the riffs which works much better for me.

"The Dust Lakes" steers them more towards post-rock. The guitars sound great so I am not complaining. It works better than when they blast into "All Lost In Aimless Chaos". They songs hit some ebb and flow into clean passages like old Agalloch, but it is much more kinetic.I'll round this up to a 9, I am not sure I'll put it on the iPod, but will give it some thought. This is great death metal with a touch of other genres enough to give it a well balanced sense of dynamics, these guys have a great dark guitar tone.
 

Sumac : "What One Becomes"

This is a super group of sorts, consisting of Aaron Turner whose former band Isis would get flagged by the FBI if they every re-united. Along with Turner are Nick from Baptists and Brian Cook from Russian Circles. With their powers combined they make the kind of too cool for you metal you might imagine. It's sludge with post-rock nuances and math rock twists to the chugs to keep it from being more metal. The vocals have a lower more death metal grunt. They come on pounding at you then mid way into the second song the going gets weird and the atmospherics was the song way in swells of feed back. The bass tone is pretty serious and this has the potential to really bring the smack down, when not getting caught up with trying to through the math at you like they have something to prove. The drumming is technical, but still has plenty of balls.

The elven minute "Clutch of Oblivion" awakes with a slow pulse ringing out. The guitar work is very sonic , but refined. It has a western wander over it that reminds me of Kyuss' more introspective moments. The ghosts of both Isis and Russian Circles can be felt here. When the coarse roar of the vocals converges back into the song there is more of your typical sludge thing going on. Things build into a more mathematical groove midway into the song. "Blackout" takes great thought into where to place it's meticulously timed poundings. This creates a math rock meets sludge dynamic. It's hard to argue against the execution of this, but it's more of an exercise in instrumentation than a songs that really pulls me in for repeat listens. At seventeen minutes it makes this a very over indulgent exercise almost to the point of being masturbatory. At around the nine minute mark they begin to make me watch the clock. It eventually builds into something with a burlier rock groove that goes off on a Fugazi like jam.

The last song is plenty angular and plenty heavy, even building up into blast beat of sorts, but it kind falls flat on me. This is metal for people who are normally listening to Shellac. I am sure fans of These Arms are Snakes and Russian Circle are really going to dig. It has more of a pumped up noise rock vibe, than hitting you hard on the sludge tip. I'll give it a 7.5, but I know plenty of kids who are too hung up on being hip, slick and cool will be listening to this like it's a badge of courage.

Harakiri For the Sky : " III : Trauma"

The post rock infused in this post- metal seems to be more post-hardcore if the half time stomps are any indication. The drums of this Austrian project are more double bass heavy than they are blast beaten. The vocals feel more hardcore in their mid range dry screams. The guitars have a range of colors and sonic textures making them the centerpiece of this projects sound. The drumming is a close runner up, and the two work well to make the most out of every punch. I think I make it no secret that I am burned out on the whole ten minute plus epic, but these guys made me forget to look at the time and made the most of the eleven minutes the opener takes up. "Funeral Dreams" is more up tempo, but doesn't pull you into like the opener did and comes across as being a little indifferent when the double bass is not hammering at you. "Thanatos" comes at you harder with the double bass driving eve more relentlessly. The guitar tones begin to stray from your typical metal over drive right before the blast beats come in. This gives a wide range of sonic space that is being covered here. The clean vocals that surface really add a lot and don't fall along the lines of most melodic singing that is still left over from the days of Myspace metal. They blast back into a more black metal direction after this.

With Agalloch broken up these guys are just as suited as any to claim that crown. Things slow down for "This Life as a Dagger" . The screams are pretty emotive and very post-hardcore vibe going in the way this groove flows against the atmosphere.There is a really awesome guitar break at the six and a half minute mark. The half time punch at the end of the song is pretty powerful as well. 'The Traces We Leave" starts off with a more black metal feel, though very entrenched in melody. The half time stomp is now beginning to become part of the formula here. The vocals morph into something more interesting meeting between a scream and singing. "Viaticum" finds them locked in a throaty chant that reminds me of Nachtmystium. There is a cleaner post-rock like tone to the brighter "Dry the River", that has an almost screamo cadence to it. The vocal chant becomes clearer toward the midway point of the song, as their bag of sonic tricks continues to swell.  The last song wraps what they have been doing up nicely with a bow, it doesn't take you any where new, just sums what the strengths of this experience have been.I'll give this one an 8.5 it's pretty solid.

Kontinuum : " Kyrr"

I really dug this Icelandic bands first full length "Earth Blood Magic"  that took the prog direction Enslaved went in a more Tool like direction. On this album they have continued to evolve as the  guitar tone is more relaxed  and there is a slight post-punk element to the tense approach the vocals take. Not unlike say Beast Milk the vocals are clean sung in a more cautious baritone, it's evident this is another step away from black metal and into an almost hard rock direction. The vocals are also getting more like love in the production department when it comes to how they are layered on the  choral builds. The exotic scales of the clean guitar opens the second song with is dark but not metal. They return to singing in their native tongue. A powerful baritone bellow marks where they could erupt into the choruses. These are gradually built into rather than punched.

They continue more relaxed and melodically introspective in more of a Katatonia vein. Big chord ringing out with subtler guitar melodies laying beneath it. The bass line takes over the title track as the guitar floats around it. The vocals go up higher, almost tenor range. When they sing in their native tongue it helps keep them from sounding like an Icelandic A Perfect Circle, particularly when they play with drive but using clean tones which really brings out this influence. "Lone" is an introspective interlude that doesn't stray to far from the ground they have covered. Things pick up with "In Shallow Seas" . They hold the palm muted chug as the baritone vocals linger over it then soar up higher as it closes in on the chorus. It has a enough classic metal influence to give it power , but doesn't sound dated, despite a slight "Into the Mirror Black" inflection the vocals take on, though not going up as high as Warrell Dane.

They end with a big metal anthem. The vocals have a stronger cadence to them almost like something you might hear on a folk metal album. They are well executed and well produced over the duration of the album and are one of its strengths, which is a rare quality in metal today. The guitars go back and forth with the loud soft thing but not limited to sticking to any formula. This album is neither as heavy or experimental as I went into it expecting, but they succeeded in creating some solid middle of the road moody hard rock. If you need a gateway drug to get you from Tool into real metal then these guys are a good doorway. 'll round it up to an 8.

Ragana : "Wash away"

It's not until the clean vocals in the openers final moments that this sounds like the band I once knew.I had begun clicking around the inner webs to make sure I downloaded the right album.  The first few bars of the song start off melodic and then build in intensity until it's quickly closer to black metal for the first verse. Then they coast into a more hypnotic riff with the vocals screaming over it. They led off the title track with sung vocals are closer to returning to the sound of their earlier work but it also carries more  an indie rock feeling to them than the more folk vibe they seemed to have had going for them. The song slowly winds up into an impressive display of songwriting that is both delicate and dynamic. At times I can hear some of Kylesa more atmospheric wanderings in their sound, though that might be more of my ear then their actual influence. "Nameless Constellation"slowly winds out of a reluctant clean guitar tone. It pounds into a scream and retracts back into a more subtle pattern. It flows back and forth from the slow to soft dynamic very smoothly despite the jarring nature.

 While the black metal label might have been more easily associated with them on their previous album , here not so much , though that is not a bad thing as there is audible growth in the songwriting department.Sometimes her more wretched vocals are worthy of black metal , but their playing sounds better at the almost doomy pulse of songs like "Alive" . Although being an album of contradictions this is also the song that accelerates into something closest to black metal. They pull some very emotionally raw and organic tones out of their guitars in almost a grunge like manner , though this is mixed with almost early post hardcore. On "Tired" the band  lingers around a melancholy throb of guitar that her vocals cry out from behind. They allow the song to drift on a very contemplative minimalist riff before swelling into something more metallic.

They close out the album with more folk infused darkness of "the Field ". This song drones on until the throat shredding vocals come in add some intensity. This album is different from what I expected from them but in the end I was happily surprised as it surpassed my expectations and became something with much more depth than being just a metal band. We could get in an endless debate about what is metal and whats not , i'll just say if Agalloch are metal than these guys are as well. Though Agalloch might indulge in more blatant metal moments.I'll round this album up to a 10 as the some I listen the more I like it.


   

Black Metal History Month: Ghost Bath's "Moonlover"

Asian metal has been more miss than hit with me, these guys how ever are pretty dark and I would say with all the Deafheaven comparisons , that  they are darker than Deafheaven.The shoe gaze element seems to be set against more depressive black metal. The opening "Golden Number" uses more synths and piano than "Sunbather" had as an entire album.On "Happyhouse" the band makes it even clearer that the depressive elements are more important to them than the shoe -gazing. The drill into the blasting section with their drummer attacking with with more feral precision than Deafheaven.

The crystalline ringing of "Beneath the Shade Trees" guitars is darkly beautiful , though it is just an interlude that gives some breathing room before the first part of "the Sliver Tree". From this point on the album takes a turn away from more vocal centered music into atmosphere and ambiance being the emphasis and dragging you along for a melodic hypnosis before the blast beats kick you off the cliff. Single screams accent the doomy staccato build up the second part of the Sliver Tree goes into. When this riff begins it's triumphant gallop into the octave chords and sonic build the vocals are left behind, until they resurface later this time buried so low in the mix that I didn't catch them until my second listen. The kick of the cliff at the end of this one the vocals come back in for anguished cries, whines and blubbering gurgles.These are soon cascaded over by a the blatantly melodic guitar melody.

The final song "Death and the Maiden"takes a more metal approach. The guitar continues on with the in your face melodies as the drums take a mid-paced pound over the howling vocals which die down along with the intensity when the blast beat comes. This is a pretty cool effect for the drums to hit the blast beat and then every one else backs off and wanders around it. The guitars melodies almost seem to bright for black metal on this one. i normally need more dissonance in my black metal, but these guys have opened the floodgates for cool accents so it's hard to argue against it. The most Deafheaven moment of the whole album comes in the final big build of the song. The guitar melody almost sounds like it would be from the big clean sung chorus of a Killswitch Engage song, it's the whistling synth that sounds like the theme from the X-files that balances that part out and redeems the song.

I'll give this album a 9.5 as I like when they are playing the actual songs , some of the more ambient interludes eat up time better spent screaming at me. If you think Deafheaven sold out by playing Bonnaroo (you might not be wrong) , here is a band that has yet to do that and can fill that space in your heart, they are not just melancholy and introspective , but wallowing in their beautiful misery.

Deafheaven : "Sunbather"

The opening track and first single "Dream House" is a fitting name  if the house is on fire, in it's ascent to the cosmos. The blasty mc nasty has a more jazz like sheen to it rather than feeling like you are being hammered by it, in some ways this dulls the numbing drone which most black metal creates. The first four minutes blast along like fast Mogwai, then the tempo shifts like a meaner Explosions in the Sky. Yes, I am not referencing black metal bands here because this is by and large not a black metal album, though we can now think of it as they were influenced at one time by black metal and the shadows of those influences lay beneath what is largely a very radiant sound. Though if I was going to draw comparisons to any black metal band it would be one who has undergone a similar transition An Autumn For Crippled Children, it is very similar in feel to their last album if you need a point of reference.

"Irresistible"  is more like a piano outro for "Dream House" than a song unto it'self.  The title track that follows begins in a sonic drone that flows into a post-rock cascade that crashes into the punch of the drums. The screamed vocals are a static layer against the sheen of the guitars. The songs have a more dramatic ebb and flow than on "Roads to Judah" . Midway into "Sunbather" the blasties come in but only with the aggressive approach for a minute before the melody of the guitars offsets it and catches it up into the dreamy tempest.The blasts sneer back to life with more teeth to it and the drumming gets pretty impressive when it builds out of this to drop it back down and build it back up again. I'm not sure if its the production which is so clean of this or not but it doesn't come across as heavy as their previous album. The shoegazing comes in at the last two minutes, coupled withe jangle of the clean guitar which has a more Smiths like purity to its tone.

"Please Remember" feels like a  part from a Swans album but when the clean guitar strums its way in where Micheal Gira would normally sing to make it an actual song it instead like the other song I think of as an outro is more of an intro to " Vertigo". This song starts of with ghostly guitar and a darker tone. Sure its very Mogwai but the first three minutes of this album is some of favorite guitar work on the album . Even as it builds into a more intense My Bloody Valentine like drone, it stays dark and dissonant until the very metal solo comes in over it. The blast at the five minute mark here is more convincingly black metal in feel. At fourteen and a half minutes this songs ebbs and flows like the others so it does build up substantial momentum leading  into the final four minutes and is the most metal song of album and I get what I wanted earlier in the album which was to hear the harsh vocal provide a counter balance to the clean dreamy guitar. In doing so this makes the vocals sound more tormented and creates a feel similar to what the depressive suicidal wave of black metal bands did.

"The Pecan Tree"  blasts from the beginning, then a minute goes into a weird trippy My Bloody Valentine syncopated part where the drums hold it together, before it attacks again. It steadies fora few seconds into a gallop and takes off again. It keeps at this pace for the first four minutes and then floats off with the drums doing some rather interesting things underneath this. Another Explosions in the Sky comparison could be drawn here as the guitar twinkles like a star. The drummer also shines up in the sky, it's really highlighted on this song where some of his most innovative playing takes place. A sample fades in underneath the floating drone before they kick into a powerful build that focuses more on melody and is an exercise in restraint for these guys. Is this overall a more mature record, yes... and I feel it will continue to grow on me.

 The only problem I have is for songs which are so precise in the details of their construction, it seems a shame the vocals are pretty much an after thought. Some of this is performance for his scream is pretty one dimensional, sometimes it's more drawn out and accented differently but tonally it stays the same in a higher mid range. I think effects on them might have given them more depth because god knows all the other instruments have them on them.

So for this reason I give the album a 9 rather than a 10, because I think this keeps it from being perfect. This might take some getting use to for some listeners but then there were plenty of narrow minded metal head crying they had sold out when "Roads to Judah" because they production made it more hipster metal than their demo. I think if you are a fan of post-rock or black metal but open to what boundaries can be crossed in those genres then this is worth a listen without a doubt and will be getting many more from me.        

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Kontinuum : Earth blood Majick

Going into the initial listens of the album I was unsure how the Icelandic band got tagged with black metal label as it starts of as more of a driving post rock thing. Post rock to metal has become a much more common marriage in the past five years, ranging from Agalloch's excursions into it to bands like Pelican and Russian Circles, Kontinuum has a more different take on it, there sound often wavers more toward the side of Interpol and their guitar sound holds a lot of twinkling ambiance but none of the dissonance found in black metal.

About three and a half minutes into the song " Steinrunninn Skorgur" harsh vocals gurgle to the surface. The songs are well textured and dynamically ambitious, but it's almost hard to call this metal so I have to listen to this with out expectations of it being dark or heavy. It does have drive, and when the chanted vocals come in it still feels more like Isis than even Enslaved , though I suppose if you were desperate to play musical connect the dots they would be the only black metal-ish act and even then there more recent work.

The vocals take an Peter Murphy turn on "moonshine" which is something Im not going to complain about but it walks them further from what would be considered metal, even though the guitar his some powerful chord progressions that flirt with metal , it's not until the riff four minutes in that I hear metal, this would be a good album to have very tired and groggy late night sex to as no jack hammering is required and the band never fully stays hard for any length of time, screams return to the back ground set against the more goth tinged vocals.

The staccato bass of " Stranger Air" off sets the Sydd Barrett glaze on the melodies. The tempo picks up in the last two minutes a steady drive but not a blast beat, in sight and despite the fact this album is lighter fare it is still very well crafted hits my ears to better effect than say opeth's " heritage" album.

"light bearer " is the first to hold a chug, but it feels more like Feilds of the Nephillim, despite the increased attack to the guitar and more emphasis place on the growls. We get about as close to black metal with out a full on blasty here around the two minute mark and to be honest when they pick it up tothat speed it's not there forte, particularly the guitars who avoid the tremolo feel altogether here.

"city" picks up more metal cred, and almost an iron maiden moment or two here.It's also one of the more adventurous songs on the album. An almost thrash riff sneaks in and I guess this could all be due to a Mastodon influence , but I don't really see the Georgia band having a big impact in Iceland. Few listens later and recognize how close the bass line gets to "wrath child" and it's puts the influences in perspective.

"Lys Milda Ljos" finds the band at its most evenly blended mix of dynamics, harder drive yet twinkle of effected guitar, if I was going to point some one in the direction of what this band does best this would be my pick. The drumming on this one really stands out and does an interesting build.a

The song "red" oddly uses female vocals , and made me stop to check and see if my ipodhad shuffled onto the new Gathering album. Not a bad song, in fact it might have worked better to close the album than the weepy piano melodrama that follows for no good reason.

Sure I have been musing a lot on how unmetal this album is, this is not to detour from th fact this is more often than not well crafted an original enough and I think has enough drives to appeal to metal heads even though there is no way in nine hells this should be called black metal.I will give this album a 7.5 as its a worthwhile listen despite the some of its heavier moments running away with them into murk which keeps it from reaching an eight though it could grow on me either way at this point though it's spookiers elements should prove endearing over time.

Baroness: yellow&green

The savannah boys had a band meeting where the question was asked...why is mastodon making ll the money? The answer they. Ame up with was to really focus on vocal driven songwriting. Up until this point I was split on the band , I liked the red lbum but the blue one left me bored with nothing to grab onto. There are big changes on this double album,which I don't think can be called metal at all hard rock isn't even a fitting description as calling it driving indie rock. It brings to mind a sweaty hairier version of minus the bear. The way the vocal melodies move over flow of shimmering guitar the obvious link. The vocals employ a plainitive croon and are the biggest improvement. Trenton to detail ws put in the construction of melody and the layering of the harmony section, producer John Congleton brought out the best performance possible. This makes up for the fact the lyrical content seems to give away the premeditated change in direction, as they focus on boy loses nd meets girl,but the fact they are so passionatly sung causes me not to begrudge them.

Any studio trickery was done in. Very tasteful manner, they have captured some great guitar tones, there is less math in the riff to those sort of flourishes do ring out, while not taking away from the flow of the songs. The solo sections shine out in an almost thin lizzy manner especially when guitars harmonize. The guitars have for the most part clean tone leaving distortion a warm fuzz layer rther than smoke acreen to hide behind.the bass is really the only area where any excess metal lies, though I do see the metal media rallying behind this album more so than mainstream, Spin magazine won't know how to work them next to Bon iver.

I have become just as a.d.d when it comes to having my iPod on shuffle as the next guy, unless I'm reviewing something, so if an artist can bring back the lost art of inspiring me to listen to an album front to back says something. The yellow portion is better than the more bluesy instrumental interludes of the green part . This lead me to include thi could have been better served as a single album and that reason this album gets a
7out of 10. Still pretty strong even if has only enduring a handful of listens, it's a fitting summer sound track.

Alcest / Deafheaven

While there is a funny story within a funny story about this show, we can skip all that and go straight to the rocking as there was plenty to be had. With Speedwolf playing the after-show, the crowd was a weird mix of two divergent schools of hipster metal. The main show was post-rock/hip-black metalists, if such a subculture exists outside of Brooklyn Vegan, this was it , then the thrash/punks no big frame glasses just beards and denim vests, funny enough all the participants of this scene were not even born when"Practice What you Preach" was released but are quick to call Alcest fans poseurs ...now there's some Irony Maiden. But being the tough guys they are that crowd milled about and the overall vibe was very relaxed for a metal in comparison to the Deicide crowd.
UberChriist first up sounds much less like the want to be Darkthrone live, while the harsh vocals were a disappointment from what I have heard of their Studio, the addition of bassist Lamar from Wolves and Jackals was a wise choice as he holds them down better for the guitar to explore more ambient territory, live the came across more High On Fire than the raw black metal kvlt stuff they are supposed to be parodying ,but much improved you can see where their real identity begins now.

Deafheaven was up next and the crowd for these guys was even much different from the crowd for Alcest, as it seemed more like a hardcore show with out the windmilling and kickboxing dances.Deafheaven with out a doubt stole the show. They had an intensity to them that could not be denied. Front-man George Clarke's stage presence makes up for his one dimensional vocal attack. The playing was spot on with a shimmer slaps you and then shakes you while the cathartic exorcism explodes into the ether on waves of delay and distortion. Either I'm going deaf or I expected them to be louder.

Alcest took the stage with an understated meekness about them. The mix they got did not do their style any favors and the mix played against their strengths which are the vocals. Neige's lighter upper register singing floated against the grain and the bass and drums dominated, the reverse of their albums where guitar and vocals have the spotlight. So from one perspective live showcased another element of their sound the recordings don't.Their set was a well balanced mix of the old and new giving a fair representation to their many facets.The guitar parts were executed as with expected finesse but needed a boost as on their albums the fairy land melodies ring out in such a way it carries you away before you miss the bite most metal has.The heavier sections towards the second half of the set really stood out, the drummer was really smacking his snare on the blast beats rather than playing gravity blasts, there were several builds that did capture their awe inspiring sound and enjoyed their set but left wanting to seem them louder in a environment more fitting to their capabilities.