Category: Reviews – Audio
Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?
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Darkspace – III I
“We die praising the Star Maker, the Star Destroyer.“ With little tangible to pin down in a typical ‘kvlt’ sense (beyond corpse paint and obsidian stage pageantry), the mercurial interstellar ritualism of Bern, Switzerland trio Darkspace remains one of ambient black metal’s most intriguingly opaque and highly original offerings. Since their advent in 1999, Darkspace…
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Single Mothers – Negative Qualities
It might sound weird to those who don’t know the band (yet) but, with their debut full-length album Negative Qualities, Single Mothers have proven they’re THE SINGLE GREATEST NEW HOPE for hardcore punk. Over the last few years, the rise of bands like Fucked Up and Trash Talk coupled with the decline of groups including…
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David Bowie – Sue (Or in a Season of Crime) / ‘Tis A Pity She Was A Whore 10″ single
The arc that David Bowie‘s career has appeared to take over the last forty-seven years has been a truly unique one, when you think about it. It could be hypothesized that being a Bowie fan is very, very similar in nature to being a heroin addict: the first hit you took was good – so…
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Northumbria – Bring Down the Sky
There’s something special about Northumbria and their latest, Bring Down the Sky. The ambient metal drone duo of guitarist Jim Field and bassist Dorian Williamson sound like the heavens conversing with subterranean realms resulting in the ying/yang earthly experience we know. Structurally independent and devoid of solid forms, the listener’s mind is thrown open to…
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Downfall of Gaia – Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay
Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay is in many ways similar to Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes, the last album from Germany’s Downfall of Gaia. It’s also heavier in sound and less immediately accessible. Thus, the record is less memorable and cohesive-sounding as a whole but as equally rewarding with repeated listens. The slight…
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Sleep of Monsters – Produces Reason
Previously only available in Finland, and now unleashed on the world by Svart Records. The songs are well crafted, and while diverse, have a dark majesty all of their own. It owes something to vocalist Vil’s previous band, the splendidly named Babylon Whores, though I have to say Sleep of Monsters is a great name, and…
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Dune – Aurora Majesty
There’s some mighty good shit coming out of Scotland. At least in so far as this review is concerned. The shit (with horns up of course) of note is Aurora Majesty, the two-song EP by Edinburgh’s Dune on newly minted Scottish label Sea of Corruption. Dune’s previous effort, Progenitor sounded to this writer like aggressive…
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Full of Hell – Full of Hell & Merzbow
Over the past four years we have seen Full of Hell release many full lengths and eps but now, with the edition of Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) legendary Japanese noise master, they clearly want to make a bolder, more focused statement in the world of noise music. The band consists of Dylan Walker (vocals, electronics and…
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Wizard Rifle – Here in the Deadlights
Can I just say I’ve partaken in a few too many Facebook discussions about how there are far too many doom bands nowadays with Wizard in their moniker? Wizard Rifle is a pretty blatant example; do wizards actually carry guns in Portland, or something? Alas, their silly name combined with some, erm, creative song titles and…
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Exodus – Blood In Blood Out
Blood In Blood Out… The title could refer to the changing of the guard in the Exodus vocalist department – Paul Dukes has been dismissed, replaced by Steve Sousa, who Dukes had replaced himself. Such is the ruthless world of metal, characterised by such games of musical chairs. But at least in the case of…