Tag: atmospheric

  • Anathema @ The Opera House, Toronto, 21 August 2017

    Anathema @ The Opera House, Toronto, 21 August 2017

    The last time England’s atmospheric progressive rockers Anathema came to Toronto in 2013, visa issues cruelly skimmed the line up to just frontman Vincent Cavanagh, guitarist Danny Cavanagh and vocalist Lee Douglas. Now live in Toronto tonight, the whole line up is present and it the audience’s anticipation marks this show as long overdue. Starting…

  • Winterfylleth – The Dark Hereafter

    Winterfylleth – The Dark Hereafter

    This style of black metal has ruffled many feathers of metal fans, upset that these tree-hugging hipsters are ruining the “evil” or “kvlt.” Winterfylleth are a band of heathens trying to preserve the heritage of their homeland in music form. I can respect that. I think this atmospheric subgenre has its roots in early Ulver,…

  • John Carpenter – Live Retrospective, 25 October 2016

    John Carpenter – Live Retrospective, 25 October 2016

    Vicar St Dublin, Ireland Tuesday 25th October 2016 Film auteur and composer extraordinaire John Carpenter has been a big part of my life for years, his fantastic films and their soundtracks providing a visual and audio accompaniment to my life, and I have to say, the sheer amount of happiness and entertainment his work has…

  • Sans Soleil – A Holy Land Beneath a Godless Sky

    Sans Soleil – A Holy Land Beneath a Godless Sky

    The band’s name, Sans Soleil, translates to Sunless, and they worked with a guy who produced Earthless on this EP, but their music actually sounds more like Earth.  And no, not just because some of these songs are viola-driven, although that certainly helps. It’s the stringed instrument that rises right away on opening track “A…

  • Downfall of Gaia – Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay

    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…

  • Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies – Earth Air Spirit Water Fire

    Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies – Earth Air Spirit Water Fire

    By Gruesome Greg If he’s not exactly a household name, it’s worth noting that Selim Lemouchi was the main songwriter behind Dutch occult-rock outfit The Devil’s Blood.  Now do I have your interest?  His first solo album features a whole host of collaborators across these five tracks—it even has a Mini-Moog! The record begins, curiously enough, with…

  • Lychgate – s/t

    Hellbound Metal: “Lychgate is a harrowing experience not for the faint of heart guaranteed to shrivel your soul into a black mass with its dense sonics and disorienting vocal ministrations.”

  • Some sounds from the stoner/doom underground…

    So, before I get into my top albums of the year, it’s time for some Christmas cleaning. These reviews have been sitting on my hard drive for a while, and chances are you haven’t heard of most of these bands–but some of them are worth checking out.

  • A double dose of heaviness this evening…

    Any disappointment should be alleviated this evening with a solid double-dose of heaviness just offa Bathurst. NYC’s Tombs and Neurot recording artists A Storm of Light are playing Sneaky Dee’s, then I’m gonna head down the street to catch Macabre, my all-time favourite grind band, at the Hard Luck Bar.

  • Wolves in the Throne Room / Shibboleth / Northern @ Sons of Norway Hall, Victoria BC, Jan. 7, 2011

    “The stage is cast in smoke and shadow. Spotlights scale black tapestries depicting nature’ s creatures: wolf, owl, crane. At centre stage is an altar holding candles and a human skull, hemmed in by trimmings from an aromatic pine. Behind it is the drummer, bathed in a warm yellow light. The silhouettes of two guitarists…