This shouldn’t work. The second record by Lazybones Flame Kids methodically ticks every post-rock box before the opening track is through. Slow marching drums, a languid, looping guitar line, and the requisite rapturous crescendo are all put in their right place. But as ‘Beyond’ barrels forward, the excellently-named Sardinian four-piece behind it bend and break and bolt new things on […]
Read moreThe world isn’t tilting off its axis, carbon monoxide is at safe levels, and it’s not vertigo. The actual cause of that queasy lurch you’re feeling is ‘Leg’, the debut album by Beige Palace. From the opening droning tones of ‘Mum, Tell Him’ (which is such a good title) to the final ramshackle stomp of ‘Dinner Practice’ the Leeds outfit […]
Read moreDegraey’s last album was fine– the Barcelona quartet navigating their mostly-instrumental post-metal with a steady if unspectacular hand- but ‘Reveries’ is something else. The track lengths (almost 60 minutes divided almost equally into six tracks) and dynamics (slow-build big-bang) might suggest continued reliance on a formula but the band are working off their own blueprints now. ‘Nurture’ is packed with […]
Read moreLags work hard. The Italian outfit have spent the three years since their last album trimming the fat from their already brawny sound. As a result, ‘Soon’ sounds like it was made by men with calloused hands and stiff upper lips and the best intentions. There’s a satisfying focus on power and drive, Antonio Canestri’s clear, strong (of course) yowl, […]
Read moreThe statement, “this won’t be for everyone” has rarely, if ever, had a more appropriate use than when talking about the third record from Spanish outfit Altarage. This is acrid, choking smoke made into sound, this is a wall of noise collapsing under its own weight and crushing whatever living thing is closest, this is every dark thought you’ve ever […]
Read moreIf all you had to go on was that album title and cover art, you might expect some hazy dream pop here or sweet nothings about love, something ‘nice’. Instead there is squealing feedback, feral screaming and punk rock made to make your skin crawl. Endon are going to give some unsuspecting folks whiplash. Of course, those that caught even […]
Read moreI guarantee you that the friends and neighbours of the three members of Irk consider the boys in the band to be fine, upstanding citizens. Nice guys. Never bothered anybody. There’s simply no way they can be as nasty and gnarly as they sound coming through their speakers. But, like little old ladies that can’t believe the man next door […]
Read moreThose band names and that cover art tell you almost everything you need to know about this. Almost. For while there’s a strong smell of medicinal herbs drifting off every riff here, there’s no dumb fug or directionless waffle, only stoner rock done just right. Each band does it in a different way too. Dopelord unfurl ominous, thick-riffed doom with […]
Read moreSome records just seem to… emerge. They don’t arrive politely behind a marketing plan or social media agenda, they barrel and thrash into earshot, slithering out of your speakers like they want to chew on your bones. There are no prizes for guessing that Mastiff, with an album named ‘Plague’ featuring songs called ‘Brainbleed’ and ‘Weep’, are the torture artists […]
Read moreThis album is a time warp. Or at least it desperately wants to be. And it takes just five seconds, and one yowl from Dogwater frontman Brendan Maier, to hear where the Chicago outfit are coming from. From mid-tempo maximum-grunge riffs to fuzzy melodies and sluggish solos, ‘Chout’ wants to drag you into 1994. That band name and even the […]
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