This is a car crash. But, y’know, in a good way. In the way that there’s chaos and confusion in the air- songs seem to twist and sharply turn, jam-session emo to poetic indie rock to something new, as jarring noises cut through silence and sudden quiets fall without warning. In the way that there are pieces bent out of […]
Read moreLeonov know exactly what they’re doing. Two months ago this might’ve made no sense. In the coming low lights and low temperatures of the next few though, ‘Wake’ will work wonders. The Norwegian outfit’s second album takes the template of the first- Tåran Reindal’s ethereal vocals over dark post-rock and fuzzy, buzzing doom- and expands on it, bringing it into […]
Read moreSet and Setting’s last album struck a brilliant balance. 2017’s ‘Reflectionless’ was part starry ambience, part metallic technicality, all instrumental awesomeness. A year later and ‘Tabula Rasa’ sees the scales tip, perhaps naturally, towards the heavier end of the scale. There are harder edges, heavier riffs, and extra helpings of ominous darkness here. The shift will work for some, there’s […]
Read moreYou can hear the time and effort that went into making this. There are signposts throughout ‘The Body and the Earth’ that this is a record born of long hours, dutiful diligence and deep concentration. It’s highly unlikely that anyone was doubting Eric Quach’s work ethic of course- Quach (for he alone has been thisquietarmy for over a decade) has […]
Read moreGodless get minus points for giving their band the same name as a million other metalheads, but that goes down as about the only misstep the Indian outfit have ever made. Their first release was a warning shot of power and potential and, from the eerie introduction of ‘Exordium’ to the final belligerent beats of ‘Empty Graves’, this thing only […]
Read moreLike hedgerow flowers laced with hypnotic drugs, Wild Cat Strike might seem innocent enough at a distance but up close, they’ll put you under their spell. The Brighton-based outfit did already mark themselves as ones to listen to with a series of beguiling, slow-burn post-emo singles over the past year, but while ‘Rhubarb Nostalgia’ contains more of that, there’s new […]
Read moreDespite living halfway around the world from each other, Minsk and Zatokrev make perfect bedfellows. Both play dark and doom-infused post-metal, but both have been bold enough to step outside the confines of their genre, and yet both are sorely underappreciated. The former are even among the inspirations for the latter to start kicking out their extended jams. ‘Bigod’ sees […]
Read moreThe Black Queen’s first album was a slick and exciting, 80s-influenced, tech-noir triumph. This… is not that. Oh, ‘Infinite Games’ is made of much the same ingredients- dark ambience, drum loops, bubbling synths, and the whispers and croons of erstwhile Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato- but instead of icy cool and tightly coiled, it’s grim and grey and meandering. […]
Read moreSome records don’t scream “look at me” but still catch your ear. Some records don’t shake the ground before them but politely make their mark by doing all the right things in the right order. These are records like ‘Aurora’. Because while this debut by fantastically-named Belgian quartet Slow Crush isn’t going to make anyone’s jaw drop or drag nu-shoegaze […]
Read moreThere was little clue in Tengil’s first album, the admittedly epic ‘Six’, that they were capable of anything like this. Sure, the Swedish quartet proved that they could play- mixing dark hardcore and post-rock with aplomb- but from long, sinister stanzas and eerie spoken word passages to cover art of a grey face crying black blood, they seemed like a […]
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