By their own admission, Bohren & Der Club of Gore have a modus operandi. Almost 30 years and now eight albums into their career, the German trio know what they’re doing, and they aren’t afraid to do it over and over and over again. Whether they get called dark ambient, jazz noir, or “the gentlest black metal band on earth”, […]
Read moreSomething of a surprise release, this. But the sudden arrival of the sixth Worriedaboutsatan album is not the only revelation. I missed the news that, after almost a decade as a duo, there is now just one Gavin Miller behind the music. The project began as Miller’s alone so we’re not in totally unknown territory here, but the band’s best […]
Read moreThe Warriors burned bright- In the mid-2000s they blazed a trail through hardcore, releasing four furious albums of fast riffs and fiery grooves over eight years- but then they burned out. After the release of ‘See How You Are’ in 2011, arguably the band’s best record, they seemed to capitulate rather than capitalise and slowly faded away. A damn shame. […]
Read moreWe Lost the Sea’s last album, the excellent ‘Departure Songs’, turned tragedy- the death of vocalist Chris Torpy- into triumph. Strong and sincere post-rock, it struck a chord inside the scene, escalating them towards the genre’s top tier, and in the wider world too. It took them around the planet on tour, sharing stages with the likes of Baroness, Russian Circles, […]
Read moreInitially this, the debut solo effort from erstwhile Calculator and Never Young member Chris Adams, feels thinly sketched. It’s less than half an hour of lo-fi indie rock that started life as side project demo material, and at times it sounds like it. The title track shimmies along on quiet, popping drums and softly distorted guitars, and ‘Plexiglass’ is hardly […]
Read moreEmptyset are on a mission. For over a decade the duo- otherwise known as James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas- have studied the creation, concept, and consumption of electronic music, and pioneered innovation in their genre. Previously, the pair have built installations for Tate Britain, played live in a nuclear bunker, and projected their songs into space just to record what happened next. […]
Read moreThe trilogy is complete. For anyone that missed the first parts- after a painful, life-changing event, Hammock set about composing music to help cope and process. And while the resulting records don’t quite sync up with the recognised stages of grief, after the heartache of 2017’s ‘Mysterium’, and the sense of mending and cautious hope on ‘Universalis’, the Nashville-based duo […]
Read moreThis will come as a surprise to some. Timelost is a new project from a couple of self-described metalheads- Shane Handal of post-metallers Set and Setting, and Grzesiek Czapla, the drummer of the officially heavy-as-shit Woe. But ‘Don’t Remember Me for This’, their debut album, is 40 minutes of deep and warm shoegaze-tinged grunge. Maybe it’s just my weird brain […]
Read moreKeaton Henson is best known as one of the most solemn singer songwriters of recent years. His guitar gently weeps. His voice will break your heart. ‘Six Lethargies’, composed by Henson but performed by The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, might be a surprise then. There is no guitar. There is no voice. There aren’t really songs. Instead there are minimalist […]
Read moreVictims only of their own success, Cult of Luna have written perhaps the best post-metal album of the year here and yet it still feels just a little underwhelming. That’s because as good as ‘A Dawn To Fear’ is (and it’s very very good) it still bobs under the high-water marks of 2013’s ‘Vertikal’ and the Swedish outfit’s last album, […]
Read more