Merging shoegaze flavoured gloominess and endless distorted guitar chords; slow pulsing electronic layers and bitter sweet clean vocals; cinematic tension and mechanical monotony; Thierry Arnal, the one-man army behind Fragment, is back with his new album entitled “Temporary Enlightenment”. This is a quite dizzy mixture of alternative rock and drone, post-modern psychedelia and slowcore, dream-pop and shoegaze, a bridge build of sound and noises, but on solid emotional pillars, between Sunn O)))) and Sigur Rós, between Pink Floyd and Candlemass, and everything ever-after and above.
Not an easy listening, not refreshing, probably not gonna make you feel better or released, but it’s gonna make you feel miserable and eventually make you cry, but that’s alright. Crying it’s not something you should be ashamed of. And “Temporary Enlightenment” have several quieter, less weighty and depressing moments as well (like the nice acoustic “From This Moment”), so, no need to be desperate, there is still a pale stain of hope. Read more Fragment – Temporary Enlightenment (2013)
Monthly Archives: February 2013
ZEUS! – Opera (2013)
Luca Cavina (Calibro 35, Craxi, Incident on South Street) : distorted Bass and Vocals and Paolo Mongardi (Fuzz Orchestra, Ronin, FulKanelli, ex-Jennifer Gentle) : distorted Drums, started this project in October 2010, aiming at “using the minimum in order to get the maximum and is: not metal, not punk, not math, not noise, not prog, absolutely not jazz-core, neither post-whatever” – as they firmly declared.
Althrough this is a quite rough and tumultous adventure out of most people’s musical and lyrical comfort zone, this is definitively a genuine and creative act of art, something actually (and unfortunately) damn rare these days. Read more ZEUS! – Opera (2013)
One Morning Left – Our Sceneration (2013)
If you think it’s the perfect time to wider your musical horizon while the music became boring – which it’s actually f*ckin’ true -, One Morning Left might be your perfect choice and from where you kick out. Merging trance flavoured electronic layers, dubstep drops and mad wobbling, with death metal rooted extreme metal butcheries, One Morning Left delivers all. This is fun and simultaneously deadly serious. Screaming like a slaughtered pig (Mika “Miksu” Lahti), or singing loud and clear (Tomi “Tomppa” Salonen), banging on techno beats (Veli-Matti “Vesku” Kananen) or heavy basses (Tuomas “Tumppi” Teittinen), murderous guitar riffs (Ari “Arska” Levola), blood vomiting growls and total brutality – One Morning Left covers all. And – surprisingly – this sounds great and make sense! Or not really surprisingly. Geerally speaking, Scandinavians delivers quality stuffs. Eventually, in the particular case of One Morning Left, blame it on the Finnish climate, Scooter, Lauri Tähkä and the mental hospitals… Read more One Morning Left – Our Sceneration (2013)
Dirty Shirt – Freak Show (2013)
The circus it’s back to the town! Run and hide while you still can, the freaks are out of leash! Or just turn up the volume, dig out from the corner of your soul your rusty air-guitar and bang the hell out of your head!
Formed in 1995 in a small town called Seini from Maramureş, Romania, by four young and enthusiast musicians, Dirty Shirt released their third (and deadly) album these days. The vivid mixture of Western, Industrial fueled Hardcore Metal and Eastern folklore never sounded better and more cohesive. It’s a rarely happy marriage between different sounds and aromas, a smartly conducted collision of cultures and concepts. Although, Dirty Shirt reminds me of Tankard, Leningrad Cowboys and Faith No More, and they have solid roots back to the late 80’s, mid 90’s metal, this still sounds powerful and alive. Alternative metal, smartly layered and tastefully flavoured with nu-metal, metalcore and genuine (home made 🙂 ), secret ingredients. Read more Dirty Shirt – Freak Show (2013)
Electric Worry – Back to Motor City, EP (2013)
Pierre (Bass – Vocal), Léo (Guitar) and Batiste (Drum) are the members of the French stoner rock band Electric Worry and ” Back to Motor City” it’s their four track debut EP – Digital album: name your price/free; limited edition CD for €5 at their Bandcamp page.
Although they choose their name inspired by the American band Clutch (track 6 from their 2007’s released, eighth studio album entitled “From Beale Street to Oblivion”), and they are singing in English, as a genuine French band, I did not find one single word in English about them on their official internet profiles and pages. Well, my French sucks – a lot – merde!! On the other hand, translator softwares are freaking fun, so, I’m not gonna bitching more about it. But if the band really thinking of reach out a larger audience over the borders of France, at least an official bio in English, would be nice.
But then again, this is a cool band (I mean f*ckin’ heavy!!) and they worth – at least – a listen. Read more Electric Worry – Back to Motor City, EP (2013)
KMFDM – Kunst (2013)
Spawned in Germany during 1984, KMFDM (Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated as “no pity for the majority”) pioneered the crossover between techno/dance and heavy metal with their signature industrial sound. Moving to Chicago in the mid-80’s KMFDM was the pride of WaxTrax! Records during the label’s peak. They relocated to Hamburg, Germany in October 2007.
Led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, KMFDM has released seventeen studio albums and two dozen singles, with sales of more than two million records worldwide. The current line up incorporates: Sascha Konietzko – vocals, guitar, bass, programming, keyboards, synthesizer, percussion; Lucia Cifarelli – vocals, keyboards; Jules Hodgson – guitar, bass, keyboards; Andy Selway – drums and Steve White – guitar. But we must mention a few former key members such as Tim Skold, Raymond Watts, En Esch, Günter Schulz and Mark Durante.
The forthcoming eighteenth studio album entitled “Kunst” it’s due for release on February 26, 2013 on Metropolis Records. Read more KMFDM – Kunst (2013)
Vuyvr – Eiskalt (2013)
Über brutality – total aggression. But it feels good and sounds murderous. Raw, unpolished, furious and totally grinding into the ground type of black metal with well determined roots back to the traditional Nordic sound, but simultaneously looking boldly into the future and exploring yet virgin outer limits of the genre. Vuyvr are the new Swiss challengers and they are definitively the most devilish offspring of some glorious predecessors as Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Samael or Coroner.
My favorite butcheries are “War Of 100 000 Centuries”, “Idolatry”, “Dead Trees Are Wandering At” and the epic “The Wyvern”. Read more Vuyvr – Eiskalt (2013)
How to Destroy Angels – Welcome Oblivion (2013)
Traveling with Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Mariqueen Maandig and Rob Sheridan again. The long anticipated debut album finally it’s here and we’ve got 13 steps to go on, 13 levels of exploration, 13 ways to drowning and surfacing back to the light. Eventually.
About this Reznor’s post Nine Inch Nails project I wrote in details last year when they released their second EP entitled “An OMen”, so, if you’re interested in the full story of the bang, go back an read it HERE. Although, not really surprisingly, “An Omen” made it to my list of favorite releases of 2012 and it was definitively one of the most interesting musical experiments of the last year, a bold and ingenious method to leave the past behind, but staying true to themselves and digging into the wilderness and unknown of the future. Read more How to Destroy Angels – Welcome Oblivion (2013)
Atoms For Peace – Amok (2013)
Although this might seems a supergroup incorporating Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Beck and R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker and Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco – “Amok” it’s definitively a quite strange journey into the wilderness of minimal electronic and glitchy electronica and feels like the follow up of “The Eraser”, Yorke’s 2006’s debut solo album. On the other hand, this is not so different from the latest Radiohead sonic experiment, the 2011 “The King of Limbs” as well.
While the rhythmic build up of the album it’s quite similar throughout, Yorke’s ghostly falsetto singing haunting feverishly from song to song. It’s nice to know that Flea contributed to this, but do not expect to hear his presence, and except some rare jazzy flavoured moments, “Amok” it’s more about how it feels, then how it sounds. Read more Atoms For Peace – Amok (2013)
Kerry Leva goes EDM
February 12th, 2013 – Boston producer, pianist, and singer/songwriter Kerry Leva has cemented her path into the dynamic ranks of the EDM world with a trio of original tracks, ‘ Four Eight Two’, ‘The Way Out is Through’, and ‘No Strings Attached’, and remix of Stefan Anions ‘Cosmonaut’.
Gloomy, minimalist and quite danceable, this electronic adventure bring to the surface emotions over the beats and a tasty dose of melodies and mysteries.
She said: “I’m inspired by so many different artists, namely Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Tool…. I started teaching myself various NIN and Radiohead songs on the piano, since I had played from a young age. When I was about to graduate high school, my dad bought me a Roland XP30 synthesizer, and I started messing around with the presets on it…I’ve always loved composing music, so I started by remixing some tracks (including some on which I was a featured vocalist), and then spent the bulk of 2012 producing as much as I could.” Read more Kerry Leva goes EDM
