Vagiant is a five-piece union of antisocial, paranoid still life loving, good-mannered and joyful nerds. That’s what they think about themselves, I think they need urgent medical care, lots of colorful pills, eventually biscuit cases. This is totally madness on loose. No genre attached, this is a quite contorted, experimental, glowing and flowing (post) Rock journey through different sounds and styles, from quiet, warmer moments to energy full, nervous breakdown-like explosions. In an extensively patterned and predictable, standardized world, Vagiant brings chaos and disorder, bring a fresh breath of music.
And what’s even better, you can grab for free (name your price) this 5 track release from their Bandcamp page. Read more Vagiant – Gospel According To Vagiant (2011)
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Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol (2012)
Hopefully this will be a “lucky 13” – although this is quite a dark and heavy one. Scheduled to be released on 23 April 2012, the upcoming 13th studio album by Paradise Lost is 101% classic Metal with strong roots back to Doom and Gothic and eventually since their 1991’s second album, “Gothic”, the band did not delivered something like this. Just like two decades ago the album was written by Nick Holmes and Gregor Mackintosh, drummer Matthew Archer left the band in 1994 and after several rotations, behind the drum kit since 2009 is Adrian Erlandsson, but although, the band seems totally unchanged. In a good sense. We know, the road back here was not so smooth and flawless as it might seem, but what’s matter it’s we are here now. Well, I’m aware, the journey might be much more significant then the final destination, but this is quite a different philosophical issue. So, I love “Tragic Idol” as it is, I loved it as I saw the cover for the first time. Read more Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol (2012)
With the Pieces – Lights Resolve Remix Contest
If the music industry wouldn’t killed me with the dumping and overdose of mediocre products last year, more aggressively then ever, “Feel You’re Different”, the debut album of this NY based trio, definitively would made it to the list of my favorite albums of 2011. Unfortunately I didn’t have the chance last year to listen it, fortunately I have it now. Indaba and (probably) the band offered their track “With the Pieces” to be remixed. The first thing which stroked me was the excellent sound. Produced/engineered/mixed by Mike Sapone and mastered by Emily Lazar & Joe LaPorta, the track – and the album – sounds awesome! Intense and clean, groovy and cutting, really-really rocks! The song is also great, have some killer verses, pounding drums, a murderous bass-line and huge vocals. Honestly and… actually I did not felt like it need to be remixed at all. But! Read more With the Pieces – Lights Resolve Remix Contest
Anathema – Weather Systems (2012)
I never was an Anathema fan, not back in 1990 when they started as a Death/Doom Metal band, not later when they slowly transitioned to Progressive Rock. But I admit, even if I did not follow them closely, I like some of their creation, they managed to deliver something of their own, music filtered through their personal touch. “Weather Systems” their upcoming ninth studio album have the same Pink Floyd after-taste as many of their previous creations since their 1996’s “Eternity” merged with atmospheric, dark, sometimes classic orchestral elements.
Describing their new album Daniel Cavanagh stated: “This is not background music for parties. The music is written to deeply move the listener, to uplift or take the listener to the coldest depths of the soul”. Definitively not. Parties – far as I know – are happy and energy full events, while Anathema always delivered more music suitable for burials and “Weather Systems” makes no difference, even if the lights seems to get through, in its depth this is quite dark and sad music. Read more Anathema – Weather Systems (2012)
Nihil Quest – Splendid Isolation (2011)
Quality Metal – for FREE. Reminds me mainly of Annihilator crashed into Alice In Chains, Nihil Quest delivered their debut full-length album with 11 groovy, but classic Metal tracks.
Nihil Quest was formed in the summer of 2006. The main idea was to play music inspired in first place by hard rock and metal classics (such as Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Slayer), but also they merging different influences and sounds from Blues to Industrial Rock.
Their first release was a three song EP entitled “0.9” and it was issued in late 2009. Two years later, a full-length, 11-tracks record was released. It was titled “1.1 Splendid Isolation” (released on 11.11.2011).
The band was not interested in cooperation with any record labels, as this would mean restrictions to the way the material is being distributed. The album was published via iTunes, Amazon MP3 store and other digital outlets. However it was also made available for free on Jamendo under Creative Commons license. This kind of licensing allows for playing the music without any fees and for non-commercial use in movies, computer games etc. Read more Nihil Quest – Splendid Isolation (2011)
Devianz – A Corps Interrompus (2012)
Formed in 2004, in Paris (France), Devianz, this five piece band, now delivering their long awaited second full-length album, “A Corps Interrompus” (With Interrupted Bodies). 13 tracks, one bonus and one top collaboration with Vincent Cavanagh of Anathema on the song called “Ton corps n’est qu’atome” (You’re Body is Nothing But Atoms), revels a wild, willing and extremely capable band which managed to blending sensitive, acoustic rooted European Rock with the energy, explosion and rawness of the American Indie and Post-Hardcore. But more further than another perfect sonic experiment, Guyom Pavesi, Benoît Blin, Pierre Labarbe, Vincent Rémon, and Charles-Vincent Lefèvre write and recorded 14 songs. Read more Devianz – A Corps Interrompus (2012)
Janis Joplin – Pearl Sessions and Move Forward RMX
Three months after she died on October 4, 1970, on January 11, 1971, Columbia Records released “Pearl”, the only album Joplin ever recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, the touring ensemble that had backed her on the Festival Express. Peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200, a position it held for nine weeks, Pearl included some of Janis’s most familiar and best-loved performances including her cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee” and her off-the-cuff a cappella “Mercedes Benz.”
The Janis Joplin’s 69th Birthday is honored by Legacy Recordings with the releasing of “The Pearl Sessions”, a two-CD set of Joplin’s final studio recordings.
The Pearl Sessions brings together, for the first time in one package, the original mono versions of the album’s 45s alongside the original LP tracks as well as the revelatory newly-discovered alternate versions, outtakes and vocal takes of Pearl’s classic tracks. The recording were discovered when researchers were putting together material for a 40th anniversary edition of “Pearl”, and find a previously uncatalogued audio tapes from the album’s sessions, produced by Paul Rothschild. Read more Janis Joplin – Pearl Sessions and Move Forward RMX
The Prestige – Black Mouths (2012)
Back at the beginning of the 90s with all that Alternative/Indie/Grunge wave, I discovered several huge bands among all the trash praised by the media and pushed by the record labels and agencies. One of them was the obscure H.P. Zinker from New York founded by Hans Platzgumer. Their last album, “Mountains of Madness” released in 1995 and its cover design by Stefan Sagmeister won several design awards and it was also nominated for Grammy. “Black Mouths” strangely, but unrelated, reminds me of that record. This Parisian quartet featuring Alex – vocals & guitars, Raphael – guitars, Thibaut – drums, and Julien – bass, delivering a same kind of colorful post-punk/hardcore, adrenaline fueled music merged with lots of colorful, experimental moments and deviations.
Can grab for free “The Truth”, the opening track of their upcoming full-length debut album. Read more The Prestige – Black Mouths (2012)
Killing Joke – MMXII (2012)
If Ian Curtis wouldn’t committed suicide on 18 May 1980 and Joy Division would be still around and playing, “In Cythera”, the leading single of the fifteenth studio album by Killing Joke uploaded to the YouTube on 6 March it’s exactly the kind of music we are probably expected of Curtis. Although, this is a classic Killing Joke album with classic sound, and with the classic line-up: Jaz Coleman on vocals, Kevin “Geordie” Walker on guitar, Martin “Youth” Glover on bass, and Paul Ferguson on drums.
Out on April 2nd via Spinefarm/Universal, “MMXII” consist of 10 tracks which will definitively rock your world. Read more Killing Joke – MMXII (2012)
Meshuggah – Koloss (2012)
Simultaneously avant-garde and extreme, Meshuggah not only rocked our world, but tear it down to pieces. Formed in 1987, in Umeå, Sweden, they became world wide famous with the 1995 release “Destroy Erase Improve” and for its fusion of brutal, fast-tempo Death Metal, contorted Thrash Metal and Dark, Progressive Metal, and Industrial build-ups with Jazz Fusion elements. They were labeled as one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands by Rolling Stone and as the most important band in metal by Alternative Press. They 2002’s album “Nothing” and the albums that followed have all charted on the Billboard 200, although Meshuggah has found little mainstream success, but staying a significant and influential act in extreme underground music. Meshuggah’s most commercially successful album, the previous 2008’s “obZen”, peaked at No. 59 and sold 11,400 copies in the first week and 50,000 copies six months after its release in the United States. In Sweden, the album entered the official album chart at number 16, and in the UK at number 151.
“Koloss”, the upcoming seventh album is set to be released on March 23, 2012 in Germany, on March 26 in the rest of Europe, and March 27 in North America via Nuclear Blast. We’ve got 54 minutes of sonic slaughter and as drummer Tomas Haake stated: “best avoided by the faint of heart!” Read more Meshuggah – Koloss (2012)
