Tag: experimental
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Heavy Picks for Bandcamp Friday – May 2023
It isn’t slowing down at all – there’s an even bigger bouquet of fresh riffs out there since the last edition of Bandcamp Friday, and I’m not mad about it. The header image this month is by Brad Moore, the aptly named “Art Wizard”, for the cover of Spinebreaker’s Cavern of Inoculated Cognition, one of…
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Igorrr: evasive experimentation
Last spring, while perusing some of the new metal releases featured on Youtube, I came across a video that didn’t quite fit the mold, in a ‘one of these things is not like the other’ kind of situation. Elements like hardcore electronic beats, operatic vocals, and classical guitar aren’t totally unexpected in a metal context,…
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The Whistles And The Bells – Modern Plagues LP
If we can all agree that many of the best, most interesting albums are those which convey a particular image of its maker, then there’s little doubt of Modern Plagues‘ quality. From the very outset of The Whistles And The Bells‘ sophomore album, listeners are presented with the image of auteur Bryan Simpson toiling gladly…
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Jen Gloeckner – Vine LP
Anyone who has ever gone to therapy knows that it can take years to accurately qualify, articulate and compartmentalize feelings like anger, resentment, isolation, love, affection, confusion and emotional unease and then begin to deal with them in a healthy manner. It’s all a process and, in that regard, Jen Gloeckner has arrived miles ahead…
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Faith No More – Angel Dust
Where would hard rock and heavy metal be today without Faith No More‘s 1992 classic Angel Dust? This question brings shivers to my fragile old soul and I prefer not to even think about the answer to that blasphemous query. Twenty-five years after its release, I don’t think any fan of Faith No More would argue…
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Volur – Ancestors
The sophomore album from Toronto folk-doomsters Volur is nothing if not an ambitious effort. Though it only contains four tracks, it clocks in at over 53 minutes, with some songs stretching over 15. And while the lyrics are not clearly discernible, I do detect a theme here—each song title begins with “Breaker.” We start off…
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Drug Honkey – Cloak of Skies
With a name like Drug Honkey, you know it’s gotta be good. Although you were probably expecting some slow southern sludge à la Weedeater or the Wisconsin drug trip of Bongzilla, what we’ve actually got here is effects-laden psychedelic death/doom that comes off as a cross between Winter and Sons of OTIS… and yet, I’m…
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Godhunter – Codex Narco
Godhunter’s debut album, City of Dust, was one of the great underrated sludge records of 2014, which actually found its way onto my year-end top 10 list. In the few years since, the band helped put Tucson on the metal map by hosting Southwest Terror Fest (which has since moved to Seattle), and has put…
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John Carpenter – Live Retrospective, 25 October 2016
Vicar St Dublin, Ireland Tuesday 25th October 2016 Film auteur and composer extraordinaire John Carpenter has been a big part of my life for years, his fantastic films and their soundtracks providing a visual and audio accompaniment to my life, and I have to say, the sheer amount of happiness and entertainment his work has…
