Unexpect - Fables of the Sleepless Empire (2011)

I myself just acquired this fine offering of avant-garde metal from Unexpect. I am 5 songs in, and from what I hear it is fucking right up my alley. Odd time signatures, bizarre passages, schizophrenic vocal styling and shear insanity is what you can expect. This release is no slouch.

Unexpect-ed

Peste Noire - L'Ordure À L'État Pur (2011)

Oh man. Oh fucking man. In the first song Casse, Pêches, Fractures et Traditions, at about 4:53 to the end of the song is utter brilliance, those 6 minutes alone are worth the download.

en français

----------------------------------------------------------------->

Hey, you know what rules? If you look over to the right, you will notice a poll, not a strippers pole, but a poll none the less. Do me a favor and contribute to it, after all, it is up there to gather information about making this blog better for viewers such as yourself.

Click a genre you want to see more of come next month, and all your guilt of downloading music will be absolved, at least a little. With the amount of views per day, that poll should be filling up with delicious information much quicker than that. Do it. Seriously.

Tyr - The Lay of Thyrm

Norse mythology, staccato riffing, grand anthem choir choruses, cover art depicting Norse warrior with battle mace, galloping drums, yup, it's all there signifying Tyr's latest release.

The Lay of Thyrm

Tristwood - Dystopia et Disturbia (2010)

Normally, anything with the tag 'industrial' would send me running, but not in this case. This is some seriously crushing industrial death metal.

I just need to point out, in the song The Black Room at about 2:24 there is a Schwarzenegger-esque scream...and these guys are from Austria, yeah. (I'm easily amused)

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Owl - Owl (2011)

Someone called you an owl. "who?"

Slab of some seriously corrosive atmospheric death metal from Germany. Cloaked in thick layers of dissonance, rumbling forth like an Impetuous Ritual with less pigeon stoop grime.

owl

Kiuas - The Spirit of Ukko

An elk, dressed in robes, sitting on a throne holding a gnarly pike next to two flame lit braziers while the sky rains down thunder...

This could only mean one thing. Power metal, drenched with influences of thrash, death, and speed metal.

The Spirit of Ukko

Gorilla Biscuits - Gorilla Biscuits (1988) & Start Today (1989)

Vegan straight edge hardcore from New York. These are two quintessential hardcore albums, filled to the brim with posi-hardcore. Front-man 'Civ' is best known for his raspy vocals that often teeter on cracking, and it fucking rules.

Pretty much my two favorite albums throughout my high school years. Dude, I still remember it, my yearbook write-up were the lyrics from Hold Your Ground;

It's time to stand up, for what you believe 
Have no fear of your critics 
Be proud of the life you lead 
You may be different from your friends but if their true they'll understand

Hold Your Ground!

Fuck yeah, that was awesome. Enjoy these classics.

Gorilla Biscuits

Start Today

Engineer - The Dregs (2007)

 

A feral slab of post-hardcore and sludge in unison. It doesn't exactly bring anything new to the table, but it is quite content and good at brutalizing your ear drums for a solid 35 minutes. Think of a more aggressive Crowbar. Though not to discredit Engineer when I say they don't necessarily bring anything new, they do however hoist a lot of talent and execute this shit with furious anger.

The Dregs

Falconer - Among Beggars and Thieves (2008)

Fucking Falconer man. I have a thousand reasons as to why this is a power metal masterpiece. I will only list off a couple hundred of those reasons however. (for time and space purposes)

1) Stefan Weinerhall and Karsten Larsson of legendary Mithotyn are the masterminds behind it all.

2) Heavy on folk influences

3) Singer, Mattias Blad joined Falconer after never singing in a metal band before. In fact, he was enjoying a successful career as a stage singer.

4) Production is spot on. The drums sound beefy, guitars shred like a dinosaur, and the singing is not drowned out, nor dominant.

5) Best amalgamation of folk and power metal.

6) Lyrics are eloquently crafted and delivered.

7) Pale Light of Silver Moon is among my most played songs, along with Circle The Wagons by Darkthrone.

8) Download

Sigh - Gallows Gallery (2005) & Scenes From Hell (2010)

Sigh, a band that continually amuses me with how effortlessly they genre blend. They don't just incorporate many different styles, they do it properly and in a way that is aesthetically pleasing. Sigh, is not fucking scared to change it up on an album, and they do so often.

So, if you were wondering why I chose Gallows Gallery and Scenes From Hell as a means for a half-assed comparison. The reason being, not only are both of these releases incredibly brilliant and flawlessly executed, but they are vastly different from each other.

Gallows Gallery is quirky and extremely catchy. Vocals are mainly clean and often chanted in a swing style sort of way. Nothing feels overly dark, in fact everything sounds oddly celebratory and cheerful.

Scenes From Hell is dark and full of grandiose. Vocals are mainly screamed, shrieked or growled. It is also catchy, but in a different approach. The interludes are absolutely brilliant and are the driving force behind the melody, adding to the maniacal deranged Art Deco manner. 

Both are different, both are brilliant. Without them, to me you are a professional dicksmith.

Gallows Gallery

Scenes From Hell

Sikth - Death of a Dead Day (2006)

2nd release by Sikth, and also their last. Nuttier than squirrel shit, but from a musical standpoint these dudes have managed to bring something almost entirely new to the progressive metal sound. This is more than just progressive however, It is heavy, technical, melodic, bizarre and carefully crafted.

Mermaid Slur

Trash Talk - Plagues (2007)

This 5 minute long release by Trash Talk is pretty straight-forward. The mission statement; Gouge eye out, fuck eye-socket. Fans of Ceremony and Ruined will be delighted...for 5 minutes. Me? I'm a fucking fan dude. The artwork IS righteous, and worthy of mention because I am a sucker for comic inspired artwork.

Eye fuck.

Wormrot - Dirge (2011)

A meteor to the face. There is no studio magic here, it is all furious intensity that shines through, like the good ol' days. 25 songs in 18 minutes, the shortest song is 3.6 seconds, and it pumps out more BPM than any Coldplay song.


DIRGE

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (1999)

Kings of odd time signatures, breakneck tempo shifts and instrumental wizardry is The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Calculating Infinity is the bands coup de grâce.


Calculating Infinity

Altar of Plagues - Mammals (2011)

Ahh yes, Mammals, a 4 song beast spanning 52 minutes by Altar of Plagues. It took quite a while for this one to fully set in for me.

Post-black metal that is very atmospheric through reverberations and tunnel-esque qualities. It has a empty hollow sound at times, as if you are hearing everything from a distance inside a tunnel.

Minimalist

Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses - Perils (2005)

Strong compositions abound with an undeniably creepy atmosphere, that at times is almost laughably over the top. Here, allow for me to paint you a visual picture through my words.

Imagine you are strolling through a very ominously lit hallway, bulbs flickering away while the sounds of distant water pattering echoes the halls. This particular hallway belongs to an abandoned daycare for mentally challenged children. As you pass by each each doorway and gaze into the empty rooms flashes of distorted imagery invade your mind...until. Until you walk by one doorway that isn't unoccupied, you shake your head, hoping your imagination is once again playing tricks on you...but the young girl sitting in the chair ever remains. In her lap lay a dilapidated music box. She looks up at you and slowly begins to wind the rusty crank...

For this particular tale, we will say the song that played from the little girls music box was Peacock The Heretic. I suppose what I am trying to get at is this; shit is some ominous sounding music, that is entirely instrumental yet still seeming to tell a story. A very eerie story.


PERILS

Kroda - Cry To Me, River (2005)

If you were to say to me, "Hey Chris, if you were stranded in a dense forest for a week and could only have 1 album on your iPod, which one would it be?"

I would hastily reply with, "Cry To Me, River by Kroda". Heavily inspired by nature, the allure of this beast takes form through finely crafted melodies and furious speed. The entirety of the album sounds like a grand battle between, trees, rapids, grizzly bears, survival kits, starvation, depression, torrential rain, Bear Grylls, insect swarms, and shamans.

Here's a true story: I grab my axe from inside my bedroom, put on my finest flannel, grab my iPod, click on playlist titled "Lumberjack shred", and walk out into my large backyard to chop firewood.

Guess what is on good ol' "Lumberjack shred"? Yup, mainly Kroda...with a mix of some other awesome shit I will probably get around to posting.

Lumberjack Shred

Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth

You may not know this about me, and this may completely baffle you rendering your once intact body into a bubbling ooze on the floor...but I do not hate Genghis Tron. What really hooks me in their music is the ability to create momentous transitions. Building segues and shifts with well executed retro electronics that slightly weave in and out of chaos and atmospherics until they finally hit you with the hammer. Listen to the song The Folding Road, it has everything. It's all about the transitions.

Transitional

HEY FUCKO'S!

Alright, so the blog is hitting some pretty huge numbers in the 'views per day' category. This is the good news, the bad news is I am a dicksmith and haven't been posting as much content as I would like. (not nearly in fact)

The gooder news is that this will indeed change, and I will be back to shoving more brutal shit down your ear canals very soon. I do however have a valid excuse as I have been doing design work for the legendary drunken punk band The Dreadnoughts!

Continue to be my friend on this blog, I make no profit off the site so if you guys aren't enjoying what's being posted and finding out about new bands to enjoy and support, then it's all for nothing.

* I'll remind again, support music any way you can, go to live shows, buy merch and CD's. This content posted is not intended as a substitute for your support, but rather for you to preview how awesome everything is so you can buy it when you gather the dough. Right? Right.

Blackbird Raum

 

Blackbird Raum formed out of the nucleus of a squatter community living in abandoned buildings and greenbelt tree-houses in Santa Cruz, CA, in the early 2000's. Finding themselves living without electricity, they began to learn to play folk instruments from each other and other members of the traveling punk/folk culture. They all grew up playing in anarcho-punk, indie and ska bands and then, knowing next to nothing about traditional music, slowly gathered together the skills to create a new genre of music, based somewhere right in the middle of punk and folk. 

 

Refusing the retro cliches of many of their contemporaries, they write entirely original music (in both senses of the word) that is reflective of the world they live in: a realm of abusive police, ecological devastation, creeping ambiguity and vague fear, but also a strong sense of community and a deep love of a natural world constantly on the verge of collapse. They jump back and forth between extremely fast metal-influenced jug band dance numbers and quasi-medieval chant-and-drone while doing herky-jerky hardcore-influenced time signature gymnastics. (taken from website)

 

Swidden

 

Under The Starling Host

Hebosagil - Ura (2011)

Yes, get this. Noisy, gritty, heavy and rocking fucking roll-esque abrasive wild boar metal.

Hebosagil

Glittertind - Landkjenning (2009)

Folk punk with a nod to viking metal certainly is an interesting combination but it is also pretty fucking rad! Glittertind of Norway create something that is almost entirely unique. Folk punk isn't exactly something that doesn't already exist, but it is the style and approach of Landkjenning that stands out from the rest.

Longships and Mead

Cellador - Enter Deception (2006)

Power metal brimming with more cheesiness than a god-damned fondue pot. Put on your robe and wizard hat and rock the fuck out because this is as good as it gets. Listening to the full album is the musical equivalent to punching a dragon in the throat. (+1 lol)

Enter Deception

Lyrics for sale. (100$ a word)

Peel off your pants, slide them into the infirmary for tonight we write the wrongs and rites. The title of 'statutory rape' has a nice ring next to my name. I am the modern day answer to Cassanova, ruler of your thighs, demander of your sighs. If your body is the ocean, I am the submarine. Close your eyes, this axe has the tendency to frighten. Evisceration by dull misconduct makes for a boring welcome home party, there we go. There you go. Semen soaked corpse acts as formaldehyde only temporarily.

Open a bottle of false comforts and tasty morsels. Release your inner sanctum, unfurl your lustrous hair my dear, the guards are coming, and they have a taste for meat. Dust off tattered sleep from those eyes, we stayed up all night, dreaming about restlessness. We went swimming with the cormorants and flying with the eels. Some place what they call 'faith' on the top shelf, next to the refrigerator covered with Polaroids of little boys at the local park. Oh joy to thee, lure him in with a genuflect. Take his pants off…shoot, shoot, shoot.

Starve a cat, save a fish. Feed a family of four and wipe out an entire nation. The power of suggestion is hard at work flickering from your bulbs in that all important screen. Your life is pointless, but the compass still points the way. March under nihilistic banners, sing among narcissistic comrades, die in the streets. A seismic toss could be fatal, but you just got out of the bathroom after paying a visit to 'shove two fingers down your throat' town. Oh how good that place makes you feel, don't you look lovely dressed in your skeleton attire. Your meaning of life is to be lifeless. This only makes sense in the meth labs.

Just to be safe, put on your water wings and go swimming with the wolves. Wolves dressed in formal attire with names matching their dapper appearance. Paysley the sweater vested wolf snarled ravenously to another in the pack, Huckleberry. Fucking hipster wolves, may they become familiar with being skull fucked. The key to the secret garden lies within the skills of tying a noose and fine cordage. Take those cub scout lessons sonny! Let me show you around...


God is dog.
Vomit on a baby.

Animals As Leaders - Animals As Leaders (2009)

Fully instrumental, lead by the guitar work of Tosin Abasi who weaves riffs like each one of his fingers has a mind of its own. It's quite good, and the melodies are strong in this one. (I wrote that with a Yoda voice.) At times it is heavier than a dump-truck carrying human pancreases and at the switch of a dime a interlude suitable for a post-apocalyptic silent film is present. Rad, I know.

Here is a download link.

The Funeral Pyre - The Nature of Betrayal (2006)

I'm a fucking fan. This will probably be hit or miss. I will let YouTube do the explaining.

The Nature of Betrayal