Experimental

Locrian & Mamiffer — Bless Them That Curse You

Posted on Saturday, April 14th, 2012 at 3:58 pm.

Originally written for About Heavy Metal.

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Bless Them That Curse You is a collaboration between Chicago-based experimental noise group Locrian and Seattle’s Mamiffer (composer and pianist Faith Coloccia and Aaron Turner of Isisfame). Both groups bring a pedigree of intelligence and strangeness to their joint project, and the final result is an complex and simmering sum of these intense parts.The six songs on this album swoop and swirl through a series of elliptical patterns, transforming the sound and surprising the listener with …

Ribozyme — Presenting The Problem

Posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 at 5:11 pm.

Originally written for About Heavy Metal.

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Ribozyme, a Norweigan hard rock band who have been active since 1998, are one of those groups that do not make music that can be properly defined as heavy metal, but nonetheless appeal to a great number of metal fans. They have been compared to titans of the hard rock genre with similar crossover appeal, like Tool and Sigur Rôs. Presenting The Problem is their fifth full-length record, and follows 2009′s March of Crime.

In scientific terminology, a …

Sear Bliss — Eternal Recurrence

Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2012 at 4:04 pm.

Originally written for Angry Metal Guy.

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Sear Bliss are a black metal band from Szombathely, Hungary. They have been active since 1993, founded by vocalist (who is also the) bassist (who plays some) keyboardist Andras Nagy. Eternal Recurrence is their seventh full-length album. Sear Bliss began recording Eternal Recurrence in late July of 2011 and spent two months in the studio. Known for their complex and multi-layered instrumentation, the band have incorporated wind and brass instruments into their sound, as well as synthesizers. …

Reido — 11

Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2012 at 3:58 pm.

Originally written for Alternative Matter.

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Reido are Belarusian band who play experimental doom metal and have been active since 2002. 11 is their second album and was released on 11/11/11. Their first album, F:\all came out in 2006, and in the intervening five years their sound has evolved significantly. F:\all pays homage to the dirge, combining funereal doom with bleak atmospheric metal. 11 is at once simpler and more complex, adopting a much more technical, heavy, and occasionally hallucinatory aesthetic. The instrumentation is …

Zebulon Pike — Space is the Corpse of Time.

Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2012 at 3:54 pm.

Originally written for Angry Metal Guy.

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One of the simplest facts about Zebulon Pike is that they are a band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After that, things become much more complicated, as they engage in a genre of music that can only be described as auditory mad science. Formed in 2002, every single one of their albums has been a brain-demolishing piece of experimentation: And Blood Was Passion in 2004, The Deafening Twilight in 2006, and Instransience in 2008. With each …

Farsot — Insects

Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2012 at 3:39 pm.

Originally written for Exclaim!

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Insects is the first album that German experimental black metal band Farsot have produced in four years, the most recent being their debut, IIII, also released via Prophecy’s Lupus Lounge imprint. Farsot provide an excellent example of what’s possible for black metal with excellent production. Defining themselves as “progressive black metal,” Farsot choose not to hide behind the obfuscation of corrupted recordings and instead let the skilfulness and subtlety of their work stand for themselves. For example, each …

Dodecahedron — Dodecahedron

Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2012 at 3:29 pm.

Originally written for About Heavy Metal.

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Dodecahedron‘s self-titled debut is a complete surprise. Billed as post-black metal, and even tagged as black gaze and atmospheric black metal, it is easy to expect material that evokes Falloch or Alcest: gentle, introspective song construction paired with atmospheric soundscapes. What Dodecahedron actually sounds like is a complete, and welcome, shock.

From the first notes, the record cuts a swath of tortured, mutilated sound. Characterized by anguished vocals and an unrelenting intensity, Dodecahedron is an example of avant-garde …

Thy Catalfaque — Rengeteg

Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2012 at 3:11 pm.

Originally written for About Heavy Metal.

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Rengeteg is the fifth full-length album by Thy Catafalque. Based in Makó, Hungary, the band identify as avant-garde metal. Thy Catafalque have been around since 1999, but this is their first album with Season of Mist and the first time they’ll enjoy wider distribution and an international audience. Originally a black metal act, the group have gradually worked in more electronic sounds and atmospheric compositions, and in the process, have become weirder, frequently working …

Boris — New Album

Posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 at 12:31 am.

Originally written for About Heavy Metal.

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New Album is the third album that the experimental Japanese heavy band Boris released in 2011, plus a split/collaboration with Merzbow. They’ve always a prolific group, and are now having a particularly active year. When I saw Boris perform earlier this fall with Asobu Seksu, a lot of my concert mates seemed disappointed or frustrated; the Boris that performed were much less heavy and much more pop than they were expecting.New Album explains that tension, that lightening, …

UnexpecT/ Hallows Die/ Legions @ The New Hard Luck Bar, Toronto, ON, November 18th 2011

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 7:27 pm.

Originally written for Hellbound.

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This was my first time attending a show at the new location for the Hard Luck Bar. They’ve moved down the street and up a flight of stairs, into the room that was previously The Poor Alex Theatre. The new location is bigger than the old Hard Luck and more concert-friendly, with more room to move around. The stage is also a bit higher, though the bar is small and weirdly squashed. I’m excited to see what the space becomes …

Tags: Experimental, Live Review, Metal

Feature Interview/Review: Blut Aus Nord — 777 The Desanctification

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 7:24 pm.

Originally written for Exclaim!

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Calvados, France-based Blut Aus Nord‘s 777 The Desanctification is one of the most important avant-garde black metal albums of 2011. The album forms the second part of a proposed trilogy that began with 777 Sect(s), released in April of 2011. The third part of the series, Cosmosophy, is slated for release in the spring of 2012. Blut Aus Nord are the primary artistic outlet for black metal visionary Vindsval. 777 The Desanctification is a spiralling, sonorous record that’s as difficult to grasp as smoke …

Comrades — Comrades Collection 2010-2011

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 6:58 pm.

Originally written for Exclaim!

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Richmond, VA-based “experimental gospel” band Comrades released three independent albums before signing to Blood & Ink this year; Collection 2010-2011 is an amalgamation of their entire back catalogue to date. Rather than re-release everything, Blood & Ink pulled their favourite tracks and put them out as a single collection, in order get their listener base familiar with them while Comrades are at work on their first full-length for the label. Collection 2010-2011 features primarily instrumental tracks, with the occasional semi-harsh and semi-spoken word …

Bloody Panda — Summon:Invocation

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 6:56 pm.

Originally written for Exclaim!

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This release is a creative reinterpretation, or re-visioning, of Bloody Panda‘s acclaimed Summon, which was originally released by Profound Lore in 2009 and subsequently re-released on vinyl by 20 Buck Spin. The resulting aural cacophony is now being made available exclusively via a digital download. Bloody Panda invited an incredible assembly of doom metal and experimental artists to remix and otherwise experiment with the songs on this album. The results are startling, schizophrenic, and brilliant. Highlights include Mick Barr’s (Ocrillim, Krallice) …

Cynic — Carbon-Based Anatomy

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 6:33 pm.

Originally written for About Heavy Metal.

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After a dearth of material for so many years, fans are slavering for more material from Cynic, who once again oblige and attempt to sate this hunger with their latest EP, Carbon-Based Anatomy. The album follows 2008′s full-length Traced In Air and 2010′s Retraced EP.Cynic are currently based in Los Angeles, CA, and create experimental, progressive rock that combines elements of metal and jazz fusion. Their first album, Focus, was a landmark progressive metal release. Any time Cynic compose and release music, …

Mike Patton — The Solitude of Prime Numbers (Soundtrack)

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 6:26 pm.

Originally written for Alternative Matter.

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Mike Patton needs no introduction to most fans of heavy music. Perhaps most famous for his involvement in Mr. Bungle, Faith No More and Fantomas, Patton is also a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer, as well as the co-founder of Ipecac Records. Patton possesses one of the most versatile and recognizable voices in the metal, and is capable of classical falsetto, buttery crooning, death growls and otherworldly screams with equal skill. Most recently, Patton scored the soundtrack for the …

Blut Aus Nord — 777 The Desanctification

Posted on Monday, January 2nd, 2012 at 11:07 pm.

Originally written for Alternative Matter.

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777 The Desanctification is the second part of a trilogy of albums by experimental back metal band Blut Aus Nord. The first part of the Project, 777 Sect(S), was released in April of 2011. Blut Aus Nord, which translates to “blood from the North,” are based in the Calvados region of France. Their fourth album, The Work Which Transforms God, represented an incredibly important step forward in the evolution of avant garde black metal. They have been referred to as …