There must be something in the water in southern Ontario as the quality of bands emerging out of Toronto and its surrounding cities and towns is reaching fever pitch over the last couple of years. While plenty of genres, namely black metal, are healthily represented, the area’s penchant for sludgier tones and hardcore are quite … Continue reading
Caïna’s career trajectory has taken them through many different aural climes. While for the most part the band, helmed by Andrew Curtis-Brignell, has centred on black metal and maintained it as a foundation, Caïna’s branches have grown into so many different gardens at this stage that keeping up with the presumably mad mind of Curtis-Brignell … Continue reading
December already? That’s another year that’s pretty much flown by with just a couple of blinks, which means every blog and website is trotting out their end of year lists (as is tradition of course). If you have little to be doing with your time and have read this blog before you’ll notice that I’ve … Continue reading
When Australian prog metal band Ne Obliviscaris released their first demo, The Aurora Veil, in 2007, they quite simply blew this listener’s ears away with three sprawling oeuvres of ambitious and beautiful metal, built from a faint foundation of black metal but filtered through avenues of Opeth and Cynic’s Focus. What followed was near tragic … Continue reading
Perhaps more so than any other sub-genre, black metal conjures the most debate for a variety of reasons. The splintering of the genre since the early ‘90s has seen division and derision as black metal manifests itself is many different forms outside of the Nordics and finds new fertile ground in different climes from the … Continue reading
Stop for a second and think about this. It’s 2014 and we’re listening to a new Godflesh album, something unimaginable just a few short years ago. Even after their initial reunion for a run of live shows, the prospect of a new album wasn’t much of a reality for a few years. Of course, when … Continue reading
A mixed bag of quick fire reviews of records and EPs that have emerged through the waves of bands on Bandcamp and are worth your time to check out. Audrey Fall – Mitau Latvia’s Audrey Fall are a band that happily wear their influences on their sleeve in their brand of instrumental post rock. There … Continue reading
Once upon a time Opeth could do no wrong, releasing records that seemed to be universally adored by fans and critics alike, think Blackwater Park for instance. However over the last decade, the Swedish prog metal kings have seen their fanbase splinter into different sects, mostly divided by Mikael Akerfeldt’s embracing of ‘70s prog rock … Continue reading
When not making utterly essential powerviolence in Iron Lung, Jon Kortland explores even more noisier realms with noise project Pig Heart Transplant, a fine example of a musical entity challenging the listener. Pig Heart Transplant don’t make for easy listening but often Kortland’s music can be absolutely gripping, just as much as it can be … Continue reading
The worlds of harsh noise and power electronics are difficult to put your finger on, having twisted and contorted any semblance music into incomprehensible forms and shapes. Let’s not even get started on song structure. Sometimes these harsh noise acts, generally one person operations, experience a spurt of attention and coverage though, which shines attention … Continue reading
The Grind That Annoys 