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September’s vote was in almost unanimous agreement, having Cult of Luna’s seventh album, A Dawn to Fear, as your go-to album for the month. October was a much different kettle of fish, however, and saw a number of albums clawing their way up to the top spot. When the dust settled though, the winner was a well-deserved one. Leprous has always been a strong and creative band, and their shifts into various sonic territories over the years hasn’t gone unnoticed (or praised) within the Sputnik community. 2019’s Pitfalls is no exception. So with that, here’s a small blurb from Toondude, explaining why it’s an obvious winner.
OCTOBER 2019 AOTM: Leprous – Pitfalls
“Drastic change can take many forms, and in this case, it takes the form of Leprous’ Pitfalls – stripping back its heavy guitars and epic instrumentation in favor of an atmospheric production with pop-like songwriting, and vocalist Einar Solberg taking center stage. Einar has almost always been a terrific vocalist (granted his harsh vocals are somewhat of an Acquired Taste *wink*), but it’s easy to call Pitfalls his best performance to date. “Below”, “Observe the Train” and “Distant Bells” are just a few examples that showcase the man’s vocal capabilities. However, it wasn’t until “Alleviate” that I began to truly realize there’s still plenty of moments for the instrumentation – particularly from bassist Simen Børven and drummer Baard Kolstad – to shine through here. In the end, Pitfalls is just another masterpiece in the band’s near-perfect discography.” – Toondude.
Frank Zappa – The Yellow Shark
Tuesday November 2nd, 1993. This day marks the release of Frank Zappa’s magnum opus – his terminal triumph. I use the word ‘terminal’ delicately here, given the context of which this very album is surrounded by, but for a man of Zappa’s stature, to have him feel like he’d accomplished something that he’d been striving towards his entire life, that should be more than enough to verify the weighty importance of The Yellow Shark: Frank Zappa’s final album. The sheer scale of Zappa’s works goes beyond even the measures of calling it intimidating. His discography alone is an intricate, sprawling, idiosyncratic maze that becomes a colossal nightmare just to work out where to start. Sitting on a massive 62 albums (over one hundred plus if you include the posthumous releases made from archived material), this is a man that explored every walk and style of music available; deconstructing these boxed and linear categories into esoteric compositions that are as perverted and humorous as they are challenging. Starting out in The Mothers of Invention, a psychedelic rock band from the 60s, he soon ventured out into the unknown reaches of sonic creativity on his own, and quickly began his mission to challenge everything popular music stood for. But for anyone who has done a little bit of research on the man, they will know that for all the good he did in the realms of rock music, his propensity…
Welcome to the final segment of Sputnikmusic’s Album of the Month – the September 2019 edition. For anyone that missed out and didn’t participate in this thing, every month I’ll be dropping a list where you vote on what you consider to be the best album from that said month. After the votes are in and we have our winner, I’ll be reaching out to the voters to see if they want to give a small blurb on why it’s the month’s best LP. September’s vote was a little late to the party, but going forward I’ll be doing these lists in the first week of every month (typically a Wednesday or Thursday), so keep your eyes peeled and your votes ready!
Getting to the topic at hand here, as voted by you, September’s vote was in almost universal agreement. Cult of Luna’s seventh album, A Dawn to Fear, has been praised and regarded as not only September’s strongest release, but a serious contender for 2019’s Album of the Year. Only time will tell… With that, I’ll pass you over to Robert Garland (Nocte), where he’ll dish out his words of wisdom on why it crushed the competition.
SEPTEMBER 2019 AOTM: Cult of Luna – A Dawn to Fear
“A Dawn To Fear isn’t an album full of comforts, relying on a core of pragmatic, yet highly transferable theology. There’s a complexity that’s both thoughtful and profound…
One Friday afternoon a few weeks ago, I was routinely digging around for new music when I stumbled across “Guilt” in the New Blood section of Spotify. Within the song’s opening seconds, I was hooked. Seeped in a thick, dismal atmosphere, this morose offering hit me in the face like 1,000 hammers. It sounded tough, menacing and, most importantly, fresh. This powerviolence trio from Manchester, UK is called Leeched and they’re out for blood. Formed in 2017, the band have already caused sizeable waves in the underground metal scene with last year’s EP, Nothing Will Grow From the Rotten Ground– an abrasive blend of grind and hardcore. 2018 is set to be an even bigger year for them as they tour with Full of Hell and prepare to unleash hell with their debut album next month. I’ve recently had the pleasure of talking to the band’s frontman and bassist, Laurie, to discuss lyrics, songwriting and what their live shows set out to create.
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Simon: Firstly, thanks for your time. I’ll break the ice by asking the obvious: how did you guys form the band and what were your goals for writing music?
Laurie: Thanks for taking an interest! Tom [drums] and I knew each other from previous bands and we knew Judd [guitar] mutually. We started Leeched as a side project which quickly took over our lives. As for aspirations, our goal was to see…
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