Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 06, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Featured Release
Hypno5e: Alba: Les Ombres ErrantesGenre: Post Metal/Progressive/Acoustic // Label: Pelagic Records
Hypno5e has always been a band that required a bit of effort to fully get into. It wasn’t just that their sprawling post metal/prog/djent sound demanded a listener’s full attention, it was also the extended song lengths and frequent spoken-word monologues. Alba brings post metal structures, progressive tendencies, and even some djent rhythms, but it also gives listeners a new hurdle to overcome… it’s entirely acoustic. Of course, Albra isn’t the first time the band have dabbled in acoustics, but they had previously been brief and buried between more abrasive walls of sound. Surprisingly, the band pull it off really well… even if they still haven’t dropped the damn monologues.
Song Title: Who Wakes Up from this Dream Does Not Bear My Name
– Full List of Releases: April 06, 2018 –
30 Seconds to Mars: America
Genre: Alternative // Label: Interscope
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The Aces: When My Heart Felt Volcanic
Genre: Indie Rock // Label: Red Bull Records
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Alice Merton: No Roots
Genre: Indie Pop // Label: Mom + Pop
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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 30, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Featured Release
Augury: Illusive Golden AgeGenre: Technical Death Metal // Label: The Artisan Era
Great technical death metal that is able to show off all the skills while still managing to be memorable, heavy, and even occasionally melodic. The bass player, in particular, deserves a mention here because he is definitely the star of the show, even if he is sometimes buried in the mix during the more chaotic moments. If there is a flaw, it is the vocals. They’re just a little too two-dimensional for me, but they get the job done.
“The Living Vault”:
– Full List of Releases: March 30, 2018 –
Alena Bernardi: Beautiful Moment
Genre: Pop/Singer/Songwriter // Label: Community Records
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Augury: Illusive Golden Age
Genre: Technical Death Metal // Label: The Artisan Era
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Barren Earth: A Complex of Cages
Genre: Progressive Death/Doom // Label: Century Media
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Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite: No Mercy In This Land
Genre: Blues/Rock //…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 23, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Featured Release
McCafferty: YarnGenre: Post Hardcore/Indie/Pop Punk // Label: Triple Crown Records
Mixing pop punk, post hardcore, and a little bit of indie rock, McCafferty are back with their latest release, Yarn. Picking up right where they left off, “Loser” is short, catchy, and features everything the band is known for; twisted, humorous lyrics and catchy, upbeat poppy post hardcore.
“Loser”:
– Full List of Releases: March 23, 2018 –
The Absence: A Gift For the Obsessed
Genre: Melodic Death Metal // Label: M-Theory Audio
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Blessthefall: Hard Feelings
Genre: Metalcore/Post Hardcore // Label: Rise Records
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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 16, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
– Full List of Releases: March 16, 2018 –
Alva Noto: Unieqav
Genre: Electronic // Label: NOTON Records
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Bill Frisell: Music Is
Genre: Jazz // Label: Sony Masterworks
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Bishop Nehru: Elevators Act I & II
Genre: Rap // Label: Nehruvia LLC
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The Crown: Cobra Speed Venom
Genre: Thrash/Melodic Death Metal // Label: Metal Blade Records
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The Dean Ween Group: Rock 2
Genre: Alternative/Pop Rock // Label: Schnitzel Records
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The Decemberists: I’ll Be Your Girl
Genre: Alternative // Label: Capitol Records
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Earthless: Black Heaven
Genre: Psychedelic/Jam Rock // Label: Nuclear Blast Records
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Eyes Of The Sun: Chapter I (Reissue)
Genre: Doom/Sludge // Label: Metal Blade Records
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The Fratellis: In Your Own Sweet Time
Genre: Alternative/Indie Pop // Label: Cooking Vinyl
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Hot Snakes: Jericho Sirens
Genre: Punk/Post Hardcore // Label: Sub Pop Records
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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 9, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Featured Release
Between the Buried And Me: Automata I Genre: Progressive Metal/Metalcore // Label: Holy Roar Records
Background:
Between The Buried And Me is a progressive metalcore band that has been wowing the easily wowed for years. If BTBAM is your thing, then prepared to be wowed once more because Automata I is definitely the best thing they’ve done since their last thing.
“Condemned To The Gallows”:
– Full List of Releases: March 9, 2018 –
Albert Hammond Jr.: Francis Trouble
Genre: Indie Pop/Indie Rock // Label: Red Bull Records
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August Greene: August Greene
Genre: Rap/Hip Hop // Label: August Greene LLC
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Between The Buried And Me: Automata I
Genre: Progressive Metal/Metalcore // Label: Sumerian Records
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Conjurer: Mire
Genre: Technical Death Metal // Label: Holy Roar Records
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David Byrne: American Utopia
Genre: Post Punk/Pop Rock // Label: Nonesuch Records
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Drowse: Cold Air
Genre: Ambient/Shoegaze/Electronic // Label: The Flenser
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Drudkh: They Often See Dreams About the Spring
Genre: Post Black Metal // Label: Season Of Mist
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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of March 2, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Featured Release
Tech N9ne: Planet Genre: Rap/Hip Hop // Label: Strange Music
Background:
Tech N9ne has been delivering his rapid-fire lyrics over a dark and twisted version of hip hop since 1999. After nearly twenty years of solid releases, Tech N9ne returns with his twentieth release, Planets. First single, “Don’t Nobody Want None”, drops the twisted darkness and delves straight into the classic 80s scene, sounding like a blend of Tech N9ne and Debbie Deb. Throughout the rest of the album you get exactly what you’d expect… Tech’s rapid-fire delivery, multi-faceted, twisted hip hop, and a slew of guest appearances. The difference is Planet is delivered with more conviction than anything he’s done since All 6’s and 7’s back in 2011.
“Don’t Nobody Want None”:
– Full List of Releases: March 2, 2018 –
Andrew W.K.: You’re Not Alone
Genre: Rock/Metal // Label: Sony Music
Check out our Contributor Review of You’re Not Alone.
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Anna Von Hausswolff: Dead Magic
Genre: Experimental/Dream Pop // Label: City Slang
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 23, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Featured Release
Cabal: Mark of Rot Genre: Blackened Death Metal/Djent // Label: Long Branch Records
Background:
Cabal is an upcoming band from Copenhagen, Denmark. Their sound is like a marriage between Meshuggah and Ulcerate with black metal synths. Mark of Rot succeeds because it manages to blend the varying influences into one seamless sound that mixes rhythmic riffs that are huge in sound with an oppressive atmosphere that transitions between black metal and industrial influences. The vocals, too, run the scope from guttural death metal to black metal shrieks.
“Blackened Soil”:
– Full List of Releases: February 23, 2018 –
All The Luck In The World: A Blind Arcade
Genre: Folk // Label: Self-Released
Check out our Staff Review courtesy of SowingSeason.
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Avslut: Deceptis
Genre: Black Metal // Label: Osmose Productions
Stream Deceptis here.
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Cabal: Mark of Rot
Genre: Blackened Death Metal/Djent // Label: Long Branch Records
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 16, 2018. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Featured Release
Senses Fail: If There Is Light, It Will Find You
Genre: Post Hardcore // Label: Pure Noise Records
Background:
Senses Fail started out as an equal blend of pop punk and post hardcore, but with each subsequent album they slowly dropped the pop elements and increased the hardcore. Despite this slow build up, the sound of their fifth album, Renacer, was still a shock for fans. Suddenly, any hint of pop punk or even the friendlier side of post hardcore was missing — Renacer and it’s follow-up Pull The Thorns From Your Heart, were pretty much metallic hardcore with barely any clean singing or catchy choruses to speak of. As much as Renacer was a sudden swing in style, If There Is Light… is just as drastic, but in the opposite direction. Sounding like the golden era of Let It Enfold You and Still Searching, If There is Light… is the return of what most fans probably loved most about Senses Fail — huge hooks, pop punk vocals coupled with hardcore shouts, and enough emotional baggage for any three other people.
I have a special connection with Vince Staples’ music because my partner lives in Long Beach. The first time my partner drove me around Long Beach, I saw the city through the lens of the rappers that call it home and speak about the city through their music — mostly Snoop Dogg and Vince Staples. My girlfriend would remark, “That’s the Roscoe’s Snoop eats at.” “Hmm, I wonder where Vince ‘Real Artesian’ Staples eats. Maybe that vegan Thai place I really like.” As I spent more and more time in Long Beach, I started to actively seek out Vince Staples. When I’m at The Pike I’m peeking; whenever I drive near Ramona Park, I’m scouting for him. It started to become absurd. I can recall a back to school event at Cal State University Long Beach that was actually quite popping, but definitely not somewhere Staples would be. “Maybe he’ll make an appearance. They managed to get Drake a couple years ago. Man, when I went to CSUN we had fucking LMFAO.” Long Beach is as eclectic and grimy as the music of Big Fish Theory. You can walk ten minutes in one direction and hit the ocean, or walk ten minutes in the opposite direction and stumble into a crack house, much like how he can start the record with a jovial track like “Big Fish”…
Seven albums deep, Propagandhi know how to riff. They also know how to write evocative political lyrics. Combine these two qualities and it becomes difficult to craft a subpar record. Seven great albums in a row, Propagandhi have perfected their blast-to-the-face thrash-influenced punk. While peers like Anti-Flag fell flat on their faces after the Bush years, Propagandhi have consistently found fresh ways to keep their politically-charged lyrics relevant — mostly because they strike the listener as a band who actually know what they’re talking about — as opposed to some of their peers who clearly never got past Political Science 101. Victory Lap isn’t their best record, but “Cop Out of Frame” puts a tear in my eye, and “Failed Imagineer” gets me banging my head, which should be enough to crack any best of the year list. –Robert Lowe
Slowdive are a band that makes it all too easy to wax poetic. Their lush and vibrant music is the soundtrack to everything: depression, elation, love — moments of emotional encumbrance which call for the band’s malleable sounds and textures. Slowdive’s triumphant self-titled is, like every album before it, an arresting record full of surprising substance; a mountain built seemingly from nothing. “Slomo”, the opener, features a handful…
2017 was a solid year for epic doom metal, with some of the best releases of the last few years arriving in the form of Below’s Upon a Pale Horse, Doomocracy’s Visions & Creatures of Imagination, and Arduini/Balich’s Dawn of Ages. However, if I had to choose just one album that I will be listening to 10 years from now, it would be The Crowning of the Fire King. After disbanding in 1992, Sorcerer acquired a cult status, which their 2015 LP In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross further augmented. Drawing influences from acts such as Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, and Martin-era Sabbath, the The Crowning of the Fire King is a continuation of the band’s debut with a slightly more modern production. Those who enjoy traditional ’80s metal will love the Swedish outfit’s sophomore effort, as the combination of epic songwriting and convincing atmosphere is enhanced by an array of amazing guitar leads, solos, and one of the best vocalists in metal today. All in all, Sorcerer might have only two albums under their belt, but in my book, they are one of the best epic doom metal acts of all time. –manosg
**Click the Arrow on the top left of the player for songs from 40 – 31**
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40. In the Nursery – 1961
Post Rock/Classical/Ambient // ITN Corporation
In The Nursery have been around since the early 80s and have gone through a number of style changes without ever losing sight of their original formula. That formula is basically percussion-laden classically-influenced music. 1961 is significant because it marks yet another stylistic adjustment, and it might just be their biggest yet. This time In The Nursery have added rock elements to their classical sound, and it basically makes the album sound like a very symphonic post rock album with occasional vocals. In the Nursery have never really released a bad album, and this one isn’t bad either. Every change they’ve ever made has been great and the rock influence on 1961 is no different. The song on the video doesn’t really do the album justice, but it was literally the only video I could find for the album.
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39. Cyanotic – Tech Noir
Industrial // Glitch Mode Recordings
I’m a big fan of Cyanotic’s brand of industrial metal. A lot of industrial bands that feature guitar riffs tend to get real lazy with the programming and electronics, but Cyanotic never have. I guess that’s why they can pull off an album like Tech Noir.Tech Noir drops almost all…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 10, 2017. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
— Album of the Week —
Toothgrinder: Phantom Amour
Genre: Modern Prog // Label: Spinefarm
Background:
This is going to shock longtime fans. Toothgrinder started out as one of those modern prog bands specializing in chaos, noise, and aggression with occasional moments of clean singing and melody. On Phantom Amour the chaos and noise has been replaced by lush atmosphere, and most the aggression has been replaced by the clean singing and melody. The most similar sonic shift that comes to mind is the change between Gabriel and Transhuman — in fact, this and Transhuman have a lot in common. Throughout its runtime, Phantom Amour delivers a moody, melodic blend of modern prog, alternative rock, and even a little psychedelia. Check out Phantom Amour‘s title track below.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of October 27, 2017. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews of these albums, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more.
Ne Obliviscaris: Urn
Genre: Progressive/Black Metal/Death Metal // Label: Season of Mist
Background:
I’m not going to lie, I’m probably not the person to actually be writing on this. I liked the first two tracks from their debut and barely even bothered with their sophomore release because I kind of felt that it was a step backwards and didn’t really build on any of the debut’s potential. But Urn… this finally builds on the debut’s potential. Yes, the vocals are still kind of nasally and off-key, but when it comes to the music and songwriting, they’re finally getting it. The songs are more memorable and their blend of black, death, and prog is finally gelling into a cohesive unit. Also, the songs themselves don’t seem to meander all over the place like they used to on previous albums. Definitely something fans should check out, but Urn is even something people that blew off their previous two releases might actually enjoy.
Book Of Opeth presents a brief synopsis of the band’s earliest history all the way to present day. While interesting and beautifully crafted, Book Of Opeth rarely gets too in-depth, and leaves some lingering questions in the process.
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Has Opeth really been around for over twenty-five years? It really doesn’t feel like it has been that long. I still remember being a little kid and hearing “Demon of the Fall” on the radio for the first time, and immediately skate boarding down to Lou’s Records to buy the CD. It obviously wasn’t the first time I had ever heard death metal and clean singing on the same song (Fear Factory had been doing it for awhile by 1998), but it was executed so much better and the musicianship was leaps-and-bounds more advanced. Also, acoustic guitars were such a novel idea (at the time) for music so intense. With the radio playing “Demon Of the Fall” fairly regularly, there was a lot of hype around my hometown of San Diego, California — but apparently we were the exception. One of the things I learned while reading this book was the band was totally broke during this era and scrounging money together to pay for canned meat and cigarettes. While kind of a cool little fact, it is unfortunately about as juicy as Book of Opeth gets. That doesn’t mean it’s not…
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Genre: Post Metal/Progressive/Acoustic // Label: Pelagic Records![51rPbbxXzsL._SS500[1]](http://www.sputnikmusic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/51rPbbxXzsL._SS5001-e1522689553819.jpg)
30 Seconds to Mars: America![61HeX8P0EXL._SS500[1]](http://www.sputnikmusic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/61HeX8P0EXL._SS5001-e1522689647236.jpg)
The Aces: When My Heart Felt Volcanic![51beNnBx04L._SS500[1]](http://www.sputnikmusic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/51beNnBx04L._SS5001-e1522689752184.jpg)
Alice Merton: No Roots
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