artificialbox
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Last Active 04-02-13 8:02 am
Joined 05-17-11

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 Lists
02.04.25 just found out about music01.31.25 i'm 30 now
12.08.24 a very artificial 2024 11.24.24 breaking my opeth virginity
10.19.24 My top 60 albums of all time08.07.24 review/writing questions
06.04.24 brutal dm por favor??05.04.24 albums that shaped my youth
04.27.24 Artificialbox's Record Collection 01.20.24 Thursday Retrospective
01.14.24 A VERY ARTIFICIAL 202312.02.23 re-discovering the waterfront
01.27.13 100

just found out about music

a few albums released in January 2025 that I've been enjoying. mite start doing these monthly roundups idk
1Obverse
Obverse


genre: harp-prog or whatevs

Emily Hopkins (youtube's favourite harpist and effect pedal reviewer) has teamed up for a surprise collaborative EP with Chris Allison, most notably recognized for his work with jazz-fusion outfit Plini, and Dan Briggs, the low-end groove technician of Between the Buried and Me fame. Together, this harp, bass, and drum trio offers up a fresh and ethereal take on instrumental progressive-ambient-harp-jazz... metal? Yeah. Read my full review if you want.

https://obversemusic.bandcamp.com/album/obverse
2Vacant Home
Can You Show Me Who I Am?


genre: post-hardcore

Vacant Home are really doing a solid for everyone who still loves that ~2010 style of emotional hardcore that blew up with bands like Pianos Become The Teeth, and Defeater. Throaty yells and pretty post-rock guitars that blur into charging down-stroked power chords — the classic ingredients are here, but this is the best I've heard them assembled in a long time. There's just an urgency to Vacant Home's music that feels genuine and worth listening to.

https://vacanthomeau.bandcamp.com/album/can-you-show-me-who-i-am
3Beneath a Steel Sky
Cleave


genre: post-metal

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

The first sentence of William Gibson's 1984 cyberpunk classic, Neuromancer. Also the title of the first song on this record. Combined with the fact that the band itself is named after a 1994 cyberpunk point-and-click PC game, and the album cover features the dark and tightly packed corridor of a dense urban sprawl, it's pretty easy to pick up what the band is putting down, at least aesthetically. There is nothing overtly sci-fi about Beneath a Steel Sky's music, but Cleave does excel in conveying a sense of detachment, isolation and sorrow that is implicit in a hypertech world (perhaps one we are already familiar with). It's in this way that Beneath a Steel Sky manages to create post-metal landscapes that feels so close to the heart. I think fans of Devil Sold His Soul should check this out pronto

https://beneathasteelsky1.bandcamp.com/album/cleave.
4Athousandangelsandseven
Athousandangelsandseven


genre: grindviolence/metalcore

Athousandangelsandseven's debut EP is an absolutely maniacal and violent mash of everything-core that refuses to rest on the laurels of its influence or become complacent. This is one of the most refreshing takes on chaotic screamo that I've heard in a long time, and one of the things that really sets it apart is how well it's produced. These songs are absolutely blistering, with nailgun riffs flying at you faster than you can keep track, but every skronk and stab of the guitar comes through so clear in the mix, making sure none of the bands character is obscured. This is a band to keep an eye on, mark my words.

https://zegemabeachrecords.bandcamp.com/album/athousandangelsandseven
5John Patrick Elliott
February Songs


genre: indie-folk

UK based singer-songwriter John Patrick Elliot wrote, produced and recorded this album as a celebration of life. Whether that was the birth of his new baby boy, or the shedding of Winter's frost to Spring's evergreen, February Songs really embodies that sense of light coming into your life and filling you with warmth. This album is a slow burn at times, but it's beautiful, full of heart and atmosphere.

https://johnpatrickelliott.bandcamp.com/album/february-songs
6Great American Ghost
Tragedy of the Commons


genre: metalcore

To quote a comment I left on mkmusic1995's review for this, I consider Tragedy of the Commons to be on par with the last 156/Silence and LMTF records in the way of “tasteful derivativeness”. Clearly looking back to that ~2010 Warped Tour era of metalcore but through a matured lens, putting a few cool spins on the formula and sprouting some grey hairs in the process. If you don't already have a soft spot for melodic metalcore, this album won't win you over, but the exceptional riffs and vocal performance certainly make this release stand out in a sea of microplastic pollution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiUe8FuNSoQ
7Pale
Our Hearts In Your Heaven


genre: black metal/shoegaze

Calling Pale a blackgaze band almost seems unfair. You just can't put this band in a box, no matter how many prefixes and suffixes you add to it. I have never heard Pale before this, but this album reached in directions I absolutely did not expect. Black metal, shoegaze, hardcore, and noise elements are all combined in a creative way, but the most surprising aspect of the album has to be the NWOBHM influence. I absolutely did not see those classic heavy metal riffs or clean vocals coming on "Almost Transparent Blue". Probably not my favourite moment on the record, but it shows how far Pale are willing to go to avoid being pigeonholed, and I respect the hustle.

https://paleofband.bandcamp.com/album/our-hearts-in-your-heaven
8Stick to Your Guns
Keep Planting Flowers


genre: metalcore

I haven’t listened to STYG since The Hope Division came out in 2010, but I don’t regret my ignorance of their output since then — now is probably the best time ever to jump back in to being a fan. Keep Planting Flowers retains almost everything I remember loving about this band back in the day. They have put a distinct stamp on the way they balance the line between melodic hardcore and metal, so while they aren’t exactly pushing any boundaries for themselves, this album is about as tight and focused as you can get, and unmistakably STYG.

https://sharptonerecords.bandcamp.com/album/keep-planting-flowers
9Last Train
III


genre: rock

I am not familiar with this group's previous work at all — despite sharing stages with acts like Muse and Placebo, they have seemingly not received much fanfare outside of Europe — but these guys have clearly mastered the art of knowing the right tools for the right job. This album is full of impressive dynamic sensibilities and restraint. III is haunted by a poltergeist of anger that is very meticulous about when it allows itself to show, although it is almost always felt bubbling beneath the surface. There are some noise and post-rock elements going on, but at its core this is a tried and true rock album. Excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CltmaxjO4E4
10Sweet Pill
Unraveled


genre: emo

Sweet Pill revisits some choice cuts from their last EP and their 2022 debut LP. This EP is far from a lazy collection of "stripped down" acoustic songs to fulfill label contracts (although I'm kind of suspicious of how much Hopeless is pushing them to release content). No, Sweet Pill really sat down, fully deconstructed these songs, expanded upon and created new stretches of space in the arrangements, and then pieced them back together into something wholly revitalized. Sweet Pill used this EP as an opportunity to flex their chemistry and venture into new territory that would be really cool to see applied to new material. Bravo.

https://sw33tpill.bandcamp.com/album/unraveled
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