RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.brakeloose.com/ What a fabulous outfit this is! Irish/Venezuelan rockers Brake Loose have made quite a name for themselves this past year or so thanks to some stellar live performances, and there is something quite refreshing and invigorating about this inspired five-track EP of theirs appropriately titled Frenetic. Taking their cues from 80s…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://mistra.bandcamp.com/album/waltz-of-death-2 The talented duo consisting of Benedicte Adrian and Anders Odden is an inspired and musically eclectic one that merges something akin to grand-sounding gothic soundscapes with subtle black metal influences and also something along the lines of dark symphonic rock (and even hints of electro pop), and the great thing…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://vestindien.bandcamp.com/album/verdande In all honesty, I did not think it possible for the uniquely gifted masterminds behind Vestindien to top or better their flawless debut offering entitled NULL, but by some perverted and wonderful miracle these six twisted souls have conjured up a new work of radiant brilliance that transcends barriers and…
VENUE: Det Akademiske KvarterDATE: 09.03.2024 ORGANIZER: Propulsion MusicPHOTOGRAPHER: C. NepperPhotos copyrights belong to the photographer. No unauthorized usage allowed. Please contact photographer if you wish to reuse images in any context. A concert like no other? You bet! The musically rewarding yet deviant purveyors of dramatic and carnivalesque avantgarde metal (or dark and dynamic…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://maddermortem.bandcamp.com/album/old-eyes-new-heart Is there even any point in trying to categorize or label the unique sound conjured up by one of Norway’s most enticing musical outfits, namely Madder Mortem? Thirty years into their career and they still manage to amaze and excite me – how awesome is that?! Incorporating traits from doom…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.hexvessel.com/ Hexvessel is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating and musically adventurous entities that I have had the great pleasure of listening to since the debut offering entitled Dawnbringer from 2011. There is an enigmatic aura to every single output of theirs, and with the gifted Mathew “Kvohst” McNerney in charge…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://winter5.bandcamp.com/album/fire-rider I was quite taken with Winter’s atmospheric and moving Looking Back compilation CD, which was released earlier this year and consisted of reworked and re-recorded tunes, but this latest output, Fire Rider is a frustratingly mixed bag in terms of cohesiveness and quality. It incorporates ideas and influences from hard…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/ardoursband/ Anatomy of a Moment by the Italian outfit Ardours, which includes Mariangela Demurtas (Tristania) on vocals, is a weirdly anticlimactic experience. With its gothic rock overtones and prominent nods to alternative rock and experimental metal, there is a modern flair to this pristine-sounding output, and a number of good ideas…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/hemesathband/ The German act named Hemesath is something quite different and hard to pigeonhole in terms of style and genre. Using such diffuse terms as alternative rock and alternative metal often blows ass simply because they tell you very little about the actual music, but in this case, I have no…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://winter5.bandcamp.com/album/looking-back Looking Back by Winter is not merely a retrospective anthology or a compilation but rather a collection of re-recorded and reworked tunes from the outfit’s back catalogue. Musically speaking, this is an eclectic and interesting mixture of many different things, and dark rock seems like an apt description here. Hard…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/SilverDustOnline The latest opus by Swiss act Silver Dust, namely the goth-tinged “Lullabies”, was a rather pleasant surprise to these ears in that it incorporates traits and elements from theatrical rock and dark electro rock to good effect. This is the outfit’s fourth full-length album and undoubtedly the most accomplished one…
