Alex Franquelli

Unkind – Pelon Juuret Review

By Alex Franquelli on July 7, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, Finnish Metal, Hardcore, Relapse, Reviews, Sludge, Hardcore, Sludge, 2 comments

“It’s good. No, really, it’s very good. There is everything you are entitled to expect from a hardcore album. And possibly something more. Unkind’s Pelon Juuret is, according to their label, “as if Mogwai made a record of Tragedy covers or From Ashes Rise were influenced by Explosions In The Sky”. Too far from the truth? Not at all. If its predecessor, Harhakuvat, was a discordant symphony reminiscent of early Neurosis and Wolfbrigade, Unkind’s latest effort is proudly not too far from that somehow controversial album. Crust, kängapunk (ok: Swedish hardcore) and sludge all contribute to making Pelon Juuret (literally: ‘the roots of fear’) yet another small gem of beautifully crafted northern violence.” Alex discusses hardcore, jasmine tea and Finnish squats. Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on either.

Locrian – Return to Annihilation Review

By Alex Franquelli on June 21, 2013 in 2013, 4.5, American Metal, Groove Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Relapse, Reviews, 3 comments

“Have you ever wondered what happens to the music nobody listens to? It implodes. It does not even make any noise. It simply withers unnoticed, forgotten, unwanted. Then there is the music that stays: that particular strain of artistic endeavor that appeals to the masses and (sometimes) the niches and that we are taught not to live without. Locrian are the natural evolution (some may say ‘consequence’) of the Chicago scene of the late 90s where acts like Tortoise, Isotope 217, and Gastr Del Sol flourished and kept the territory safe from the dying throes of grunge.” Alex thinks this album shouldn’t be left to implode into a black hole of apathy. In fact, he seems quite taken with this experimental fusion of drone, blackness and the kitchen sink.

Author & Punisher – Women & Children Review

By Alex Franquelli on June 15, 2013 in 2013, 4.5, American Metal, Doom Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Not Metal, Reviews, Seventh Rule, Uncategorized, Doom Metal, 3 comments

“There’s a moment in time, at a certain point and it doesn’t even matter where, when one starts to wonder: how big is this machine? Does it have thoughts of its own? Where does the medium start and the human mind end? But does it matter, after all? Author & Punisher is a true son of post-industrial America: one of those people who may end up living their entire lives without having to turn the handles of a proper mechanical apparatus, smell the iron, wonder why its aroma is so similar to that of human blood and confuse form with substance. Machines – greasy joints dripping oil as if sweat – belong to zoos together with those strange animals (cows, goats, donkeys, etc.) young kids rarely see.” I for one would love to visit a mechanical zoo! Anywho, Alex provides us with more of his thoughtful musings on life, machinery and metal as he examines the new Author & Punisher opus.

Svartsyn – Black Testament Review

By Alex Franquelli on May 23, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Agonia Records, Black Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Uncategorized, Black Metal, 0 comments

“Black metal. No, wait, not that one; but the other, unpolished predecessor of whatever came next. And when I say ‘next’ I mean that black metal. With its intriguing plots, assassinations, Satanists that become pagans, that go to prison and discover the absolute, compelling modernity of nationalism. Usually right before they realize that, you know what, milking Norwegian cows can indeed be a form of protest against Christianity and Judaism if one looks at it from the right perspective.” Join Alex as he speedily runs us through 27 years in black metal!

Tormented – Death Awaits Review

By Alex Franquelli on May 3, 2013 in 2.0, 2013, Death Metal, Listenable Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, 1 comment

“Talk about stereotypes. Let me provide you with the keywords: Swedish, death, metal, riffs. You get the picture: forty minutes of carefully packed distortions and growls to dance the night away, while remembering the good old days. Days when the underground was a truly transnational parallel world (trust me: I’ve seen it) connecting the various scenes at a sub-level: one carefully avoided by the majors, the media and almost all of your friends (the cool ones, at least).” Join Alex as he reminisces about the good old days, where death metal was … well… underground and uncool.

The Body – Master, We Perish EP Review

By Alex Franquelli on April 29, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, At a Loss, Avante Garde, Doom Metal, Reviews, Sludge, Doom Metal, Sludge, 1 comment

“As the Assembly Of Light Choir started murmuring its way into the first track on The Body’s magnificent preceding record, all promises of annihilation by the hands of a bearded duo of Rhode Islanders immediately faded into a celestial oblivion. But that was it. No more melodies for the rest of the album: just hints and subtle allusions as to what could vaguely resemble a remote assonance or a discernible musicality.” Join Alex as he takes you on an agonizing journey unlike any you’ve been on before!

Colossus – Wake Review

By Alex Franquelli on April 21, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, Perennity Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, 4 comments

I’ve spent the last few minutes trying to stick a label on Wake. Not that it matters anyway and, to be honest, watching MTV on mute while listening to “Ruinbuilder” with my headphones on is a valid alternative to tiring out my brain. Ms Germanotta is out of sync in this peculiar, extemporary world of mine as she moves about trying to keep up with the pace imposed by the nervous beat of a Swedish drummer. This unrepeatable choreography slowly fades into the background as Niklas Eriksson’s vocals, sometimes reminiscent of Savatage’s Zachary Stevens and Jon Oliva’s melancholic elegance, boldly sets the record straight with the opener “A Stir from Slumber”.

CROWN – Psychurgy Review

By Alex Franquelli on April 12, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Candlelight, Doom Metal, French Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, 1 comment

“Slow it a bit, tune it down, strip it of all its accents, hide the emphasis behind a wall of sonic venom and just let it go for an hour: Psychurgy will reveal its disturbing beauty in more than just one way. CROWN is a French duo and they don’t reinvent the wheel and likely never actually dared to think they could. If you’ve had the pleasure to get hold of their recent debut EP – The One, then you know these guys are serious when it comes to carefully handling their frequencies. Psychurgy is surely a step forward in terms of sound and composition: the repetitions are still there, the slowly violent love affair with drone continues to monopolise the dynamics and the sludgy aesthetics of a doom wandering away from metal is still a persisting presence.” Alex is on the job discussing French drone duo CROWN and their stubborn refusal to reinvent the musical wheel.

Wormed – Exodromos Review

By Alex Franquelli on March 21, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, Death Metal, Hammerheart Records, Reviews, Willowtip, Technical Death Metal, 3 comments

“It is brutal, rather technical and it has its roots in death metal. But is Exodromos a pure brutal technical death metal album? A lazy, complacent answer would be: yes. A more elaborate response – and one you would expect to read on these respected pages – is: not quite.” Alex Franquelli reviews the new Wormed record, in all its brutal, technical glory and asks “What next?”

Philip H. Anselmo/Warbeast – War of the Gargantuas EP Review

By Alex Franquelli on March 4, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, American Metal, Housecore records, Reviews, Season of Mist, Sludge, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, 14 comments

“I know nothing about music. No, seriously: I have no clue what this stuff is all about. I know this Anselmo guy was in a metallic band: one of those which must have done something cool back in the 1990s (no, not in the noughties, as far as someone has told me) because nowadays he is allowed to make music in many bands and he even produces many others. This album is only 18 minutes long and this is great because it’s filled with noises of all sorts, but it works because I really like it and it gives me the kind of adrenaline boosts I need when I feel exhausted. This is basically an album where Mr Anselmo and a band he put together for the occasion (Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals) play the first and the third song, while another musical group called Warbeast play the even numbers.”