Ambient Noise

Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter – Saved! Review

By Dear Hollow on November 5, 2023 in Reviews, Blues, Folk, Noise, 71 comments

“Brothers and sisters, welcome to our 9 o’clock service. I see many eager faces out there, hungry to receive the Word today. As Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, “if two or more are gathered in [h]is name, God will be with us and hear our prayer.” If this is your first time joining us, you could have been anywhere else and we’re thrilled you decided to be here. Feel free to fill out the visitor card in the seat in front of you and drop it in the offering plate – we’d sure love to hear from you and pray for you. I hope you know that God loves you and has a plan for your life. Now, I have a real treat for you today, a guest speaker: classically trained singer and songwriter, pianist, faithful servant and friend of Christ Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter.” Altar calling…

Bolt Gun – The Tower Revew

By Dear Hollow on October 9, 2023 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Experimental Metal, Noise, Post-Metal, Sludge Metal, 24 comments

“The Tower feels like ascent. You’ll feel light as air, floating upon the ether in warm sunlight, only to crash to earth in plummeting gravity. While journeys are not uncommon across metal’s many weathered and storied expanses, Australia’s Bolt Gun offers a vertical trek. Its experimental fervor, blackened climaxes, and monolithic weight, and above all, the emphasis on atmosphere, offer scenic vistas and groveling earth alike, hurtling towards the summit and the zenith. Always majestic, as if in reverence to the colossal structure always in view, The Tower feels like a chronicle: a breathing, organic, but dense legend.” Climbing creativity.

Mizmor – Wit’s End Review

By Carcharodon on January 11, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, 48 comments

“My last encounter with Portland, Oregon’s Mizmor (מזמור) was not what I expected. I knew Mizmor from the bleak, blackened doom of Yodh and the crushing fusion of black metal, doom, sludge and drone on Cairn. On Dialetheia, A.L.N.’s project with Andrew Black, all metal was abandoned, however, in favor of ambient drone to explore the concept of obsolescence, both of traditions and, indeed, our whole way of life, on an imagined tour through a museum of collected nostalgia and past times. I struggled a bit with Dialetheia, missing the massive weight and oppressiveness of Mizmor’s earlier work, and also the catharsis that came with that. Which incarnation of Mizmor are we presented with on Wit’s End?” Mizmor or Mizless?

Snares of Sixes – MoonBladder Review

By Carcharodon on October 5, 2021 in Reviews, Drone, 31 comments

“Jason William Walton. By my count, this guy has been a part, or founder, of at least 24 bands, collaborations and projects. Most notably, of course, as bassist (and sometimes songwriter) for the much-missed Agalloch. Other entries in Walton’s bio include folk-doom outfit Dolven, the bonkers electronic oompah of Especially Likely Sloth and progressive melodeath band Sculptured. Walton strides across broad musical lands, arriving at Snares of Sixes, an experimental collective ‘assembled, arranged and constructed by him.” Constructed insanity.

Ulveblod – Omnia Mors Aequat Review

By Dear Hollow on April 7, 2020 in 2020, Ambient, Black Metal, ConSouling Sounds, Drone, Dutch Metal, Industrial Metal, Noise, Reviews, Black Metal, Industrial Metal, Noise, 28 comments

“I wanted a black metal/noise hybrid. I figured it was the trvest style out there: the ultimate form of pitch-black atmosphere that could conjure abstractness and bleakness to new heights. While there have been plenty of artists that have tried, like Enbilulugugal, Gnaw Their Tongues, and Abruptum, success has been limited, so I wished upon a star for noisy black metal.” Cut off your noise to spite your face.

Amnutseba – Emanatism Review

By Dear Hollow on March 27, 2020 in Black Metal, French Metal, Iron Bonehead Productions, Melodic Death Metal, Noise, Reviews, Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 22 comments

“Amnutseba is a “lacerating ‘n labyrinthine” black metal group from Paris. After releasing a couple demos, re-released in vinyl as compilation I-VI, they reemerge to release Emanatism, a devastating tour-de-force packed to the brim with noisy ideas. What separates it from any other Deathspell Omega– and Satan-worshiper? It is, in a word, unhinged.” Midnight in Paris.

Messa – Belfry Review

By Steel Druhm on April 22, 2016 in 2016, Ambient Metal, Aural Music, Doom Metal, Italian Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, 66 comments

“Sometimes a band comes out of nowhere and takes a baseball bat to the established way of doing things. Whether that means adding banjos to black metal or incorporating 70s prog into doom/death, it can result in absolute triumph or a total grease fire. It’s those unexpected triumphs in particular that make music such a visceral and exciting medium and when a band pulls off something new and unusual, they deserve respect and admiration. Unknown Italian doomsters Messa want to be the next trend wrecker and to that end they’ve fused dark ambient weirdness and minimalist drone onto old school, traditional doom on their eye-opening debut, Belfry.” No one expected this Italian Inquisition!

Jason W. Walton – Mara Review

By Madam X on June 29, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Black Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Not Metal, Red Orchard Records, Reviews, Black Metal, Non-metal Metal Things, 3 comments

“It’s exciting when you discover that a member of one of your favorite bands has a side project. It gets weird though when you realise the project’s been around and producing for going on twenty years. Between considering the merits of becoming an Agalloch roadie/fangirl back when Steel Druhm reviewed Marrow of the Spirit and later writing up my own reviews of Agalloch’s The Serpent and the Sphere and Nothing’s Guilty of Everything, I can’t help thinking I should have come across some utterance of Agalloch bassist, Jason W. Walton’s side-project, also branded Nothing.” Prepare for nightmares made audible.