Emya

Crowhurst and Gavin Bryars – Incoherent American Narrative Review

Crowhurst and Gavin Bryars – Incoherent American Narrative Review

By Emya on February 1, 2020 in 2020, Ambient, American Metal, Experimental Metal, Noise, Prophecy Productions, Reviews, Ambient, Noise Metal, 17 comments

“Not knowing what to expect from Crowhurst and Gavin Bryars’s new album Incoherent American Narrative, I snuggled into a corner of my couch with a piping hot mug of mint tea at my side and put on my Sennheisers. Now that I have experienced the album more than a handful of times, the idea that keeps coming to mind is that of a sound collage. Sound collages, like their visual counterparts, are compositions created from “gluing” together various, oftentimes disparate, sound pieces. Incoherent American Narrative fits that description to a T.” Art and crafts.

Folian – Blue Mirror Review

Folian – Blue Mirror Review

By Emya on January 30, 2020 in 2020, American Metal, Anima Recordings, Drone, Noise, Reviews, Shoegaze, Drone, Noise, Post-Metal, Shoegaze, 12 comments

“It’s that time of year in Seattle when the rain is a comforting constant. It streams down in varying degrees of intensity, from barely-there mist to hefty droplets the size of large coins. As I was reading through Folian’s promo materials, I had a hunch the one-man band’s debut full-length Blue Mirror would be the perfect warm, dense, and fuzzy accompaniment to the drab winter weather.” Gaze into this shoe.

Suldusk – Lunar Falls [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]

Suldusk – Lunar Falls [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]

By Emya on December 4, 2019 in 2019, Atmospheric Black Metal, Australian Metal, Neo Folk, Northern Silence Productions, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed, Things You Might Have Missed 2019, Atmospheric Black Metal, 41 comments

“Spotify’s Discover features serve me well. For without my Discover Weekly playlist or the Artist and Playlist radio station features, I do not know whether I would have stumbled across Suldusk’s stunning debut album Lunar Falls in time to join the flurry of this year’s Things You Might Have Missed posts. Suldusk is the one woman neo folk blackgaze project of Emily Highfield of Melbourne, Australia.” Lunar folk.

Coronatus – The Eminence of Nature Review

Coronatus – The Eminence of Nature Review

By Emya on November 25, 2019 in 2019, German Metal, Massacre Records, Reviews, Symphonic Metal, Symphonic Metal, 18 comments

“The Eminence of Nature is Coronatus’ ninth studio album. Before claiming this album as my own for review, I performed my usual quick search on the AMG site to see which one of my coworkers was historically responsible for dishing out either love or distaste in response to Coronatus’ eight other albums. Had to be either Twelve or TheKenWord given their public and overzealous love of the cheesiest of the symphonic metals. I was pleasantly surprised to see “No results for ‘Coronatus’ Try another search?” pop up on my screen. Eight albums and not one was covered by AMG?!” Bad omens.

Constellatia – The Language of Limbs Review

Constellatia – The Language of Limbs Review

By Emya on November 13, 2019 in 2019, Black Metal, Isolation Records, Post-metal, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Metal, 15 comments

“Formed in Cape Town just over a year ago, Constellatia is the collaborative brainchild of Gideon Lamprecht and Keenan Oakes, founders of South African bands Crow Black Sky and Wildernessking, respectively. After a mere fourteen months together, Constellatia is ready to release The Language of Limbs, their debut album.” Language lessons.

Drifting in Silence – Away Review

Drifting in Silence – Away Review

By Emya on November 2, 2019 in 2019, Ambient, American Metal, Drone, Labile Records, Non-Metal Metal Things, Reviews, Ambient, Drone, 10 comments

“Metal music and ambient music share a lot in common. In the same way that non-metal listeners think, ‘Gee, what is that hellish noise?’ when they hear metal music, many consider ambient music to simply be noise reserved for elevators or dentist office waiting rooms. In other words, the genres of ambient and metal both have a history of being mistakenly classified as ‘not real music.’ Of course, the genre of metal is incredibly vast and nuanced and cannot be generalized in this way. Nor can ambient.” Kindred musical spirits.

Timelost – Don’t Remember Me for This Review

Timelost – Don’t Remember Me for This Review

By Emya on October 24, 2019 in 2019, Golden Antenna Records, Not Metal, Reviews, Shoegaze, Not Metal, Shoegaze, 8 comments

“What do you get when two metalhead friends come together and begin a file-sharing effort from a thousand miles apart to explore their collective musical lusts? You get [drumroll please]…a shoegaze album? I was taken aback when I first played Timelost’s new album Don’t Remember Me for This and was quickly reminded of the modern shoegaze and dream pop sound of Brooklyn, New York band Beach Fossils.” Shoe’s on first.

Arx Atrata – The Path Untravelled Review

Arx Atrata – The Path Untravelled Review

By Emya on October 16, 2019 in 2019, Black Metal, British Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Atmospheric Black Metal, 18 comments

“The sound of birds chirping is, for me, both calming and therapeutic. My response to birdsong is not an unpopular one. Sound experts claim that ‘people find birdsong relaxing and reassuring because over thousands of years they have learnt when the birds sing they are safe, [and] it’s when the birds stop singing that people need to worry.’ Thus, I truly felt relaxed and at peace listening to the chirping birds, soft synths, and gentle acoustic guitar in the opening moments of Arx Atrata’s new album The Path Untravelled.” When the road forks, take it.