Electronica Metal

Volturian – Crimson Review

Volturian – Crimson Review

“The brainchild of Frozen Crown’s Federico Mondelli and Sleeping Romance’s Federica Lanna, Volturian prioritizes fun over all. These tunes will get stuck in your head, you will kind of hate that they get stuck in your head, and you will be powerless to stop it if you give it the smallest opening.” Activate earworm lock!

Master Boot Record – Floppy Disk Overdrive Review

Master Boot Record – Floppy Disk Overdrive Review

Master Boot Record first came to my attention a few years ago as a novelty synth-metal nerd music act that made good coding music. After a hard disk full of releases in their first couple of years, Interrupt Request was released in 2017. At that point, I suddenly realized that MBR had privilege escalated from novelty act to serious music. Nothing had changed about the style or the presentation, but after iterative improvements, the quality of the songwriting demanded that they be taken seriously.” Disc blaster.

Mitochondrial Sun – Mitochondrial Sun Review

Mitochondrial Sun – Mitochondrial Sun Review

“Solo projects are an interesting beast. While rarely as successful as their originating bands, done well they can tread new and interesting ground. Done poorly, though, they can end up a pale imitation of the bands they came from. Mitochondrial Sun is the side project of Niklas Sundin, Dark Tranquillity’s long-time guitarist. Fortunately, it falls into the former category. ,b>Mitochondrial Sun is primarily dark instrumental electronic music, largely in the vein of 65daysofstatic, but also forays into modern classical.” Dark new age.

T.O.M.B. – Thin the Veil Review

T.O.M.B. – Thin the Veil Review

“I would kill for a good atmospheric album. Just ask Kronos about that time that we discussed the atmospheric sludge/doom beauty of The Osedax around the water cooler when Gardenstale mentioned he was gonna give it, AT BEST, a 2.5. Have you seen any Gardenstale reviews lately? Didn’t think so.” Thin lines between love and hate.

Erdling – Yggdrasil Review

Erdling – Yggdrasil Review

“The promo sump is deep, dark, and at times, tricksey and false. When you see an album titled Yggdrasil with cover art adorned with the original Norse prime plant, you’d be justified in expecting a chest-thumping, shield-shattering dose of Viking metal. When the promo material bills this German band as pagan metal and you’re aware that our resident Muppet Boy had it slated for review before dropping it due to time constraints, expectations are heavily reinforced. Then you press play and get…” Ugly sticks.

Thief – Map of Lost Keys Review

Thief – Map of Lost Keys Review

Thief is the pet project of Dylan Neal, a dulcimer player (dulcimist?) for the unconventional experimental black metal band Botanist. Thief’s music takes on a different theme entirely, however, from Botanist’s quirky style of environmentally themed “green-metal.” Map of Lost Keys, Thief’s sophomore album, swaps the hammered dulcimer for a myriad of electronics to produce late night music designed for haunted ballrooms and electric churches. While no traditional black metal demon shrieks or vicious tremolo picking can be heard on Map of Lost Keys, Thief remain obstinate in their attempt to appeal to fans of heavier genres.” Mischief managing.

Brand of Sacrifice – God Hand Review

Brand of Sacrifice – God Hand Review

“If you’ve read any of my reviews, you know that my taste in music is highly suspect, so it should come as no surprise by now that a deathcore album has a decent chance to impress me. In fact, when I heard “Divinity,” the first single from God Hand, I initially thought that I might have stumbled upon a gem.” God smacked.

Ascend the Hollow – Echoes of Existence Review

Ascend the Hollow – Echoes of Existence Review

“I am ashamed. Why? Because I almost let this badass record slip through my greedy clutches. You see, my good friend (who we know as Septic ’round these parts) randomly pops in now and again to apprise me on some of his choice metallic discoveries. He introduced Irish/German/Dutch quartet Ascend the Hollow to me and I was instantly hooked. Like, so fast my head spun. I needed to share my excitement for Echoes of Existence with as many people as possible, but how? It would’ve been grand if we received promo, I thought. Then, all of a sudden I received a virtual sucker punch while rooting around the bin—the thing’s been sitting there since the end of April! How in the actual heck did I miss that??? And lo I experienced great embarrassment. I nearly neglected one of the coolest new bands to materialize out of absolute nowhere this year.” Finder of nearly lost things.

Stahlmann – Kinder der Sehnsucht Review

Stahlmann – Kinder der Sehnsucht Review

“In 2017 I reviewed the fourth album by Stalhmann with the coarse name of Bastard. It continued their adoption of the Neue Deutsche Härte sound modeled on a more electronic version of Rammstein. Album five goes by Kinder der Sehnsucht (Children of Longing) and remains on the straight and narrow path of their style already well-established.” Kinder bar.

Lions’den – Songbird Review

Lions’den – Songbird Review

“Songbird has a lot to answer for even before it begins, what with claimed influences as diverse as Animals as Leaders, Franz Lizst, and… Skrillex. Now before you take to the comments section crying for me to be CALLED TO ICE for even mentioning such a thing here, keep in mind that (1) you could produce a similarly worrying lizst group of artists to circumscribe Igorr, and (2) Madam X told me to review this so if anyone’s getting CALLED TO ICE, it should be my editors.” Angry Bird.