Ektro Records

Aktor – Placebo Review

Aktor – Placebo Review

“Chris Black (AKA Professor Black) has been a living wellspring for great metal over the past decade, crafting great music with Dawnbringer, High Spirits and Pharaoh. Somewhat overlooked in his mighty repertoire is his Aktor project, which until recently only had one release to its credit, 2015s Paranoia. It was a rocking affair heavily influenced by 70s acts like Thin Lizzy and Blue Oyster Cult and it was a fun, breezy listening experience with plenty of hooks. Placebo is the outfit’s second release and keeps the basic formula intact while adding an ass-ton of crazy synth and keyboard work, making for a somewhat loony soundscape.” It’s time for your medicine, Mr. Black.

Sándor Vály – Young Dionysos Review

Sándor Vály – Young Dionysos Review

Young Dionysos is that rare album which I feel almost incapable of reviewing. Not because it is boring, derivative, or unlistenable, but because it proves difficult to fit it into the ‘album’ category at all. A new addition to the impressive ouvre of Hungarian-Finnish artist Sándor Vály, the album Young Dionysos is itself only a small part of a larger body of works, including video, painting, decollage, and performance art, which constitute the entirety of ‘Young Dionysos.'” Art in strange spaces.

Rivette – In Vertigo EP Review

Rivette – In Vertigo EP Review

“Physicists have long grappled with the enigma that is time travel and while jaunting to the future remains plausible, going the other way is all but an impossible dream. Pfffff, impossible to a lab coat-wearing egghead, maybe, but not to Finland’s Rivette, who have stuck two fingers up the nose of relativity with their debut EP, In Vertigo.” Up yours, Einstein!

Plain Ride – Skeleton Kites Review

Plain Ride – Skeleton Kites Review

Plain Ride,’s latest album, Skeleton Kites, is billed as “a blues album created with a mindset of a West African proto-doom band, made in Finland.” If you’re wondering what the fuck that means, that makes two of us. More importantly, who is Plain Ride? Well, they’re a 5-piece band from Finland who have been around for about a decade. They’re led by vocalist/guitarist Janne Westerlund, who is apparently a big deal as a solo artist (never heard of him). Their website describes their style as “Folk, Country, Blues, hypno-psychedelic Krautrock.” In layman’s terms, that means that Plain Ride is either pretentious as fuck, or they have a very imaginative PR person.” I’m putting money on the latter.

Circle – Incarnation Review

Circle – Incarnation Review

“I can judge a book by its cover. And I always do it. I even take the tome in my hands and I weigh it. Yes, I weigh books and decide whether or not I should go on reading the blurb on the usually polished, sensually pleasant cover. If the words convince me and the overall product smells good, I put it back on the shelves and I resume cruising through the aisles like a junkie who has learned that the best fix comes from the filthy hands of fellow addicts. They know better. In music, I follow the same criteria. I don’t get fooled too easily by a press agent all too eager to impress someone who enjoys weighing books in shopping centers on a Tuesday morning. I mean, come on.” Alex weighs both life and literature… and music. Yes, he’s like Anubis, weighing and judging all things. And now it’s Circle’s turn to be measured.