Post-Rock

Kontinuum – Kyrr Review

By Madam X on April 22, 2015 in 2015, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Candlelight Records, Doom Metal, Icelandic Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Not Metal, Post-metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Ambient Metal, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Non-metal Metal Things, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, 37 comments

“The Kontinuum… continues! Not to be confused with the tech death band Continuum reviewed here by Dr. A.N. Grier earlier in the week, Kontinuum are an Icelandic band that plays a multifarious blend of dreamwave and post-rock/metal with some inviting and interesting gothic undertones.” Is Iceland becoming the next Finland?

A Swarm of the Sun – The Rifts Review

By Steel Druhm on February 1, 2015 in 2015, Doom Metal, Post-metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Version Studio Records, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, 24 comments

“As my home gets buried under layers of ice and snow, an album arrives to bring that same bleak midwinter experience to everyone, no matter how sunny and tropical their geo-positioning. A Swarm of the Sun is a deeply depressive post-metal, atmospheric doom duo from Sweden, and their sophomore album The Rifts brings you all the isolation, cold and melancholy of being trapped in a cabin surrounded by nothing but whiteness, death and frozen silence.” Tired of feeling positive and happy? This will fix that, maybe permanently.

Callisto – Secret Youth Review

By Mark Z. on February 1, 2015 in 2015, Finnish Metal, Post-metal, Post-Rock, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Svart Records, Post-Metal, Progressive Rock, 5 comments

“Post-metal had something of a heyday in the last decade, with seemingly everyone on the Internet gushing over Isis’ Panopticon, Neurosis’ Given to the Rising, and whatever Cult of Luna and Pelican were up to. While there’s still quality post-metal coming out today (The Ocean’s Pelagial in 2013, Beak’s debut last year), I think it’s safe to say the genre is no longer as in vogue as it once was.” And if you don’t have vogue, what do you have?

Caïna – Setter of Unseen Snares Review

By Madam X on January 23, 2015 in 2015, Black Metal, Church of Fuck, English Metal, Post-metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Skin & Bones Records, Black Metal, Post-Metal, 27 comments

“Caïna certainly aren’t your typical black metal band, they’re not Norwegian, Swedish, American or French as you would expect. In fact, Caïna is the labor of heartache by Englishman Andrew Curtis-Brignell and his band’s discography is all over the map.” Constantly changing and mutating, this act is very hard to pin down. But Madam X has many pins and a will to win.

Wayfarer – Children Of The Iron Age Review

By El Cuervo on November 21, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Black Metal, Post-Rock, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Black Metal, 7 comments

“As the season to be jolly fast approaches, Colorado’s Wayfarer is here to bequeath unto us morose darkness-dwellers a jovial record of festive classics… or so you may think from the Christmas wreath on the album artwork. To the dismay of my planned seasonal merriment, what I actually found is a stellar record of post-black metal with deathy undertones – think Agalloch but with Primordial added for the extremity. Wayfarer is a young group with big plans, and Children Of The Iron Age is their first full-length foray into the sphere-obsessed world of extreme metal.” I think our obsession with spheres on metal albums has finally come to a middle.

Giant Squid – Minoans Review

By Saunders on October 31, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Doom Metal, Post-Rock, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Translation Loss, Doom Metal, Progressive Metal, 22 comments

“Firstly, before I delve into the guts of this review, here’s a bit of context regarding the elaborate conceptual narrative San Francisco’s Giant Squid have once again crafted with their latest weird and wonderful musical trip, entitled Minoans. The Minoan civilization emerged on the island of Crete and thrived from roughly 2700 to 1450 BC. I’m not here to give you a fucking history lesson, but for those seeking to get the full engagement of another carefully constructed and highly ambitious Giant Squid concept album, there’s an interesting backstory behind this mysterious civilization well worth investigating.” I feel like we just got a fucking history lesson.

Mono – The Last Dawn / Rays of Darkness Review

By Kronos on October 20, 2014 in 2014, Japanese Metal, Not Metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Shoegaze, Shoegaze, 12 comments

“Intensity and drama unify my musical palette. As unalike as Count Bassie and Ulcerate are, they’re both able to serve up a shitton of excitement, albeit in quite different ways. But the differences between dramatic genres are still immense, which makes a Mono record quite the refresher in between this year’s big tech-death releases.” Here’s something a little bit different.

Falloch – This Island, Our Funeral Review

By Steel Druhm on September 18, 2014 in 2014, Candlelight Records, Folk Metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Scottish Metal, Folk Metal, 7 comments

“With Scotland potentially poised to proclaim independence from English rule in a very un-William Wallace fashion (ballots instead of broadswords), it seems only fair to highlight some Scottish music for a fookin change, eh? Today’s subject is Falloch, a folksy, relentlessly bleak post rock outfit that takes elements of traditional Scottish music and blends them with healthy doses of melodic, vaguely blackened metal. I suppose their sound could be described as Eluvilite mixed with Primordial and Agalloch, with some Enya thrown in for haggis and giggles.” Remember, they may take your dignity, and they may take your lunch money, but they’ll never take…your AMG!

Kronos Comments: On Sampling Bias and the Seedy Underbelly of the Australian Metal Scene

By Kronos on September 14, 2014 in Australian Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Djent, Groove Metal, Metalcore, Post-Rock, Unsigned Bands, Death Metal, Deathcore, Djent, Metalcore, Post-Metal, Technical Death Metal, 25 comments

“Just about every day, Angry Metal Guy pushes out a review of an upcoming or recently released album, producing press for the album whether we love it or hate it. It exposes readers to a lot of material, but disadvantages artists who aren’t putting out music at any given time. Given a small temporal window, this creates a very biased sample of the music scene. I love reviewing albums, but a lot of great and criminally overlooked bands are in between releases right now, and it kills me to see their hard work go unseen. So in order to rectify their invisibility, they’re being talked about here, where my shitty opinions have the outsized soapbox needed to fling themselves out onto the populace like fetid water from a fire sprinkler.”

Sorxe – Surrounded By Shadows Review

By Grymm on September 9, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Sludge, Post-Metal, Sludge, 0 comments

“The very idea of being a musical conduit is intriguing. A lot can be said about people who, instead of hopping on fading bandwagons or changing themselves to create some kind of spark that may or may not keep them relevant, decide to follow their dormant spirits and let them guide their fingers, feet, and voices to craft something that is truly their own. Forget about trends, man; it’s about the feeling of those spirits. That feeling is fucking celestial.” People who deny the existence of spirits may be spirits themselves.