Avant-garde Metal

Potmos Hetoimos – Vox Medusae Review

By Roquentin on September 12, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Avante Garde, Experimental Metal, Hardcore, Not Music, Post-metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Sludge, Experimental Metal, Hardcore, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge Metal, 103 comments

“The typical pitfall of pseudo-experimental metal bands is their tendency towards buffoonish self-aggrandizement and the accompanying insistence on pompous philosophical themes. Often drawing inspiration from edgy, coincidentally anti-humanistic philosophies and providing a “thinking man’s take” on black metal, they immerse themselves in childish interpretations of nihilism and neoreactionary doctrines. The similarly arty and bombastically theatrical Potmos Hetoimos, the long-standing one-man progressive sludge project of Baltimorean Matt Matheson, is an antipode of such acts.” Humanistic is as humanism does.

Among The Rocks And Roots – Raga Review

By Roquentin on March 5, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Avante Garde, Doom Metal, Drone, Noise, PTP, Reviews, Doom Metal, Drone, Noise, Noise Metal, Sludge Metal, 44 comments

“Music as ‘just entertainment’ is a solipsistic and fairly recent notion. Throughout the history of humankind, various forms of music have instead been tightly woven into the communities that birthed them, shaping and steering social bonds. Even if this fact has been conveniently hidden in the deepest crevices of our collective memories, helped by capitalism’s commodification of art, music as a concept outside the ludic and academically autotelic still exists in the cultures of indigenous people like the Tuvans. Their shamans perform songs primarily to heal and such music becomes a bridge between the spiritual and the physical. Richmond duo Among The Rocks And Roots are one of those rare contemporary groups which successfully tap into that subliminal, metaphysical source and simultaneously reach somewhere beyond their own ids.” Id Rock.

Ophe – Litteras Ad Tristia Maestrum Solitude Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on February 17, 2018 in 2018, Avante Garde, Black Metal, French Metal, My Kingdom Music, Reviews, Black Metal, 0 comments

“It’s a big deal when a band lists major influences, like Ævangelist, Dodecahedron, and Blut Aus Nord, in their biography. Sometimes it’s an innocent list, meant to feed the reader with keywords. Other times, it’s misleading. In Ophe’s case, the list ain’t that far off, as the band takes their forefather’s black/avant-garde style and French’s the fuck out of it. It’s Dodecahedron’s low-end, mixed with the dark, distant blackness of Ævangelist and layers of Område and Spektr. When you look deeper into Ophe, this isn’t a surprise. Considering that this one-man band consists of Område’s own Bargnatt XIX. But this ain’t no Område.” One, man, one basement.

Troldhaugen – Idio+syncrasies [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

By GardensTale on January 2, 2018 in Australian Metal, Avante Garde, The Bird's Robe Collective, 55 comments

“Are you ready for absolute fucking madness?! Troldhaugen sneaked into view in 2014 with their sophomore album Obzkure Anekdotez for Maniakal Massez, a madcap rollercoaster that blended insane genre-hopping avant-garde with a touch of folk into a spiraling descent through a parody of an asylum.” Insanity is clarity.

The Clearing Path – Watershed Between Firmament and the Realm of Hyperborea Review

By Eldritch Elitist on December 15, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, I Voidhanger Records, Italian Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 42 comments

“When writing reviews I try to spend as much time articulating ‘why I like the thing’ as much as I do proclaiming that ‘the thing is good.’ This is strictly for the benefit of my audience; if I fail to indicate my qualifiers for good music, a reader with far-removed expectations may feel alienated or, even worse, make a blind purchase and end up wasting hard-earned Bandcamp Bucks.” Blind purchase blues.

Opium Warlords – Droner Review

By Lokasenna on November 12, 2017 in 2017, Avante Garde, Doom Metal, Drone, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, 19 comments

“With so many bands coming out of Finland, I’m starting to wonder if there’s a single sub-genre of metal unrepresented. Today’s platter is the fourth full-length from one-Finn drone project Opium Warlords. Masterminded by Albert Witchfinder (Azrael Rising, Spiritus Mortis), the album promises a vision of humanity scraping primitive survival from the husk of nuclear apocalypse, set to a soundtrack of bluesy minimalism. Or at least, that’s the ambitious byline the label tries to sell.” Some things sell themselves.

Until The Sky Dies – The Year Zero Blueprint Review

By GardensTale on November 10, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Avante Garde, Cimmerian Shade Recordings, Doom Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, 146 comments

“I admit it, I can be a sadistic reviewer. Finding a truly, deeply terrible album gives me a certain perverse glee at the prospect of creatively tearing the malformed afterbirth to ribbons. The feeling is generally strong enough to overpower the dry heaves and stomach-clenching nausea of actually listening to it. But I have found my Waterloo.” The sky is falling (and dying).

Pyrrhon – What Passes for Survival Review

By Kronos on August 8, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Avante Garde, Death Metal, Grind, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, Throatruiner Records, Willowtip, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 199 comments

“Three years: a trial for many, an eternity for some, an unnoticeable instant of geology. But enough time for Pyrrhon’s The Mother of Virtues to become a landmark work in extreme music, the most forward-thinking and brazen death metal album of the decade thus far. When I reviewed it, I mused that “A more difficult album [was] hard to come by.” What Passes for Survival is that and more.” Worth the weight.

Ashenspire – Speak Not of the Laudanum Quandary Review

By Madam X on January 30, 2017 in 2017, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Code666 Records, Doom Metal, Reviews, Scottish Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, 31 comments

“Ashenspire hail from Glasgow (Scotland) and like their British / Norwegian counterparts (A Forest of Stars / Vulture Industries), Ashenspire deliver a brand of avant-garde black metal that has you sit up and take notice. Clad in a single-breasted frock coat, Speak Not of the Laudanum Quandary tells of the harrowing odyssey of British imperialist tragedy using 7 lengthy tracks.” Big topic, big music.

Black Hole Generator – A Requiem for Terra Review

By Madam X on November 14, 2016 in 2016, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Dark Essence Records, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 7 comments

“Give this some thought for a second: you’re putting together a black metal dream team, who would it include? I wonder how many of you would arrive at noted producer and Vulture Industries’ frontman – Bjørnar E. Nilsen, and guitar aficionados Arve Isdal (Enslaved, I, Audrey Horne) and Gjermund Fredheim (Taake, Orkan).” Super groups doing stranger things.