Drone

Vile Creature – Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm! Review

By GardensTale on June 18, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, 40 comments

“A couple of years ago, I saddled myself with the record Cast of Static and Smoke by Ontarian duo Vile Creature. It turned out to be perhaps the most memorable 3.0 I have reviewed these past 4 years. Despite its flaws, it was an ambitious record that thrived on hideous, grimy textures, hypnotic repetition and glacial progression, rather than hooks or energy. A bit over 2 years hence, and its follow-up graces my inbox, with a disturbing, Midsommar-esque cover and featuring the unwieldy title of Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!.” Helm’s deep.

Forlesen – Hierophant Violent Review

By Carcharodon on April 17, 2020 in 2020, Ambient Metal, American Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Hypnotic Dirge Records, Post-metal, Reviews, Ambient Metal, Drone, Post-Metal, 85 comments

“A hierophant – a word I was dimly aware of but confess that I had to look up – is a person who leads the religious into the presence of that which is deemed holy by the relevant congregation. It also a card in the tarot deck and at least one of its meanings is that of a teacher or counselor who aids the seeker in the acquisition of knowledge. Both of these meanings are wholly appropriate for Bay Area trio Forlesen’s debut, Hierophant Violent. I would estimate that, since beginning my tenure serfdom here at AMG, my musical consumption has increased by upwards of 80% and I was listening to a lot before I started. And yet it’s rare indeed that an album hits me like Hierophan Violent did.” Elephantine Hierophant.

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.

Catatonic Effigy – Putrid Tendency Review

By Roquentin on December 15, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Australian Metal, Avante Garde, Death Metal, Drone, Experimental Metal, Iluso Records, Noise, Post-metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Drone, Experimental Metal, Noise, Post-Metal, 25 comments

“Imagine, for a second, what could and would happen if musicians with backgrounds in free jazz, free improvisation, and modern composition became metalheads. What sort of music would they then make? Perhaps they would attempt a take on death metal, deconstructing the genre’s elements, perverting them, and piecing them back together into maddening soundscapes. A fantasy befitting of phase-shifted thinking and playing mechanisms. With their debut Putrid Tendency, Catatonic Effigy give flesh to this feverish reverie.” Choose the sound of the Destructor.

PH – Osiris Hayden Review

By Huck N Roll on November 13, 2019 in 2019, Drone, Finnish Metal, Industrial Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Reviews, Stoner Rock, Svart Records, Drone, Industrial Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock, 18 comments

“This time around, PH are aiming for something “beyond the limits of modern psychedelia,” something that pulls influence from Gary Numan and Nine Inch Nails. And one of my psychedelic favorites from the past, Julian Cope, fully endorses these guys. This all makes me at least willing to dig in.” Needs more alkaline.

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.

Juggernaut – Neuroteque Review

By Dear Hollow on October 16, 2019 in 2019, Ambient Metal, Avante Garde, Drone, Folk, Italian Metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Sludge Metal, Space Metal, Subsound Records, Drone, Folk, Sludge Metal, 14 comments

“When you hear about certain genres, do you have an image that pops into your head? It’s not always fair, but the most obvious one is black metal. You just got an image of a corpsepainted weeboo hanging out in a dark forest. Boom. I’m a fucking magician. What about sludge? Did you see a backwoods redneck with a twelve-gauge and a six-pack? Sporting beards, greasy locks, and enough flannel to challenge Saskatchewan?” Not your hick uncle’s sludge.

Void King – Barren Dominion Review

By Dear Hollow on September 14, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Reviews, Sludge, Stoner Metal, Drone, Sludge, 14 comments

“Void King is a four-piece stoner doom metal band from Indianapolis and Barren Dominion is their sophomore effort. Paying homage to doom greats like Sleep, Electric Wizard, and Goatsnake, while channeling amp- and pedal-abusing monoliths, these fucking stoners are set to drown listeners in THC-saturated waves of distortion. Do they succeed? Or will they end up only being the bulls-“high” of endless stoner doom puns?” Fuzz bombs.

Mizmor – Cairn Review

By Roquentin on September 11, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Gilead Media, Reviews, Sludge, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Sludge, 29 comments

“In Gareth Tunley’s haunting and haunted 2016 film The Ghoul, the whole of reality is bent and infected by the protagonist’s depression. He is trapped in a twisted, magically real manifestation of a Möbius strip. Here, all means of escape are soon revealed to be nothing but bottomless ladders that descend into the darkest craters of the human psyche. The beginning is the end is the beginning. There is no escape. But unlike The Ghoul’s main character who ultimately appears powerless, Portland, Oregon’s A.L.N. has the music of the project Mizmor (מזמור) on his side, both as a weapon and a vessel of catharsis.” WMDs for hope.

Hope Drone – Void Lustre Review

By Kronos on August 28, 2019 in 2019, Australian Metal, Black Metal, Moment of Collapse Records, Reviews, Black Metal, Drone, Post-Metal, 23 comments

“It was cold. We chased the sun downhill and West, out of the snowy peaks of the Sierras and across their weeping faces. It gleamed through the murmured rain on the windshield, beat the slick cliff sides and shattered on waterfalls loosed from the ice above. The only sound in the car, save the pelting rain, was Hope Drone’s Cloak of Ash. No other music could accompany the pounding, screaming beauty of the land. No other beat could choreograph the ferns below and firs above. It was art in conversation with the snowbanks and in time with the rushing streams.” Primal beauty.