Experimental

Soothsayer Orchestra – The Last Black Flower Review

By GardensTale on February 6, 2023 in Reviews, Non-metal Metal Things, 14 comments

“I have a great admiration for the solo creator. Thanks to my attention deficiency disorder, the two tasks I struggle most with are staying motivated and staying organized. The kind of dedication it takes to perform every part of what is ordinarily a team effort seems Herculean to me. Pieter Hendriks (Black Bottle Riot, Born From Pain) has that kind of dedication, though, as The Last Black Flower is his second album as Soothsayer Orchestra, a mere 2 years after the self-titled debut. But does dedication equal quality?” One man, three projects.

Dawnwalker – House of Sand Review

By Twelve on August 22, 2022 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 40 comments

“Dawnwalker have been around since 2011, but my first exposure to them didn’t happen until a mere couple of years ago, courtesy of this very blog. I was able to review Ages, the band’s fourth full-length release and compliment it on its well-done blend of progressive, death, and folk-like metal into one monolithic beast of an album. If words like those excite you, though, you should know that Dawnwalker do not stay in the same place for long—House of Sand is nothing like that, but don’t let that get you down. For their fifth full-length, the English band explore some new sounds, revisit old ones, and build out their album in a frankly beautiful way.” Downtuned Abbey.

Estuarine – Nyarlathotep Review

By Dear Hollow on March 19, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Technical Death Metal, 18 comments

“I’m not sure why we have a general rule against EP’s, but I imagine that it has something to do with the brevity of the content. We don’t get a good representation of the artist if we’re only given a few songs to work with, while full-lengths are intended as cohesive works and can showcase the effectiveness of an artist to create them. Grind, however, throws a big ol’ middle finger at this in favor of beatdown explosions that sneer in the face of subtlety with the dumbest grin possible. A grind full-length can be anywhere between fifteen and thirty minutes, and even then, Estuarine’s ten minutes is challenging brevity.” One-man grind to kick some behind.

Wolvennest – Temple Review

By Dear Hollow on March 5, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, 26 comments

“Belgium is a weird place. Maybe it’s the chocolate or waffles, but any country that offers groups like Neptunian Maximalism, Emptiness, or Amenra & Co. needs to have its cholesterol checked. Spewing out bizarre organic atmosphere with haunting repetition, artists like these have strangely minimalist tendencies that end up feeling bigger than the individual parts suggest. While spanning a broad range of metallic subgenres, it comes across as otherworldly, surreal, and fiercely dark. To add their two cents to these Belgian shenanigans is Wolvennest.” Temple of Weird.

Melted Bodies – Enjoy Yourself [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]

By GardensTale on December 17, 2020 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, 46 comments

“In a year like this, there’s something to be said for going crazy. If you have multiple personality disorder, severe paranoia or schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations, you never have to feel alone while you’re locked in your apartment talking to the walls! Which is why Melted Bodies have the right idea.” Assorted nuts.

MRTVI – Omniscient Hallucinatory Delusion Review

By GardensTale on November 6, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, 27 comments

“For most promos, we have enough frames of reference to make sense of whatever comes on our paths and put it all into some sort of context. MRTVI, on the other hand, is the sort of promo where that frame of mine falls to pieces before my eyes and all that’s left to me is a heartfelt: what?” Delusion and confusion.

Duma – Duma Review

By Roquentin on August 30, 2020 in Reviews, Drone, Electronic, Electronic Metal, Experimental Metal, Grind, Non-metal Metal Things, 23 comments

“The self-titled debut by Kenyan duo Duma (meaning “darkness” in Kikuyu) is a most peculiar rara avis, carrying the sort of art difficult to distill into words, let alone narrow down to a single genre indicator. So while “grindcore” might be easiest to associate with the often rhythmically driven and dark work of Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and Sam Karugu, any expectations or points of reference go out the window within the first ten seconds of Duma’s opening track.” World metal.

65daysofstatic – replicr, 2019 Review

By Emya on October 7, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Experimental Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Reviews, Superball Music, Ambient, Electronic, Non-metal Metal Things, 30 comments

“65daysofstatic can do no wrong. From being invited to score the first radio adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut fangirl here!) to soundtracking the procedurally generated open world planetary exploration game No Man’s Land, the experimental four-piece band from Sheffield, England have again and again graciously cherry-picked unique opportunities that are presented to them upon which to work their magic. 65daysofstatic meticulously piece together complex and emotional structures of sound and continually push the boundaries of what’s possible for music to convey. replicr, 2019, 65daysofstatic’s eighth studio album, is no exception.” Non-static Static.

Dronte – Quelque Part Entre La Guerre Et La Lâcheté Review

By GardensTale on March 1, 2019 in 2019, Apathia Records, Avante Garde, Experimental Metal, French Metal, Reviews, Noise Rock, 114 comments

“We take the electric guitar for granted. Where would metal be without its deliciously distorted tones? Dronte asked themselves the same thing, and they interpreted it as a challenge. And while they were at it, they got rid of all electrical feeds to their instruments. Yes indeed, we are dealing with a self-proclaimed acoustic metal band. Can there even be such a thing? Are electric instruments not an absolute necessity for metal? And would anyone besides the French be insane enough to even attempt it?” The other Tenacious D.

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.