Jazz

Black Sheep Wall – Songs for the Enamel Queen [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Dear Hollow on December 17, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Doom Metal, Mathcore, Post-Hardcore, Post-Metal, Shoegaze, Sludge Metal, 21 comments

“I remember when Black Sheep Wall “qualified” for an Encyclopedia Metallum profile with sophomore effort No Matter Where It Ends. Kind of pedantic and nitpicky, but then again, their blend of sludge metal, post-metal, doom, and post-hardcore is bound to be divisive. The California quintet offers their fourth full-length Songs for the Enamel Queen, an expertly written and superbly executed mass of concrete-thick sludge metal injected with tumorous melodies and shifty rhythms.” Of Sheep and sludge.

So Hideous – None But a Pure Heart Can Sing Review

By Dear Hollow on December 8, 2021 in Reviews, Mathcore, Post-Metal, 96 comments

“You can imagine why New York City’s So Hideous changed its name. Its former moniker, So Hideous, My Love, reflects the sort of melodrama pervades its first offering To Clasp a Fallen Wish with Broken Fingers. It ended up being post-rock/screamo Envy worship – if Envy were more emo. Thereafter, the masterminds behind the project, the Cruz brothers, dropped the second half of the name and amped up the ugly.” Ugly, pretty, hideous.

Gold Spire – Gold Spire Review

By Carcharodon on November 9, 2021 in Reviews, Post-Metal, 33 comments

“Coming off the back of a run of awarding three 4.0s in a row, a run that will likely see me fired—or at least badly mauled—by a certain helmet-wearing Ape, can the last-minute pickup of a post-death doom album, sporting Kenny G saxophone antics, save my fledgling career as a music journalist? Swedish quintet Gold Spire comprises former members of the now-defunct prog-death outfit Usurpress, as well as past and present members of Sarcasm, Obskyr and, crucially, Third Storm, the very first band I reviewed for this here site, meaning there would be a certain pleasing irony if Gold Spire‘s debut prevents my firing.” Blood, treasure, and sax.

Zaäar – Magická Džungl’a Review

By Dear Hollow on November 8, 2021 in Reviews, Drone, 39 comments

“It’s no secret that I love Neptunian Maximalism. Since the Belgian collective’s 2020 debut, magnum opus Éons, I’ve been craving more. For better or worse, its disciples and side projects have since attempted to fill that whack-ass void. With the likes of Sol Kia, Ôros Kaù, Wolvennest, and even NNMM themselves making metal-adjacent free jazz, however, I’ve met nothing but vague disappointment. As such, the NNMM offshoot Zaäar fell across my lap.” Zaäar she blows!

Wreche – All my dreams came true Review

By Dear Hollow on May 16, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 43 comments

“Wreche is the black metal brainchild of Oakland, California artist John Steven Morgan, working solo since the project’s debut with drummer Barret Baumgart. It professes a style “more unhinged, personal, and varied” than 2017’s offering. Trashing guitar completely, Morgan instead focuses entirely on synth, piano, vocals, and drums, not unlike Mories’ Golden Ashes project. If you’re catching weird vibes, you ain’t wrong.” Jazz in a blackened place.

Neptunian Maximalism – Solar Drone Ceremony Review

By Dear Hollow on April 22, 2021 in Reviews, Ambient, Doom Metal, Punk, 17 comments

“Neptunian Maximalism took the metal world by storm last year. Éons was an absolute monument of an album, fusing drone, jazz, and psychedelia into one of the most evocative listens in recent memory. It spoke to something primal, something ancient that lived at the bottom of a listener’s subconscious, and snuck its way into my year-end list at number 2. Conjuring the likes of Sunn O))), Sun Ra, Swans, and Miles Davis, it was a concept album regarding the fate of Earth and its inhabitants, resulting in mass extinction and planetary destruction. Only nine months later, we’re treated with a new offering; can Solar Drone Ceremony continue where its predecessor left off?” Maximal effort.

Five the Hierophant – Through Aureate Void Review

By Carcharodon on February 24, 2021 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Drone, Post-Metal, 51 comments

“The last time I encountered a hierophant, I 4.5ed it and slotted into the highly respectable – to me, at least – second spot on my 2020 List. While I dared not hope that London’s Five the Hierophant could reach such heights, a small part of me hoped that this band, which has been plying its trade since 2014 and bills itself as a psychedelic fusion of black metal, jazz, post metal and ambient drone, might just share some DNA with my beloved Hierophant Violent.” Holding out for a Hierophant.

Neptunian Maximalism – Éons [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]

By Dear Hollow on December 26, 2020 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Folk, 38 comments

“Consisting of core members Guillaume Cazalet, Jean Jacques Duerinckx, Sebastien Schmidt, and Pierre Arese, alongside a massive entourage of musicians, Neptunian Maximalism (or NNMM) utilize a range of influences, genres, and instruments both traditional and contemporary, to create their second full-length and crowning achievement Éons. While it’s unclear if it is indeed metal, that matters little. It’s an immensely sprawling release, a two-hour-plus release over three discs, and its content is just as challenging.” MOAR to score.

Threadbare – Silver Dollar Review

By Roquentin on June 26, 2020 in Reviews, Experimental Metal, Noise, 24 comments

“Mimic, Guillermo del Toro’s 1997 creature feature, revolves around a mutated, highly evolved sort of insect capable of making itself look like a human being. Embracing a predatory strategy called aggressive mimicry – with people as their prey of choice – the insects’ appearance becomes an interplay of shadows and deception. Their humanoid silhouette is unstable and misleading, made of moving organs and chitin exoskeletons, yet strangely beguiling in its alienness. Silver Dollar, the debut record by Chicago trio Threadbare, is a similar creature in style, with a fluidly metallized, rocking, and faintly dangerous exterior projected from within a free jazz organism.” More than meets the ear.

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.