“A project of San Francisco-based musician Robert Woods-LaDue and Bay-area session jazz musicians, Onkos is definitely metal, but like, what? Most akin to Barcelona flute/double bass bastards Inhumankind, Vascular Labyrinth can be best described as a chamber jazz act covering death metal.” In the veins of weirdness.
Jazz
Yakuza – Sutra Review
“Yakuza over the course of their 20-plus year career explore through the duality of reverent and incendiary identities how sound too can transform through iteration. Having not yet graced the halls of AMG, and generally living on the outside of the metal limelight, Yakuza‘s hazily hypnotic, startlingly shredded, and warped woodwind take on metal will catch you off guard. Sutra will help you find the light.” C’mon Sutra.
Bunsenburner – Poise Review
“My students all suspect I spent some time with the “ganja.” They say, “Wow, Mr. Hollow, you’re so chill. I bet you were a stoner in high school. I was way too stuck up to do anything besides the daily Red Bull and Bible study jig, but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating some good stoner doom well into adulthood. While my strain of choice falls closer to sludge on the swampy spectrum, I can appreciate acts like Sergeant Thunderhoof and Weedeater for reverb- and fuzz-soaked riffs with killer groove. What does tickle me pickle is jazz and ambient, which are what Bunsenburner says they fuse with stoner doom.” All that stoner jazz (and science).
The Lovecraft Sextet – Miserere Review
“No one does music like Jason Köhnen. His projects like Mansur, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, and Bong-Ra constantly push boundaries, and while my reception to his work has been largely mixed, The Lovecraft Sextet has stuck. Debut In Memoriam was a unique and visceral experience, somehow weaponizing dark ambient, black metal, jazz, and opera into six tracks with three disparate but compatible palettes.” Sax and tentacles.
Slow Burning Rage – Slow Burning Rage Review
“Slow Burning Rage is a one-man crew consisting of multi-instrumentalist Ryan Parrish, who you may know as the former drummer of melodeath heavyweights Darkest Hour, as well as other varying acts like Iron Reagan, Mammoth Grinder, City of Caterpillar, and Bleach Everything (to name a few). What can you expect from Slow Burning Rage, then? Well, for as varied and crazy as his resume is, it’s nothing like any of his acts. Slow Burning Rage’s self-titled debut is deemed “jazz sludge” by the promo gods.” Rage for change.
Heavy Meta – Mana Regmata Review
“Don’t get your hopes up, ye of heavy metal’s golden years. Heavy Meta is nearly everything you hate about today’s extreme music. Mathcore, black metal, noise rock, and prog all have a hand in this monstrosity, and if there is an inkling of distaste for any of these styles, Mana Regmata might need to come with a side of aspirin. Featuring a tongue-in-cheek moniker that you could proudly proclaim at any party, it’s a group that only jokingly defines itself as “blackened progressive cowboy nintendocore.”” Meta health.
Black Sheep Wall – Songs for the Enamel Queen [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]
“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
“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
“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
“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!