Old Man Gloom

Concert Review: Southwest Terror Fest, Tucson, Arizona – October 20th-23rd 2016

Concert Review: Southwest Terror Fest, Tucson, Arizona – October 20th-23rd 2016

“It seems like all the greatest adventures begin with a phone call. This particular call came about a month ago. The gentleman on the line was one of my brothers. Brother Grier had called to inform me he had purchased tickets to Southwest Terror Fest in Tucson, Arizona. His plane ticket was purchased, the hotel reservation was set, and I had no choice but to join him (he had apparently bought me tickets too).”Tales of brotherhood, beers and grind.

Mamiffer & Circle – Enharmonic Intervals (for Paschen Organ) Review

Mamiffer & Circle – Enharmonic Intervals (for Paschen Organ) Review

“There is a tendency, among music critics, to emphasize anything even vaguely related to experimentalism. For them, any album that smacks of avant-garde is either ‘a step forward’ or simply ‘beyond’. The trajectory, the direction and what boundaries the sound has allegedly trespassed are details that are almost always left undisclosed. The end result is that there is no critique, but instead an endless succession of attributes, excerpts and frustration.” Alex indicts the entire music reviewing industry as he digs into the interesting release by Mamiffer & Circle. Give us Hell, Alex!!

Cult of Luna – Vertikal Review

Cult of Luna – Vertikal Review

I started listening to Cult of Luna with The Beyond. The year was 2003, the city was quiet and the light had been swallowed by the sound of an unspecified frequency – an electric wall of sound that made everything glow. And it burned so bright that I remained silent for the following, painful 67 minutes. I stopped listening to Cult Of Luna a year later. It was 2004, the album was Salvation and I couldn’t help but think that everything that had to be told had already been told. I resumed listening to Cult of Luna in 2013. Resistance became futile. And, yes, giving in was the right thing to do.

Xibalba – Hasta La Muerte Review

Xibalba – Hasta La Muerte Review

Xibalbá is the name of the Mayan underworld: not exactly a nice place, it must be said. A cave next to Alta Verapaz, somewhere in central Guatemala, is the entry to this domain whose hottest places, to quote none other than Dante Alighieri, “are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” If there’s a circle which refuses to stay neutral in favour of a purely negative stance, it’s a band from Southern California whose name, doom and gloom take us straight to the Mayan idea of hell.