“For any band to assume their audience has the attention span to stick with them through a feature film-length ditty, let alone want to return for repeat listens, shows a certain amount of moxie. When it comes to single song marathons, 33-minute The Man Behind the Sun, Italian band SednA’s third full length, isn’t so much Avengers: Endgame level as it is standard sitcom episode, but it’s a bold move nonetheless.” Bigly.
Post-Metal
Cult of Luna – A Dawn to Fear Review
“This summer saw a couple of top-notch releases from instrumental post-metal vets Russian Circles and Pelican. Both albums were worthy entries in the genre, but we should consider them appetizers, or warm-up acts, because one of the heavy hitters just walked in, and they have something to say.” Drink this Kool-Aid.
Angry Metal Primer – Borknagar and Cult of Luna
“In which we waste your time always searching for those blunder years.”
V – Led into Exile Review
“V, a doomy post-metal band from Sweden, released their first album Pathogenisis in 2017 and are back this year with a six-track concept album. Inspired by a short story concerning the departure from the hustle and bustle of civilization into the wild and remote Finnmark in Dalecarlia, Sweden, Led into Exile chronicles a story of the hardships of living in Finnmark, a will to be secluded from the rest of the world’s insanity, and the ultimate disappearance of one who surrendered to the siren song drifting from the taiga-belt.” Lost in the woods.
The Fifth Alliance – The Depth of the Darkness Review
“Take a gander at The Fifth Alliance’s new band promo shot below. What’s the first thing that comes to mind? After my first glance, I couldn’t shake the uncanny resemblance of the spotlighted line of band member heads to the Game of Thrones Hall of Faces, a seemingly endless room full of pillars housing the skinned faces of the dead sitting in wait to be wielded by one of the Faceless Men. Too grim of an intro? Perhaps, but I don’t think The Fifth Alliance would think so.” Face the darkness.
Hope Drone – Void Lustre Review
“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.
The Road – Reverence Redacted Review
“Never, however, have I wished that someone take your average British motorway as musical inspiration. In complete disregard of my wishes, Bristol, UK band The Road have done just that. On this, their self-released debut, Reverence Redacted, the Bristolian two-piece draw on the “crushing oppressiveness of the British motorway experience”—personally, I would say “soul-crushing oppressiveness”—to inspire their post-doom offering.” Trapped on the highway to Hell.
Wrvth – No Rising Son Review
“There’s an added expectation for a record when a band announce it will be their last one. Wrvth have been around since 2007, releasing three full-lengths. No Rising Son is their fourth and final before parting ways for good. Wrvth have a dense, chaotic -core style of metal at their heart; they merge a contemporary deathcore sound with the late 90s early 2000s metalcore of Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan et al. The band like layers, though, and there are frequent diversions and obstacles which the band sublimate into their sound.” Layer caked.
Russian Circles – Blood Year Review
“As always, Wovenhand were on a blinder and played a great show but their co-headliners, then completely unknown to me, blew me away. They were Chicago natives Russian Circles. I can’t now remember whether Wovenhand or Russian Circles played first but it doesn’t matter because, whichever way round it was, this was Circles’ night. This three-piece, playing expansive, heavy instrumental metal, held the Scala in the palms of their hands that night.” From Russia with blood.
Sūrya – Solastalgia Review
“Metal, especially doom metal, is uniquely equipped to convey the existential threat of environmental disaster at the largest scale, the human systems that are causing it, and the inadequacy of those same systems to mitigate it. Enter eco-doom band Sūrya. Greg, one of the guitarists, had this to say in a recent Cvlt Nation interview: ‘Some metal bands like to write songs about fucking wizards and Satan and I’m fully into that as theater and entertainment. But the sheer rapacity of capitalism and the epoch we find ourselves in, the Anthropocene, is the scariest thing imaginable. It’s just so fucking bleak.'” The future bleak.