“Our latest post-metal loving Dutch trio An Evening with Knives is hoping to take a stab at the scene with their second full-length, Sense of Gravity. They advertise their sound as ‘where the wall of sound falls down into a sea of tranquility’ in a fusion of post-metal and stoner-doom. Does their intriguing premise succeed in a cut above the rest or will it just settle being another post-metal old knives’ tale?” Falling blades.
Post Rock
Raphael Weinroth-Browne – Worlds Within Review
“And he now works with Leprous as a dedicated cellist, while he also participates in neo-folk troupe Musk Ox and classical duo Kamancello. Across these projects, he has exhibited a flair for flexible use of his instrument, the cello, and I was therefore excited to observe a release called Worlds Within under his own name, solely composed by himself. How does his music fare when divested from the creative control of others’ grubby hands?” Cello again.
HarborLights – Isolation Ritual [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]
“Back in August, I stumbled across an absurdity of the other writers loitering near the skull pit, waiting for the cleaners to finish. To pass the time, I suggested my fellows check out the advance tracks for HarborLights’ new record, which I misdescribed as instrumental post-metal.” Skull pit gossip and marina lighting.
We Are Impala – Visions [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]
“It’s a surprisingly fresh combination of psychedelic atmosphere and proper riffs, nestled between the post rock and stoner rock genres. These composite genres are often anything but fresh, comprising musicians who are unable to write riffs and musicians who smoke too much weed respectively, but Visions nails its singular fusion.” Weed out, cotton-candy flavored edibles in.
Buildings – Negative Sound Review
It’s late in the year, and list season is upon us. For the past eleven months, trying to keep up with all of the quality extreme metal has felt like trying to drink from a fire hose. The volume of stellar releases has only multiplied in recent weeks, and for every one I manage to catch, three more stack up on my “get to” pile. So with all that metal practically begging for my attention, now seems like the perfect time to take a break from it. I was unfamiliar with Buildings when I chose Negative Sound from the promo pit, but its tag of “noise rock” and distinctly non-metal artwork seemed the ideal pallet cleanser.” A clean pallet is a terrible thing to taste.
Juggernaut – Neuroteque Review
“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.
aswekeepsearching – Rooh Review
“You ardent readers may not agree, but it can be tough on one’s aural organs to blast metal for hours upon hours each and every day. That’s because in our tiny cubicles we don’t often get to crank the albums we love; we have to play the ones we’re reviewing. And after blasting my assignments from Cult of Luna and Monolord a combined twenty-seven times this month, my weeping ears needed a break. Something peaceful, serene, and calming. And since I wasn’t (un)lucky enough to be tabbed for In Cauda Venenum, I settled on what I hoped would be a sweet little morsel of post-rock: Rooh, the third album from Indian post-rock outfit aswekeepsearching.” Vacation for the ears.
Lavinia – Sallowed Review
“Lavinia is a four-piece post-rock/emo outfit from New Hampshire with members from Caspian, The Appleseed Cast, and The Burning Paris. How their Pax Aeternum sophomore effort Sallowed ended up on the angriest metal site this side of the planet, I will never know.” Sallow your pride.
Driving Slow Motion – Arda Review
“Gauging by the comments section on a recent post-metal review that I penned, it would seem that a lot of people are over anything post-y. What better way to win new fans and friends than to write up an experimental, instrumental, post-rock collective? Hmm, on reflection, this could be a hard sell.” Coffee is for closers.
Cracked Machine – The Call of the Void Review
“Back in the olde days, if a band took two years between releases they were considered to be “on sabbatical.” Nowadays, if a band puts out an album faster than every two years, we wonder why they’re rushing things. An album a year used to be the rule, and that’s a rule that Cracked Machine seem to be adhering to early in their career. The Call of the Void comes hot on the heels of the Wiltshire quartet’s 2018 debut, I, Cosmonaut. Maybe it’s easier to write post-rock songs with psychedelic overtones, or maybe these fellows just have a lot of ideas swimming around in their heads.” Grinders.