Post Rock

Final Coil – The World We Left Behind for Others Review

By Steel Druhm on April 10, 2019 in 2019, Alt-Metal, British Metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, WormHoleDeath Records, Alt-Metal, 59 comments

“I’ve never been much of a post and/or alt-rock guy, but the expertly crafted promo blurb for unsung U.K. act Final Coil captured my interest enough to review their 2017 debut, Persistence of Memory. It was an engaging little album too, mixing post-rock, restrained prog and grunge for a fairly unique sound. The album had its flaws, but I sensed a band that could go on to bigger things. Now a mere year and a half later, their sophomore effort The World We Left Behind for Others arrives with little fanfare, but that same sense of potential and promise.” What we leave and what we keep.

The Moth Gatherer – Esoteric Oppression Review

By El Cuervo on March 3, 2019 in 2019, Agonia Records, Post-metal, Reviews, Sludge Metal, Swedish Metal, Post-Metal, 79 comments

“In 2015 I reviewed the sophomore album from Swedish post-metallers The Moth Gatherer (TM). It’s an album on which I dwelt somewhat and their name is an amusingly evocative one for me. I affectionately refer to them as The Moth Botherer with an accompanying internal image of a child wielding an old-school bug catcher trying to swipe moths from the air. Indeed, this portmanteau and rhyme generator recently unveiled to me generated the genius fusion of ‘Chrysolicit’. There’s a lot to be said for an imagination-inducing title so it was with interest that I approached Esoteric Oppression.” Wings of oppression.

A Swarm of the Sun – The Woods Review

By Steel Druhm on January 9, 2019 in 2019, Doom Metal, Drone, Post-metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Version Studio Records, Doom Metal, 83 comments

Isolation, misery and despair. These are the grey building blocks A Swarm of the Sun use to craft their unique soundscapes of depression and suffering. The work of Erik Nilsson and Jakob Berglund, this project has explored the human experience in harrowing ways, most notably on 2015s masterpiece of pain, The Rifts. That album cut a hole in my soul like no other album ever did, even though I was in a good place in life at the time with no particular reason to bask in the suffocating despair the band so effortlessly conjures. Their sparse brand of post-rock/metal and quasi-doom is unlike anything else out there, possessed of a grim power that drains all the light and joy from the world, consigning you to endless cancer wards and funeral parlors to witness the grace and desperation that comes at the end of life. The Woods sees the dour duo return with another dose of downer post-rock, and it’s predictably bleak and unsettling.” The hearts of darkness.

Emma Ruth Rundle – On Dark Horses [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

By GardensTale on December 8, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Post-Rock, Reviews, Sargent House, Things You Might Have Missed 2018, Non-metal Metal Things, 71 comments

“Fervent reader Strawman McDuke is outraged. “A singer-songwriter tag,” he sputters. “On a TYMHM article? On my beloved AMG?! It’s an outrage!” Well, McDuke may say that, but first I should mention her involvement with post-rock/metal outfit Red Sparowes, but more importantly, mention her kindred spirit Chelsea Wolfe. Like Chelsea’s older work, Emma Ruth Rundle uses structures from folk and singer-songwriter music with a post-rock filling to create something beautiful, interminably dark, and as fragile as a frozen bubble. But while Chelsea has since fully embraced grand industrodoom metal, Emma’s music has remained small, intimate, and deeply personal on her 2018 release On Dark Horses.” Dark horses and Chelsea Wolfepacks.

Jo Quail – Exsolve [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

By sentynel on November 28, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, British Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Post-Rock, Reviews, Self-released, Things You Might Have Missed 2018, Atmospheric Black Metal, Non-metal Metal Things, 66 comments

“I love the cello. I don’t think there are any other instruments which offer the tonal range and gorgeous timbre a cello can. I also think it’s criminally underused in heavy music. Apocalyptica demonstrate it can sound metal as hell, yet otherwise it’s mostly limited to a few cameo appearances. This brings me to Jo Quail, experimental cellist, loop pedal wizard, and versatile session musician. Her own back catalog is largely a post-rock/modern classical blend, and after a year in which she’s supported acts like Myrkur, Amenra, Boris, and Winterfylleth, their influence clearly shows on her new record. With her sound evolving towards post-metal and atmospheric black metal, her new album is an interesting development.” Cello, my friends.

Kraków – minus Review

By Huck N Roll on August 29, 2018 in 2018, Karisma Records, Norwegian Metal, Post-metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Post-Metal, 48 comments

“Once again the torch is passed. Madam X, bless her black, soulless heart, has declined the opportunity to talk to us about Kraków, a band whose last two albums she reviewed with wildly different results. So it falls to the Huckster, known for enjoying music just slightly askew, and also known to have a bit of a Neurosis hard-on, to take up the cause here and see if the latest from Bergen, Norway’s morose post-metallers is a success like Amaran, their last album, or disappointing like Diin, their sophomore effort.” Unleash the Kraków.

Opus of a Machine – Stray Fire Review

By Huck N Roll on August 15, 2018 in 2018, Australian Metal, Post-Rock, Progressive Rock, Reviews, Self-released, Shoegaze, Progressive Rock, Shoegaze, 47 comments

“A new record from an unsigned band touring with Caligula’s Horse should be enough for most reviewers to perk up their ears and attempt to claim it from the promo bin. Somehow, though, Opus of a Machine’s new album Stray Fire had its cloaking device firmly in place, and none of us grabbed it until the AMG Overlords forced it upon me.” Forced Opus is the best Opus.

Talons – We All Know Review

By Kronos on July 26, 2018 in 2018, British Metal, Holy Roar Records, Instrumental Metal, Post-metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Instrumental Metal, Post-Metal, 48 comments

“Talons’ newest effort ending up here might seem like a mistake, or at least a con by a reviewer with a well-documented soft spot for math rock. The band don’t quite fit the cavities made for them; with idiosyncratic instrumentation and twice as many members as the usual English math-/post-rock outfit, they probably can’t even cram onto the stages used by their peers. At the same time, despite obvious heaviness and impressive technicality, the group seems to be largely ignored by metal lovers that might be better poised to appreciate a six-piece with two full-time fiddlers. We All Know might be the album to finally win us over.” Math rock is hard.

Ghostbound – All is Phantom Review

By Eldritch Elitist on June 21, 2018 in 2018, Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum, American Metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Black Metal, 54 comments

“Average albums are almost never fun to write about; the sheer abundance of ho-hum, inoffensive records is staggering, and writing about them stimulates my brain about as well as popping a couple tabs of Ambien. Ghostbound is the exception to this rule.” Ghosts and gravitas.

Spurv – Myra Review

By Grymm on June 13, 2018 in 2018, Fysisk Format, Instrumental Metal, Norwegian Metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, Instrumental Metal, 40 comments

“Every successful album, of every genre of music you can imagine, relies on a few key characteristics to make it the monumental album people herald over time. Perhaps it’s the timeliness of the album’s subject matter and how it ties in to what’s going on in the world today. Maybe it’s the originality of the blend of influences a band’s been combining to make something fresh. Most often than not, though, most timeless albums share a single common thread. In other words, the album just flows like an everflowing stream of (insert flow-y liquid/substance here). Norway’s instrumentalists Spurv harness the ability to flow on their third album, Myra.” Faux Mantle, real post-rock.