Listen “Lantlôs - Agape” [Prophecy, 2011] here // Buy ‘agape’ from Prophecy - Lupus Lounge

Tombs - Path Of Totality [Relapse, 2011]

Tombs - Path Of Totality
[Relapse, 2011]
genre: sludge, post-metal, shoegaze, black metal, hardcore, doom, heavy metal
Album Review by Sovereign

I have started my review of their previous masterpiece, back in 2009 “Winter Hours” with this phrase: “Awesome Metal”. I couldn’t say anything less than this for this release of 2011!!! Maybe I have to say bigger words. This is fantastic. Just listen and you are going to love it. Do you like metal music in general? Are you into modern genres of chaotic, noisy and progressive metal? Is there something innovative that you couldn’t find in other sludge, post-metal and black metal releases? Have you ever experienced an album of dirty and noisy metal with a heavy and old school hardcore attitude under a prism of modern and guitar orientated heaviness? In this album all these things are included.
. BUY IT. Support this band, support this label, support this music. Support them and purchase the release and respect the artist and their effort. This is true metal. It is heavy and this is darker than all the darkness of scandinavian winter nights! Guitars are leading… they are not just craeting mid-tempo noisy parts. They LEAD!!! Riffs are destroying your mind. I can not find a song that is missing something. There is nothing negative in here. There are no mistakes.



http://tombsbklyn.bandcamp.com/
http://www.myspace.com/tombsbklyn
https://www.facebook.com/TombsBklyn
http://twitter.com/Tombs666

Track List:
1. Black Hole Of Summer
2. To Cross The Land
3. Constellations
4. Bloodletters
5. Path Of Totality
6. Vermillion
7. Passageways
8. Silent World
9. Cold Dark Eyes
10. Black Heaven
11. Red Shadows
12. Angel of Destruction

Deafheaven - Roads to Judah [2011]

Deafheaven - Roads to Judah
[Deathwish inc, 2011]
genre: black metal, shoegaze, post rock
Album review by Astronaut

Deafheaven is a five member band from San-Fransisco that maybe gave us the best black metal album of the year. Roads to Judah is their first full length album after their first demo that managed to draw the attention of the black metal audience. The album includes four absolutely well structured black metal tracks full of post-rock and shoegaze aesthetics without loosing not a single moment of the overwhelming dark atmosphere that en-clouds Deafheaven’s musical persona. There is no really need to examine each of the four tracks separately, although the opening track “Violet” exceeds every expectation, as all of them can submerge you in a darker level of existence by providing all the necessary supplies for the trip. Rough lyrical vocals, fast melodic rhythm parts and fast-paced drum blastsbeats. The transitions between slow shoegaze parts and fast black metal bursts brings remind bands like Alcest, Wolves in the Throne Room, Drudkh and similar to the genre. When that bond succeeds the overall result could sound just as Deafheaven. Black metal is evolving day by day. Deafheaven is another evidence of that evolution.



http://deafheaven.tumblr.com
http://deathwishinc.com

Tracks:
1. Violet
2. Language Games
3. Unrequited
4. Tunnel Of Trees

Jesu – Ascension [2011]

Jesu – Ascension
[Caldo Verde, 2011]
genre: drone, shoegaze, ambient, metal, post-rock, industrial, experimental
Album review by Sovereign

Like in the previous review for Infinity   2 years ago, I still believe that this guy is genious and produce modern metal music with experimental vocals and neverending noise that results an ambient shoegaze. As I read in pitchfork , somethings I already said lots of times before, but they explain it in a great point of view: “Justin Broadrick, whose post-Napalm Death body of work is a varied and fascinating thing. With Godflesh, he built a brutal slow-thud form of electronic rock, a sound so heavy you couldn’t rightly call it metal. He’s also made various forms of scraping noise under different names: Techno Animal, Final, Pale Sketcher” I can add greymachine, God and some great splits with envy, eluvim and battle of mice! This album is again a huge guitar-ed wall masterpiece. Noise, noise, guitars, experimental synths, noise, post-modern rock music and ambient mood. Great industrial metal in a fantastic manner of shoegaze melodies and noisy paths. This is their fifth album and I think it could be as great as Conqueror for me. I found their melodies in here fantastic. I feel that the noisy walls are unbelievable and the atmosphere produced is unique. Try this great album if you are a fan of noise metal, drone doom and of course industrial shoegaze.



http://www.myspace.com/jesu
http://www.avalancheinc.co.uk/
http://justinkbroadrick.blogspot.com/

Tracklist:
01. Fools ( 8:12)
02. Birth Day ( 5:09)
03. Sedatives ( 5:10)
04. Broken Home ( 8:51)
05. Brave New World ( 4:12)
06. Black Lies ( 5:26)
07. Small Wonder ( 7:31)
08. December ( 7:50)
09. King Of Kings ( 6:24)

Sovereign

MALA IN SE - mala in se [2010]

MALA IN SE - mala in se
[Phratry, 2011]
genre: noise-rock, screamo, shoegaze, sludge, post-hardcore, post-metal

MALA IN SE is a frenzied detour from the normal world of rock and metal. The band de-constructs concepts from a large cache of musical genres, yet they’ve concocted a truly unique sound and vision. Great band which record this album in 2010 and Phratry Records release it on a CD on spring 2011.
“Mala In Se (Cincinnati, Ohio) is a three-piece noise-rock/art-metal band. A frenzied detour from the normal world of rock, punk and metal, the band de-constructs concepts from a large cache of musical genres, yet they’ve concocted a truly unique sound and vision.The foundation of Mala In Se’s sound begins with the (un)usual combination of guitar, bass, and drums. Then it becomes dense with layers of samples, feedback, and auxiliary percussion. Lyrics are delivered in numerous, unsettling ways via shrieks (Joseph Thompson) and yells (Andy Perkins). And since the completion of this album, newly acquired drummer Danny McPherson adds an even more urgent agility to the music.” This is an excellent album for fans of high speed noise rock and experimental metal sounds with screamo vocals and sludge dirt!

free stream
http://malainse.bandcamp.com/

the album

http://www.myspace.com/malainsemusic
http://www.realmarketedge.com/malainse/

Tracklist

1. time lapse photography of decomposing animals
2. disease auction 03:35
3. devil’s dung 06:32
4. portions for trade 05:13
5. stay afloat 04:32
6. lie on 07:23
7. outro 08:55

Wreck And Reference - Black Cassette [2011]

Wreck And Reference - Black Cassette
[2011]
genre: doom, drone, shoegaze, post-rock

“The music is so doom and gloom and lowly tuned it sounds like it’s distorted beyond recognition. Might be because my ears are really trashed or this Davis, California band Wreck and Reference actually recorded Black Cassette to tape. All good things with the proper hiss management and noise gates off. So imagine the slow drum thumping of Shellac’s 1,000 hurt’s scratchy guitars on “Prayer to God mixed” with the loneliness of Low and then you suddenly grind up the fader to the point it sounds like a septic tank truck is sucking the life out of you. Yup those are you guts and yes that metal ringing is what’s this band has documented on this chrome. Safe for generous use by fans of neurosis, melvins and unsane who like experimental metal.” [reviewstalker.com]

free download + stream

http://wreckandreference.bandcamp.com

http://www.myspace.com/wreckandreference

Tracklist:

01. All The Ships Have Been Abandoned
02. Surrendering
03. In Chains, Awakening
04. Evening Redness
05. Desire, Ether
06. A Lament

Die! die! die! - Form [2011]

Die! die! die! - Form
[Golden Antenna, 2011]
genre: noise pop, post-punk, shoegaze, garage-punk
Album review by Goresonic

Die! Die! Die! is a noise pop/ post-punk/ trio from New Zealand formed back in 2003. Their self titled album was released back in 2005. Die! Die! Die! received great success in New Zealand’s underground rock scene. Their second album titled “Promises Promises” was released back in 2007 firstly in New Zealand and shortly after, in the rest of the world. Last year, their third record titled “Form” was released in New Zealand by Flying Nun Records. This album has received high praise back there and this is probably the reason that Golden Antenna decided to re-release it in Europe this year.
“Form”, musically, is a very interesting album and runs through the limits of noise-pop and shoegaze. There is a widespread joyful energy in the entire album. From the opener “Caseman”, Die! Die! Die! don’t let you catch your breath with the sharp, curt and rhythmic drums combined with the noise-pop guitars. “Lil ships” and “How Ye” keep the fast rhythm but the guitars are cleaner an element which reminds me of Wavves’ music. Songs like “Daze”, “Shine Through” and “Frame”, that closes the album, have this shoegaze style that My Bloody Valentine’s fans will appreciate.
But in “Form” we can find influences from other musical genres such as post-punk or Jay Reatard’s garage punk sound. “Wasted Lands”, my personal favorite song, and “We Built Our Own Oppressors” are songs that have this dirty youthful sound of early garage punk bands while “Paquin” is a song that could have been created by At the Drive-in.
“Form” proves that there still are bands that improve this music genre. Die! Die! Die! made an album which, along with Golden Antenna’s european re-issue, will help them attract new fans outside New Zealand.

free stream
http://www.goldenantenna.com/stream/diediedie/


http://diediedieband.com/
http://www.myspace.com/diediedienz
http://www.goldenantenna.com/artists/die-die-die/

tracks
1. Caseman
2. Lil ships
3. How Ye
4. Daze
5. We Built Our Own Oppressors
6. Paquin
7. Shine Through
8. Wasted Lands
9. HT
10. Frame

Birds of Passage - Without The World

Birds of Passage - Without The World
[Future, 2010/ Denovali, 2011]
genre: ambient, drone, experimental, shoegaze, minimal, avant-garde, low
Album Review by Sovereign

This is a 2010 release from New Zealand which released by Future recordings some months ago. Denovali brings it to Europe this month and we are happy to hear these news. Alicia Merz, who is the lady behind Birds of Passage creates soundscapes that are difficult to describe. The sound of this album is quite experimental and the result is a drone and minimal sound mixed with easy and whispering vocals from her. Emotional compositions that reminds me Antimatter’s (Patterson, Moss) first album. Minimal drone sounds and female vocals that speak to your heart. The compositions are minimalistic experimental tracks with great lyrics and a drone influence that provides a pop album with noisy background. CD comes in a matte triple gatefold digipak cover. This version includes a thick 36 pages booklet including the poem collection “a garden of secrets” by Alicia Merz. For sure this girl make tracks that are influenced from the fantastic landscapes of her country, fullfiled with grey colors and dark atmospheres. Great try and an album for fans of Antimatter, Anathema, Sigur-Ros, Sankt Otten, Her Name is Calla, Dead Can Dance.

http://www.denovali.com/birdsofpassage/
http://futurerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/without-the-world

soundcloud.com/birdsofpassagemusic
myspace.com/birdsofpassagemusic
facebook.com/birdsofpassagemusic

1.You 00:56
2.Scarlet Monkeys 05:11
3.Fantastic Frown 04:21
4.Pray For A Sunny Day 06:15
5.Skeletons 03:53
6.The Patterns On Your Face 04:14
7.All My Lines 02:49
8.Heal 04:30
9.Whisper A Word 03:25
10.My Own Mind 03:26
11.Those Blackest Winter Nights 06:47
12.Alone And Raw 05:16