ALBUM REVIEW: Møl, "Jord"

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type:Full Length

Date Released:13/04/2018

Label:Holy Roar Records

the basic feel of the music is going to be very familiar, but it’s done so well, and with such conviction that virtually no one else, including the biggest names in the style, have the chops to match what Møl does here.

‘Jord’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Storm

2. Penumbra

3. Bruma

4. Vakuum

5. Lambda

6. Ligament

7. Virga

8. Jord

The Review:

I’ve always imagined it being rough, being a band involved in a niche subgenre on the decline after its initial peak. It must have been rough to have been an American-style death metal band in the late 90s. It probably would have been similarly challenging to have been symphonic black metal band in the mid 2000s. And it also seems like it would be difficult to be a post black metal/blackgaze band in 2018. This is all anecdotal on my part, but it feels like if you were to go onto social media and talk up a band using terms like blackgaze or post metal, or post black metal; you’re likely going to be met with some apprehension from friends or followers.

There’s a burnout that follows the gargantuan wave and eventual collapse of a hot new subgenre, almost like at a certain point, there’s an unspoken moratorium on new bands in that style. But the truth is that none of that shit should matter. Good albums are good albums. And Møl’s debut full length, ‘Jord’, is a damn good album. Sure you can point to similarities the band shares with certain tentpole bands in the style, but you could also say that Møl is doing more with that style, and in a more compelling way than any other band occupying this space.

The hallmarks are all here: the soaring, effects-drenched leads, the rock-laced drumming choices intertwined with blast beat sections, and of course the harsh, higher-pitched shrieking. And yet Møl is putting these elements in their own unique context by infusing a northern European influence in their riff writing style you don’t run across often in this niche. “Vakuum”, as an example, features a main riff that feels like a Norse take on the rhythm-centric approach of Cobalt’s‘Gin’. There’s more of a melodic sensibility to it, but it captures a similar energy.

Even the stuff that fits into the genre’s longstanding tropes are performed better on “Jord” than on any album of a similar style in years. “Lambda” is steeped in the sort of airy, wistful clean guitar work that’s been one of the genre’s calling cards since day one. But thanks to some slick, fluid drumming choices from Ken Klejs, and the brilliant craftsmanship of the rest of the band, the song never feels like a lazy rehash of old ideas. Yes, the basic feel of the music is going to be very familiar, but it’s done so well, and with such conviction that virtually no one else, including the biggest names in the style, have the chops to match what Møl does here.

And that’s what the story of ‘Jord’ as a whole. It’s familiar, but brilliant in its own right. Gorgeous in the ways you’d expect, but brilliant in subtler ways you might not expect. Whatever the status of your burnout level is with shoegazy black metal: if you loved the style once, you owe it to yourself to give this album a committed listen. You might just remember what you enjoyed so much about this kind of music to begin with. I have. 

‘Jord’is available here

Band info: Facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Harakiri for the Sky - "Arson"

By: Brandon Green

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 16/02/2018

Label: AOP Records

“Arson” is a massive achievement for Harakiri for the Sky. They took everything that was amazing about “III: Trauma”, and turned up the intensity even higher. If you’re a fan of post-black metal, atmospheric black metal, or introspective music in general, this album is perfect for you.

“Arson” CD//DD//2LP track listing:

1). “Fire, Walk With Me”
2). “The Graves We’ve Dug”
3). “You Are The Scars”
4). “Heroin Waltz”
5). “Tomb Omnia”
6). “Stillborn”
7). “Voidgazer”
8). “Manifesto” (Graveyard Lovers cover)

The Review:  

An impressive follow-up to “III: Trauma”back in 2016, “Arson” wastes very little time throwing the listener into an aggressive, melodic, and atmospheric black metal bliss. With most of the songs clocking in over 8 minutes, Harakiri for the Sky do a wonderful job creating soundscapes that take the listener from crushingly heavy melodic sections to shoegazey piano-laden clean parts that often stick in your head for days. This album is absolutely worth spending over an hour hiking in the woods with headphones on, or staring at the ceiling. Easily contender for album of the year for me and its only February.

“Fire Walk with Me”is the first glimpse of the album. It gives the listener a medley of what we can anticipate from 2018’s “Arson”, and includes some of the best moments of what the album offers.  The track begins with an airy, beautiful keyboard intro following immediately into driving guitars.  Throughout the song there are frequent changes and pauses, which are an opportunity for us to gaze into the musical craftsmanship HKFTS want us to see. The deliberate stops in the track give the listener an opportunity to really appreciate when all of the layers merge and we experience the masterful musicianship in its entirety. Energetic guitar leads meet with passionate harsh vocals which are more of a shout than the traditional black metal scream heard in other modern black metal acts.  The vocals really give this band an extremely memorable sound in what seems to be a flooded genre these days.

“You Are the Scars” starts with a beautiful intro reminiscent of early HIM / goth rock records. Big hitting drums and guitar chords with washy shoegaze-like melodies in the background break into a beautiful clean section mid-way through the track with a “holy shit” moment as the distortion kicks back in with soaring leads and vocals. As the song builds up to its conclusion, epic blast beats push us into even more emotionally intense moments making this track one of the more special ones on “Arson”.

“Heroin Waltz” was the single I first heard before this album dropped, and it got me beyond excited for this release. As track 4 on the album, it fits perfectly. Despite the 100 times I’ve already listened to it, I couldn’t help but crank the volume again in the albums context for the 101th listen. The gorgeous clean intro with ebow guitar leads slamming into punishing blast beat drums and amazing chord structures immediately had me hooked.  The fact this song feels like a waltz with the memorable guitar melodies and 3 / 4 time signatures make this not only tragically melodic, its beyond addicting to listen to. The clean middle section and guitar leads that develop are revisited throughout song and are still constantly stuck in my head. This track really shows off what the band can do as musicians and has me coming back for more. The drumming is absolutely insane on this one.

“Tomb Omnia” was another extremely memorable track from “Arson”. As one of the shorter tracks on the album, this song does not disappoint with its heavy hitting melodic intro cutting into folky black metal blast beats and soaring screams. As another single released before the album, it’s a fantastic song placed well on the track listing. It almost feels like part 2 of “Heroin Waltz”, and this is a welcomed thing.

“Arson”is a massive achievement for Harakiri for the Sky. They took everything that was amazing about “III: Trauma”, and turned up the intensity even higher. If I were to nitpick, I would say the album does feel a little long at 1 hour and 11 minutes. Coming in around the 50-minute mark, I think “Arson” would be perfect.  Make no mistakes, the production is top notch, and the song crafting is masterful. This new release reminds me of all of the reasons I fell in love with Agalloch and Alcest separately, but combined into a powerfully emotional and personal experience. Their own interpretation of these styles fits almost too well, and they’ve invented their own sound with it that’s beyond satisfying to listen to. If you’re a fan of post-black metal, atmospheric black metal, or introspective music in general, this album is perfect for you.

“Arson”is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Dodecahedron - "Kwintessens"

By: Mark Ambrose


Album Type:Full-length

Date Released:17/03/2017

Label: Season of Mist

At 41 minutes, “Kwintessens” is deceptively compact for the multitudes within.  Each track, even the instrumental interludes, displays remarkable prowess while remaining confrontational and almost unbearably anguished.

“Kwintessens” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Prelude

2. TETRAHEDRON – The Culling of the Unwanted from the Earth

3. HEXAHEDRON – Tilling the Human Soil

4. Interlude

5. OCTAHEDRON – Harbinger

6. DODECAHEDRON – An Ill-Defined Air of Otherness

7. Finale

8. ICOSAHEDRON – The Death of Your Body

The Review

Spend even a modicum of time skimming reddit boards, Joe Rogan podcasts, or YouTube documentaries, and you are likely to encounter sacred geometry: a broad term for a panoply of beliefs ascribing power, intent, and divine influence in the shapes and mathematics of the universe.  The Netherlands’ Dodecahedron, in both name and content, invokes this linkage of spirit and formulae.  But where some see harmony and consonance, this quintet sees an opportunity for malevolent inversion.

“Kwintessens”, their second full-length for Season of Mist, focuses on the relationship between man and his deity, but it’s clear that Dodecahedronis set to imbue every moment with intense dread.  From the opener, “Prelude”, there is an underlying martial structure – drummer Barendregt creates an unrelenting field of percussion while ambient howls swirl and guitarists Nienhuis and Bonis alternate between regimented riffing and ethereal shrieks.  “TETRAHEDRON – The Culling of the Unwanted from the Earth”, wrenches between borderline grind chaos and progressive, polyrhythmic riffing – almost like a birth spasm, violently delivering Eikenaar as “narrator” into a violent universe: “The energy oozing /Chaos leaking from the gashes … The primal source opened / Translating all hidden thoughts.”

For all the layering of dissonance and inhuman blast beats, Dodecahedron manages to find unexpected tribal grooves in songs like “HEXAHEDRON – Tilling the Human Soil”.  Barendregt stands out as a rhythmic beast throughout, but his fills on this track in particular are awe-inspiring.  The production is stellar, and remarkable given the layers of guitar work and synthetic flourishes.  As the album passes the halfway mark, on both “OCTAHEDRON – Harbinger” and “DODECAHEDRON – An Ill-Defined Air of Otherness”, the “electronics” work of Bonis allows the band proper to recede at key moments, opening up ambient soundscapes that invoke the “Drone of death… Drone of creation.”  Eikenaar’s vocals become, somehow, more tortured, alternating between a dark monastic chant and almost rapturous sermon during album closer “ICOSAHEDRON – The Death of Your Body”.  As he spews apocalyptic visions, “Kwintessens” actually feels like a fracturing body, with moments of sheer negative space opening between riffs.  The effect is nearly tactile, embodying the lyrics “Flesh reduced to rags / Pierced through all possibilities / and plunged into the abyss.”  Each pause invokes bottomless darkness, like staring into a black hole.

At 41 minutes, “Kwintessens” is deceptively compact for the multitudes within.  Each track, even the instrumental interludes, displays remarkable prowess while remaining confrontational and almost unbearably anguished.  Dodecahedron may be focused on cosmic terror, but they root their journeys in human perception, suffering, and perseverance.  As the narrator examines the raw geometry of his body, paralleled throughout existence, even god himself seems weak and surmountable, while the terrible power within man allows for metamorphoses almost too frightening to imagine.  It is a harrowing experience, one that left me feeling raw and exhausted.  And it’s one I’ll likely revisit many times, and discover new, equally terrifying facets within.

“Kwintessens” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Ghost Bath - "Starmourner"

 By: Josh Nichols

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 07/04/2017

Label: Nuclear Blast

From the gentle piano intro of “Astral” to the vibrant and triumphant radiance of “Seraphic”, the tone of the album is pushed ever outward to match the theme of an infinite dream. It’s a theme that weaves its way through the whole album. There are certainly tracks that dive back into blast beats and hyper tremolo picking such as “Ambrosial” and “Elysian”, but the theme always returns to shimmering and heroic major chords.

“Starmourner” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Astral (3:20)

2. Seraphic (5:50)

3. Ambrosial (8:30)

4. Ethereal (6:54)

5. Celestial (8:14)

6. Angelic (5:23)

7. Luminescence (6:08)

8. Thrones (6:20)

9. Elysian (5:22)

10. Cherubim (4:26)

11. Principalities (6:14)

12. Ode (4:28)

The Review:

On the April 7th, Ghost Bath released “Starmourner”, their much anticipated follow up to “Moonlover”, via Nuclear Blast.  If you thought their last record caused division in the black metal ranks, get ready for more vitriolic gnashing of teeth. With “Starmourner”, Ghost Bath reach heights of triumphant exuberance unheard of in the post black metal or “blackgaze” genre. The level of ebullience they surpass has only been hinted at by their oft mentioned contemporaries Deafheaven and Alcest. Going a great leap further into throwing out the cvlt playbook, Ghost Bathare opting instead to realize their vision without the constraints of genre limitations inherent with any label we can slap on them.

If you’re already familiar with their work, then you know that Ghost Bath had little regard for what black metal is “supposed” to sound like to begin with.  “Starmourner” stakes their claim to the vanguard of a growing metal subset that is reimagining heavy metal without boundaries or definitions. Where labels are unnecessary and genres again become what they were meant to be, simple guide posts for the listener, not artistic rules to live and die by.  If this sounds a little too much like Neo at the end of the Matrix, just remember that he wasn’t prepared for the red pill either.

It just can’t be overstated, that coming from their previous effort, “Starmourner” is strikingly different. Even fans of Ghost Bath and other bands from the new wave of post black metal will be caught off guard.  From the gentle piano intro of “Astral” to the vibrant and triumphant radiance of “Seraphic”, the tone of the album is pushed ever outward to match the theme of an infinite dream. It’s a theme that weaves its way through the whole album. There are certainly tracks that dive back into blast beats and hyper tremolo picking such as “Ambrosial” and “Elysian”, but the theme always returns to shimmering and heroic major chords. The best example of this is “Celestial”. The leads are so bright and soaring that they could have been used for a Top Gun promo. The now familiar vocals, part screaming eagle, part howling banshee, lend themselves to the ethereal quality of the music.

The pastoral interlude “Angelic” acts as a kind of reset in the middle of the album. The lovely and lilting plucking may serve as a pallet cleansing to those listeners struggling with the effervescent motif being built in their blackened ears. The OSBM sacrilege continues however, with the driving and anthemic “Luminescence”. Not surprisingly, this track shares qualities that their tour mates Astronoidhave in spades.  Having caught their Portland, Or. Tour stop, I can tell you the bands complement each other very well. Ghost Bath really underscores all of the joyful elements found throughout “Starmourner”, while the live setting allows them to highlight their more furious and blistering dark side.  No track on the new album is more blistering than “Thrones”. Finding itself caught between the sweeping major theme and a tortured and guttural vocal delivery, it gives way to the crushing despair that’s been hiding in the shadows of the entire album.

The back half is easily the more caustic and aggressive half of “Starmourner”, still flirting with the airy theatrical qualities found earlier, but with more marked departures into brooding blackened rampages and intensified vocal cacophonies.  “Cherubim” comes on almost rock and roll before detouring into the dark abyss beneath the surface, and “Principalities” feels almost frustrated and subdued in relation to the larger body of work.  The lengthy album winds to a close with “Ode”, another gentle piano number that I find very reminiscent of the closing theme to the old Incredible Hulk TV show.  A lonely David Banner walking away once more, no hope and no end in sight.  “Starmourner“is going to leave some listeners exhilarated and some scratching their head. Either is fine.  Ghost Bathdon’t seem concerned with the reception they are given. If you find yourself having trouble reconciling what you’re hearing with your hard wired preconceptions (and many of us will) take a look at recent interview with Locust Leaves (here), where the topic is discussed much more thoroughly.

“Starmourner” is available here



Band info: facebook



ALBUM REVIEW: Ånd - ‘Aeternus’

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released:04/11/2016

Label: This Charming Man Records

This is only the band’s debut but there is a ton of promise here, they present an  engrossing style, smart arrangements, and excellent production, but as good as this is, I only see them getting better from here.

‘Aeternus’ CD//LP track listing:

1. Auferstehung

2. Verstoßene

3. Niedertracht

4. Illusion

5. Dämmerung

6. Schatten

7. Heimkehr

The Review:

Try as we might, it’s impossible to catch every worthwhile release in a year, even for someone with a pretty limited musical taste, like myself. With that in mind, Ånd’s debut album ‘Aeternus’ was released a couple of months ago, and it is absolutely worth your time. There’s plenty to dig into here, despite the album’s extra-lean running time.

Post-black metal has been around as a subgenre, in some form, for more than ten years now. To this point, the term has largely been reserved for a couple of key stylistic groups. The first would be bands in the Alcest or Deafheaven vein; black metal and shoegaze hybrids. The second group occupies a heavier space, focusing on sludge or grind and hardcore as musical counterpoints. While much closer to that second group than the first, Ånd doesn’t truly fit into either mould.

Over the course of the album’s twenty-six minutes, the band showcases a sound built upon a contrast between slowly picked black metal melody and deep resonant chords for added heaviness. This gives the songs a full, layered sound, and it’s easy to get swept up in the moment as the album goes on. This leads to a very cohesive overall sound for a first album, though stopping well short of ever feeling repetitive, even as the songs are often variations on a similar musical theme. “Schatten” stands out for being speedier than the vast majority of the album, but even then it’s reserved compared to most other black metal.

Another key point to consider about Ånd is their inclination to remain concise. None of the songs on the album breach the five minute mark, which is quite the rarity for a black metal band, a reliance on building mood and atmosphere. It speaks to the band having a strong grasp of what their sound is and should be, and to their strength as songwriters. This is only the band’s debut but there is a ton of promise here: the engrossing style, smart arrangements, and excellent production. As good as this is, I only see them getting better from here.

‘Aeternus’ CD/LP is available here.

Band info: Facebook