“A Buddhist monk from Japan sets out on a seemingly endless search for perfect stillness and peace. He eventually encounters an old hermit in a dark and cramped cave, an extraordinary being, and requests the secret to the permanent silence of his mental faculties. The hermit laughs, and replies that he has never had a silent mind, not in over 100 years.”
Metal
Sensational new music from alt-metal band A Million Little Fires hits this season in the form of a highly-anticipated full-length album. Violent Halos is as conceptually profound and gritty as its title and artwork suggest, and the opening track alone sets the bar exceedingly high.
Artistically representing the moments of departure from the comforts of home and safety, Fractured Path explores the shadows that close in around the group, the heavy weight of the Ring’s presence, and the unravelling of inner conflict.
Superb tone, heavy rock smoothly captured – a new metal take with a twist of grunge, indie, post-punk. Jessica (Fucking) James gifts iconic vocals, to the infectious and timeless alt-metal anthem No Such Thing.
Stylistically, Friendship Commanders have their own thing going on entirely here. The songwriting, for me, tips its hat to the likes of Pearl Jam, for its depth and reflection, its meandering melodies – that meeting of the unpredictable and the satisfying. Again though, there’s something clearly their own about these lyrics, and the way they’re performed.
Magnetic Intrusion has taken the time to craft this evocative dedication to The Prince Of Darkness, and it’s both musically and lyrically impassioned and poignant, as a celebration of the man who changed the face of metal.
An elusive and impassioned performer, freely and boldly uniting the distortion and darkness of metal, with the evocative and heavily produced vocal sound and fluidity of emo rap. |W| Vitality creates a gripping modern soundscape, with relentless vocals pouring vulnerability and gritty contemplation into the space, for the breakthrough single Demise.
From an explosive new album, an intoxicating and fierce fusion of electronic pulsating rhythms and heavy metal layers of synth and guitar – German creative act Nordstahl reaches peak musical appeal, with the boldly intense and unignorably catchy anthem Ragnarök in Berlin.
It’s an exciting, dark and engaging listen, and every time those quiet moments take hold, the wait for the drop is immense, and the hook ultimately pierces through with a perfectly captured vibrancy and passion.
This Friday brings a sensational new instalment in the epic Mythrend power-metal extravaganza. The chaos and creativity of Into The East is superb, and this new stage and scene in the story is invaluable, as we dive further into the throws of Lord of The Rings.
Intensely heavy yet soulful, poetic and cinematic, up-tempo and both energising and evocative. Oathforged is a confronting and awakening listen, and offers a whole new highlight from the upcoming full-length album. Mythrend have made sincere promises to raise the bar, and so far, they’re outright refusing to back down on their word.
Atmospheric progressive metal of extensive meandering soundscapes – an EP of genre-fusing takes both dissonant and harmonised, beginning with a nine-minute epic that feels like multiple tracks in one. Swedish composer and musician David Blomgren creates under the project name Valfreyja, and The Rose Of Rebirth is a multi-coloured, chaotic and conceptually profound look at the artistic freedom that drives his approach.