Avant-garde Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Ephel Duath – On Death and Cosmos (2012)

    cover

    Genre-bending Ephel Duath finally makes a comeback since their acclaimed “Through My Dog's Eyes” released back in 2009. With their latest EP “On Death and Cosmos” the band mixes musical maturity with their typical experimentation in such a way that very few bands can pull off without sounding overly pretentious, or like total shit. Featuring three tracks, Ephel Duath is band with their crazy Jazzy mood layered with aggressive BM elements.

    Opening with the intricate “Black Prism”, the band delivers a hefty dosage of aggressive riffs accompanied by a very moody bass guitar line, perfectly blending the aggressive aspect of the band’s music with a rhythmic jazzy vibe. The drumming is quite well timed to fit the excellent tempo changes. Without abusing, you can hear some progressive hints here and there, nicely blended into the aggressive atmosphere.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Netra – Sørbyen (2012)

    cover

    Delivering one of the weirdest, yet most exciting releases of 2012, today we have Netra and its (one man band) second full-length release “Sørbyen”. Mixing elements of Black Metal with some Trip-hop influences, we are immediately reminded of a mixture of older and newer Ulver, without totally breaking character and changing identity. Each track in this release sways you one way, but it suddenly changes direction into another one, very weird, but equally intriguing to listen to.

    Opening with “A Dance With the Asphalt”, Netra quickly delivers a very ‘normal’ section that is quickly over powered by furious Black Metal riffing and hellish harsh vocals. This is nicely offset by some spoken samples in French, reminding us of bands like Peste Noire. The whole hypnotic nature of this track is excellent since it manages to never really go all the way in either direction, and nicely shifts from the BM onslaught into different territories.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Diablo Swing Orchestra – Pandora’s Box (2012)

    cover

    The craziest band in Metal, Diablo Swing Orchestra, finally returns three years after their last album with “Pandora’s Box”, a true Pandora’s box of a release since you don’t really know what you are getting yourself into until you ‘open’ this release. Continuing with their chaotic brand of Avant-garde Metal with a splash of operatic elements, this release sets them further apart from the competition with 11 of the craziest songs we have ever listened to.

    Opening with the playful “Voodoo Mon Amour”, DSO is headed for another round of typical festive music, however, the band quickly expands on their sound by adding more authentic elements with the incorporation of both Daniel Hedin and Martin Isaksson, on trombone and trumpet respectively. With these additions, the band now hits seven full-time members, rivaling only Therion and Haggard, for the title of bands with most members. Regardless of the size of the band, DSO now feels a bit more complete with a richer sound, similar to the Leningrad Cowboys and their super rich sound.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Disaffected – Rebirth (2012)

    cover

    Hailing from Portugal, today we have a band that ‘waited’ for 17 years to release their second full-length release. Disaffected’s last album was back in 1995 and with “Rebirth” they deliver a very interesting and unique sounding release that is quite hard to categorize, but it’s very enjoyable to listen to. Mixing powerful guitar lines with hectic bass guitar sections, pummeling drums, crazy keyboards and harsh vocals, Disaffected has managed to catch us off-guard and produce something totally unique and different.

    After a very weird and trippy intro, “C.ult O.f M.y A.shes” and “Getting Into the Labyrinth” feature a wave of powerful guitars laid on top of intricate drumming. The vocals are very aggressive and they nicely add more brutality to the overall mix of thing. The structure of these songs is quite weird and unpredictable, and while there are some melodic portions, they keyboards and the bass guitar line seem to be on a completely different plane of existence. “Dreaming III (A Nightmare)” moves into more Avant-garde areas with a very chaotic nature and a crazy feeling of a terrible nightmare, as the name states.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Tal’set – La Via del Guerriero (2012)

    cover

    ATMF is always surprising us with some mind-bending music as well as some ear raping releases, the label with Tal’set’s “La Via del Guerreiro” has managed to release something that is very rare these days: Truly Original Music. Before you go thinking that the end is near (due to such inconceivable fact), Tal’set’s musical style is a pretty interesting amalgamation of other styles into a weird hybrid that sounds like nothing else and everything else put together in perfect harmony.

    The album starts with a very trippy intro titled “Il Vecchio Alla Stazione” that sets the mood for a deeply confusing and weird release indeed. “La Via del Guerreiro” features some weird proggy elements from the 70’s mixed with some heavy duty Death Metal elements adding to the confusion of where is this band going with this. Same happens with the medieval sounding opening of “Intento” only to go back into some barebones Death Metal with chunky riffs and some BM sounding drumming.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Vowels - Hooves, Leaves & the Death/As December Nightingales (2012)

    cover

    Dark, cavernous and emotionally intense are the first few words that come to mind when describing the first full-length release of Italy’s Vowels titled “Hooves, Leaves & the Death/As December Nightingales”. In this six track release the band expand on their Avant-Garde Black Metal sound with some experimentation with Post-Black Metal and Ambient elements and in turn deliver one of the darkest and most depressing releases we have heard in quite a while.

    Opening with “Wolves Eating the Sun”, the band combines the uniqueness of Arcturus with the crushing Doom elements of bands like Ufomammut. After the Post-Rock-ish opening, the wall of distorted guitars makes it was and combines harsh screams with some well-placed clean vocals. The riffing is your traditional BM style, but with a muffled distortion that makes it more crushing. This is truly the first time we hear all of these elements nicely combined into one devastating track.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    The Firstborn – Lions Among Men (2012)

    cover

    Hailing from Portugal, today we have The Firstborn and their 4th full-length release “Lions Among Men”. With a very interesting and different sound, this album is surely complex enough that it takes more than a few listens to fully sink in. Featuring a mixture of Meshuggah-like influences (on the guitars mainly) with some middle-eastern elements and some occasional Avant-garde BM styling’s, this release is indeed very well crafted, but hard to fully enjoy at first.

    Opening with the commanding “Lions Among Men”, you immediately know this is going to be an interesting release due to its unusual structure and sound. The very low guitars make the atmosphere sound very thick and perverse, something that you usually get on Sludge releases. With some of those middle-eastern mystical sounds at the beginning “Without as Within” continues the heavy atmosphere and expands on the bands crushing sound with some more riffing assaults and perfectly crafted slowdowns.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    HEIRS – Hunter (2011)

    cover

    Continuing on the hypnotic vibe of their last full-length “Fowl”, HEIRS returns with a three-song sample of what is to come in their next full-length release. In “Hunter”, the band outputs 25 minutes of their very interesting Avant-garde/Post Doom Metal with two new tracks and a cover of Sisters of Mercy’s “Never Land”. While the band’s never been our cup of tea, they surely create very elaborate atmospheric songs that transport the listener.

    First up we have “Hunter”, a six-minute track that constantly grows in momentum keeping the listener on the edge of their seat for the duration. The bass guitar line is pretty solid and nicely accompanies the hypnotic drums. Things get a bit ‘heavier’ in “Symptom”, a track that shows the Sludgier side of the bands sound with nicely distorted guitars and some atmospheric keyboard. The sound of this release is as always very warm and organic, just about right to properly enjoy such music.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Smohalla – Résilience (2011)

    cover

    Every month we get a few bands claiming to play Avant-garde whatever-genre and usually end up sucking majestically. This month’s great surprise is France’s Smohalla, a band that plays pretty solid and standard Avant-garde Black Metal in the vein of Arcturus, Vulture Industries, etc, but focusing more on deranged atmospheres rather than crazy catchy sections. This two person outfit does a great job in delivering eight tracks (around 45 minutes of music) of pure atmospheric craziness.

    Setting up the albums atmosphere with “Quasar”, the band gives a very similar vibe to Arcturus greatest opus “La Masquerade Infernale”. Immediately after, “As sol les toges vides” follows with some deranges vocals, psychotic atmospheric elements and trippy guitars. These songs are very well crafted and help Smohalla establish a truly excellent opening for this album. “Les repos du Lezard” and “Oracle rouge” continue with a Doom-ish edge and very interesting choir arrangements.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Peste Noire - L’Ordure à l’État Pur (2011)

    cover

    Black Metal visionaries Peste Noire have been releasing hit-or-miss albums for the past 10 years and none of them (although good) have impressed us as much as “L’Ordure à l’État Pur”. Carved out of their usual ‘let’s mix everything we can’ approach, this new album reaches new heights when it comes to amazing dissonant passages that at first seem totally random and disconnected.

    Fusing elements of Punk, Polka, electronic beats, Shoegaze and everything in between, Peste Noire delivers one hour of pure musical depravity that somehow will sneak into your subconscious and make you appreciate it for what it is. Opening with the super weird “Casse, Pèches, Fractures et Traditions”, we get some typical Black Metal vocals on top of thick and diabolical atmosphere that is generated by precise BM-like riffing and a punishing bass guitar line. Around the 5 minute mark the song just gets plain weird diverging into a polka/ska-ish passage and we totally love this sudden change.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries