Armonite, the instrumental rock collective led by composer Paolo Fosso and violinist Jacopo Bigi, signed with LA-based indie label Cleopatra Records for the release of their new album, And the Stars Above.
Armonite‘s instrumental music is perfectly in line with the spirit of the label, especially now that Cleopatra expanded in the movie industry.
With the film division Cleopatra Entertainment, the company has distributed, developed, and produced several films most of which have a strong horror and/or music component, including The Devil’s Domain(starring Michael Madsen), The Black Room (starring Lin Shaye), Halloween Pussy Trap Kill! Kill! (featuring the voice of Dave Mustainefrom Megadeth), The 27 Club (featuring Todd Rundgren), England Is Mine (Steven Morrissey bio-pic), A Street Cat Named Bob.
From the recommendation of the PR wire who provided this album for listening and reviewing, I decided to listen to this second EP by Forest God, a project by Aalborg, Denmark-based composer Peter Kiel Jørgensen. Forest God is definitely hard to peg in terms of genre. The project’s style is heavy, but not in the way of normal tech metal or progressive rock/metal bands. There isn’t much in the way of riffing or pretentious, cheesy cliches. Forest God is completely different, really, and they are here to win an uphill battle.
“Back to the Forest” is an affair that is always interesting and spell-binding. Indeed, I think that is the most impressive aspect here: the music grabs, holds and doesn’t let go. The EP builds a wonderful wall of sound using offbeat drumming with amazing fills, a refreshing bass work and plenty of atmospherics by keyboards and Melotron. One of the things you will notice right away is the fact that Forest God is very comfortable with odd time signatures. “The Long Night” is an easy example of this, as the song never quite feels “right” the first time through, but then your mind will grasp the beat in all of its intangible glory in subsequent listens. In the end, the composition is genius, beautiful and absolutely mind-boggling to perform.
The EP never really stops, though. “Solveig,” “The Promise” and “Brother” continue the incredible composition, though I feel that they are slightly more accessible. Track after track full of instrumental fireworks passes by, and the listener is blown away time and again by the fullness of the sound and the ease with which Forest God establishes a groove. This project has a penchant for creating ethereal atmospheres that blow right over your head, but then come back and smack you in the spine with their genius.
The Sydney-based Progressive Death/Black Metal project Deus Omega — managed by singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Alex Moore — released its new album titled “In Absentia of Light” on March 20th. It includes, wait for it, whooping 23 songs in total, and remains true to the project’s genre description which borders on experimental in every kind of meaning. Sudden rhythm changes, crushing guitar riffs, combination of growl, scream and clean vocals, and blast beats are some of the parts that make up this release.
Whole album has a cinematic, dark vibe what is easily derived from the title. That also adds a bit of avantgarde to the mix. Moore’s vocals are outstanding, and they certainly deepen the atmosphere making everything more meaningful. The only remark here is the album’s length; not that I’m complaining but there is enough material here for three separate releases what just speaks about the talent of this Australian musician.
It is a good thing to see that Deus Omega is keen on exploring different elements in their music. “In Absentia of Light” is a success, and is truly one of the 2018 albums that surprised me the most so far. Hear it on Spotify.
Multi-national Symphonic Metal six-piece TRAGUL released their new single “Before I Say Goodbye” on Friday, April 13th. The lyric video for the song is streaming now via the band’s official YouTube channel. “Before I Say Goodbye” presents an undeniably renewed TRAGUL, which returns with a very catchy melodic song, a rhythm halfway between the modern sound and the traditional power metal that leads to a fresh and melodic metal at its best.
TRAGULkeyboardist and founder Adrian Benegas commented: “The general concept of ‘Before I Say Goodbye’ is related to death or farewell. It could be understood as a spiritual death, a transformation towards another kind of feel leaving behind negative things for something better, a different state of the ‘being.’ Also, it could be understood more directly, specifically speaking about the departure from this world or about the death of a loved one from a first person view (as a farewell). Even if it is a sensitive subject this matter is always there, it’s like a strange feeling of nostalgia and hope about what is beyond this world, the doubt about what awaits us when we take that important step. In one way or another it is undeniable that within us is always the hope to find ourselves with something better, perhaps with ourselves in a state of “pure form”, the “true one” without the “clothing” that we use as human beings.”
Benegas describes the creative process for the new single as “very smooth and natural.”
He continues to say: “I started with a rough idea about the song’s subject. Then I created like an atmosphere to support that idea and started to write the final lyric in order to start writing the main melodies. Once I had the main melodies (verses, chorus) it went very fast, I think the most important and difficult parts when you create music are the melodies, the melodies are like the ‘soul’ of a song. Once you find something you like for the melody, the rest comes easily. For the final stage (arrangements, recordings, etc), we found a very easy way to work with the guys. Once I finish the songs (main idea/demo), I send the demo so they can add their arrangements on their own instruments before we start to record the final version. Except for the bass, that is entirely wrote by Oliver, always.”
TRAGUL plans to release a few more single by the end of 2018.
“True to TRAGUL‘s format we will release our music in a song by song format. Which means, a song every two months with a visual support and available on all the streaming and digital stores around the world. I can’t reveal too much at this moment, but I’d like to mention that we’ve prepared a special song for Halloween (with a dark concept on it), also we will release a cover of a song from a Netflix show. That song was mixed and mastered by a great Hollywood producer who will be revealed pretty soon. I am sure the people will love it,” Benegas concludes.
Watch a lyric video for “Before I Say Goodbye” below, and follow TRAGUL on Facebookfor future updates or visit their official website.
Prog/Heavy metallers from Belgium, 23 Acez, have been around since 2010, and they have recently returned with their third album “Embracing the Madness.” Why the hell didn’t I know about them earlier? Now, thanks to the PR wire, I got a promo copy of the mentioned release, which is a real t(h)reat.
The style that 23 Acez plays is pretty standard, comparing somewhat with more traditionalist ‘80s metal throwbacks, yet they manage to sound different and fresh when compared with a lot of the other bands that attempt to play in this particular style.
Benny Willaert’s vocals are gravely and rough, standing at the very center of the counter-tenor wails of Rob Halford and the husky baritone of Blaze Bailey. During the choruses of such catchy anthems as “Cellbound” and “Embracing the Madness” the vocal work almost punches past the rest of the arrangement. While he doesn’t soar into the higher stratosphere in the manner that most in the genre do, he more than compensates with sheer power.
Although the voice alone gives this album a heavy yet melodic edge, the entire arrangement pounds the sonic threshold of the listener into submission. Whether its faster songs like or down tempo stomping machines, there is a consistent picture of a mighty fist slamming itself down on a stone table and commanding your undivided attention.
“Embracing the Madness” is a powerful statement from a band that is hungry to show what their abilities are, and according to this they have much more to offer. Grab this record, you’ll not regret.
Vikrit is a progressive metal band from India influenced by variety of different styles. The band has been together for over seven years, but earlier this year they put out their debut EP The King in Exile.
It could easily be said that Vikrit plays progressive metal with elements of heavy metal/hard rock and extreme take on the prog metal genre, and fans of likes such Lam of God, Pantera, Periphery, Mastodon, and Opeth are apt to find something familiar in their sound. Tracks generally consist of simple dominating metal chord patterns with more complex underlying melodies. Instead of focusing on technical musicianship, each track of The King in Exile attempts to evoke a certain mood or feeling – and it does this quite well. Most tracks revolve around a central musical theme, but they manage to repeat themselves without feeling repetitive. Though the music is never too heavy or too relaxed, it still manages to span a wide range of musical styles, with tracks that are equal parts dark, calm, angry and passionate. It is vibrant with emotional quality, and the music is very refined – The King in Exile certainly has a high production quality, and the members of Vikrit know how to complement each other well.
That is, in fact, the album’s greatest strength. The music and the vocals suit each other very well, and combine to create the emotional experience that is the album’s best quality.
Ultimately, The King in Exile is very well made for what it is. While those who prefer more complex melodies won’t find it enthralling, it is clear that Vikrit’s members are quite talented, and the simple nature of the music is more of a stylistic choice than an indicator of poor musicianship. The King in Exile left quite a good impression on me. It is subdued but expressive, with little technicality but a lot of feeling.
Florida-based prog rock lover Barry Weinberg launched his most recent album “Samsarana” back in January, a record, which in the musician’s own words, should inspire its listeners. In an interview for Progarchy, Weinberg discusses what it took to come up with this ambitious project.
What made you go to release “Samsarana” under your own name? Does it feel more personal that way?
I was original going to release Samsarana under the name of my production company: DRP: Dream Reality Productions, but under advisement from my co-producer/sound engineer, we decided to call it “Barry Weinberg’s Samsarana.” Other than the drums (performed by Glenn Welman out of South Africa), I performed everything on the album…and, as the album is semi-autobiographical, it is definitely very personal to me.
This is common ground for almost all newer bands of our time, yet what has brought the rapid downfall in CD sales and decline of the music industry — the internet — also presents us with a range of new possibilities to support the bands we love and cherish even stronger than before.
Instrumental progressive metal band Art Against Agony from Germany have produced two albums and two EPs since 2014 and have toured Europe, Russia and South America over the course of the last few years, taking the management and production of the band fully into their own hands.
For the production of their third album Shiva Appreciation Society the project has now joined funding platform Patreon to give their fans a unique opportunity to support the band and become a part of the new production themselves.
From a range of 1€-50€ support, the band is offering anything from a free album until a complete involvement into the production process, being able to give the band feedback about raw tracks during composition and mixing of the album. Additionally, there is a very limited amount of t-shirts available exclusively for the Patreon supporters only!
The third album of the artist collective will be very experimental and progressive, yet one can expect a big focus on the bands Indian percussion player the_maximalist and their piano player the_surgeon, giving both of them a major spotlight.
The band will release their new record in October 2018 and follow up with a European tour, and there is more to come!
Video trailer for the new album Shiva Appreciation Society can be seen below.
Calling Swiss band Glaston post-rock does this Zurich / Basel four-piece a bit of injustice. They do include plethora of post-rock elements on “Inhale / Exhale,” the group’s first full-length album, but it’s definitely much more than that. Welcome to the soundtrack of emotions, free form and complexity.
Jumping on a bandwagon in 2014 with the release of the “Setting Out” single, the quartet spent next three years in honing and redefining their sound, reaching its climax with the 2017 release. Ten songs of “Inhale / Exhale” show that there is much to the of post-rock than delay-engaged tremolo riffs, what’s ultimately proven with the album opener and one of the strongholds “Game of Tones.” This polarising piece flows manually from very minimal to complex, never exuding any feelings of fatigue. And that is the biggest hallmark of Glaston and this release. Where many bands from the post-rock branch get stuck in proverbial mud of repetitiveness, Glaston manage to beautifully arrange different structures that form their songs. Be it the almost 10-minute epic contender of “Sunnar” or the shortest interlude “This Isn’t Happening.”
Even at their most repetitive, “Ihale / Exhale” doesn’t feel like that at all, as the music here is carefully put together and measured with microscopic precision. It is not to say that Glaston get mathematical, but rather it is the free-form factor of their composition skills and senses that allow them to be methodical and random at the same time.
Here comes an album that really surprised me. Choral Hearse is a Berlin-based all-female four-piece who are having their debut full-length album “Mire Exhumed” released on April 16th. The group creates what they call Progressive Doom Metal, which is then impeccably mashed with Experimental Rock and Folk elements.
The album flows seamlessly from track to track, carrying the listener through dark and disturbing soundscapes. The opener, “Chronic Departure,” acts as the perfect overture to the album, opening with a very simple, ominous melody, then carrying that melody through a consistent, driving beat with singer Liaam Iman’s haunting vocals adding the third layer. In many ways, this track takes the primal beats, presents them to the listener, and then shows the ways in which they have been altered and developed to produce this record.
Progarchy 