Mighty Matt, one of our greatest living guitarists.
I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who pre-ordered the new album, I really appreciate it. It’s down to less than 100 of the limited editions now at:
Our friends at Crate digger have said if you use the code ‘fiercearmy’ you can get 15% off this weekend across the whole store so can get any new releases including Swans, The Kills plus the Fierce And The Dead on vinyl etc etc
Now this one is definitely in my comfort zone. The Last Colour play a style of powerful, on moments atmospheric Progressive Metal, with Post-Metal interspersed into their sound too. In a bid to continue with my ever continuing broadening of horizons I decided I’d give this a look over for review.
The Last Colour are the kind of band I wouldn’t have touched a few years ago, and those who listen to the more conventional styles of Metal can safely give this one a miss from the get go. However, those who are attracted to bizarre and abstract strands of Metal are going to want to read on.
The Last Colour’s style is a suffocating mesh of jangling, and atmospheric guitars. Their pacing is a slow burning type, and their songs are not too long, yet ever growing. A spiralling, haunting trudge through dank mires, their riffs claw out the speakers like skeletal branches; constricting the listener and dragging them into pits of despair. The guitar tone isn’t too overbearing. The drum work is excellent, with tasteful use of cymbals and drum fills. The bass also has a good degree of room to breathe here on Beautiful Apocalypse which is just great.
The band is at their best as the album flows. A tumultuous journey on “The Race Against The End” that spans over five minutes, and drags the listener right to the heart of The Last Colour’s nightmare world. The album cover is absolutely perfect for the music contained, with rather simplistic drawing which when observed carefully explains more.
A bizarre, and sometimes horrifying release, The Last Colour create their atmosphere well. I’d say fans of the style are going to be in for a treat with Beautiful Apocalypse.
A jury in California decided today that the opening acoustic riff to Led Zeppelin’s iconic “Stairway to Heaven” is indeed original. The estate of the late Randy Wolfe, a member of the band Spirit, sued Led Zeppelin members Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, claiming they stole the riff from Spirit’s song, “Taurus.” The riff in question is a very short descending cord progression that has been used in music for hundreds of years.
While there has been talk of a new Kansas album for a few months now, the band made it official this past Tuesday. The new album, entitled The Prelude Implicit, is due out September 23, 2016, and it is their first album since 2000’s Somewhere to Elsewhere, which featured all original members of the band, including Kerry Livgren. Kansas began recording the new album in January of this year, after signing with InsideOut records.
Oak is a Norwegian art rock band that has recently released an album titled “Lighthouse” via Apollon Records. After several reviews for artists that I was relatively unaware of, I can safely say that Oak is a superb band. Having said that, does Lighthouse live up to the standard that I, and many others, have come to expect?
The band comprises of four members members, Simen Valldal Johannessen, Sigbjørn Reiakvam, Øystein Sootholtet, and Ole Michael Bjørndal.
The music of Oak is certainly in an area of its own although it does have tendrils that reach out into many different styles, including ethereal, flowing, spacey (a la Porcupine Tree), progressive, ambient, cinematic and even touching on the psychedelic. This album, Lighthouse, conjures up magnificent, almost sparse, soundscapes which build from a subdued start into walls of sound before receding back into sparseness again. So without continuing to tease the reader, what did this reviewer make of the new album?
The highlights after several listens include “Perceiving Red,” “Munich,” “The Sea,” and “Lighthouse,” although it was indeed a very hard choice to decide between all the tracks.
The opening track to Afterthoughts is a short instrumental titled “Prelude,” which is followed by “Home.” This piece sets the scene with a guitar gently strumming. This gentle, almost ethereal, sound continues and then slowly builds with soft piano. The drums, bass and guitar continue to intensify, almost overpowering vocals and then the track is stripped bare again leaving only the sparse drums and cymbals which are then joined by that superb, haunting piano melody. The track settles back into the initial motif with the instruments again intensifying the sound. A stunning and very atmospheric start to the album, and sets the listener up for a musical voyage through the remaining tracks.
“Perceiving Red” (5:44) has some superbly played beautiful piano, backed by the softest of vocals and a guitar which soars over everything else. Later on the drums add to the atmosphere. This track simply drips with emotion, from the instrumentation to the vocals, it is a stunning piece of work, gently changing direction and easing the listener along. do you become in the track that all sense of time simply disappears.
“The Sea” (4:53) enters the fray with a gentle, almost meandering piano passage, soon joined by crisp but unobtrusive drumming and floating effects. These are soon joined by vocals, forming an amazingly atmospheric track. The keyboards form a sort of “surround sound” to the track, wrapping everything else in. This must be the ultimate emotion soundscape on the album, with that melancholic vibe so stunningly fusing with the vocals and painting the almost perfect aural experience.
You will gather that this reviewer was well impressed with Lighthouse, but it does take a few plays before you realize that you are listening to a simply stunning album. Some may describe this work as “minimalist” but this is far from being correct as the band of musicians move effortlessly between sparseness to walls of sound and back. Set aside the 50 minutes required to hear this album from start to finish and immerse yourself in an experience. I think that it almost goes without saying that Lighthouse gets the special “One To Buy” sticker on the front, and indeed also gets a “This Experience Will Last Forever” sticker just below it.
Italian metal band Judas The Dancer have just released the third video in the serious of video singles taken from their upcoming EP “Post Pop Violence” due in September. In an interview for Progarchy, bassist and singer Nicolo Cavallaro and guitarist and singer Marco Paltanin tell us what is it like to be in the band, but also inspiration and more.
What made you go for the name Judas The Dancer?
Nic: We firstly wanted to call ourselves Motaro (the Mortal Kombat character half horse and half man). When Marco heard that he just said “Yeah! Why not Dylan Dog at this point?!” And I said “Dylan not for sure… But Judas Dancer is good!”… We added the “the” just because is so cool…
Marco: I vividly remember we didn’t want to move in circles for days or weeks, awaiting divine inspiration. We solved it briefly in a twenty minutes-chuckle-chuckle-discussion. I guess it could have been something cheesy such as “Baywatch” or fucked-up like “The Bully Bumblebee has a crap, pronto” (Mr.Pickles please, don’t sue me if I steal from you). We were lucky we agreed on Judas The Dancer before anything tragic had happened.
How do you usually describe your music?
Nic: We call it “Post Pop Violence”. And I think there’s no best ways to describe it.
Marco: To me it’s a bastard son of a threesome: metal, funky and a dirty rock. But I wouldn’t trust the way I see things, if I were you. There’s much going on in the songs so yeah, we prefer to describe the mood of our music, instead of its genre. “Post pop violence”, that’s our Klaatu verata Nicto, if you know what I mean.
What is your writing process like?
Nic: For the EP we started from ideas during jams or rehearsal and than we worked on them. The new music is coming out from recorded ideas and than we arrange together. But if some big producer wanna join us to make big money we’re open to proposals…
Marco: Writing together in the rehearsal room was a really convenient approach when we were defining our sound. After all I wouldn’t be honest if I pretended we knew what we wanted to play from the start. We never knew our whole life actually. Now that we work on pre-recorded stuff it’s amazing, because there’s intense agreement and everyone knows exactly how that idea should be evolved. There’s not a song similar to another, of course. But they’re all Post Pop Violence.
Who or what is your inspiration, if you have any?
Nic: All the things happening in this world are potential inspiration. But they have to be very stupid or enjoyable to join Post Pop Violence.
Marco: The Almighty’s Cloak of Invisibility. The guy is so good at hiding under It, He may even convince me He doesn’t exist.
What is your favourite piece on the “Post Pop Violence” EP?
Nic: Every song has its own history, for many reasons… But I would probably say “Maradona Talking Heads!”
Marco: Probably “Along Came Lilì”. I had grown sick and tired of listening to it… but I must confess I enjoy so much playing it live, in all its pimpin’ majesty and length, that’s the best of the lot for me.
What makes “Post Pop Violence” different?
Nic: Post Pop Violence is having interesting arrangements keeping the song listenable and letting ALL the people enjoy it. It’s like playing proggy music into an Irish pub or at least this is what we want to do with JTD.
Marco: The freedom to play whatever you like but never compromising on accessibility on behalf of the listener. When we’ll manage to play before traditional country, pop, chill-out, dubstep, brutal metal audiences without them brow-furrowing, seeing them adapt to your music and enjoy it, the mission of Post Pop Violence will be complete.
What should music lovers expect from “Post Pop Violence”?
Nic: 5 different song (plus 1 cover) but just one single mood.
Marco: Well, I have a bunch of trademarks to sort out to answer this. “We snatch the hidden depravation in listenable music”. “Shape of a puppy. spirit of a murderer”. “The poltergeist of commercial music”. Enough pearls for today, I don’t want to squander it all like a boozer.
What kind of emotions would you like your audience to feel when they listen to your music?
Nic: we just want people to enjoy our music however they see fit. We have heavy parts, we have choruses, we have funky stuff… Wanna mosh? Just mosh! Wanna sing? Just sing! Just enjoy every feeling we share with you!
Marco: It’s in the name. I wanna see them dance with metal like the whole world had become a rubbish tip disco. That’d be something.
Which do you like most, life in the studio or on tour?
Nic: Personally, I like to film videos… Ahah! Tour or studio is both good. I like to play my music and if I can do it it will surely be awesome.
Marco: The studio is the place your ideas take shape. They somehow connect to the flesh and still surprise you, long after you thought you had grasped them for good. I like that part. The stage though is the only place where you can really measure the energy of those ideas. I like that feeling too.
Pick your three favourite albums that you would take on a desert island with you.
Nic: Between The Buried And Me – Colors, Ihshan – Arktis, Huey Lewis and the News – some double CD greatest hits or something like that… Sometimes you just need to smile and relax..
Marco: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – Of Natural History, Blind Guardian – Nightfall in Middle Earth, Death – The Sound of Perseverance.
Judas The Dancer are on Facebook; follow them for more news.
If you’ve yet to do so, go to the bottom of this review, order the album, then return for the review.
When it comes to finding the legitimate inheritors of the legacy of Pink Floyd’s dystopian psychedelic prog phase (in particular, ANIMALS), there are only three serious contenders: Airbag; Dave Kerzner; and Cosmograf. While all three are excellent, Cosmograf has consistently honored the tradition while progressing in the most existentialist ways possible. Airbag might be more atmospheric, and Kerzner might be poppier, but no one does what Cosmograf does when it comes to angst and intensity.
Some albums show their beauty right from the beginning, other albums must be listened to from the beginning to the end before you can truly appreciate them. Vitruvius’ “Above the Silvered Sky” belongs to the latter group. After the short piano-driven intro “Prelude,” the album continues with “Heaven or Hell,” which is a splendid contribution to the world of melodic progressive metal with fusion elements. Combine that with the charismatic vocals of Dulce Robles, and you get something very interesting with this release.
There is a development throughout the album. The next song, for instance, is still fast paced but it adds on melody even more, as Robles is beginning to sound a tiny bit more melodic which befits the song quite well. After that another super fast beginning, but this time with some slower parts thrown in for variety. And yes, said variety makes the song much more enjoyable than it would be otherwise.
The things get slowed down with “The Maze” which beginning hints somewhat theatrical approach by the band. After a while the electric instruments begin to kick in, but the song is still slow which is nice for a change. Robles introduces a bit of operatic singing, and the tempo changes from classic prog metal to the already mentioned fusion.
What to think of this? The label “Prog” fits the album due to its variety, and the addition of fusion motifs certainly contribute to it. The vocalist, for instance, experiments with all sorts of ways of how to deliver her lines, and she does it exceptionally well. The same goes for the differences in pace. You get a nice mixture of slow- and fast-paced tunes which showcase the band’s skills. This all makes the album unpredictable, and that’s something good.
Get “Above The Silvered Sky” from Bandcamp and support the band.
Matt sent this out to his list earlier today. Great stuff!
Matt “Yes I am the Coolest” Stevens!
My live and rarities anthology solo album Archive is now available to pre-order from Bad Elephant Music on limited edition CD and Download. The first few hundred CD copies are signed and numbered and apparently are selling fast. Thank you for your support it means a lot to me.
Progarchy 