THERA ROYA - Stone And Skin Mini-Review

Thera Roya - Stone And Skin (Self-released)

Release date: February 17th, 2017

6.0

HEAVY BABY SEA SLUGS - Teenage Graveyard Party EP Review

Heavy Baby Sea Slugs - Teenage Graveyard Party EP (2017, Heavy Baby Records)

Release date : January 21st, 2017

Recorded as a companion CD to their Japan/Taiwan tour in January 2017, Heavy Baby Sea Slugs’ EP Teenage Graveyard Party sounds like a business card where the band presents itself as a Sludge/Punk American band that isn’t afraid to get to experimental places.

L’HOMME ABSURDE - Monsters

L’Homme Absurde - Monsters (2016, Fono Ltd.)

Sold as a Post Black Metal album, Monsters by the Russians of L’Homme Absurde, a concept borrowed from Albert Camus, is a Melodic Post Black Metal cum Blackgaze etc. This record enters well into the genre that links Locrian, Deafheaven, and Ashbringer. It captures this melodic melted with shoegaze craze that Sunbather unleashed upon our world of American Black Metal that is not in the vein of the Second Wave or the Scandinavian Black Metal. L’Homme Absurde was at first a one man band formed by drummer A. (Mare Infinitum, Who Dies In Siberian Slush, Comatose Vigil) in 2015 and in 2016 joined by Georgiy Bykov (Mare Infinitum also) and Isod on the guitars and Yuri S. handling the bass.

ASHBRINGER - Yûgen

Ashbringer - Yûgen (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Minnesota wunderkind Nick Stanger made some kind of an impact with the release of his first LP Vacant a year ago. Ashbringer was another Northern American one man band that could go under the radar like many others. Young Stanger was eighteen at the time he recorded Vacant  and his interpretation of the genre surprised with his compositions and deep understanding of Black Metal.

[Throwback Reviews] OLD MAN GLOOM - The Ape of God

Note from the editor: this review was first published at my main blog and since I moved here I've decided to edit and repost those archived reviews once in a while just to get the database complete and give a second life to those earlier writings.

Old Man Gloom – The Ape of God (2014, Profound Lore)

The super group that is Old Man Gloom consisting of Aaron Turner on guitar and vocals (Isis), Nate Newton also on guitar and vocals (Converge, Doomriders), Caleb Scofield on bass and vocals (Cave In, Zozobra), and drummer Santos Motano. With the release of two albums identically titled and leaking a fake edited version of a single album, Old Man Gloom angered and frustrated journalists and illegal downloads.

COBALT – Slow Forever

Cobalt – Slow Forever (2016, Profound Lore)

Often categorized as black metal, the duo of Cobalt is a blend between the great masters of Swans, Converge, and bits here and there of Eyehategod. With Slow Forever, they are putting a solid cornerstone into their already interesting discography.

CORRECTIONS HOUSE – Know How To Carry a Whip

Corrections House – Know How To Carry a Whip (2015, Neurot)

Formed of Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod), Sanford Parker (Minsk) and Seward Fairbury, Corrections House is the cohesive collaboration of those great minds in the making of the sophomore album that is Know How To Carry a Whip.

With Industrial sonorities and the perfect balance of aggressivity and heaviness, Corrections House developped a grey coloured album that is bleak and uninvinting. Upcaling all the Ministry wannabes, the Neurosis sound and the groove of Eyehategod produce a nice effect to counter the repetitive blandness of the Industrial genre. Merging noise and sludge and the ever influence of Swans, KHTCaW is certainly a must for 2015.

At my first listen I was not sure about the album but as with the repeated listens I dived more and more into the qualities and themes that CH have brought with their second album.

8.3

AHAB – The Giant (2012)

AHAB – The Giant (2012)

N’étant pas naturellement attiré vers les sorties d’albums Doom, je connais que quelques classiques tel Candlemass et Cathedral. Ce groupe Allemand qui se spécialise dans le Post-metal et le Funeral Doom, une sorte de Doom très lent et plutôt théâtral qui plaît beaucoup aux fans du genre. C’est aussi un album d’introduction à se style peu commercial et sans compromis. L’atmosphère lourde de cet album ne plaira pas à tout type de mélomane ni à tout « metalleux ». Toutefois, il faut se challenger musicalement  en temps qu’enthousiastes de la musique et Ahab est le type de groupe qui apporte véritablement quelque chose de nouveau à la table en plus de sonorités peu communes. Ce qui me lassait du Doom traditionnel était l’impression d’écouter Black Sabbath à répétition interprété par différents bands. Avec Ahab leur opus The Giant plus précisément, on a droit à de l’originalité et du contenu. Une belle expérience à découvrir qui s’adresse aux mélomanes ouverts d'esprits et avertis.