ASHENSPIRE - Speak Not Of The Laudanum Quandary Review

Ashenspire - Speak Not Of The Laudanum Quandary (2017, Code666)

Release date : January 20th, 2017

Lately, we have been receiving promo from the label Code666 and we have been mostly impressed by their quality and their variety of offerings; Aenaon and Terra are two of the albums we reviewed on this blog. Avant-garde Metal band Ashenspire formed in 2013 in the United Kingdom are the latest to be released on Code666. Mixing the speed of both Primordial and Ved Buens Ende with a vision that’s closer to Dodheimsgard and Arcturus, Ashenspire might have created the most theatrical record to have moved this critic for a long time.

AENAON - Hypnosophy

Aenaon - Hypnosophy (2016, Code666 Records)

When I first read the description of Aenaon’s music as Progressive Black Metal I was expecting another Post Black Metal platter that 2016 has been dumping all over the music reviewers. I could not be more wrong. As this Greek band was completely new to me it was such a pleasant surprise to discover an album that reminded me of the Avant-garde Metal of Ved Buens Ende, Arcturus, and the 2015 LMDM Record of the Year™ A Umbra Omega from Dodheimsgard. For once, you have the promess of a Progressive record that is really progressive.

DYSRHYTHMIA- The Veil Of Control

Dysrhythmia - The Veil Of Control (2016, Profound Lore Records)

Beforehand, there is something I have to admit while reviewing this album, I am a fan of everything Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts, Behold… The Arctopus, Byla) ever touches. Pair that to Kevin Hufnagel who also is a member of Gorguts, Vaura, and Sabbath Assembly and you have a fanboy that almost cried when receiving his promo of The Veil Of Control.

OPETH - Sorceress

Opeth - Sorceress (2016, Nuclear Blast)

There’s a duality in every band’s evolution that concerns both the band and the fans. First, the band doesn’t want to play the same songs over and over again and the fans don’t want to ‘’pay’’ for the same album either. However, once a band has its own sound the fans expect it to be similar while getting better at each subsequent record. That’s a challenge for any musician to walk that thin path. When the case is that a band gets tired of their previous sound and makes a left turn, it looses fans but might get some others.

OBSCURA - Akróasis

Obscura - Akróasis (2016, Relapse)

Recently we have reviewed the album Bleak Fragments by the Portuguese band Destroyers Of All and we referenced Obscura’s latest release (Akróasis) as another one of the most interesting Technical Death Metal albums of 2016.

DESTROYERS OF ALL - Bleak Fragments

Destroyers Of All - Bleak Fragments (2016, Mosher Records)

When I was a young child my father had this keyboard we could play on and it had a metronome and pre programmed accompaniment styles like samba, jazz, dance, rock, R&B, etc. My brother and I would be mixing those arrangements as if we were ‘’DJing’’ before knowing what it was. Sketchy, could be the correct word to describe our mixes. It would take a young four year old to think that so many genres could be mixed together and sound somewhat good. Not until now, at more thirty years old I would discover a band that would do the same while mixing Technical Death Metal in a way that is way more studied and mastered than the younger version of the author of those lines. Added to that, it was not played in MIDI. 

VEKTOR - Terminal Redux

Vektor - Terminal Redux (2016, Earache)

For all I knew before listening to this near-masterpiece was that Vektor’s logo was very similar to Voïvod's, aka one of my favorite band of all-time. So with that out of the way, and the fact that both bands are playing progressive music with a background of space explorations in their imagery, I would stop the similarities between both bands. Even if Vektor has some kind of debt towards Voïvod, they pay them good for the inspiration but are apart from each other. Both being masters in their own subgenre. 

IHSAHN - Arktis.

Ihsahn – Arktis. (2016, Candlelight)

The name of the former Emperor front man Ihsahn should not be a mystery to any metal head.His solo career has taken his early black metal efforts into the prog rock universe with a virulent taste for complex compositions and a tight triptych. Now with his sixth album as Ihsahn we are closer to a mainstream sound that could relate to Spock’s Beard or Pain of Salvation.

VOÏVOD – Post Society [EP]

Voïvod – Post Society EP (2016, Century Media)

Québécois progressive metal legends and speed metal masters don’t need no introductions when it comes to music connoisseurs.

MICK BARR - Blespac (Spathages) / Worthnt (Rust Mine) [7"]

Mick Barr - Blespac (Spathages) / Worthnt (Rust Mine) [7"] (2016, Wharf Cat records)
Mick Barr unleashes two technically masterful and dynamic tracks that straddle the progressive metal and free jazz genres. Both feature only Barr’s maniacally fast guitar shredding and screamed vocals. This 7” is truly thrilling and sure to satisfy any fan of Mick Barr’s solo output, his work with bands like Krallice, Ocrilim,Octis, and Orthrelm, or any of his numerous collaborative efforts.

ORANSSI PAZUZU - Värähtelijä

Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä (2016, 20 Buck Spin)

This record of over 70 minutes of pushing the limits of black metal within the path of psychedelic rock and progressive metal from the Finnish masters of Oranssi Pazuzu is divisive yet obviously mandatory.

SADIST – Hyena

Sadist – Hyena (2015, Scarlet Records)

Legendary Italian Death metallers of Sadist have done it again with another really tight record that keeps this genre that is mixing early Death metal and Thrash into a progressive territory.

AKITSA – Grands Tyrans

Akitsa – Grands Tyrans (2015, Hospital Productions)

While opening with Dévoilé like most of the primitive black metal origins of the vein of early Ulver and Darkthrone the Montréal based band led by O.T. pushes its listener into a path that black metal territories have been visited for almost thirty years of lo-fi recordings, distant drumming, scratchy strident guitars, and desperate screams. 

TRIBULATION – The Children of the Night

Tribulation – The Children of the Night (2015, Century Media)

Coming from Sweden, the black/death impersonating of progressive rock metal of Tribulation might be the next Ghost B.C. but with greater depth the quartet brings aggressivity and hanger to a genre that seemed to be topped by Katatonia and the likes.