Just as their geographical namesake suggests, Latitudes are an expansively-minded post-everything band with their view set far beyond the immediate horizon. Part Island (Debemur Morti), the band’s fourth album, isn’t just broad in its musical palate – which takes cues from the likes of Neurosis and Alcest – it also uses its sparse rural setting to tackle themes of desperation and emptiness in an always engaging way.
A band name that works beautifully on so many levels – profound, Sci-Fi, comedic – Italian quintet John, The Void’s sound is now firmly attached in the former, having spent time dallying in the first two descriptors. Second album III: Adversa (Argonauta Records) adds a further, more grave distillation of that desolation whilst maintaining a subtle, warm influence.Continue reading
Music reviewers are inherently sceptical and often contrarian creatures, so when an artist arrives carrying plaudits from the grandees of heavy music, it’s hard not to default to cynicism. You’d be especially forgiven for hanging onto that cynicism with both hands when metal’s own great soothsayer, Lars Ulrich, adds his own recommendations to the mix – Ulrich labelling Arctic Monkeys as his favourite Metal band in 2012 still raises some serious questions about his take on the heavy music zeitgeist.Continue reading
UK-based progressive post-Rock band Cracked Machine are releasing their brand new opus The Call of the Void via PsyKa Records on 12th April 2019. The prolific band just released their debut last spring, I, Cosmonaut, and are back for another round of beautifully composed, emotionally resonant, psychedelic-tinged prog. Ghost Cult brings you the stream of their new single, ‘Azi Dahakar’ right now! Continue reading
From its outset – a hypnotic, ponderous bass line infused with the buzz and intermittent snarl of low-fi synthesiser – Sâver’s They Came With Sunlight (Pelagic Records) promises something pretty distinctive. What follows is an, at turns, aggressive, dark and uncertain trip set to driving rhythms and some extremely muscular stoner riffs and Ole Christian Helstad’s potent, fuzz-infused bass lines, undercut by Markus Støle’s extremely competent drumming.Continue reading
Is post-Death Metal a thing? I’m sure there’s some Metal forum that can vindicate that subgenre, but who’s got the time for that. On second thought Gorguts’ Colored Sands probably has already nabbed the coveted best post-Death album title, but I digress. Fallujah’s latest LP Undying Light (Nuclear Blast) certainly seems to fit the post-Extreme label as well, seeing that it’s an album equal parts Death and Deftones.Continue reading
It’s been seven years in the making, but one can excuse a big chunk of the wait for Copenhagen Rock collective Redwolves’ debut album Future Becomes Past (Argonauta Records). Just over two years ago frontman Rasmus Cundell was the subject of a brutal assault, yet despite the evidence of his scars being littered throughout the album, there’s a paradoxical lightness shining through.Continue reading
All the way back in 2010, former members of Wolvhammer, The Gates Of Slumber, and Amiensus formed Chrome Waves, but a focus on other projects meant that the band sat firmly on the backburner for many years with just one EP and a few singles to their name. Nearly ten years later, after founding member and guitarist Jeff Wilson left Wolvhammer and Abigail Williams, Chrome Waves has been given new life and the mid-Western post-Black metal trio present us with A Grief Observed (Disorder)Continue reading
The Earth Is The Sky, the 2015 sophomore album from Swedish miserabilists The Moth Gatherer, gave post-Metal a real kick up the arse: its spacey, synth-drenched starkness oozed intensity, passion, and musicality, and possessed natural – if occasionally long-winded – invention. Latest long-player Esoteric Oppression (both Agonia Records), their first without founder member Alex Stjernfeldt, sees that sparkle given an added cohesion which can only enhance their burgeoning reputation. Continue reading
Atmosphere can make or break an album. It provides the backdrop and can effectively dictate the direction of individual songs as well as the record as a whole. For bands that create uncompromising walls of sound, finely crafting this atmosphere is of utmost importance in order to make a profound musical statement that not only carries sonic weight but also emotional significance.Continue reading