ALBUM REVIEW: Mogwai – The Bad Fire

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Wil Cifer

Robert Smith once called these guys his favorite band and it is easy to hear why. Eleven albums into their career, Mogwai has a clear focus on their sonic journey on The Bad Fire (Rock Action Records). Vocals appear right from the first song, serving as a smooth texture that sits in the swirl of sound. Things get more into their older bran of majestic melancholy on the second song. It’s less pop-oriented than the opening track. If you came here wanting post-rock this is the song for you. “What Kind of a Mix is This” feels like it just spills out from the end of the lingering ebb of the previous song. It takes a minute for a guitar melody to establish the song’s footing.Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: Pillar Of Light – Caldera

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Wil Cifer

This Detroit-based Sludge band Pillar Of Light moves into their brand of Metal like a storm cloud on their debut full-length Caldera (Transcending Obscurity Records) with a hypnotic manner of riffing that allows the songs to flow. Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: Dirty Shades – Stuck in Motion

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Wil Cifer

Hailing from France the Dirty Shades upholds the country’s legacy of birthing powerful atmospheric rock. Their new album Stuck in Motion (Modulor Music) offers a post-Hardcore punch to the dynamics as their sound swirls around you. They step on the gas at a few points in the opening track “Cannon Fodder” to keep the dynamics varied. Lead singer Anouk Degrande is backed by shouted accents where she allows her voice to wander off the swells of the guitar. The bass line anchors the second track “Mine,” as the ambiance thickens to a palm-muted groove buried in the layers. They build the song up into a heavier punch not unlike how Tool once commanded dynamics during the nineties. Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: Oh Hiroshima – All Things Shining

Posted on July 4, 2024 by Charlie Hill

Over the past decade, Oh Hiroshima have made a name for themselves in the Swedish music scene, taking inspiration from the likes of This Will Destroy You and numerous other bands in the Post-Rock genre, the band have made themselves stand out, and now four albums later, the band are once again looking to stretch out their horizons on the fifth album of their catalog, All Things Shining (Pelagic Records). Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: Mono – Oath

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Callum Reid

A sensuous, rapturous and thought-provoking collection of superior, post-rock instrumental music, Oath (Pelagic Records), from Japanese four-piece Mono, was recorded and mixed by late, great and already much-missed engineer Steve Albini, who passed away last month, aged 61.Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: Semuta – Glacial Erratic

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Tom Osman

On their debut full-length record, Glacial Erratic (Self-Released) Portland, Oregon’s Progressive Rock duo Semuta, featuring members of notable Rose City bands Burials and Dark Numbers, weld weighty subject matter, with heavy, but melodic riffs and no shortage of atmosphere and dynamics. Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: Blanket – Ceremonia

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Thomas Thrower

A genre-striding quartet from Blackpool, Blanket are back with their latest album, Ceremonia (Church Road Records). It is their third record and sees them continue their emotive brand of Post-Rock and Shoegaze, with the metal influences from their previous album Modern Escapism replaced with nineties Alternative Rock. Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: A Burial At Sea – Close To Home

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Charlie Hill

With all the technical and specialist instrumentalism that goes into the world of post-Rock, it is no wonder that the sub-genre has almost become synonymous with being a tad bit pretentious, with acts at times focusing on how skilled their members are than writing a good song.

It’s only been six years since A Burial At Sea formed, but quickly they have cemented in their earlier works that this has not been the case for them at all. Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: Blodet – Death Mother

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Duncan Evans

Death Mother (Church Road Records) is the debut full-length from Sweden’s Blodet, and it arrives after the tragic death of their guitarist Rickie Paleski-Östland, who contributed to the writing of the album. In spite of the inevitably difficult process of getting the record finished, it is nevertheless described as “cathartic”, “mesmerising”, and “alluring” by the press release which also draws comparisons to Chelsea Wolfe, Cult of Luna, and Sonic Youth.

Continue reading →

ALBUM REVIEW: Din of Celestial Birds – The Night is for Dreamers

Posted on August 9, 2023 by Tom Osman

Vocals and vocalists. They can be the secret weapon that elevates a piece of music into a higher realm, that gives a band a key component to their identity, that once heard you couldn’t imagine them without. They can be a deal breaker too — the ear sore that spoils the whole experience. Sometimes they’re just bland as a wet paper bag. But a voice is a voice. They all say something. They all have a message to convey (even when the message is “sha la la la la”).