Stars & Embers (Avantgarde Music) is the third album from Sweden’s ISON. The project is led by Daniel Änghede, who writes and produces the music. For this release, he is joined by new full-time vocalist Lisa Cuthbert, plus guest singers Mikael Stanne, circle&wind, and Dimming.
The contradictions of crafting an album using the very technologies and processes the band had previously railed against are but one small element of the complicated and interesting layers that make up Artificial Devices, the self-released second full-length composition of London duo Andrei Alan (guitars/bass/programming) and Chris Bevan Lee (keys/vocals/programming) collectively known as The Ever Living (I promised myself no Mumm-ra comments, but here I am in the intro… I can’t help it, every time I see the band name…).
One of the more leftfield collaborations of 2022 so far, see’s French electro maestro Perturbator (aka James Kent) purveyor of heavily eighties-influenced dark-wave join forces with Johannes Persson, vocalist/guitarist and principle songwriter for Swedish post-metal innovators Cult Of Luna. The collaboration first bared fruit early in 2020 as Holland’s Roadburn Festival, the legendary celebration of heavy and experimental music offered Perturbator and Johannes the opportunity to collaborate with a specially commissioned live performance.