LUNATIC GODS - VLNOBYTIE (2012)

genre : avant-garde/progressive/extreme metal 

similar bands : Solefald, Unexpect

origin : Slovakia

strong spot : songwriting

weak spot : lyrics are not in English ( but I personally like them)

When I first read about Lunatic Gods I said ''No way,  I am not digging them, I am bored with all these mind-fucking avant-garde bands, I had a lot of Unexpect and Diablo Swing Orchestra the last couple of years''. But fortunately as soon as I listened to the first track, I realized this is not the case of another typical avant-garde band. First of all, I found the Slovakian language quite charming even though I don't have a clue about the themes the lyrics deal with. Second, the songwriting is solid as hell, everything seems to be calculated, no part seems out of place as in lots of avantgarde bands. Additionally, the tracks last less than four minutes and do not get tiring.  Third, the production is clean and heavy. Fourth, the music is complex yet catchy and most of the melodies stick easily to your mind. Last but not least, there are no filler tracks. What more do you want? Recommended!!! 

9,1 out of 10 goatheads

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BORKNAGAR - URD (2012)

genre : pagan/prog blackmetal

similar bands : Solefald, Arcturus, Vintersorg

origin : Norway

strong spot : songwriting

weak spot : -

This is an 'all star' band, including members of all the above mentioned bands. Usually 'all star' bands suck, but Borknagar have proved to be an exception all these years. They have their own style of songwriting and every album is similar to the previous one, without copying it though. I 've heard people blaming Borknagar for repetition but I totally disagree on this. Borknagar's music is rich, passionate, diverse and by no means repetitive. Musical identity in its best. Extra credits go to the clean vocals, especially the ones from ICS Vortex and Lazare from Solefald, they are simple charming.

9 out of 10 goatheads

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HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - PNEUMA (2012)

genre : psychedelic prog blackmetal/ psychedelic prog rock

similar bands : Deathspell Omega, Nachmystium, Yes

origin : Greece

strong spot : originality, vintage sound of strings, jazzy drum performance

weak spot : nothing 

Imagine The Doors wearing corpsepaint and playing black metal. Imagine Burzum as time travellers jamming with Emerson,lake and Palmer in 1972 somewhere in London. How would black metal sound if played in the 60s or 70s? The answer is given by Haris and Theoharis, also members of mighty Transcending bizarre?. Hail Spirit Noir present  one of the best prog black albums I have ever heard in my entire life. 'Pneuma' is almost perfect. Psychedelic, progressive, dark, melodic, complex yet catchy, original, strange. The clean vocals are some of the best I've heard the last years. All the melodies of the album are unique. The band uses strange chord progression but manage to create catchy songs, this is really exceptional. The sound is 100% analogue, vintage yet modern at the same time. It sounds like it was recorded ages ago, more likely in the 70s. I don't know any other band that plays this way. This is just Hail Spirit noir, pure damn Hail Spirit Noir!!!

10 out of 10 goatheads
(This is the first 10 out of 10 rating for a new album in this blog)

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SIGH - IN SOMNIPHOBIA (2012)

genre : avant-garde, psychedelic black

similar bands : Sigh

origin : Japan

strong spot : originality, orchestrations, compositions

weak spot : nothing obvious

Sigh have managed to create one of their best albums and probably one of the best avant-garde black metal albums ever, if not the best one. I am a huge fan of the band and I found 'Scenes from Hell' more amazing than sex with Lindsay Lohan. But I didn't expect this! Sigh present an album full of diverse orchestrations, strange instruments, electro loops, strange sounding effects and brilliant soundtrack-like melodies. Something like 'La Masquerade Infernale' - the black metal version (?) . Classical chord progressions and 70s instrumentation provide a very warm and vintage feeling. The album may sound frustrating at first, but it gets better and better after every listen. They are simply good composers and know how to mix their ideas perfectly in order to create coherent songs and a solid album. This time the production values are higher, it is maybe the more polished production that Sigh ever had. And it fits perfectly.  

9,8 out of 10 goatheads

 link

LEVIATHAN - TRUE TRAITOR , TRUE WHORE (2011)

genre : avant-garde, psychedelic black

similar bands : Deathspell Omega, Oranssi Pazuzu, Hail Spirit Noir
origin : USA
strong spot : originality

weak spot : nothing obvious

''On the morning of Sunday, January 9, the tattoo artist Jef Whitehead was arrested in Chicago on charges of sexual assault and domestic violence. According to the Chicago Tribune, Whitehead  got in a fight with his girlfriend and, as a Tribune reporter wrote, allegedly "used the tools of his trade to sexually assault his girlfriend after he slammed her head against a floor and choked her." Whitehead posted bail and, 10 months later, has yet to go to trial.'' (excerpt from http://pitchfork.com)

The songs here witness hate against women if I am not mistaken, the word whore is prominent in most of the tracks.Despite this cheesy and stupid bit,  Whitehead is a veteran in avantgarde black metal and he now presents his best album His new endeavour is a black metal psychedelic nightmare with punk attitude,misanthropic feelings and experimental touches here and there. I was never attracted to his previous works which I found tiring but with this one he really created sth out of the box, eclectic and with distinct identity.

8,7 out of 10 goatheads

 link

DODECAHEDRON - DODECAHEDRON (2012)

genre : avant-garde black

similar bands : Deathspell Omega
origin : Holland
strong spot : performance, production

weak spot : lack of originlity

I saw this coming...I was 100% sure that big labels would start releasing albums similar to 'Paracletus' and here it is, behold...the 'Dodecahedron' from Season of Mist. It's not that the music is bad, I enjoyed listening to this album but unfortunately this is a rip-off. No need to explain more, just give it a few spins and you can judge for yourself. I am also sure that some reviewers will praise this one. First reason, most of them don't have a clue about music, second, they never listen to the albums thoroughly enough, third, they are influenced by hype, fourth reason, they don't have a clue about music (x2).
The album is based on atonality,dissonant riffs, chaotic drum patterns and so on. Where lies the problem? Whereas Deathspell Omega's 'Paracletus' was original and the music had equal doses of dissonance and devastating melodies disguised as dissonance (a careful ear would notice that they are blackgaze-like melodies undercover), this album is just dissonance and a bit of industrial noise. It's quite easy for almost every descent band to write tons of dissonant tracks like Dodecahedron.On the contrary,  DSO are original and captivating because they combined dissonance with actual  musical compositions (i.e. 'Apokatastasis Panton' etc). Final verdict, almost failure.

5,1 out of 10 goatheads

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HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - PNEUMA (to be released 2012)

Just discovered a really unique band. Retro sounds collide with  prog black elements. There are only two songs streaming but I am sure this is a good finding for the future. Includes members of transcending Bizarre?

COLD BODY RADIATION - DEER TWILIGHT (2011)

genre : shoegaze, post-black

similar bands :Fall of Rauros, Alcest, Agalloch, Wolves in the Throne Room, The Album Leaf, Sigur Ros
origin : Holland
strong spot : serenity

weak spot : production standards could be higher

''Deer twilight'' is my first encounter with the Dutch band. This is not an album to fully capture your attention. It sounds more like a soundtrack for a national geographic documentary as it encompasses the serenity and peacefulness of an amazon forest. The songwriting is primarily based on chord progressions that lack a certain melody but, oddly enough, the whole album is crafted in a clever manner so as to make you wanna listen to it again and again. It is an album that is really captivating and perfect driving through the night or along a foggy forest. Now I'll have to check their previous endeavour which is equally good according to the rumors...

9,1 out of 10 goatheads

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THE DEVIL'S BLOOD - THE THOUSANDFOLD EPICENTRE (2011)

genre : gothic, occult rock/metal

similar bands : Ghost, In Solitude
origin : Holland
strong spot : songwriting, retro atmosphere, diversity in compositions

weak spot : the lack of harsh vocals :)

And Now for Something Completely Different, as the might Monty Pythons used to say. I love bands like Ghost and I could not resist posting this here.  Female vocals, vintage sound and style, hammonds, devil worship and lots of brilliant melodies. This is certainly not extreme but it is worth checking by almost every metal fan.

9 out of 10 goatheads

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EBONYLAKE - IN SWATHES OF BROODING LIGHT (2011)

 genre : avantgarde death/black

similar bands : Deathspell Omega, Blutmond, Morbid angel, Smohalla
origin : UK
strong spot : combination of dissonant chaos and symphonic samples, performance

weak spot : nothing obvious

Ebonylake present a chaotic ocean of merciless blastbeats, dissonant chords, screams, strange drum tempos and symphonic elements. I personally enjoyed it a lot. There are lots of bands that try to create something new but their music lacks a certain identity and seems to lead everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Ebonylake stretch the barriers of conventional music but seem to know where to lead their music to. The band has a passion with strange chord progressions and atonality, so this automatically becomes a love it or hate it album.

8,4 out of 10 goatheads

 link

ALCEST - Les Voyages De L'Âme (2012)

genre : pop/ indie metal? (black metal influences)

similar bands : HIM, 30 seconds to Mars, Smashing Pumpkins
origin : France
strong spot : first track

weak spot : songwriting, harsh vocals are almost gone

Well, Alcest is the talk of the town in the black metal cycles. Their previous album gave them huge publicity and established them as kings in the shoegaze/ post black idiom. I hope this stops with their new album which by no means is black or extreme metal. My problem with Alcest is that in both their last albums, there are only 2 or 3 really f^%##ing cool tracks where the music breathes and the songwriting is clever, the rest of the tracks are usually some pop chord progressions that sound dull and naive. They have managed to sound original, their music encompasses a romantic atmosphere  that is  reminiscent of french pop songs, something unique for a band that uses distorted guitars. If only they had better songs, I would really love their albums.

7  out of 10 goatheads

HELHEIM - Heiðindómr ok mótgang (2011)

 genre : melodic/viking black

similar bands : Kampfar, Iskald, Windir, Taake

origin : Norway

strong spot : songwriting

weak spot : nothing obvious

At times blasting, at times pompous, at times serene, this is a viking black metal album whose melodies were made to haunt you. Standard tremolo picking black metal at first listen, it unveils an exeptional beauty after more thorough listens due to its clever songwriting. Epic melodies, themes that stick to your mind, sudden and successful changes of tempo, grandiose symphonic samples and a really diverse vocalist yield in one of the best viking/pagan black metal albums I have heard the last years.

9 out of 10 goatheads

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KLABAUTAMANN - THE OLD CHAMBER

genre :  black metal

similar bands : Satyricon, Enslaved
origin : Germany
strong spot : cover

weak spot : lacks diversity and identity

Klabautamann's previous album ''Merkur'' is what I would call a ''classic'' album. It was one of these albums where your jaw drops and you can not pinpoint a single flow. I was very excited to hear that Klabautamann have a new album on the way. After a dozen of spins in my mp3 player, this is not an album for a 6,5 as I first thought. It is much better than the average mid tempo black since it includes some really beautiful progressive elements. The tracks are solid, every part is nicely combined with the part that succeeds it and there are no filler tracks or parts. I am now sure it is very close to 8,5.

  8,5 out of 10 goatheads

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THY CATAFALQUE - RENGETEG (2011)

genre : experimental black
similar bands :  Solefald, Damned Spirits' Dance, The kovenant

origin : Hungary

strong spot : originality

weak spot :nothing too obvious
.

Thy Catafalque's ''Roka Hasa Radio'' was really one of the best black metal albums I have ever heard in my short life.So, once again, the expectations were dangerously high. ''Rengeteg'' is very similar to its predecessor, it is actually the twin album of ''Roka Hasa Radio'': the production is the same, the drums and guitars sound, the songwriting very similar etc. This is not bad,  the band has established a personal mark and works it over developing it. The mixture of black metal, industrial sounds and folk atmosphere/melodies (without the actual use of folk  instruments) is again stunning and highly original. I don't get the lyrics but I very easily sneak into the dreamy world of the Hungarian combo every time I listen to their music. I still prefer their debut since it included some really incredible tracks and parts but ''Rengeteg'' is an excellent follow-up.

9,1 out of 10 goatheads 

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LANTLOS - AGAPE (2011)

genre : doom/black

similar bands :  Heretoir, Alcest, Fen
origin : Germany

strong spot :production, performance of the band (mainly drummer)

weak spot : songwriting is absent, duration is only 35 mins

Neige: Well, listen to me Herbst, we have to write a new album for Lantlos
Herbst: Do you have anything new in mind, any new tunes?
Neige: Hmm, actually no. but I can write 4 or 5 songs within a couple of days. I'll make them really simple but the fans will love them, the hype you know...
Herbst: Let's put some jazzy shit there to make the songs sound weird!
Neige: Coool! And a really good artwork, a brilliant production and promotion from the label! But fuck, we have no songs now. But who cares?
Herbst:  We can claim  the songs are simple because we are modern and we make minimal music.
Neige: You are on fire!!
Herbst: Well, let's start with B minor and then....hmm no inspiration, help me Neige!!
Neige: And...we end with B minor man! This is minimal!!
Herbst: Awwweeesomeee!!

2 out of 10 goatheads 

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