I have a confession to make. Until this week, I had never heard one note of music by Sleep Lady. I was aware of their existence. I  started to follow guitarist Michael Hayden on Twitter based on who my twitter followers followed (there is too much usage of the word ‘follow’ here arrrrrrrrghhhh) and the fact that he has also written for the site (check his reviews here). But  never got around to checking them out. So my apologies to Michael, Mario, Sarah, Kristy & Tony for being so lazy that I couldn't even be bothered click a link. Sorry.

But that all changed on the 07/01/14. Sleep Lady released a new track entitled Central Valley. I’d seen a few tweets referring to the new music so decided it was about time that I actually listened to them. Now, I don’t know what was going on in my mind at that point in time. It was a regular Tuesday morning in work for me. But when I hit play 18 minutes and 20 seconds later, I was changed. I had heard something that was…. monumental. It took me on a journey that I was not expecting. I must have looked rather strange sat at my desk with that dumbstruck look on my face. This song had connected with me in a way I would never have imagined.

Since then I have listened to it a couple of times. And it’s like one of the Dungeons & Dragons 20-side die, no matter how many times you play it (or roll it, in this metaphor’s instance) it displays a different face. So what I decided to do was to play the track and write my thoughts as I went along. It was almost stream of consciousness. Reading it back, I could see that the song was creating images of waves, the sea, cliffs and rocks. Of storms and clouds and lightning and thunder. None of this is too surprising as I used to live in Whitley Bay and could see the North Sea literally from the end of my street. Like some of you (hopefully), I equate the sea with life; with it's trials and tribulations and it's constant changing shape and form and the challenges of navigating it without injury (physical and mental).

Some how, Sleep Lady have managed to tap into that part of me and create a musical landscape which perfectly matches my sea/life metaphor. It's almost like they went into my brain and used that as a blueprint.

Anyway. Enough of this. Have a listen to the track and then read my piece (or vice versa if you like) and let me know in the comments box what YOU think. What journey this magnificent piece of art took you on.

00:00 - 00:52
Gentle washes of strings and keyboards slide across some drum machine sounding beats. Like a heart beat in the distance.

00:53 - 01:32
A guitar figure arrives pickings melancholic notes from the ether. There is a wistful nature to the sounds. A thoughtfulness. Almost like a question...

01:33 -  02:48
Feedback from the right heralds the entrance of the drums. There is an ominous feel to this. Like storm clouds gathering on the skyline. Layers build and swirl. Rising until....

02:48 - 03:05
Everything falls away leaving some percussive hits when....

03:06 - 04:19
Crashing waves of heaviness heave into view. The black clouds have arrived.....a guitar picks out a melody that is reminiscent of rain so light yet insistent.

04:29 - 07:34
Suddenly everything is still. A Twin Peaks-esque passage shimmers into existence. The guitar melody is so mournful, yearning for release. More guitars appear picking out higher notes and harmonies guiding us towards a resolution it would seem....

07:35 - 09:59
But without warning the melody and sound becomes heavy. There is no resolution here. Like lightning overhead it jars you awake and stuns you into silence.

A keyboard repeats an earlier guitar melody adding an ethereal atmosphere. It's unnerving. Like the sound of fairground music in the distance, woozy and vaguely threatening. Again, there is a sense of building up to something.....some sort of enlightenment....some sort of revelation. Chords swing back and forth, the storm rages dragging us towards.....

10:00 - 11:39
Distortion. Fuzz. Confusion. Noise. Sporadic drums batter the senses. Keyboards and guitars swirl in waves. Back and forth we're pushed...the storm is gathering pace and strength, drawing us in, embracing us in its dark arms.

More noise, more insistent the snare building and building until....

11:40 - 14:29
We're pummelled with heaviness. Like waves breaking on rocks and crashing into cliff faces. The pace is funereal. Guitars squeal and shift. Yet..... there is still melody, there is still hopefulness that we will emerge from this.

14:30 - 18:20
And we do... it the sweetest of releases. The storm has broken. From the heaviest, darkest depths we have emerged and slipped into an almost dreamlike state. Drums are processed and delicate. Stability has returned to us. Guitars begin to lead the way towards the light, offering hope and warmth.

It is the shaft of sunlight breaking the black clouds. A light that warms, that reassures..... that gives hope and new life.

As the melody becomes a bit sour, almost discordant, we're reminded that the storm has passd but it is still only just behind us.... but then.... serenity returns.

And then..... we drift away into the ether.

What’s left is……..

"I travel without a ticket / I want to get caught / I want to be exposed / I want to be punished for what I've done", sings Ola Innset to open 'Bruises’, the first track on Making Mark's A Thousand Half-Truths. Musically, it's a jaunty sunshiney ballad at the opposite end of the happy-ometer to its dark lyrics. "You showed me your bruises / but I never showed you mine", makes for quite a start. Imagine Bonnie 'Prince' Billy channeling The Beach Boys. The clean tremolo of the guitar just bounds along with the melody, making for a singalong song that you shouldn't really be singing along to.

Making Marks are another Scandinavian band who seem to have taken the indie-pop format and make it shimmer with a little darkness, though as the album progresses it misfires a little, the mood inconsistent - even if the melodies are on the money throughout. Like Soundtrack of our Lives, A Camp or The Concretes, this collection of songs is hugely melodic. There are also echoes of Magic Numbers and Slow Club (female vocalist Nina Bø bears a striking vocal resemblance to Rebecca Taylor).

Formed in Oslo in 2012, Making Marks stand out for the vocal interplay between guitarist Innset and Bø, who also plays keyboards. The pair share duties on each track, and the lush production wisely centres around letting them flourish - the harmonies on 'Barcodes' for example shine beautifully. There's real depth to the voices, mixed higher in the production than the rhythm and guitars.

It also has more than one gear and when the pace picks up on tracks like 'Forgive and Forget' and 'Lemon Sheets', it almost feels as if the album has moved in the wrong direction, that the more mournful melancholy pace was working too well to be replaced, but then the choruses kick in and swell into warm blankets of sound. ‘Falling In Love Again’ is a perfect example of this, with that upbeat sound and conflicting lyrics: “You say I shouldn't be cruel to animals and that made me feel ashamed / but that’s nothing new / I’m getting used to that too / but I forget how my lips could tremble”.

If there's a weakness it's a lack of consistency. On 'Like Spinning', a heart-wringing tale of the difficulties of growing up plays out with vocals sharp across both channels. A chorus of "We can work it out / we can be healthy / and happy / and free", is positive, but it feels saccharine compared with the themes that preceded it. The message is too simple, too cliched. That’s not to detract from the standard of musicianship though. On the same track, Bø’s clinking piano creates an atmosphere that creates shivers, but like elsewhere it’s Innset’s guitar that propels the sound - sharp and crisp throughout.

It's also great to see the band from this part of the world opt to record in their own tongue, as Making Marks have done on 'Uten en Tred’, and it would have been nice to have had a couple more tracks in Norwegian. There are in-jokes peppered through too - phrases like ‘guided by voices’ and ‘my maudlin career’ just seem too well-placed to be accidental.

Ultimately the upbeat pop mixing with folk-tinged melodies is successful and 2014 should hopefully see the band reach a wide audience. It's the sort of album that leaves you feeling a little better about the world than you did before you pressed play.

Canadian four piece Dead Ranch were established in 2011, in Winnipeg, and this is their first full length release, Antler Royal. Recorded with Jesse Gander (Anciients, Bison B.C, 3 Inches Of Blood, Mass Grave), it’s a debut that sounds like a band that have been honing their craft for way more than the few years they’ve been together. A true statement for a tight-as-fuck, down-tuned colossus that will leave you with a huge grin on your face, and the fear of god in your eyes.

Opening track ‘Ice Desert’ starts as a beast that’s just awakening, with a single guitar slowly introducing the rest of the band into the fray. Layer upon layer builds up until the monster has now arisen, and is ready to drag you through just over half an hour (8 tracks) of pure brutality. And after the dust settles and cities have fallen – you’ll be back for more.

There’s barely even a second to think about what’s just happened to your brain before ‘Attack of the Sky Creatures’  knocks you back off your feet and continues to pummel your ears with ferocious beats and animalistic gut wrenching vocals. This is a finely produced album, no instrument taking charge – it’s an attack on the senses from all sides, and the duel guitarists fight alongside (not against) each other like their life depended on it.

What about the bass? I’m a huge fan of a dirty, low end distorted bass, and ‘Mudwalker/River Drinker’ more than quenches my thirst, as does ‘Water Park Shark’ with riffs so ugly, they’re god damn beautiful .  Tempos change in a heartbeat, and the melting pot of genres throughout is a testament to a band that have definitely spent a lot of time playing together, making sure that their debut is one to remember.

The final two songs are two different entities altogether, but the end result is still the same. ‘Larry Beastman’ is just under three minutes of being suckerpunched repeatedly and rapidly, the most punk rock track on the album for sure. And twice as long as that is ‘Le Petit Mort’, finishing off whatever sanity you may have left with a sonic steamroller dragging you slowly over a freshly tarred road.

You’d be doing yourself a huge favour by getting this album right now, one of the most amazing debuts my ears have had the pleasure to hear. Heavy as fuck, with  some of the best song titles and album artwork your eyes will ever see.

The problem of recording a second album is a complicated one mostly because there’s no formula for it.  While it’s easy for a lot of bands to try and recreate the sound of their first album, and this works a lot of the time (The Ramones did this successfully for three albums), others like to take the opportunity to go off the rails into a completely new direction. There is something to be said, however, for creating an album that takes the accomplishments of the previous and edits them for a more cohesive, streamlined sound.  This is what Hail Spirit Noir did with Oi Magoi.

With their debut album Pneuma, Hail Spirit Noir banked on the oddball premise that modern black metal shared enough of the spirit of the psychedelic 60s that the two sounds would meld together to create something new with a bold and exciting sound. This premise paid off in spades, and tracks like 'Let Your Devil Come Inside' were at once completely bonkers, undeniably exciting, and even catchy. Pneuma sounded like The Incredible String Band tripping in the woods with Marduk. Oi Magoi clearly has the same intent with a focus on refinement and tweaking rather than an overhaul of their existing sound.

The cover art alone provides a clear parallel to how the music in Oi Magoi relates to that of the album before it.  It references the art of Pneuma, the demonic smiling face as a full-body tattoo on an otherwise realistically-rendered man. The art is sophisticated especially in comparison to the art of Pneuma which has a madcap vibe to it that suggests a sort of gypsy spirit (or perhaps something scrawled onto an asylum wall). The music follows suit: tighter arrangements in place of ramshackle charm and a much greater ear for melody. Tracks like album closer, 'Oi Magoi' could be a hard sell on its own as being composed by a black metal band. Its throbbing organ coupled with everything from surf guitar to world music percussion blend into a lush fever pitch that remains grounded with a melodic through-line evoking traditional Jewish folk music. The most apt comparison might be to John Zorn’s Dreamers ensemble.

Other tracks take on a more sinister tone, specifically 'Satan is Time'. While it opens with a crystal clear acoustic guitar and harmonized vocals, not accidentally tipping a hat to Love’s Arthur Lee, it becomes a complex trip down its slinking bass line into a song that fully encapsulates Hail Spirit Noir’s vision. They allow their music to be pleasant, if only to allow for a more potent emotional spike as clouds darken and the song becomes a menacing chant, 'Satan is Time', again and again before blooming into full-on gravel-voiced madness. Similarly, centerpiece 'The Mermaid' marries this penchant for dense arrangement with the majesty of early prog bands; think King Crimson with its wobbling analogue synth. The band leaves room for several ideas and sounds to play to their logical endpoints in the tracks 11’29” run-time. As the track races toward its closing chords it reveals the ecstasy of playing what could have been an arena stomper in the early 70s.

While Oi Magoi is perhaps a more pure iteration of the direction in which this band will continue, and while aesthetically and composition-wise it improves on Pneuma, it is difficult to say that it reaches the same joyful highs as their debut. With the shearing off of some of the raw edges they once flaunted proudly, they’ve lost just a bit of what made their music so exciting in the first place. While the music is still decidedly weird, the band doesn’t seem like they themselves are weirdos. The music itself seemed to come from a sort of fun house dementia in Pneuma whereas now the music sounds like more of an intellectual study of the more bizarre juxtapositions of instrumentation and melodic ideas.  

In the end, with Oi Magoi Hail Spirit Noir has given a great gift to the world of art-house bizarro black metal, a subsection of a subsection that is too rarely given new blood. My biggest fear is that one day their capacity to edit themselves will outweigh their capacity to fly the freak flag as high as they can, marching through the often too self-serious landscape of modern metal.

I tried to review this album without mentioning Culted's geographically fascinating backstory, but the disconnect between the members (Three of whom reside in the remote Canadian prairies while vocalist Daniel Jansson lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. They have never met.) had such an impact on my interpretation of the album that I felt compelled to bring it up. Throughout the entirety of Oblique To All Paths I was unable to shake the feeling that Jansson's voice was like some terrible long-lost recorded artifact, and that the musicians had been tasked with writing an appropriately unsettling piece of music to accompany it, when in fact their recording process is quite the opposite way around.

Opener 'Brooding Hex' is a trial by fire, 20 minutes of slowly unfurling blackened doom which, as it leads you ever further down it's dark and crooked path, will utterly captivate you. Not through your own volition, you understand, more like the morbid curiosity which has people craning their necks for a better view of a particularly grisly crime scene. You'll be creeped out, uncomfortable, but you'll be damned if you can turn it off.

Both the instruments and vocals are swathed in layers of effects; the guitars can occasionally sound like the scraping of long-ossified bone on cracked concrete, the drums hit with all the impact of anti-materiel rounds fired into the hull of a rusted tanker, and the vocals sound like the last transmission of a man slowly bleeding to death in the middle of a frozen tundra. It is an unremittingly bleak collection of sounds, expertly fused to create an unpleasant but wholly immersive experience.

The track comes to a close with passages of maddening, spiralling guitar and harsh electronics that will make you feel as if your vitreous fluid has been replaced with battery acid. I would be genuinely surprised if anyone is able to listen through this whole album without needing to take a break more than a couple of times. Sombre piano jabs lead into 'Illuminati' which actually possesses something vaguely resembling traditional song structure, there's a riff and everything! It may be accompanied by more of Jansson's feral, cybernetic howls, but it's a riff nonetheless. However the following track, 'Intoxicant Immuration', contains no such concessions to structure; it's more akin to floating facedown in the slowly pooled blood of a thousand bathtub suicides.

By the time the album comes to the vaguely halfway point with 'March Of The Wolves', I feel utterly spent. Thankfully its another track with vaguely recognisable form: martial wardrums, blackened rasps and woozy, off-kilter riffs, all coming in at under 5 minutes long. Lovely.

A short intermission of desolate noise leads into 'Transmittal', which begins with sounds like the workings of some great machinery, all clanking, lurching dissonance. Among the black tremolo and funereal drums there are an endless minutiae that you'll be praying aren't just your imagination; glitches, echoes and indiscernible sampled snippets. The cumulative effect sounds simultaneously jagged and slithering, broken and ruined yet still cruelly efficient. As the track begins to shut itself down, the sequence counted down by double-kick and a sludgy riff, oscillating ever wilder, you'll dread what may come next.

Final track 'Jeremiad' begins with piston-like percussion and inhuman ranting, which is soon joined by a mournful guitar melody, and for the first time throughout the album you sense the disconnection between the two factions within the band. The relative lack of effects on the music here, contrasted with the heavily-distorted vocals serves to highlight the divide between the members, rather than mask it. However for the majority of the record, this is not as issue, and the whole disturbing thing sounds seamless.

With Oblique To All Paths, a title taken from a quote from occultist Austin Osman Spare, Culted fulfil their intention to "explore an artistic or philosophical path regardless of societal expectations". Whilst filtering elements of doom, black metal, industrial, noise and much more into their musical output, Culted sound completely unlike any other band. Follow down their dark path at your peril...

Leeds, UK based The Witch Hunt* are a talented Alt-Rock duo comprised of Louisa Osborn and Chris Mulligan. The duo have released some great material including songs 'Crawl' and 'Chairman' (check out the videos on youtube!) and their recent EP Little Book of Hate continues their musical evolution. The EP shares fives diverse songs that showcase the dynamic musical range which The Witch Hunt possess.

The EP kicks off with a brilliant track entitled 'Army Men'. It is the song the band has been showcasing, and for good reason, it is immediately gripping. The track begins with a minimalist clicking percussion and haunting, ominous atmospheric guitar. Louisa Osborn handles the lead vocal duties for the band admirably. Her voice is strong, full of emotion and capable of notes with staggering power. When Osborn goes all-in to belt out a note shivers skyrocket down my arm. The vibe of 'Army Man' is reminiscent of the Cure or Black Angels. Both band members sing, play guitar and contribute to the catchy percussive arrangements throughout the EP.

I found 'Army Men' was immediately rewarding, the other tracks on Little Book of Hate took a few listens to fully appreciate. All of the tracks wormed their way into my mind however and I've ultimately found this a very compelling EP. The next track 'One Big Bite' drives along with a simple, catchy melody as Osborn's vocals build tension. Some words she stretches, holding onto the last syllable like a sharp vocal dagger other times she sings along with the melody "oh-oh-oh-ohhhhhh....". Where ever Osborn takes the lyrics they are consistently delivered with a confident alluring fervor. This allure is exemplified on the curious track 'Wide and Laughing'. Louisa really sells the song with some magically sung sections that deliver a seductive poetic cadence. Mulligan echoes back subtly in the background with a distant whisper. The result of the vocal combinations bouncing back and forth are captivating.

So how about a dirty twangy Country/Rock vibe? Yes, The Witch Hunt pull that off as well. 'Can You Believe it?' starts off slow and methodically but by the end it's an unsettled ball of fury. The twangy guitar and chuggy stomp of drums that started the song evolve becoming agitated, harsh and angry. Osborn who was singing soft and delicately at the beginning of 'Can You Believe it?' sounds like she's enraged and believable at the end of the song belting out: "I want to break you/I want hurt you...". The song's slow transformation as it ratchets up and up is gripping.

The EP ends with the title track 'Little Book of Hate'. The soft, bouncy guitar intro is a stark contrast to the creepy, words and sinister intent of song. It is unsettling to hear a beautiful meandering melody sung to the words "I have a Little Book of Hate With your name on it". Like 'Can You Believe it?', 'Little Book of Hate' also builds to climatic ending. The track ends with soaring, triumphant guitar paired with Osborn's towering vocals. Brilliant stuff.

If you see the Little Book of Hate on a shelf be sure to grab it and leaf through the pages. Osborn and Mulligan have created an impressive collection that demonstrates the thrilling potential of the band. If the melodic, rocking guitar and eerie atmospherics don't win you over then Osborn's riveting and bewitching vocals will. A highly recommended listen, keep an eye on this band.

* Not to be confused with the hardcore U.S. band Witch Hunt. The UK band added "The".

Like so many other teenagers, I grew up on both punk and metal. BAT – Primitive Age is a blended marriage of the genres that will almost immediately take some of us back to a time when skateboarding, going to shows, and hanging out were priority activities. This 5-song EP is like taking a surf board time machine to an age where jobs and bills and money didn’t matter. Not juvenile in composition though, Primitive Age is hard-hitting and insanely tough.

The first track ‘BAT’ will have you headbanging almost without realizing that the music has already tapped the veins. It’s catchy, diverting, and chocked full of first wave black metal vocal stylings that are catchy and stout. ‘Rule of the Beast’ is without a doubt one of the standout tracks on the record. It’s sexy, quick, and would without a doubt make Lemmy one proud daddy. It’s an agreeable party anthem that fills the head with images of old classic cars racing down the freeway in a sea of heavy exhaust. You can almost see back seats full of big-breasted women with huge blonde hair laughing and pounding beer along side dudes clad in leather and studs.

‘Primitive Age’ is the kind of track you’ll find yourself tapping your fingers to hours after the record has made its first go around. Raw and powerful, it’s a beast that young kids will flip over and old schoolers will approve of. It almost makes you wish this band were around in the early 80’s at the start of it all but it’s refreshing that their pumping out this kind of heaviness today, keeping that flame alive.

BAT is a band for fans of Motörhead, Discharge, and Venom. This is a powerhouse of a band that blend together as musicians just as well as the genres of this record does. Comprised of members Ryan Waste (Municipal Waste, Volture) on bass and vocals, Volture guitarist Nick Poulous on guitars, and former D.R.I. drummer Felix Griffin on drums. Out now on Tankcrimes Records, you can purchase this rock hard release on tape or on digital format.

Information is a bit scarce on the ground about Aktor. As far as I can discover it’s a collaboration between Jussi Lehtisalo and Tomi Leppänen and Professor Black. The trio have released a 7” single (delightful!) called I Am The Psychic Wars and the two tracks on offer are a fantastic mix of prog, rock, psychedelic rock and Jean Michel Jarre. With pop sensibilities.

With a passing nod to Blue Oyster Cult (both in the name of the song and the driving guitar rhythms) ‘I Am The Psychic Wars’ begins with a drum intro and guitar lick ripped straight from ’74. So far so classic rock but then somewhere around a minute in keyboards appear adding a layer of sounds similar to those found dotted throughout Oxygène and a shimmering effect that adds an other-worldly quality to the song. Then before you can properly analyse everything that’s going on we’re off on another gallop with a solo and more driving riffage. Brilliant stuff. ‘Buried By The Sea’ incorporates the electronic vibe from the get-go. Where as side one was much more rock infused with electronica this is the reverse. Sounds cut in and out, beeps and boops appear and disappear, vocal lines are doubled with keyboard effects. That’s not to say that the guitars are lost in the mix, they’re alive and kicking but they add colour rather than focus.

This is a wonderful mash-up of styles. The vocals are a particular highlight; there is almost a whimsical quality to them. The tracks have energy and groove and whilst the title track is great it is the b-side that really caught my imagination. If an album of 10-12 songs building on this as a blueprint appeared in my hands one day, I would be a very happy man. As will you when you hear this (happy, that is. Not a man. Unless you are a man. In which case you WILL a…. I’ll stop now. Sorry.)

Short, sharp and sweet, Elizabeth kick back into action with their latest offering Insomnia. It's only a four-track EP, but it packs plenty of punch and offers a consistent galloping pace throughout. Embracing the more darker elements of hardcore, this EP furthers the trio's metallic edge and expresses a more polished sound. Personally I think there was a little more raw 'umph' to their 2012 release Where Vultures Land, but you can definitely tell there's been a fair bit of development for these guys over the last year or so.

Kind of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it of a release, but each track still maintains a full-bodied vibe, despite on average clocking in at a little under two minutes each. Starting out with an almost Converge-'Dark-Horse' twinge, 'Cemetery Feeling' launches you into a toe-tapping frenzy before shaking you violently for the last 20 seconds and dropping off into the more blackened 'Created Enemies'.

Not exactly groundbreaking, nor an unheard sound, they do a good job of keeping this sect of the hardcore/crust scene afloat. I think you may get a truer feeling for it if listened to after their first LP, where you'll see their development in sound and feeling, Recommended if you want to pad out your favourite sub genre, or if you're very new to it.

FFO: Birds In Row, Cowards, Baptists

Philadelphia’s Tungsten has a wonderfully informative Bio page on their website. Wonderful because one of the sections asks them to list their favourite albums, a selection of which follows: Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Miles Davis, Dream Theater, Opeth, Mars Volta, Yes, King Crimson and Meshuggah. To name a small few. So, a band influenced by such heavyweights must be able to produce something listenable, yes?

Oh yes. Yes indeed.

On their debut release The Reservoir, Tungsten have melded all those bands together to create a such a stellar collection of melodic, heavy and progressive tunes that I am alternately massively impressed and massively jealous. Jealous of the creativity and strength these songs show.

Album opener ‘Water Over Stone’ features a deceptively “prog” opening (all synths and Gilmour soloing) only to give way to a riff so bouncy, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were listening to something from Coverdale-era Purple. And yet for the catchiness of the guitars there is a delicate stream of keyboards running though this track, an underlying melody and added sound dimension.

What’s clear throughout this album, is that the influences the band have professed shine though BUT (and this is the important bit folks) without sounding like carbon copies of their idols. ‘Night Wanders By’ has a version riff that sounds like it belongs on  a hard rock album from the 70s, but you’d be hard pushed to say which band it COULD have been released by. This is one of the many things that make this album so good. It has all the best bits of your favourite bands but filtered through 2014. Enough of the past though....

‘El Dolor’ arrives in a crash of drums and frantic guitar chords. Utterly hummable and certainly radio-friendly but just when you think the band have gone all commercial on you - NEVER FEAR - the back half of the song takes on a different musical tack completely with an ominous guitar line and some excellent placement of the Hammond sound. It ends sounding like a completely different song!

Standout tracks on the album are ‘Atmos (Masto) Storms’ and ‘The Reservoir’. The former is an exercise in musicianship without losing any emotion or musicality. Singer Titi Musick (I’m saying nothing.....) uses words for the first 2 mins of the track and then spends the next 5 mins simply using her voices for notes. It’s this wordless display of angst and emotion that helps lift this song above the others. The eccentrically proggy instrumental section towards the end of the song shows that Tungsten can get all “odd sounds and time signatures” when they want to. ‘The Reservoir’ is the longest track on the album and you can hear why the band chose to name the album after it. Beginning with a riff from guitarists Ben Grossberg and Jeff McCall that defines the word ‘heavy’ and featuring a breakdown section that sounds like Iron Maiden crossed with Genesis, this track is truly a prog epic. It ebbs and flows, it’s heavy and dark yet shot through with moments of light.

It’s hard to believe this is Tungsten’s debut album, such is the breadth and depth of the songwriting displayed here. Metal enough for you to bang your head, melodic enough for you to sing along to and twisty enough to be prog enough for the prog (“No mellotron? No prog”) snobs. Goodness knows what their second album is going to be like as this will be a hard act to follow!

It’s the New Year and man there are some killer releases coming our way this year, especially in the hardcore scene. Moving along, when I think of hardcore, I think of certain cities or states, especially when it’s American hardcore. So when someone says Boston, I immediately think Slapshot, Siege, Converge, Jerry’s Kids, Have Heart and the like.

So when I say New York, they’ve got an awesome list of hardcore bands to have come and gone, some still going strong. You think of bands like Madball, Terror, Sick Of It All, Cro-Mags and Gorilla Biscuits, to name but a few. Lots of new hardcore bands in New York have been leaving their mark on the scene and none more so than Backtrack.

The NYHC flag-bearers have unmistakable been making inroads in hardcore, not just locally, but word wide since their first demo in 2008 after forming in 2007. The Long Island slam brigade has been pushing the envelope more and more. Releases also include an EP in 2009 titled Deal With The Devil, followed up with their first full-length titled Darker Half in 2011. The band then moved labels to Bridge Nine Records for a 7” titled Can’t Escape, which brings us to their first full-length on Bridge Nine Records titled Lost In Life.

Let’s cut straight to the chase as the record kicks off with 'Their Rules', which is an absolute ripper from the get go, embodying everything hardcore is about. It has energy, killer rhythmic riffs, an amazing message and just full on in your face attitude. This kind of hardcore really gets you going, no wonder they can boast with tours that include H20, Expire, Trapped Under Ice, Comback Kid etc.

The album just gets better and better with each passing track, some are just to good to not listen to over and over again. This brings me to the title track 'Lost In Life', which has the coolest fucking intro riff I have heard in a long time. This kind of track, 3 tracks in sets it all up nicely. It’s aggressive; it speaks to young people, which to me is absolutely imperative when it comes to hardcore.

All the tracks on this record are fucking incredible, another one that really stuck with me was 'Right This Wrong', just due to the sheer malice of the riffs, the unchecked aggression and the passion that fuels this track, pretty much all the others have that same drive. This is fucking hardcore and Backtrack have a winning formula, NYHC at its finest!

If you like hardcore, you probably already know and like Backtrack, it’s impossible not to. If you can listen to this record and not completely lose your shit, then you my friend are in fact a robot. For those of you who are new to hardcore, Backtrack is probably one of the most important bands of modern hardcore and Lost In Life is a true testament to that. All said and done, Lost In Life is an absolutely phenomenal record by all accounts.

What the hell is going on in Finland? I’m guessing it has a small population (which I can’t be bothered to look up) but a good chunk of the bands I write about for this site seem to come from there. I’m guessing it’s a similar size to my home country Wales but you don’t see armies of underground metal and stoner bands being flung out from there, though that would be fucking awesome.

Anyway, here’s another bunch of Finnish dreadlocked weed obsessed chaps called Domovoyd with their debut album Oh Sensibility which I guess is supposed to be ironic because throughout this doom blast you spend most of the time having absolutely no idea what’s going on.

It really gets cracking on the second track ‘Incarnation’ which blasts out an industrial strength doom riff which improves planet earth dramatically. Sounds like a mix between Monster Magnet in their Dopes to Infinity days and Electric Wizard throughout their entire career. At this point I would like to quickly take care of the stoned elephant in the room, the whole album sounds like Electric Wizard… a lot. However, I don’t think it’s entirely a bad thing, shit loads of bands try to sound like Electric Wizard but do it appallingly so at least these guys do it with a bit of style. Not only that, they sound like a trippier, fuzzed out, loop pedal heavy version of Electric Wizard and doesn’t that just sound awesome to you? Think Electric Wizard trying to do a kraut album and you will be more or less there.

The vocals are fuzzed out and incomprehensible, just as they should be and the production is top notch… and you can find all kinds of unique flashes of brilliance woven into a rather heavy mess. The riff on ‘By Taking Breath’ is amazing, seriously amazing and you will struggle to find any doom bands nailing something better than that. The track length is anywhere between 5 - 17 minutes and the final track ‘Argenteum Astrum’ proves they are really not afraid to just go off on some colossal psychedelic jam which can compete with the best of them. There is not too much originality going on here, just some good nod inducing doom. Do it!

Mutual Benefit are one of those bands who seem to cause intense love or adoration among their fans. Having become a mini-internet sensation over the last few months as people on this side of the pond have slowly discovered the baroque masterpieces that they have steadily been releasing digitally, it wasn't long before the broadsheets were proclaiming them the next big thing. Crushing praise for some but Mutual Benefit seem to take it in their stride.

Not that they are a band in the real sense, more a revolving door enterprise for singer-songwriter Jordan Lee and his band of merry men and women. A sort of experiment in folk and one that has resulted in this first physical release, Love's Crushing Diamond.

A selection of baroque folk pieces, these songs conjure a mood rather than a single meaning and contains a resolute “Englishness” to it all which is all the more interesting considering Jordan et al come from Boston, Texas. A certain Conor O'Brien crops up on repeated listens too as Villagers become something of a yardstick to latch these songs to.

Not that Mutual Benefit have anything in the way of approaching song like the Villagers, they rely mainly on the feeling that nature is all around. The excellent use of instrumentation shines through these songs giving them a sort of afterglow which can only be achieved in those early morning hours. They know how to craft some delicious melodies and utterly gorgeous syncopations as the music ebbs and flows through your soul.

For such a beautifully rendered album it's a shame that the songs don't quite match up. After the first glow of bathing, the sheen soon starts to slip as you realise that underneath all that beauty is a series of quite insubstantial songs. 'Golden Wake' sort of flounders by its end which is only slightly lifted by 'Advanced Falconry' with it's delightful twin part vocals. The cinematic seems to sink into a dull morass which ultimately leaves you feeling a little flat and more than a little bored.

They do have something special going on and their music is gorgeous. A little more substance and this could have been so much better but that's life and given time Mutual Benefit may yet release a classic. In the meantime they can be content with the knowledge that Love's Crushing Diamond will at least reach a fair few people.

An odd scenario this one.

I’ve only encountered Leaves' Eyes as such via front woman Liv Kristine’s appearance in the Cradle Of Filth video ‘Nymphetamine Fix’ and due to general reputation had written them off as “flouncy goth pop”.

But then I won a pair of tickets to their upcoming London show (19th January 2014) and saw that the press pack for the new album Symphonies of the Night was lurking in the Ech(((o)))es and Dust database.

Time to get properly acquainted then…

Leaves' Eyes have been a going concern since 2004 as a five piece from Norway and Germany with the central crux being vocalist Liv Kristine and guitarist Thorsten Bauer and as a band they ply their trade in “Symphonic Power Metal” of the variety that Nightwish and Within Temptation specialise in.

Leaves' Eyes add an interesting spin with the inclusion of additional vocalist Alexander Krull who provides death metal growled vocals to compliment Liv Kristine’s high operatic range creating a welcome sense of melodrama.

The opening two tracks are pure (Tarja era) Nightwish worship and I suppose if you are going to ape their style then now is definitely the best time to do so as the former faffs around with their vocalists.

Saying that opening track ‘Hell To The Heavens’ is an absolute belter. Beginning with just female vocals backed by piano before a big RIFF signals the full symphonic metal experience that erupts into huge choruses that have the death metal vocals mixed in. After that opening unfortunately ‘Fading Earth’ is symphonic metal at its commercial dullest with non-descript guitar work and overtly saccharine female vocals.

From here on in though Symphonies of the Night takes on a whole new character as it turns into full on stage show musical as they essentially throw the kitchen sink (orchestras and other assorted instruments) at a concept album based on “legends”.

‘Maid of Lorraine’ starts with some folk instrumentation and slow chug with operatic clean vocals until guitar solo signals the arrival of Leaves' Eyes' “sweet spot”.

The sweet spot being the afore mentioned interaction between Liv Kristine’s clean operatic vocals and Alexander Krull death metal growls when they either trade off against each other or combine forces to stunning dramatic effect. Often the female vocals are backed with symphonic or quiet elements trading against the male vocals backed by straight metal RIFFS before ultimately combining together into a huge chorus.

It’s a formula they use to great effect throughout amongst all the more atmospheric elements to create a sense of grandiose drama, but it is not all pomp and bombast as amongst this we have the plaintive ballads of ‘Saint Cecelia’ and ‘Nightshade’ to provide a welcome change of pace by showcasing Liv Kristine’s range against a simple backdrop of piano or stings.

In terms of immediate satisfaction as well as the opening track, the albums namesake ‘Symphony of the Night’ is also a brilliantly composed anthem.

Leaves' Eyes promised to deliver “a musical firework of the highest level” and they certainly deliver.

Slithering into motion with an elongated, distorted hiss and the clattering pulses of a piano, Dyodyo Asema crawls forward like a fissure in the Earth's crust yawning vengefully to reveal that there is such a thing as Hell.

Truly dark and thoroughly disturbing, this collaborative effort between Gnaw Their Tongues and Alkerdeel leers forth in celebration of Belgian label ConSouling Sounds' fifth anniversary. What better way to rejoice than release something that sounds like an unimaginable darkness consuming the entire planet in one slick, fell swoop? Now where did I put my black party hat covered in disfigured skulls? Seems only appropriate

This masterpiece is a full nineteen minutes of horrifying, unadulterated evil any sick fiend could ever ask for. The bright yellow artwork for the release does kinda throw you off as to how disgustingly black and harrowing it really is, which all adds to the whole experience in my opinion. I honestly could ramble on for a good while painting a picture of how foul yet fantastic this joint endeavour is but you really do need to check this out for yourself.

Fuck a Jesus, I literally couldn't vomit up my own spinal column as any kind of challenge to this beast.

FFO: Khanate, The Axis Of Perdition, Meth Drinker.