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.

I honestly cannot remember an opening song in recent times that's excited me as much as ‘Fuck Off Get Free (For The Island of Montreal)’. Acoustic guitar riffs and Efrim's vocals going throughout the song and the gorgeous interaction between electric guitar and violin. This is the signal of the return of Efrim Menuck, the Godspeed You! Black Emperor co-founder, with the band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra after winning this year’s Polaris Music Prize.

Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is the first new full-length album from Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra (TSMZMO) since 2010’s Kollapse Tradixionales and it will be released next January 21st through the label Constellation Records. The album is also the first effort of the Canadian band as a quintet and offers an exemplary blend of hardcore, garage rock, blues and metal sounds and therefore taking distance from the classic post rock tag that has been always linked to them.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (aka A Silver Mt. Zion, Thee Silver Mt. Zion, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, etc.) is one of the many side projects from members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, created in 1999 by the Godspeeder Efrim , Sophie and Thierry and the current line-up is composed by Efrim Menuck, David Payant, Jessica Moss, Sophie Trudeau and Thierry Amar.

They come from Montreal, Quebec, and they produce an amazing music that is really unique in its style.

What about the album?  In a running time of about 50 minutes, Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything simply takes the listeners on a series of journeys mapped by the interaction of a multitude of instruments arranged from the most simple to most complex musical structures. There's no doubt that the Efrim’s voice is the main standout of their albums and recognizable among hundreds.

The ten-minutes ‘Fuck Off Get Free (For The Island of Montreal)’ opens the album and from the first notes you'll notice the spatial dynamics of blues, folk, rock, jazz, and orchestral music. This track is the statement of the new music style of the quintet. What remains constant is the band commitment to placing emphasis on the politics of authenticity and also through the new album they remark their world of truth with slogans that are chanted with a peculiar intensity.

This happen also with the centerpiece 'Austerity Blues', a 14 minutes song of which these days we can listen to an excerpt. The successful blend between the vocals and the instruments, and in particular the alternation between the vocals and the violin, is the power of this beautiful song that alone could be an EP for the complexity of its structure and the passion that expresses. There are so many changes in sound in it that this song is like a paint made by patches of several paints, each one with it's one dominant tone. Someone could think that the outcome is a mess, but it's not. The outcome is a brilliant composition ending with the lyric “Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down” sung in all the possible ways. Magic happens at the minute 7. Epic song.

'Take Away These Early Grave Blues' is where they sing the socio-political lyrics so passionately as the dynamics intensify and all the instruments play together in a wall of sound perfectly synchronized till dissolving with the lyric “love each other”. It took me a while before entering into this song mood and now I love it. Bands that deliver a social critique with the courage, the passion and the honesty demonstrated by TSMZMO are very rare and I invite you to listen to carefully this album to really appreciate it.

'Little One Runs' introduces the second part of the album that is unexpectedly and beautifully softer. This song, in particular is a sweet lullaby where the vocals are gently interplayed among the notes. Passing through the intense and passionate 'What We Loved Was Not Enough' – the ending lyrics are touching - it's the turn of 'Rains Thru The Roof At Thee Grande Ballroom (For Capital Steez)' that is a tribute to the late Pro Era rapper Capital Steez who died prematurely at the age of 19 jumping off the rooftop of Cinematic Music Group headquarters in Manhattan last December 2012.

“All I can say is that music is more than just something you can do during the weekend, as a part time gig...it interprets the musician lifestyle, it's what you are, it's how you live, it's the things you do and we'll continue doing it...” Hell, isn't it wonderful?
The closing song of this incredible album starts with the words of Capital Steez and just after that, the drums and the vocals create together an atmosphere so deep that you get goosebumps. It's a great ode that concludes an intense album full of passion and where music and social commitment are combined in a perfect marriage.

Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything requires time to be understood completely and I'm sure that more you'll listen to it, more you'll love it. Maybe this is the most immediate album of the band and for sure is going to be one of the best release of 2014.

Way, way back in the mists of time (2008), when the site was very much in its infancy and it was pretty much only me doing the writing (how times have changed), we received a CD from Beccy Owen that really blew me away. Now, five years further down the track, we have the follow up.

Some things haven't changed. The velvety smooth, rich voice that so caught my attention the first time around is still very much front and centre. If anything it is slightly more velvety and slightly richer, but that may be as much to do with the sharper production on this record than the last, Either way, it is without doubt the standout feature here and it is set against almost entirely solo piano arrangements that showcase it perfectly. For stylistic reference think Tori Amos (with perhaps a better voice) with a splash of kate Bush and more than a hint of Natasha Khan and you're close.

Another thing that doesn't seem to have changed is melancholy and heartache; these songs are steeped in it. I really hope these songs are written from distant memory and that the intervening five years haven't been full of misfortune, but it does leave you wondering.

Things that have changed are the quality of the production, with this recording having more space and depth than its predecessor, and the skill of the piano playing (to these uneducated ears at least). This is most evident on 'Blizzard', one of the outstanding tracks from the last album and curiously included on this record too. It may seem a strange choice to re-work an old song like this, although apparently Beccy has always done this album to album, but it works as the song is injected with a greater urgency in the playing & benefits from the superior production to become one of the outstanding moments on this album as well.

The standard of songwriting is very strong throughout, but special mention needs to go to 'Suitcases', not just for its use of the phrase "tectonic plates" in a love song, opener 'You Keep Flooding In' and the outstanding, unaccompanied vocal performance of Dead Language; a classic folk ballad updated with a distinctly modern lyrical twist and a real hairs on the back of the neck moment.

Solo singer songwriters aren't everybody's cup of tea but Beccy shines with a quality that raises her above the standard open mic fare and places her alongside some of our finest crafters of simple and startlingly honest songs, I just hope we don't have to wait another five years for the next record.

For my first review, I probably shouldn’t have picked a sludge metal release. Like most others, I have dabbled a little by listening to some Mastodon, Kylesa, and High on Fire, but I could never get into the hazy, grimy, and heavy (one might even say Sludge-y) atmosphere of one of the more obscure metal subgenres.

However, when I first heard about Dune, another factor was responsible for my interest: While I would freely admit I know very little about sludge, I do know about science fiction. For a sci-fi fan like myself, the band name immediately stands out for sharing a title with one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written. Science fiction is not totally unheard of in metal, but very few bands have tried to tackle the very unusual aesthetic put forth by Frank Herbert in his epic science fiction masterpiece (although it was previously covered in Iron Maiden’s underrated Piece of Mind deep cut ‘To Tame a Land’).

When it comes to sludge metal, I don’t think there could be a more fitting sci-fi novel to take inspiration from than Dune. This novel, unlike almost all other great science fiction works, has very little focus on advanced technology, instead settling for organic processes that allow for an aesthetic that is usually more appropriate for fantasy. Sludge metal (and other related subgenres such as stoner and doom metal) almost always forgoes the cleaner and more precise sound used by more mainstream metal genres to allow for a dirty and soulful style which I think reflects the difference between Dune and other sci-fi classics.

Hell, in Dune, the universe almost literally runs on drugs, as if there was any more debate over the bridging of the two!

So now let’s get into the EP itself. Progenitor is a very good debut EP for the band and has many standout elements, although it is not without its flaws. The strengths are immediately apparent with the opening instrumental intro ‘Gravity Signal’, which immediately goes into the first real song, ‘Protostar’. The intro does a great job of building up tension and establishing a sci-fi atmosphere (without the bleeps and bloops that are usually present in less creative sci-fi themed works) and ‘Protostar’ is a fun song that has great sludge riffs that complement an engaging song progression. These two tracks are very well-representative of the rest of the album—and with any luck, for the rest of Dune’s career as well.

Dune’s primary strength on this EP is how well all of the riffs and melodies flow into one another and manage to create ups and downs that any band that labels themselves “progressive” should. But not only do the riffs flow well together within the same song, but all of the songs flow together well too. I can’t help but think of Dune sometimes as trying to make a sludge metal version of what was accomplished by Slough Feg on their landmark sci-fi concept album Traveller, especially how the riffs seem like they were made to complement a story. As stated in interviews, Dune hopes to make a concept album soon, which makes me excited because their music seems tailor-made to carry a narrative.

However, this EP is not without its flaws. Some of the songs (especially toward the end) seem to run on too long and sometimes dip into the instrumental meandering that has been the downfall of many progressive bands. However, if this EP were a concept album, I would be more willing to overlook something like that for the sake of developing a story.

All in all, Progenitor is a great debut EP and offers a lot of potential for refinement and expansion in the following years, and I wish the best to Dune as they follow their golden path* to success.

*I knew I couldn’t make my way through writing this review without dropping in at least one Dune pun.

It was roughly 9 months ago when I published my review of the first conceptual ‘Bedfellows’ EP by British hardcore band Bastions, called The Bastard Son. Now they’re back with Bedfellows Part 2: The Forgotten Daughter to finish the sad family story.

Whereas The Bastard Son contained 4 great hardcore/punk songs, The Forgotten Daughter continues with 5 tracks, all again played very energetically and dynamically, with vocalist Jamie Burne screaming and growling away emotionally. The band decided to go down the path of telling this story over the release of two EPs rather than feeling the slight pressure of releasing a full-length album, a choice that worked out rather well. In fact, shorter EPs and 7 inches always work a lot better in the hardcore/punk subgenre.

The Forgotten Daughter kicks off ferociously with ‘Empty Vessels’, reminding me quite a bit of the aggression and energy Swiss trio Coilguns create to well. This whole EP feels a lot more angry and aggressive than The Bastard Son, which had a bit of a “slower” feeling to it with songs such as ‘Amongst Crows’, but I suppose that finishing a story leads inevitably to a climax, and Bastions hit that climax in full force.

The Coilguns-like hardcore vibe continues in the next track ‘Foreign Bodies’, which is another mosh pit inducing beast of a track before we hit the little bit slower and more melodic third track ‘Mother’s Ruin’. Well with melodic I mean the interesting vocal lines in the chorus and the more subtle chord changes, not that Jamie all of a sudden starts singing beautiful ‘a cappella’ or anything like that as the aggression and growling is still very much there.

The uptempo drumming and playing brutally hits back full force in the next track ‘The Water Tower’ before the final song on this EP ‘’Murmuring’, similarly to ‘Amongst Crows’ on The Bastard Son, demonstrates the whole spectre of emotions, quiet/loudness and aggression, finishing the ‘Bedfellows’ story on a brilliant climax.

Bastions demonstrate again that they are a band on the top of their game at the moment. The British hardcore/punk scene is very much alive and 2014 starts with a fantastic EP raising the bar for the rest of the scene to follow.

For fans of: Coilguns, Converge, Touche Amore, Rise and Fall, Coliseum.

Urgh… has everyone recovered from the frankly ridiculous year of next level rock music that was 2013? Me either, however things don’t seem to be slowing down in 2014 as West Country rockers Henry Blacker are proving. This rugged little rock band is comprised of Joe and Tim from the more than legendary Hey Colossus (and Tim’s brother) and their debut album Hungry Dogs will Eat Dirty Puddings is coming out on Riot Season, whose owner Andy should be given a knighthood for what he’s done for boundary pushing underground rock music. The label boasts releases from Todd, Shit and Shine, Bad Guys, Mainliner, Art Burning Water etc… wow! Anyway, are Henry Blacker another mind bending string to the Riot Season bow? Yes of course they are.

You know that track ‘Hot Grave’ with the clean vocals on the Hey Colossus record last year? What do you mean no? Go listen to it at once you fool, it was my song of the year! Well, I am delighted to tell you that was actually Tim who’s on vocal duties for these guys and we’re treated to his rather quirky growls throughout entire album. Genuinely one of the most unique voices you’ll hear and during first track ‘Crab House’ there is a wonderful patch where the riffs take mini breaks for him to rant something but one time it’s like he can’t think of anything and has a panic attack… fucking class! The track also boasts a ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding garage rock sound that you would have to be a complete moron not to adore.

‘Pullin like a Dray’ is an absolute gem of a number, such a groovy little sound that just makes you want to boogie. It would not sound out of place on one of Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions and if you put it on in a house party full of people who don’t like underground rock music they would not go frown and tell you to turn it off. It’s accessible but in a good way and more importantly a massive pile of fucking fun.

Hungry Dogs will Eat Dirty Puddings consistently delivers on catchy little numbers. I’m not sure how on earth they have made something so sludgy yet so groove and downright entertaining. We’re consistently smacked around the chops with little diamonds such as ‘Scumblood’ which makes you grin but has a dark edge with sinister lyrics. It certainly has the potential to be a crowd pleaser and can see it appealing to a huge range or rock fans from across the spectrum. Whether you’re into Queens of the Stone Age, The Melvins, The Jesus Lizard of Future of the Left you are going to love getting down and dirty with these guys. They are a quirky, sludgy, growly little rock band who don’t sound like anyone else for Christ sake, of course you are going to love it.

New York-based progressive wizards Theater Of The Absurd have just released their new album, The Myth Of Sisyphus on December 13 through Graviton Music Services. Formed in 2006 by drummer Patrick Curley and guitarist Mike Neumeister, the initial intent of the band was to play progressive metal but with ferocity. This led to a limited issue of the band’s first album back in 2007 and in recent years this early vision has expanded greatly to deliver songs which are now vast in scope but also provide a unique, emotional listening experience. With The Myth Of Sisyphus I believe that Theater Of The Absurd have managed to attain their vision, certainly in terms of song-writing and also the crisp, clear production which really fits the music nicely.

The album is worth exploring on a few different levels. Firstly, it’s interesting to understand the background behind The Myth Of Sisyphus who defied the gods and put Death in chains so that no human needed to die. When Death was eventually liberated and it came time for Sisyphus himself to die, he concocted a deceit which let him escape from the underworld. Finally captured, the gods decided on his punishment for all eternity. He would have to push a rock up a mountain; upon reaching the top, the rock would roll down again, leaving Sisyphus to start over. This fits with the lyrics which explore the internal exertions of humanity but perhaps this is also a statement on how the work of a band can feel like an endless labour? I’m not sure but this record feels definitely effortless, well structured, and full of different ideas along with great playing. All of these factors make it worthy of a listen to those of even a passing interest in the progressive genre.

The album art has been provided by the extremely talented Serbian painter Zoran Velimanovic and is excellent. All too often I’m asked to review digital albums, wading through a sea of mp3 files. Here I somewhat unusually got a hold of a physical CD. This allowed me to examine the cover in detail. It is decorated with an image of frenzied anarchic and colourful underwater chaos. The more you study it the more it reveals. The images completely complement the music and this definitely sets you in the right frame of mind for listening to the eight tracks on offer.

The tracks themselves solidly concentrate on musical arrangement which is a definite strength. Sometimes prog bands try to blow the fan away with overly technical or meandering songs. Each song is expansive enough to allow some degree of meditative twists and turns without compromising the strong metallic foundation of charging riffs and the occasional extreme growl which underpins each track.

In summary, Theater Of The Absurd have certainly tapped into an exciting genre. In recent years the success of bands such as Porcupine Tree and Opeth has propelled prog further and further into the spotlight. Gone are the days the prog label was something to be mocked as music created by upper- and middle-class, white-collar, college-educated males from Southern England. Even King Crimson leader Robert Fripp dismissed progressive rock lyrics as "the philosophical meanderings of some English half-wit who is circumnavigating some inessential point of experience in his life."

Hopefully with this album Theater Of The Absurd will earn some well-deserved fans. The guys should feel proud that they’ve created this album and although there is still room for further development The Myth Of Sisyphus is an impressive and encouraging release.

Can it really be almost twenty years since Mogwai first enhanced my musical experience with their stunning debut Young Team; introducing me to the wonders of instrumental guitar music?

Over this illustrious time period the Glasgow band have released some mesmerising music through studio albums, film soundtracks, extended plays, live albums, sessions, rarities and remix collections. I’ve hungrily set about collecting everything they’ve released and eagerly caught the band play live on each visit to these shores. Legend has it that one of those visits inspired the more vicious tracks on the Mr Beast album. A furious 15 minute white noise and strobe lighting assault as a “fuck you” riposte to a chatty Belfast audience ended one gig. On their return, our ears took another pounding prior to the release of the aforementioned album. It was glorious.

Rave Tapes, their eighth studio album, takes the minimalist synthetic throb of the Les Revenants soundtrack and adds to the mix with lovely organic instrumentation. Early listens suggest a companion piece to 2001’s Rock Action. That album took us by surprise with the introduction of vocals and Rave Tapes has a few “songs” on it; one of which is surely one of Mogwai’s finest moments. To fully enjoy the deep hues painted by this collection, I strongly advise listening with some headphones. Each track is gloriously constructed from multiple layers of melody and sounds that might otherwise escape into the ether if uncaptured.

Opening track ‘I Heard about You Last Night’ is a low key enticing combination of chiming tones and lovely warm guitars. A simple repetitive melody merrily envelopes you, but before long a swell of something more sinister washes over you. The track doesn’t give much away as to what is to follow and will probably sit well as a good opening tune for the live shows. I sincerely hope the band come this way to promote this album as the sheer depth of the sounds will just be immense recreated in the live scenario, I have no doubt.

I have to admit, I found the album difficult on the initial listen, almost underwhelming. Certainly tracks like ‘Simon Ferocious’ and ‘Remurdered’, which utilise the most basic fuzzy analogue throbbing sounds seemed to almost exist for the sake of making some new noises. But further listening (at closer proximity) reveals an intricacy and cleverness of playing where the fusion of analogue and digital is exceptional. You can hear the squeak of the guitar strings in the former and the way that ‘Remurdered’ contorts into more joyous sounds is a neat trick they pull off expertly. It’s as if the dead have come to life, perhaps inspired by the music they made for the French zombie drama Les Revenants.

Rave Tapes isn’t just about trying to push the boundaries of what Mogwai should sound like. ‘Hexon Bogon’ is definitely the track that could have appeared on (almost) any of their former albums. Organic in sound, the track has a verse chorus verse structure. Layers of melodic guitar intricately weave their way in and out of each other, the searing guitar line in the ‘chorus’ earworms its way into your head. Over too soon, this track will be a monster live.

If you want to challenge yourself with a headfuck of a tune then you need to hear ‘Repelish’. A spoken word monologue from some American zealot set to some seriously warped devilish keyboard tones. Perfect considering the theme of our erstwhile nutjob’s ranting is about the perils of backtracking in rock music. The keyboards moan and writhe while the drums drop in and out, the crack of the snare so satisfying each time its hit. The “gotta live for Satan” line has been freaking me out with every listen. Definitely one of Mogwai’s most memorable and intense tracks.

Prior to the album’s superb closing moments, we have ‘Mastercard’, reliant on guitars as primary instrumentation, there’s a snap in the performance that is a little at odds with the ease of some of the other tracks. The scuzzy distortion of the layered guitars makes you feel dirty, brilliant considering the music has no lyrics. ‘Deesh’ rides along on a droning background that might not appear to you through normal speakers, non-apparent guitars flicker over an intense bass throb. Indeterminate droning keyboards/guitars join the warm organ tones, the track is sinister and serious.

The final trio of tunes really drive home the ominous fact that Rave Tapes is one of Mogwai’s finest collections. ‘Blues Hour’ is a straight up song with aching reverbed piano, unobtrusive winding bass lines and a tragic vocal turn. The chorus is just plain heart-breaking and for a band that relies on almost entirely instrumental music, makes you question what have they been keeping from us all these years? Reminiscent of a Nick Cave classic, the track swells to an epic centrepiece harking back to the huge sounds of Young Team before quietly composing itself back into the quiet calm of the verse. It’s beautiful and I will never tire of hearing this song.

Rave Tapes is undoubtedly one of Mogwai’s most melodic albums, ‘No Medicine for Regret’ is another clever earworm built upon a bedrock of lush organ. If laser beams had sound to match the stunning visual, the wondrous synth hook of this tune would be that sound. An intense bass hum rises up to propel the track along and what begins as a morose tune ends up a glorious and uplifting soundscape of spirited melodies. The off kilter organ main melody envelopes you and suddenly becomes…whatever the opposite of off kilter happens to be.

Closing tune ‘The Lord is out of Control’ takes the vocodered vocals of ‘Hunted by a Freak’ providing a hymnal melody. The drums fizz and clash like some busted robotic machine breaking down. Layered clean and distorted guitars provide a depth that allows the track to gradually build so that you experience another amazing shift from morose sounds to sheer euphoria. Perhaps this is the inspiration behind the album’s title, a nod to electro sounds and a reminder of youthful days.

Rave Tapes is a glorious mix of analogue and digital, guitars and keyboards/synths, sadness and euphoria. Mogwai are masters of their art, with an imperiously vast knowledge of sounds and styles and a brilliant way with melody. They have managed to re-invent themselves on many occasions, always seeking new ways to further their sound and stay creative. Prolific and hardworking, always managing to do things their way, mainstream success remains elusive, but the band doesn’t need that.

Try making your own compilation of Mogwai tunes, it’ll prove incredibly difficult to do, but it’ll be fucking amazing. Album of the year in January? Seriously? Rave Tapes is going to take some beating.

Who hasn’t heard of Pontiak? The Virginia based band consisting of the three Carney brothers, Jennings on bass, Van on guitar and lead vocals and Lain on drums? If you haven’t you have some catching up to do as they have put out at least one release each year since 2005, and their latest album INNOCENCE will be number 10, their 8th release for Thrill Jockey.

What they have created here is probably some of their heavier stuff, especially when compared to Echo Ono, which has a more psychedelic indie rock sound compared to this newest offering. From the opening 2 tracks ‘Innocence’ and ‘Lack Lustre Rush’ it is clear that the band has dived deep into the heavy fuzz effects, creating a heavier, dirtier and more stoner rock sound. In fact, everything sounds a lot heavier and a lot warmer. The bass is a lot more present, the guitars are more distorted and fuzzier, and they sound very warm especially during the solo in ‘Noble Heads’, and the drums sound slightly better produced, creating a more in your face effect.

But don’t get me wrong, as it is still indisputable Pontiak we’re dealing with here. There is a lot of psychedelica going on here, and at times you get warped back to the 70’s heavy rock scene, during ‘Ghosts’ and ‘It’s the Greatest’ for example. Other songs have that Pontiak classic psychedelic folk sound, like the beautiful ‘Darkness is Coming’ or ‘Wildfires’, that has a huge Neil Young, or even Scottish singer songwriter Withered Hand stamp on it. Or close your eyes while you listen to the dirty near doom rock sounding fuzz riff of ‘Surrounded by Diamonds’ and you’ll easily mistake it for a Black Sabbath song. But then again it is not as it is clearly Pontiak. It is just that typical melting pot of various psychedelic rock influences Pontiak is known for that they’ve pulled out of the hat again. It's almost like a heavier and fuzzier modern Pink Floyd we're listening to here.

Compared to their previous work, INNOCENCE shows a Pontiak on the top of their game with a heavier, more melodic, and more engaging album that easily sits on top of my list as an early favourite for 2014.