If you give me this record and tell me it is Extol’s music, I would not deny it. I would just add that Peter got a little more feminine talent in terms of vocals. Besides such joke, “Heavy Yoke” appears exactly like a heavy mixture from the very first second. I assume that one of the primary tendencies of the majority is to compare Eleni’s clean vocals to big worldwide names such as Kate Bush or Annette Peacock, but I believe we can go and include among references Made Out Of Babies’ Julie Christmas, Kittie's Morgan Lander or Karyn Crisis, and it is damn sure that Azusa does not appeal the fans of Peter Gabriel or Ghostface Killah. The subtlety characterizing “Heavy Yoke” is so revealing that makes you feel the past-present under your skin.
Regarding my personal musical adventures, Extol has been an important influence, so perhaps that is why I feel like home with Azusa. This guy, Liam Wilson has definitely his thing given that he has been playing with the best bands around… The Dillinger Escape Plan, Starweather and now Azusa.
]]>Kraków achieved the expanding of the post-metal boundaries from the first record, namely “Monolith” launched in 2009. Ingredients such as sludge and stoner metal have been incorporated in the band’s music in a free form while the musicians didn’t ever compromised the authenticity for the sake of fitting into a certain wave. Sometimes, the instrumental sections can be pretty long in a course of an album, like the title track from the latest record which spans for almost 10 minutes, while the vocals appear in the most unpredictable ways, bringing a hell of an intensiveness. You can find instances of that on most of the new songs, from the first one till the very last which brings a choir into action with a structure filled with vibes which would make one envision a heroic darkened opera. The vocals are indeed the consequence of a very special approach compared to other albums from the associated genres, especially when touching the high pitches, which makes frontman Kilvik appear almost like a child, although his tempered screams and other doom-like moments will contradict this image in the very next second. During the heaviest moments on the records, he uses that very effective impulse which many of us would connect to the Mastodon’s way.
The use of melodies throughout “minus” comes as the mind-blowing element given the pretty illustrative atmosphere built through wavy guitar layers and sometimes trippy synths with subtle spatial flavours, which provide a very complementary action with the sludgy, crushing and abrasive parts and this transforms everything into a progressive take. Of course that the collaboration with Phill Campbell for the bursting solo ending the first song “Black Wandering Sun” cannot be forgotten, not only because of the Motörhead’s string-man ability of doing a great section, but due to the Kraków’s inventiveness regarding the way they wove their styles. What really emphasizes the beauty of this featuring is the transition wrote by the Norwegians in such way that what can be thought to be the song’s climax is actually followed by a blaze.
In terms of the sludge’s atmospheric aesthetics, I believe this chapter had to suffer somewhat in the latest years due to a lack of memorable releases and Kraków came to correct this thing through a very pronounced improvement. It’s like most of the others improvised a bit (some did it in pleasant ways) with what the pioneers left and no more than that. The influences of the genre’s pioneers and devotees are easy to catch on “minus”, therefore that heavy pitchiness recalling the age of “A Sun that Never Sets” by Neurosis is detectable on the song “From Fire to Stone” through its bleak feels which provide both desperation and healing. What matters is that the result is more complex than this supposed inspiration regarding writing, execution and expression. Another connection would point to Cult of Luna and the early records if we refer to the riffage on the track “Sirens”, but the most beautiful thing is the way the Isis semblance comes into shape on this record, from the drumming on the opening song and those toms illustrating a journey’s unfolding to a couple of tunes on the title-track. I dare to say that “minus” is no less than “Panopticon” in terms of substance, although each of these records has its own direction and yet a different stylistic nature, especially since they were created in such different times. Other than that, things get pretty eclectic by the middle of the album and very short fragments made me remind of an Australian experimental piece called Alithia.
If I have to complain about something is that the chorus on the third track, “The Stranger” is way wicker than the verse, each time I listen to it, I expect something more at the end of the verse, but it’s exactly the opposite, however this doesn’t destroy my appreciation of this album being that everything else is so greatly inspired. Everything is really well-condensed on “minus” and one can tell that only by looking at the playing time. It’s less than 40 minutes of music which focuses on the best the band could give at this moment. Production-wise, everything works perfectly in my opinion, especially since I can discover all sorts of “mysterious” sounds in the mix, from reverberations to fuzzy soundscapes. That being said, “minus” is a just-discovered planet worthy of continuous exploration.
]]>While “Nailwork” was believed to be too modern for the fans’ tastes, “The Last Sunsets” might be too old-school given the evolution of people’s perception and today’s most common tendencies in metal music. However, Night in Gales reached the greatest improvement with this new release, which sums up the catchiest aspects in the band’s history. The vocalist Christian Müller took charge again and this line-up change lets the group appear as if it had continued what was left after the “Sylphlike”. It is obvious that Müller’s vocals make a pretty powerful resemblance to Lindberg’s style and there is a constant reminder of “Slaughter of the Soul” throughout the latest album. There are a lot of Arch-Enemy-like harmonies here and various passages hinting at Carcass’ “Heartwork” as well and many other well-established riffing manners.
Among many tremolo sections, classic death and thrash riffs, melancholic guitar themes and twin sections, the rhythm takes control like an alert and makes way for some fascinating dynamics. The acoustic interludes are right in their place, although they are not as intense as this series of songs required, they rather bring feelings of illness, but this doesn’t cancel the fact that “The Last Sunsets” is the most energetic piece written by Night in Gales so far and therefore it’s unstoppable. It’s almost impossible to find negative details on this record if you still find the traditional school of the melodic death metal appealing, not to mention the enchanting sound of the record, which was mastered by the same Dan Swanö, who ensured the quality of the previous release as well, namely “Five Scars”. Although the new album was handled by the same engineer, the difference is huge, this time the sound is fat and I believe this is more suitable for Night in Gales than those “small” drums and laid-back guitars typical of the very early 90’s. The presence of a couple of vocalists specializing in different extreme metal approaches is another cool thing about “The Last Sunsets” given that they emphasize some particular fragments with pretty distinct imprints which make things unpredictable. Torchure’s Martin Matzak, ex-Morgoth’s Marc Grewe, Christian Mertens of Dark Millennium and V of The Wake came to complete Müller’s restlessness with rich vocal ranges and they increase a lot the drama on this album.
]]>Davide Tiso, the mastermind of the project Howling Sycamore, made already clear the fact that his music is guided by otherworldly threads. The last album by Ephel Duath is a sheer instance of this direction, not to mention the debut of the beloved Karyn Crisis, the Gospel of the Witches, where Tiso’s guitar work gets beyond the musical conventions of these days, while there is an interesting enhancement of the canonical means as well. What he created with the debut of Howling Sycamore relies definitely on pure progress. The riffs and themes and the overall guitar sound provide some of the finest contents found in progressive, heavy and extreme metal music during the late decades of manifestations.
All the musicians involved in the Howling Sycamore group had the ability to represent their well-known signatures and to give forth a freestanding work at the same time. Kevin Hufnagel’s guest appearance is not an obvious link to his most renowned works from the Dysrhythmia albums, but his solos bring a pretty dim semblance with the most melodic features from the latest Gorguts records. However, Howling Sycamore got Hufnagel doing spectacular melodies, genuine sonic explosions which cannot be found in his previous works and they replenish the complexity of the main guitar layers with beautifully hazardous structures, like what we hear on the opening track, “Upended”. Another guest called to provide some more melody for the Howling Sycamore’s album is Burial’s Fester, who participated with sections which are more tempered than Hufnagel’s action, but that was what the pace of the song “Let Fall” asked for. On the other hand, this album might have been the perfect opportunity for drummer Hannes Grossmann – who came to the fore with his past experiences within Necrophagist and Obscura – to reveal his shiny dynamics. Throughout the album, the rhythm changes for so many times and covers various forms of expression which are so diverse that Grossmann’s skills proved mandatory for such endeavour. On top of all this intricacy comes a very powerful tone. The vocals are by all means educated in the range of that certain progressive style which grew from heavy and power metal and many would not consider such approach as being suitable for an avant-garde album, but they work fantastic actually. Sometimes is necessary to have a musician really well trained in the traditional repertoire in order to surpass the conventional. Jason McMaster’s performance on the “Howling Sycamore” is brilliant and he also goes beyond the imprints left in the other bands, from his early contributions to the cult prog band Watch Tower and his cheerful mood in the hard rock Dangerous Toys to his present-day activity in Ignitor and Evil United. McMaster is that type of singer who can be easily included in a top listing the giants of heavy metal music, getting a pretty close spot to Rob Halford, Brian Johnson and other big singers with acute voices. It is exactly the vocals which bring the fascinating loudness on the “Howling Sycamore” album. This is somehow the darkest singing manner touched by McMaster so far, who stops at nothing and gets even to express by screaming, like on the third track where the vocals go deep in the listener’s mind with their brutish nerve. Last but not least, Bruce Lamont’s interference with his baritone saxophone turned this whole record into a trippy experience, although his remarkable input comes only in two or three songs. His instrument got a particular sound than what we could hear on Yakuza’s or Circle of Animals’ records, for instance. On the second track, “Obstinate Pace”, which appears as one of the greatest pieces of this album in my view, the saxophone lines flow like a curved river, making the listener feel that is about to reach the bottom of the world. Further, there are some nice acoustic fragments as well, and the song “Chant of Stillness” brings some good old folk on this release and reveals uplifting feels.
Davide Tiso led Howling Sycamore into a challenging avant-garde act and such creation cannot get too clever definitions in my opinion. There is no need for references in the description of Howling Sycamore’s music, even if one can detect various influences from Rainbow to Death, for example, and what not. This debut is worthy of being understood as a whole, and not as a set of musical tendencies which can be split in different bands’ names and legacies. In a Decibel Magazine issue from the last days of 2017, writer Kevin Stewart-Panko described Howling Sycamore as a mix of Portal, Anacrusis, Akercocke and Voivod, which is conducted by John Zorn. Some would be surprised to read that Howling Sycamore’s music is somehow connected with the demolishing energy of Portal, but there are a few fragments filled with such thing based on blackened death patterns and madness. The openness found in the style of writing is a good reason for a parallel between Howling Sycamore and Anacrusis or Voivod. While the mention of John Zorn has obvious explanations in the case of a project featuring Bruce Lamont, the Akercocke analogy doesn’t deal out justice for Howling Sycamore’s musical quality. An eclectic mix is not enough to convey what Howling Sycamore is about, especially since Akercocke is totally opposite in terms of musical development and atmosphere.
The flashbacks with the “Twin Peaks” episode from the beginning of this description didn’t pop up in vain, since there is a very blurred reminiscence of a Lynchian atmosphere on this first album by Howling Sycamore. Tracks like “Obstinate Pace”, which I’ve mentioned before, and “Descent to Light” have the ability to change the listener’s perception of reality, affecting all sorts of emotional and fictional happenings. That red tinge in the “Twin Peaks” has its equal in terms of sound on this album, given the intensity. The cover, designed by Dehn Sora, shows also red tints and it’s a pretty adequate representation of the spiritual tension sung on the Howling Sycamore’s debut. However, the feelings I got after spending pretty much time with this album, didn’t place me exactly in Lynch’s bleary dimension, but in a world where the characters started a dramatic quest, attempting to get out of darkness.
]]>Things get pretty spectacular on this album starting with the second song, “One to Kill”, which is totally addictive, although the opening track is good as well, but can be easily excluded from this killer series due to some “empty” sequences sounding like old school break downs. The following song, namely the title track brings the novelty in the Annihilator tradition with something which resembles an interesting keyboard sound or perhaps a mind-blowing guitar effect. Here, the chorus part emphasizes a fanciful approach which later will break into a bit of a rock-n-roll and then some sleaziness executed in the masters’ manner.
“For the Demented” provides even fragments with some American epic baladesque vibe and more than that, Jeff Waters didn’t forget the greatness of the punk riffs according to the 70’s fashion, but he didn’t ignore either the newer tendencies, thus reminding somehow of some Offspring attitude. Obviously, that groove which is part of the Annihilator trademark is present as well and towards the album ending one can detect very few fragments reminding about old prog anthems. The same phase of the latest album makes the listener imagine a noisier version of Scorpions here and there.
Jeff “watered” brilliant solos, as usual, while the new drummer Alessandrini, who was quite unknown in the scene till this point, mastered amazingly the Annihilator legacy. This is, of course, no surprise, since Waters proved already his capacities of picking and training pretty good musicians. His vocals come in the same bright mood with which we are familiar. “For the Demented” is definitely a greater step than “Suicide Society”, which was not a bad release, but then again, the new chapter exposes an obvious evolution, a glorious way of blending the old and the new, with musical arrangements which are either easy to remember or damn complex. In this regard, pay your whole attention to the fifth track, “Phantom Asylum”.
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