This piece for Astral Noize Magazine showcases some out-there BM for the discerning listener, or whatever you are.

Let’s Go Ovtside: A Study Of Transcendent Innovation In Black Metal

French band Beyond The Styx send their album Stiigma into the ring with me and carry it out on a stretcher. A warning.

https://www.downthefrontmedia.com/down-the-front-media/music-reviews/beyond-the-styx-stiigma/

I wrote this for Astral Noize Magazine. Both these labels have amazing bands, right at the front of the dark queue and from all over the world, so get in about it!

Profile: Redefining Darkness and Seeing Red Records

I wrote this review for Fortitude Magazine. It was quite eye-opening, as you shall see.

E.P Review: Filthy Militia – Innocent Until Proven Filthy

I got the opportunity to have a chat with Cryptae about their new record on Sentient Ruin for Astral Noize.

Check it out below!

A Meandering Reality Of Their Own Design: Cryptae

I wrote this album review for Australia’s Overdrive Magazine.

Check it out!

https://overdrive-mag.com/2018/01/10/review-dustin-behm-beyond/

 

 

I wrote this review for Australian publication Overdrive Magazine.

Check it out!

https://overdrive-mag.com/2018/01/12/review-dead-centuries-race-time/

I completed this review of Finnish druid metal band Unshine a few days ago.

Make sure to check out https://overdrive-mag.com/ and check out the rest of the writers.

https://overdrive-mag.com/2018/01/12/review-unshine-australa/

Originally published by Fortitude Magazine. http://www.fortitudemagazine.co.uk.

Sassy, shade-sporting, wide-stanced gunslingers Dirty Saint relocated from their native Auckland to England because of increasing demand for their product, which is a productive and enviable state of affairs seldom enjoyed by the majority of bands.

Professional Beggar and its accompanying videos show a group whose current wheel is just fine, thank you. Heads down rocking for the most part, with Dave Gale’s vocals depicting the impossible scenario of a manlier Ian Curtis fronting Buckcherry, there’s little to dislike here. Truthfully, there are any number of bands knocking out this sort of material with bigger budgets and more panache, but the workmanlike, relatable beauty of the Saint gives them an essential charm.

Time Of Your Life, Lady J and the almost nursery-level lyricism of Tell Me are pretension-free paeons to the twin arts of drinking and hit-or-miss womanising proffered by the hard-rock pantheon, and offer themselves as arms-up, goodtime hammerblows for dancing to. Free Your Mind‘s samples from the London riots are a little clumsy, their placement in the track coming across as a good idea at the time, rather than life-changing rhetoric.Devil is as straight ahead as it comes, with a sturdy chorus and more dynamics than its siblings-extra points for the burly bass sound.

A good night out, one would surmise, and Dirty Saint are giving it everything they’ve got, which is all one can ever ask of any band.

Originally published by Fortitude Magazine. http://www.fortitudemagazine.co.uk.

London two piece Cordelaine Giant are developing at pace. Their beautifully packaged 4 track EP was partially funded through that most modern of devices, Kickstarter, as was the video that is due to follow. Drawing on the great traditions of the ethereal songsmiths (with a tickle of Lisa Loeb, if you remember her), the duo put forward a compelling collection.

Keeper‘s opening story of terrifying pregnancy, teenage self-abandonment and the seeking of refuge in the beds of strangers is an eye-opening one. Sophie’s oh-so breathy voice is a welcome narrator of these tales, backed by her own acoustic and the western dream-state of guitar/banjo/harmonica/drummist Kevin. Indeed, the interplay between the instruments, and the delicate, overt restrain so dutifully applied to each piece is a huge part of these beautifully skeletal songs.

If there is one criticism of the record as a whole, it’s that while the songs are engaging enough to hold water with their minimal structures, certain elements are underplayed where more credence should be given; Sophie’s acoustic, which sounds like real wood on its own, evaporates in the mix beneath the other instruments. Although the band’s whole ethos centres around being only half there, there are some excess moments, with the third minute of Kings & Queens dragged down by its own loveliness.

Crafting a track in memory of a friend is a risky gambit, but the composition of Sebastiansupports this decision fully. One of the most fully formed tracks here, the subtly escalating speed in the later sections only serves to make the dualling electric guitars sound more like crossing fireworks. A standout for its harmony work, careful deployment of drive and dynamic shifts, this is a good indicator of how the Giant might choose to evolve.

As the EP draws to a close with Nothing Left To Take, I find myself listening more to the colourful, gossamer instrumentation than the vocals, too fragile now against the room-reverbed banjo and occasionally surfacing guitar. A short fade out, and it’s all over. I couldn’t help thinking that a fifth track or a re-sequencing would have served to give the EP greater closure, as the record simply stops.

This is a fabulous piece to walk around to, on a shining summers’ day, feeling the gentle waves of sound flow through you. Closer inspection yields a couple of stories that are genuinely affecting, grim even, and that duality gives the pair a subtle, honest edge. On occasion, there is too much hey-ya’ing to my ears, and more time should have been spent glueing the instrumentation together, so as to prevent the rhythm guitar from disappearing/vocals from overpowering the mix.

A great deal of promise abides in these tracks, and where Cordelaine Giant go from here will be intriguing.

Floaty.