liked Low Places and want more, yeah? luckily, you didn’t have to wait for long. here’s six more songs! yes, double as many songs as on the previous post! albeit three of them are actually re-recordings of the… three songs in the previous post… but uh… fucking hell, three new songs! and three great new recordings! it starts out with “The Storm”, which sounds like a tribute to Boris’s “Huge”. droning fucking awesomeness, with great amounts of my favourite ingredient feedback. and so it goes. fucking amazing. this release is more coherent and album-like than the previous one. each song belongs together. the transitions are thoughtful and well carried out. the whole structure seems well planned. the track ordering is perfect. each song has quite a lot of different ideas that are all sewn together, without any of the parts becoming out of place. the slow motion black metal get a full blown blistering fucking apocalypse “full motion black metal” equivalent on some songs, but the two main ideas are the Boris-like amplifier-worship-sludge, and the straight up pissed and fast hardcore. and Low Places do both of these things better than most other bands. both when considering the styles individually, and definitely when considering the way they effortlessly sew them together. this release destroys. and as mentioned in the previous post, you can buy their stuff from http://www.lowplaces.bigcartel.com/ – so do that if you have the cash.
archive for the ‘sludge’ category
Low Places – Low Places
Saturday, April 16th, 2011Low Places – Violent Hunger
Thursday, April 14th, 2011the title, Violent Hunger, sounds like black metal. I like black metal. this isn’t black metal. I like this too. this is fucking sick sludge. it reminds me a bit of Mind Eraser, and then of Nails on the fastest parts. the heaviest parts actually aren’t all that far off from being really slow black metal, but I reckon Melvins is probably more instrumental to the shaping of this band’s sound than Darkthrone. anyway, this is a fucking great band. they go from brain-melting doom-y sludge, to blistering straight up hardcore in a whim. you can buy it here: http://www.lowplaces.bigcartel.com/ – along with some other Low Places stuff.
Some Mistakes – Demo
Friday, April 16th, 2010with a crisp guitar tone that has a way of getting inside your head, a rhythm section that almost sounds like it gets heavier each and every second, and an emotive and sincere vocal performance, Some Mistakes largely favour a heavy sound over quick half minute burst songs. Some Mistakes are a band that shows that you needn’t move at a great pace to move with great purpose. they ultimately reside somewhere between ’90s screamo bands like Elements of Need, and more recent screamo bands, like Mesa Verde (which can be downloaded further down if you are interested), that incorporate more intricate progressive rock elements in their composing. hints of heavy ’90s hardcore/screamo bands like Unbroken and You and I are also detected, along with subtle touches of Modern Life is War and American Nightmare/Give up the Ghost. the end result reminds me of a more hardcore than metal version of Quiritatio, and a less lengthy Fall of Efrafa. anyway, the demo is just over ten minutes long, but makes one hell of an impression in those ten minutes. their anger and passion can be felt throughout the entire thing, as it almost makes its way out of the speakers. the sheer volume, power and passion this band has managed to put into the recordings are overwhelming to the point of it almost crushing you, into the broken souls they sing about in their songs. I am *not* the product of dysfunction and unhappiness, but these songs almost make me feel like I am. the great never ending sadness that these tales tell are breathtakingly painful, but it’s nothing compared to the manner in which the band tells them. that’s what makes this band so special; what makes these songs completely unique, and utterly amazing. you need to hear this band. these three songs are beyond spectacular, and so well crafted as well as performed that this demo is simply bursting with blistering emotional confession and breakdown. note that like quite the few other bands I’ve downloaded from bandcamp (1099′s latest album which can be downloaded further down is one of them), the FLAC copies are nothing but white noise in my standard media player, Amarok. it does work in some other players, like VideoLan Client. so if you use Amarok or any other media player that utilizes the Xine engine, you might consider downloading this in Ogg Vorbis instead. it still sounds extremely good. the recording quality of this demo does not take anything away from the songs or compromise them in any way, thankfully. because these songs are nothing short of fantastic, and they deserve to be heard. hear them!
Quiritatio – As The Dead March, Birds Will Fall From Heaven
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010if you downloaded the first Quiritatio album I posted somewhere below, you will remember this band as a fusion of gloomy metal, intricate mathcore and screamotive hardcore. this was some of the darkest and most depressing and angry screamo ever heard. only people from the north of Norway can play screamo like this. only someone who go through periods of the year without any light whatsoever can ever make music this authentically unhappy. the only thing that could be compared to this sadness, are the sad, sad news that were to be found on my MySpace some time ago. Quiritatio had broken up! I guess it was somewhat unsurprising due to the vocalist quitting some time ago, but still… it made me downhearted. but thankfully at least one good (great) thing came out of this – their new album is finally available to the public. not as a CD or on a vinyl, unfortunately, but via blogs like this one. so I am proud to present you As The Dead March, Birds Will Fall From Heaven! I’m a huge fan of Quiritatio’s first album, so I was really hoping this didn’t let me down. I had very high hopes for this. so I put it on… and OMG IT’S FUCKING AMAZING WTF THIS IS AMAZING OMG OMG OMG. if this isn’t one of the best and most creative bands in screamo history, I don’t know shit about shit. out of all the technical and atmospheric arpeggio-characterized modern screamo, this is a milestone with no parallel whatsoever. I have goosebumps. I feel like I’m being blown away. like literally. BY A FUCKING EXPLOSION. this album destroys everything that has ever existed ever. download this album. there are no excuses. DOWNLOAD THIS ALBUM.
Quiritatio – Forgive and Forget
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Quiritatio are situated deeply in the Norwegian hardcore scene – which is easy to tell. at least sometimes… because despite the undoubtedly typically depressing Norwegian core Quiritatio manage to stand out by being a thoroughly unique band that add lots of twist to the perfected formula of Orchid-like vocals, flying guitars and technical rhythm section. their misanthropic Cult of Luna-esque gloomy (yet hopeful – in the end) tales (whose influence can be spotted on the newest Dominic album posted beneath this post) are epic journeys throughout many a musical influence, most importantly various metal influences. the metal influence is highly noticeable, to put it kindly. not only in the immediate obvious, such as the low growling guitars as well as some guttural vocals, but also in the long, progressive and highly technical melodic structures. all of this diversity leads to a comparison to The Spectacle being somewhat necessary. but it doesn’t really matter matter who Quiritatio gets compared to. all you need to know is that they are great and you need to listen to them.
The Spectacle – I, Fail
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009on I, Fail, The Spectacle takes things to the next level. they use much of the heavy and gritty crust sound of previous releases, but favour far more experimental compositions that incorporates eastern influences as well as a much wider utilization of their core instruments. they have the more modern chord progressions of screamo bands such as City of Caterpillar and Circle Takes the Square. but amidst all of the screamo-like guitars and snare-focused upbeat drumming is a spiritual or magical presence. this is devastating sludge. when they break away from the crust chains and play the mesmerising acoustic guitars and hypnotising battle drums, you feel like you are in the middle of an epic middle-age tale. and perhaps you indeed are? this album is timeless and beautiful like no other album ever made. if you are a fan of epic rock/metal bands, then you will absolutely absorb this album, and refuse to listen to anything else than this for the next few days (or weeks). because this is a monster of an album that deserves the attention of everyone. listen to this!
The Spectacle 10″
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009if you like what is often refered to as “post-rock” (ugh), you might like this. if you like extreme metal, you might like this. it’s diverse and epic progressive crust-tinged metal. enough said. get it. the album is magnificent. it will change you. and you’ll be better off for it.
The Spectacle 7″
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009you probably shouldn’t get this if you are bipolar, because it might fuck you up a bit. this is some of the most depressing and heavy crust you’ll hear, but also some of the most uplifting epic progressive hardcore you’ll ever hear. this is only two tracks, “Beats” and “Terms”. and you need to listen to them asap.
The Spectacle – Lakonia Demo
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009is extremely powerful and intense crust your thing? get this. the screamo and hardcore influences are evident, but the sound is heavy and dark crust, that incorporates epic hardcore that sounds like Godspeed You! Black Emperor jumping between grind and progressive, and epic emo like Envy displays on latter albums. the vocals have a clearly evident passion to them. the vocals vary between screams and dark growling. the guitars play an epic progressive chord progression with punk rock undertones and sceamo overtones. the band basically blends what must be a thousand genres in this. and they do it very well. in short: don’t miss out on this. it’s just one song, but what a song!