“A band with a strong conceptual identity is always something. Whether that’s 1914 and their commitment to depicting the true horrors of world conflicts, or The Ocean, and their exploration of Earth’s many (pre-) historic eras. And were that a spectrum, experimental black metal collective Botanist would fall towards the latter end. Not only insofar as their music leans towards an airy, progressive, post-rock, but also their concept, which, if it wasn’t obvious, is flora. Paleobotany—the band’s eleventh LP—sees this similarity become even more blunt, centering as it does on the prehistoric plants of many millions of years ago.” Morbid Phytologist.
Post-Metal
Glassing – From the Other Side of the Mirror Review
“No one does music quite like Austin’s Glassing. Nearly impossible to pigeonhole in its blend of jagged riffs and crystalline melodies, critics have conjured the likes of post-metal, post-black, post-rock, mathcore, shoegaze, sludge, noise rock, screamo, and post-hardcore to describe it – none ever quite sticking the landing.” Square pegs, round holes. FIGHT.
Ecr.Linf – Belluaires Review
“Post-black isn’t a style I would normally associate with themes of viscera or ritualism. Stereotypes and caricatures exist as Deafheaven school of thought, quite cheery affairs with sanguine post-rock melodies atop a foundation of distant blastbeats and shrieks. Ecr.Linf offers no such grace.” Grace and the hammer.
Stuck in the Filter: February 2024’s Angry Misses
The February Filter is all clean and tidy.
Divided – Light Will Shine Review
“Throughout the tapestry of shimmering tones, weighty riffs, and desperate fry vocals in Light Will Shine, a common thread courses, of vulnerability and tension. Belgium’s Divided offers a style not unlike Glassing, Amenra, and Envy, with crystalline melodies colliding with unforgiving heaviness, with a distinctly unfriendly guitar harmonic approach. However, it professes a soundtrack for anxiety.” Unite through division.
Subterraen – In the Aftermath of Blight Review
“Sludge is a genre naturally able to bridge and wholly fill the gap between a rage that stretches towards hardcore, and a more pensive and somber emotionality more at home in doom, or post-metal. Therefore, when faced with Subterraen’s label of “Atmospheric Post-Sludge,” I knew this shapeshifting propensity would be amplified, particularly in the latter direction.” Thunder from down under.
O Zorn! – Vermillion Haze Review
“O Zorn! plays a fairly straightforward style with elements of stoner and post-metal. Texturally the band has some similarities with a simplified Mastodon, not in the least due to the somewhat nasal drawl of the vocals. The big differences are the structure and pacing. Shying away from progressive leanings, the music is staunch in its adherence to verse-chorus constructions.” Stone the crow (and rabbit).
Fall of Leviathan – In Waves Review
“As you may guess by its minimalist cover art, Fall of Leviathan takes inspiration from the ocean. Its placid surface, an unassuming miles-wide smile at the sun, and its brutal depth, a guttural roar and a gnashing of magnificent teeth, quietly collide to create a face that looks down upon man as he stands atop it, his hubris an engorgement of sails and a swelling of his chest. When faced with its might, the relentless apathy and his insignificance in the face of mountainous waves and the abyss at our rocky borders, man crumbles – sand castles deserted by distracted children. Fall of Leviathan embodies this dichotomy: sunbathed beauty and sunless brutality.” Deep waters flow DEEP.
Uncomfortable Knowledge – Lifeline Review
“I have a soft spot for young bands releasing records under their own steam. With the amount of time I’ve spent pooling money for too little studio time and going through sketchy post-production just to have a stack of records I end up giving away to friends and family, I feel a masochistic duty to tackle self-releases when the promo sump presents them. Today’s lucky candidates are the French quintet Uncomfortable Knowledge, with their second full-length Lifeline.” The burden of knowledge.
Sun of Nothing – Maze Review
“Few albums reveled in existential despair like Sun of Nothing’s The Guilt of Feeling Alive. While punishing in ways that recall Neurosis or Blindead, it settled heavily into tension and despondence beneath the devastation. It always hinted at something without fully grasping it, fluid and powerful heft contrasting with an overwhelming bleakness. Despite its black metal influence, Sun of Nothing did not offer a bleakness like DSBM’s passing glance at a winter landscape, but represented the grey of its troubling cover art: the day-in and day-out of a cold, tired, and worn city, shrouded in smog. For its first album in fourteen years, the Greek quartet has offered something that stands shoulder to shoulder.” Maze of tormets.