Pomegranate Tiger – ‘Boundless’ [Review]

Listening to Boundless, you’d never guess that Pomegranate Tiger is a one-man band. The fact that it is is fucking mind-blowing; Pomegranate Tiger head honcho Martin Andres not only wrote all the music you can hear via Bandcamp below, but also laid down all the drums, guitars, and piano you’ll hear down there as well. Respect is definitely due.

Above all else, Boundless is brutal. Technically, it’s bang on the money; Andres’s playing is super clean, super tight, and relentlessly intense. Album centrepiece Paper Hammers showcases Andres’s softer side, as Read more…

Posted on 05 January 2016

Derange – ‘The Awakening’ [Review]

About a month ago, I watched as Derange tore London’s Boston Music Room a new one in the process of opening for underground heavyweights Dorje. To cut short a long story already told in this live review, it was immense. After that show, I had to hear more.

Fans of tech-metal stars Tesseract, Karnivool, and Periphery will feel immediately at home with The Awakening. That said, this is not just another djent-related release to toss on the “Heard It A Thousand Times Before” pile. Derange draw heavily from Read more…

Posted on 04 January 2016

Sean Ashe – ‘Flux’ [Review]

If you love getting lost in oceans of warm, seductive notes, Flux should be top of your 2016 wish list. Sean Ashe is a sublime guitarist, and with this collection of gorgeous instrumental tunes, he hits the sweetest of sweet spots.

A sense of pure, unadulterated joy permeates opener Imagine (deep-pocketed grooves, sensual tones, a graceful piano solo) and Memory Lane, the latter of which skips playfully from slinky licks to what sounds like Read more…

Posted on 03 January 2016

Steven Wilson – ‘4 1/2’ [Review]

Hand. Cannot. Erase. – Steven Wilson’s fourth solo album – was deservingly listed as one of TMMP’s Top Albums Of 2015. 4 1/2, intended as an interim release pending the unveiling of Wilson’s fifth proper studio album, is already a shoe-in for next year’s list, despite the fact that 2016 hasn’t even started yet.

4 1/2 comprises four tracks cut during the sessions for Hand. Cannot. Erase.; one from the sessions for Wilson’s third album The Raven That Refused To Sing; and one overdubbed live version of Read more…

Posted on 13 December 2015

SikTh – ‘Opacities’: The Tech-Metal Bar Has Been Raised. Again. [Review]

Back in 2003, SikTh tore the metal world a new one with The Trees Are Dead And Dried Out, Wait For Something Wild. In 2006, the already respected legends pushed proceedings to another level with Death Of A Dead Day. Then came the split mourned by fans the world over.

Today, things are different. Tech-metal has undergone a titanic transformation thanks to the likes of Periphery, TesseracT, and Animals As Leaders. Bars have been raised, boundaries broken, new names forged in the fire.

And SikTh are back, with new six-track mini-album Opacities. And in terms of outright stunning, mind-bogglingly bizarre, infectiously groove-heavy and utterly singular originality, the bar has been raised once again.

Opacities takes precisely zero seconds to get going. Behind The Doors throws Read more…

Posted on 02 December 2015

Lazy Habits – ‘Kicking The Clouds’ [Review]

Lazy Habits have always known how to make an impact. On Kicking The Clouds, no blunt brute force is required to get Lazy Habits there. This is still another laid-back banger from a band in possession of one of UK hip-hop’s great and original stylistic voices.

Thick bass, ultra-precise brass, nailed-to-the-wall Read more…

Posted on 01 December 2015

Trans-Siberian Orchestra – ‘Letters From The Labyrinth’ [Review]

Comparing albums to rollercoaster rides is one of the greatest reviewers’ clichés of all time. But when it works, it works. Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s first full-length set of new material since 2009 is nothing if not riddled with twists, turns, loops and breathtaking tangents.

At the same time, the rollercoaster cliché doesn’t completely cover it. Think of Letters From The Labyrinth as an entire theme park, and you’re closer to the mark. For the first time in Trans-Siberian Orchestra history, this album’s overall theme is shrouded in mystery – although it has been revealed that it’s based on previous album Night Castle, as well as “…a dialogue between the wisdom of the past and the hopes for the future, via a correspondence between a child and an old friend of the child’s grandfather.”

The overarching theme of Letters From The Labyrinth is intended to be revealed through Read more…

Posted on 29 November 2015

Fifi Rong – ‘Violently Silently’ [Review]

If you’re a sucker for finely crafted trip-hop-flavoured tunes, London-based Tricky collaborator Fifi Rong will make your ears prick up.

Violently Silently‘s Intro is guaranteed to lull you into spy-movie-themed daydreams, all grittily seductive beats and slowly swirling samples – but before you assume you’ve heard it all before, Once proves a right-angled tangent. Fifi Rong refuses to be easily pigeonholed, leaning hard on her experimental inclinations and digging out odd alt-pop hooks that feel awkward and alien on first listen, but slowly work their way into the mind. Beachhead established, Slow Poison bounces with Read more…

Posted on 26 November 2015

Princess Slayer – ‘Living (Single EP)’ [Review]

Great musicians have a voice of their own. You can tell within a few seconds that it’s them. Princess Slayer have this gift.

The title track taken from Princess Slayer’s recent Living EP gets a full EP treatment of its own this time around. One cool radio edit gets followed up by an absolutely immense extended mix that harks back to the early days of a duo who were one of TMMP’s earliest discoveries, and remain firm favourites. Absolute Read more…

Posted on 24 November 2015

Lithium Dawn – ‘Tearing Back The Veil I: Ascension’ [Review]

This is one of the most inspiring metal albums of 2015.

With the first part of Tearing Back The Veil, Lithium Dawn have set out to stretch the boundaries of tech-heavy progressive metal. It’s an ambitious task, to say the least; with luminaries such as Meshuggah, Karnivool, Periphery, Tool and Tesseract already forging new paths into the future, it’s easy to overlook the underground underdogs out there, and assume that everyone bar the legends are paying lip service to progression while actually playing catch-up.

One of the most attractive aspects of the prog world is the fact that anything goes. It’s like watching a Thunderbirds rerun from the ’60s: “Anything can happen in the next half hour!” We expect twists, turns, and tangents – but Lithium Dawn don’t just live up to that expectation. They go beyond it, into the Read more…

Posted on 20 November 2015