Marco Minnemann – ‘Above The Roses’ [Review]

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Calling Marco Minnemann prolific is a little bit of an understatement. This guy is easily one of the hardest-working drummers on the weirder side of showbiz, playing on no fewer than five of TMMP’s Top Albums Of 2015. That’s one studio album (Tres Caballeros) and one live album (Culture Clash Live!) as part of fusion trio The Aristocrats; one studio album with guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani (Shockwave Supernova, TMMP’s top album of the year alongside Jon Gomm’s Live In The Acoustic Asylum); one studio album with Porcupine Tree frontman and prog godfather Steven Wilson (Hand. Cannot. Erase.); and, finally, an 18-track beast of a solo album called Celebration.

Phew. That’s just Marco Minnemann’s recorded output, too; add in countless Read more…

Posted on 01 March 2016

Poly-Math – ‘Melencolia’ [Review]

Poly-Math are fast becoming Names in the British math- / post-rock underground, and rightly so. 2015’s Reptile churned a fair few minds and pricked up many an ear – and now, Poly-Math’s debut mini-album Melencolia is set to take them up a level.

Look at the running times for each of Melencolia’s three tracks Read more…

Posted on 22 February 2016

Danimal Cannon – ‘Lunaria’ [Review]

And now for something completely different.

Completely different.

Danimal Cannon’s Lunaria is a mostly instrumental industrial-prog album, composed on a 1989 Nintendo Game Boy and loosely based around a conceptual story inspired by the Giant Impact Hypothesis.

Whether you’re new to the chiptune world or a die-hard veteran, you’re unlikely to have heard something this relentlessly left of centre before.

Acclimatising to Lunaria’s claustrophobic, digitised-to-the-nth-degree universe is challenging, to say the least. But once you get past the initial sense of sonic culture shock, its true nature as Read more…

Posted on 16 February 2016

Toska – ‘Ode To The Author’ [Review]

Progressive metal is often dismissed for being too something. Self-indulgent. Flat. Soulless. Etc.

Sometimes, the criticism is justified; at other times, it isn’t.

In Toska’s case, none of the above apply. This is progressive metal with heart, soul, and spirit – not to mention the kind of forward-thinking intelligence that defines the best the genre has to Read more…

Posted on 11 February 2016

Black Peaks – ‘Set In Stone’ [Review]

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Black Peaks never, ever fail to surprise and impress.

Never.

Set In Stone – the first brand new Black Peaks track to see the light of day in 2016 – sounds like the end of the world. It is Read more…

Posted on 31 January 2016

The Black Queen – ‘Fever Daydream’ [Review]

Feel. Soul. Depth.

These words are ubiquitous in the music world. They pop up in press releases for everything from reality-shattering mathcore to surgically dehumanised bubblegum pap. They’re used to imply authenticity, whether or not it’s actually present in the music.

And what the hell is authenticity, anyway? If you define something inauthentic as “fake,” then that implies deception and dishonesty. Flip that over, and authenticity is really about honesty.

True honesty in art takes you somewhere beyond feel, soul, and Read more…

Posted on 29 January 2016