From frantically churning riffage to throat-scarring screams and universe-pummelling beats, Textures’ Phenotype takes in everything you could ask for from a modern metal band, and spits it all out in a new, brutally mutated form.
Oceans Collide barely contains a borderline terrifying collection of monolithic grooves that Meshuggah themselves would pat themselves on the back for penning – and by Read more…
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Update 2: Since writing the review below, I’ve fallen in love with The Astonishing. It took a few months, but I finally got there. In terms of sheer scope, it was absolutely overwhelming, something that required more time and attention than I’d been able to give it at the time of writing.
I’ve kept my initial reaction unchanged for the sake of posterity – but were I to rewrite it from scratch now, the tone taken would be very different indeed, and the score would stand at about 96%.
Dream Theater have always been an ambitious band. Over the past three decades, they’ve attained and maintained an enviable position at the absolute peak of the prog metal mountain.
They have never slacked off.
Now, progheads across the world are coming face to face with Dream Theater’s most ambitious project to date. The Astonishing is a concept double album, totalling 34 tracks and 130 minutes of music. Just listening to the thing is an overwhelming task in itself. Read more…
If you’re a metal fan, you’re likely to experience one of two reactions while listening to Dystopia:
If you’re a die-hard thrash addict, you’ll have it on constant repeat for many weeks to come.
If you love metal, but also value musical risk-taking over traditionalism, you’ll dig Dystopia for a few tracks, then feel an overwhelming urge to move on to something fresh and innovative.
Since this is, after all, a Megadeth album, representing Read more…
Since I travelled to Paris to see THE END, an opera starring Japanese virtual pop idol Hatsune Miku, Japanese-culture-related music has been thin on the ground here at TMMP. Enter Sithu Aye and an EP that began as a joke, but wound up becoming seriously awesome.
Senpai (in English, someone who will never notice you) is one of the Read more…
2016 seems set to be an eventful year for lovers of instrumental guitarists. Dan Sugarman (six-string slinger for uncompromising metal band As Blood Runs Black) is the latest to step up and speak his mind without words – and on Centersun, he has a lot to say.
The story behind Centersun is best told in Dan’s own words:
“This album is a bit of a departure from my typical writing process, in the sense that all 6 songs were improvised on the fly in a 7 day period. The reason? I had just come home from a 1.5 month long headlining tour with As Blood Runs Black with the plan of coming home to start writing and recording my album, when I received the news the day I got home that my mother’s brain tumor had returned. I was absolutely devastated…so I took a day to myself to kind of figure out my next move, and then I locked myself in the studio for a week straight. Read more…
With the music world gradually gearing up for a brand new year, here are six underground bands to watch in 2016:
I’ve ranted and raved about these guys for years – and frankly, they fucking deserve it. Dorje are an industry unto themselves, topping album charts across the Internet with their latest Catalyst EP, racking up some 800,000 YouTube views for their signature song Aeromancy, and nailing one of Indiegogo’s top crowdfunding campaigns while handling everything in-house with zero label backing.
Respect is due here – and this year will see a second EP alongside much touring. By the time Dorje are done, their peers will be craning their necks to catch a glimpse of them.
If you just can’t cram enough mind-ruining math rock into your day, Black Peaks’ latest single Saviour is a must-listen. A massively improved version of an already epic track from early EP Closer To The Sun, and a mouth-watering taste of what to expect from Black Peaks’ upcoming album Statues, Saviour will blow you away. Play loud.
As with Dorje and Black Peaks, I’ve written many an evangelical word about Signals over the years. Breaking fresh ground with every note, this Southampton-based math-pop quartet are genuinely unique. Hard-earned technical skills, thoughtful musicianship, never-less-than-perfect production, and an instantly recognisable sound topped off with Ellie Price’s consistently passionate vocals all add up to an act capable of cutting the mustard like a legendary ninja.
When they’re not inducing jawbreaking gurns in Dorje, guitarist Rabea Massaad, drummer Ben Minal, and bassist Dave Hollingworth can be found frying facial features as Toska. Instrumental progressive metal is the name of the game here, departing from the standard Periphery-aping clone formula employed by many of their peers in favour of a genuinely new vibe. Toska’s debut EP Ode To The Author does contain hints of Karnivool, Porcupine Tree, Tesseract, and even Incubus – but more than that, it represents the birth of a meditatively immersive New Sound.
More to come on this one – but for now, just trust me. This will be frickin’ special.
Hatton Manor – aka Matt and Hannah – are in the earliest of early days right now. But they are still one of the most flat-out superior acoustic guitar-and-vocal duos I’ve ever heard. Dipping their toes into the live and festival circuits during 2015, as well as releasing their debut EP Eden, Hatton Manor are moving into a new phase full of experimentation. By turns graceful, gritty, joyful and dark, Hatton Manor know how to strap you into an emotional rollercoaster from note one. Awesome.
Thoughtful EDM might seem like an oxymoron – but Princess Slayer make it work through a creative approach that blends hedonistic playfulness with ruminative sincerity. Drummer and producer Vince Welch digs up gut-rumbling grooves, cute melodies, and carefully constructed sonic strata while vocalist Casey Lim thinks out loud through an intimate and vulnerable yet confident vocal. With many collaborations and their Living EP behind them, a Princess Slayer album is rumoured to be on the way. With any luck, 2016 will be the year it surfaces – and when it does, expect something exceptional and exceptionally cool.
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2016 looks set to be Dorje’s year.
Dorje’s first ever release, Primordial Audio Chronicle, formed the backbone of one of Indiegogo’s most successful crowdfunding campaigns of 2012; the video for their signature track Aeromancy has attracted some 800,000 views to date; and 2015’s Catalyst EP managed to top album charts across the Internet. Not a bad backstory for a band who are essentially an industry unto themselves, hitting heights that even bands with serious label backing struggle to reach.
All – the second Catalyst EP track given a spectacular Read more…
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…
Welcome to 2016! With a new year stretching off into the distance, I talked to Intervals mastermind Aaron Marshall about the story behind The Shape Of Colour – a release crammed with instrumental guitar-driven excellence that ranks as one of my favourite albums of 2015…
You’ve really had to fight to make The Shape Of Colour a reality. Could you please explain the story behind Intervals’ latest evolutionary shift?
I’m not sure I would say it was a fight as much as it was a test of my will.
Essentially, Intervals began as sort of an accident. I had one song for whatever my next project would be (at the time) and a good friend of mine insisted to shoot a “play through” video of the tune. I had no real intention of releasing it, but he convinced me that I needed to put it on the Internet.
Without being too long-winded, everything sort of snowballed Read more…
For lovers of fresh new sounds, restlessly creative musicians like Javier Reyes are a godsend. In addition to rewriting the metal guitar rulebook alongside Tosin Abasi in Animals As Leaders, Javier has also spent the last few years writing and releasing music through his side project, Mestis.
Mestis’ latest long-player, Polysemy (reviewed on TMMP here), was recently listed as one of my favourite albums of 2015 in this feature – and here, Javier Reyes discusses Mestis, creativity, generous fans, and the future of his pet project…
Your new album Polysemy has been out for about a month now. How’re you feeling about it?
I am pretty happy with it. I wasn’t sure what people were going to think, considering some of the parts are so mellow in comparison to material they are used to from [Animals As Leaders]. Thankfully the overall feedback has been pretty positive.
What initially inspired and motivated you to create Mestis? What’s the project’s origin story?
Mestis is a bit of my bedroom project. It started [with] me making some songs in my bedroom that I knew were stylistically different [to] Animals As Leaders, and I felt the material was strong enough to be released.
After the first EP, I didn’t really expect to write more music for Mestis, but throughout touring with Animals As Leaders people kept asking me if I was going to release more music for Mestis; so thanks to all those people who asked me, I was Read more…