According to the press release that accompanied my review copy of Derangeable, Aliases are “for fans of tech-progressive metal and heavy bendy guitars that go WEEAAAAOORGGHHH CHUG CHUG”.
I can’t argue with that – but I would hasten to add that Derangeable will also satisfy your cravings for guitars that go “BEEADOODLEBEEP,” time changes that would give Stephen Hawking a migraine, and the kind of screams you’d normally associate with Read more…
When it comes to creating the heaviest electronica imaginable while maintaining that all-important accessibility, Rémi Gallego is the undisputed Read more…
Anyone who’s ever played a video game will be familiar with the stresses and strains involved in beating the Boss Level. The anxious anticipation that greets the arrival of some hideous, monolithic fucker with fire breath and laser eyes, capable of annihilating you in an instant; the adrenaline surging around your body as you dodge and attack, seeking out a weak spot; the glorious feeling of relief and victory as it finally falls to the ground and you level up.
Toska’s EP launch, celebrating the maiden voyage of Ode To The Author, was their first serious Boss-Level show – and watching them win was Read more…
In a world obsessed with trends and fads that last a microsecond, the pressure is always on to deliver something palatable to a mass audience with the attention span of a brain-damaged goldfish. With his new album Lunaria, Danimal Cannon is ignoring the seductive pull of the same-but-slightly-different, and delivering something really different.
Danimal Cannon is a chiptune master, capable of blending multiple genres, timbres, instruments, and moods into a long-player that is an acquired taste, but a legitimately rewarding taste nonetheless. After I listened to Lunaria in its entirety and reviewed it here, this interview could only kick off with one question…
Your new album Lunaria broke my brain, in a good way! So my opening question has to be: Just how the hell did you make it? How did the tracks on Lunaria go from idea to reality?Read more…
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…
When you walk into a venue using The Algorithm’s OCTOPUS4 as a pre-show auditory appetizer, you know it’s going to be an intense night.
Nordic Giants (93%) became new TMMP favourites by the end of a stunningly (and literally) cinematic set. Watching a multi-tasking duo soundtrack a series of masterfully crafted videos in real time is not Read more…
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…
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…
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…
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.
