Alcest - Spiritual Instinct

By Justin C. I finally had the opportunity see Alcest live when they toured with their last record, Kodama. As a long-time fan, it was a fantastic experience: a small venue and a band putting everything they had into their performance. I remember being struck by how heavy Alcest can be, especially on stage.

By Justin C.


I finally had the opportunity to see Alcest live when they toured with their last record, Kodama. As a long-time fan, it was a fantastic experience: a small venue and a band putting everything they had into their performance. I remember being struck by how heavy Alcest can be, especially on stage. That’s not necessarily unusual--the energy of playing in front of a live audience plus many amplifiers often kick up a band’s power quotient. But what I didn’t realize at the time is that it was a little bit of a preview of the energy they’d bring to their next new album, Spiritual Instinct.

Invisible Oranges did an interesting interview with Neige, and in it, he describes this album as a kind of catharsis, a (slight) step away from his more “otherworldly” musical ideas and incorporating more darkness. Make no mistake--this is Alcest-level heavy. This isn’t a brutal death metal album that comes pitched to you as “PANCREAS-RIPPING BRUTALITY ARGGHGHHGHGH!1!!!1!” The very Alcest-ian sense of melody and sweeping soundscapes remain present, but what you do get from Spiritual Instinct is a harder-driving energy than you might expect.

Photos by Abrisad.

The opening track, “Les Jardins De Minuit” (roughly translated, “The Garden of Midnight”), starts out with a pulsing bassline joined by a keening, single-note guitar riff. It’s not long before we’re into some frenetic drums and tremolo riffs with clean, melodic singing riding the wave until Neige punctuates the whole thing with his black metal shrieks. If that sounds like what you usually expect from Alcest, you’re not wrong, but the song kicks off a propulsive feel that carries through the rest of the album, both in the more metal parts and the quieter, introspective interludes. Previous Alcest albums made me want to transport to a different dimension--the dreamworld from Neige’s childhood that drives so much of his musical vision--but this album makes me want to make that journey on a rocket.

One of my favorite tracks, “Le Miroir,” showcases the stronger sense of duality in this album. The song starts with a gently ascending and descending guitar line, swelling and deflating like slow, meditative breathing. (Try breathing along with it--it’s doing wonders for my anxiety.) The line is eventually layered with Neige’s crystal clean vocals, light electronic touches, and distorted guitars. The drums build and eventually recede. It’s not the heaviest track on the album by any means, but again, there’s that sense of motion and release.

It’s easy to get hung up on the heaviness level of Alcest albums. Is this one more or less black metal than the last one, or is this more of their shoegaze side? But as Neige said himself in the IO interview, “There is something people like about us, and it’s also something we like about ourselves which is the fact that we keep the Alcest touch — this thing that makes us Alcest — but every time we sound different.” I think that’s key to their enduring appeal. There’s always that underlying essence that makes their sound instantly recognizable, regardless of whether Neige is trying exorcise some demons or float through the ether.

Møl - Jord

By Justin C. If you've read anything about Møl's debut album Jord, you've no doubt heard "Deafheaven," "Alcest," and "blackgaze" bandied about. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for that sweet mash up of shoegaze waves of sound and black metal shrieks

By Justin C.


If you've read anything about Møl's debut album Jord, you've no doubt heard "Deafheaven," "Alcest," and "blackgaze" bandied about. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for that sweet mash up of shoegaze waves of sound and black metal shrieks, although I know both the genre tag and some of it's better-known practitioners get people's hackles up. I don't know if Møl is going to change anybody's diehard opinion on that, but before you skip ahead, let me at least tell you how they stand out.

To my ears, Møl pulls influence from music a little bit older than shoegaze. Sure, mentions of Slowdive in the promo materials are apt--I can hear a little bit of that--but Møl's melodic sensibilities come out of 80s pop and goth as much as 90s shoegaze. The clean guitar line that opens the album could have come from The Cure or Depeche Mode, although it doesn't stay in that vein for very long. There’s plenty of heavy here, though. "Vakuum," for example, starts out with some nasty old metal riffs, but keep listening to the chorus of the song, blanketed with prominent synths and poppy melody, and tell me you can't imagine this song on The Breakfast Club soundtrack. Granted, it would have been a much gnarlier movie, one in which Ally Sheedy's character probably would have killed one of the other students, but it would have been a lot more interesting.

Photos by Mariann Libach Burup.

And this is what makes Møl interesting. It's as if they decided to take the most inoffensive synth pop as a basic template and angry it the hell up. Not that there isn't plenty of heavy to be found. "Ligament," probably my favorite track on the album, starts out as heavy as they come, blasting with shrieks and growls before gradually morphing into a sound that I called "shimmery" in my notes, before coming back to full aggression mode. There's even a bit of lovely clean singing later in the song that twists in and out with the shrieks. It's harsh, meditative, and uplifting all at the same time.

Mixing black metal and 80s synth pop shouldn't work, but it does, and it's so damn catchy. It doesn't hurt that Møl cleverly avoids some of the excesses of their peers--there's only one instrumental interlude, "Lambda," and it's lovely, and the tracks are relatively short, much like the pop songs they take influence from. No long, wandering interludes here. The whole album is laser focused and well paced. Even if you think you're done with blackgaze (or never wanted anything to do with it in the first place), Jord is well worth checking out.

Planning for Burial - Below the House

By Justin C. When I first saw the cover for Planning for Burial's new album, Below the House, I immediately said, "That's Pennsylvania." There was probably a brief spike in my blood pressure, maybe the beginnings of a fight-or-flight reaction. I'm probably no different than anyone who grew up in a place where they never felt they belonged and fled as soon as possible

By Justin C.


When I first saw the cover for Planning for Burial's new album, Below the House, I immediately said, "That's Pennsylvania." There was probably a brief spike in my blood pressure, maybe the beginnings of a fight-or-flight reaction. I'm probably no different than anyone who grew up in a place where they never felt they belonged and fled as soon as possible, but the muted color palette and sense of gloom conveyed by that cover art is how most of my childhood memories from Pennsylvania look. Thom Wasluck, the man behind Planning for Burial, moved back to his childhood home to record Below the House, and when asked in an interview at CLRVYNT what moving back to Pennsylvania was like, he said, "Pretty awful. [Laughs]" You can read that interview for more insight into what it was like moving back and recording there, but given that "gloom" finds its way into most genre descriptions of Planning for Burial's work, you'll quickly figure out where you are on the emotional spectrum without the background story.

For our purposes, this is probably more of a metal-adjacent(tm) album review, although it fits in well with The Flenser’s catalog. There's harshness here, and if you were to listen to the opener, "Whiskey and Wine," with its heavy, Jesu-like undercurrent and black metal-like vocals, you might go in expecting a more metal album than what you're actually going to get. Sure, the third track, "Somewhere in the Evening" comes back in with that molten bottom end, and there are some shrieks buried deep in the mix, but the clean vocals on top make this feel like a conflict between listlessness and rage instead of a full-on barn burner.

More than anything, this is often sparse, vulnerable music. "Threadbare" accurately describes the music it contains. The vocals are clean, the music is at times minimal and stark, although there's also a warmth to it, as hard as it may be to pick out at times. There's a bit more fire to Below the House than Planning for Burial's last album, Desideratum, but the heaviness comes from mood, not volume. "Dull Knife, Part 1" might sound like heavier shoegaze or slowcore, but "Part II" is a singular-minded, almost plodding tune that builds so subtly that you might not even notice. The plaintive, repeated line, "Call me back home / calling me back," is damn near heart-breaking, even when additional guest voices join Wasluck.

I found this album difficult to listen to, but not because of rapid-fire time changes or overwhelming dissonances. This music is difficult because it cuts to your core if you let it in, and it taxes you emotionally. As I mentioned up top, I think this album carries a little more weight for me because Wasluck and I share Pennsylvania as the setting of perhaps not the most fun times, but beauty can still come from that. As the only lyrics for "Dull Knife, Part I" say, "This is the place I live / But it's not my home / This is the place I live / My roots don't grow." Get into this gloom and let it change you, and maybe even free you.

Lantlôs - Melting Sun

By Sean Golyer. Uninteresting. Slow. Samey. All words that ran through my mind upon first listen years back, and subsequent listens. I didn’t think much of it back then and sorta wrote it off as a weird little experiment from the band post-Neige, but nothing more. Cherry Quartz had some cool moments, though. I did like that track. I gave it some more listens.

By Sean Golyer.

Artwork by Pascal Hauer.

Uninteresting. Slow. Samey. All words that ran through my mind upon first listen years back, and subsequent listens. I didn’t think much of it back then and sorta wrote it off as a weird little experiment from the band post-Neige, but nothing more.

Cherry Quartz had some cool moments, though.
I did like that track. I gave it some more listens.

Well, I guess Azure Chimes is pretty neat too.
Yet more listens.

Damn, Aquamarine Towers has a really great climax and a pretty catchy line.
Before I knew it, I was giving this album a spin on (at least) a weekly basis for months on end. That continues to this day.

One thing the album always had going for it was its sound. It’s so warm, pleasing, and inviting on just about any set of speakers or headphones I put it through. Not to mention it’s not quite like anything else I have heard before or since, particularly in the context of the type of music Lantlos is writing. There’s moments where the guitar tone has a very “scooped”, almost “djent” sound to it, but not always. This is usually a turn-off for me, but used here it seems pleasant and fitting. The bass sits very nicely and prominently under the guitars, adding further layers of warm distortion. Accenting them are some distorted bass synths that crop up from time to time. The vocals are awash in reverb, but not buried to the point that I can’t understand them. The drum-work rounds everything out, being subtle and just carrying the rhythm and adding cymbal washes when needed, or being the driving force behind the heavier moments on the album.

Photos by Webzine Chuul.

The use of space and atmosphere in the mix is other-worldly. “Ethereal” is an adjective I like to use when describing this album to others. While other related bands in a similar vein such as Alcest or Les Discrets often feel like they’re chasing the sound of childhood nostalgia, bittersweet memories, or just plain melancholy, Melting Sun transports you to another space and time altogether. A saccharine heaven, filled with unending rays of pure, golden sunlight reflecting and refracting against a sea of multi-colored crystalline mountains. A place to depart and reflect on the better parts of your once earthly existence. This is the ultimate escapist album and has a nostalgia all its own when the final moments of closer “Golden Mind” wash over you.

That’s not to say all this “feel good” atmosphere comes without heaviness. To the contrary, the masterful use of space and timing only serves to make the heavier and more energetic movements that much more explosive and massive. If you’re any level of a guitar tone-head, or like me just really enjoy the sound of well-crafted mixes, this album is nothing short of a marvel. A wide variety of clean and distorted timbres and textures are on display at any given time. Nary a sound ever comes across as “thin”, “muddy”, or out of place. Nor does it sound too clean or overproduced, it’s all very organic. A testament to a careful and well thought out recording and mixing process, most of which seems to have been done in-house with the band. Impressive.

Melting Sun is a gorgeous album waiting to reward the patient listener. Its hooks are subtle, but they’re certainly there. It proudly sits among some of my favorite albums of all time, or at the very least one of my most listened to. There’s a sort of unspeakable quality to both the atmospheric songwriting and the huge mix that makes it difficult for me to put into words even after over 2 years of listening to it regularly. If you wrote this one off early on as I once did, I highly recommend giving it another spin. There’s more depth here than what it initially lets on, it just takes a willing listener to take the dive as I have.

Alcest - Kodama

By Justin C. When I first heard a new Alcest album was coming, I was unreservedly excited. Of course, one of my first questions was how the new album would compare to Shelter. Would Alcest continue in a more pop direction, or steer back toward the blackgaze they pioneered?

By Justin C.

Artwork by Førtifem

When I first heard a new Alcest album was coming, I was unreservedly excited. Of course, one of my first questions was how the new album would compare to Shelter. Would Alcest continue in a more pop direction, or steer back toward the blackgaze they pioneered? Then I heard that the new album, Kodama, was Japanese inspired, and I had no idea what to think. Plenty of artists decide to dabble and/or delve into different cultures and music. Done thoughtfully, you get a sublime triumph like Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain. Done carelessly, you get Avril Lavigne's irredeemable piece of garbage, made up of bits and pieces of half-digested Japanese culture barfed up on top of what might have been a decent pop song if anyone had put any effort into it.

I was confident that Alcest would create something closer to Miles than Avril, but even after I first heard Kodama, I was a little mystified. I was pleased, as it’s a fantastic album, but still mystified. There's no mistaking the opening strains of the album for anything other than Alcest, with waves of guitar soaked in melody washing over you. But where was the Japanese influence? I'm no expert--I've played a few classical guitar works from Japanese composers--but I was pretty sure I recognized hints here and there of a Japanese musical sensibility, particularly in the title track. But beyond a few hints and the clearly anime-inspired cover, where was the influence?

Photo by Pedro Roque.

I try to avoid other press about an album before I review it, but I broke my own rule this time to learn more. Kim Kelly interviewed Neige and Winterhalter over at Noisey, and from that, the picture became a little clearer. The duo describe the album as being inspired as much, if not more, by the spirituality and culture of Japan than any particular musical style. Neige mentions an anime film in particular, Princess Mononoke, that deals with themes of environmentalism vs. human progress. The themes of that movie seem to fit well within the themes that Alcest has been about all along--a duality of sorts, feeling a pull between two places but not feeling exactly at home in either.

With a better understanding of that aspect, what about the relative softness or hardness of the album? Well, you don't have to get far into the album to find out. The second track, “Eclosion,” is another melodic gem, but the guitars start to get aggressive early on. There are also those fantastic clean vocals, sometimes with aching harmonies, that appear and then drift off over the horizon. But it turns out this is a build up to a long section of Neige's black metal rasps, mixed with anger, frustration, and sorrow. They play right over the beautiful melodies, and the combination gives me goosebumps. Therein lies Alcest's greatest strength--playing the harsh against the beautiful.

Photo by Pedro Roque.

You'll find even more of this musical-duality-mirroring-lyrical-duality throughout. "Je Suis D'Ailleurs," which translates to "I'm from Somewhere Else," continues with yearning clean vocals and the music gaining in ferocity. It's really part of a multi-song arc of building intensity, peaking with "Oiseaux de Proire" ("Birds of Prey"). The harsh vocals here are some of the most intense you'll hear from Neige, and the instrumental build toward the end of the song is to die for.

Does all this mean a "triumphant return to form," as some will say? I'd actually say no. As I explained in my previous love letter to Alcest, the band has stepped away and back toward the black metal aspect of their sound before, but the core of their musicality is always there. Kodama, while re-emphasizing some elements that weren't present on Shelter, pushes that core sensibility yet another step further in this band's fantastic catalog. No one's infallible, but I haven't seen any signs of fatigue in this band yet.

King Woman - Doubt

By Matt Hinch. Sometimes albums just slip through your fingers. And sometimes someone else picks the album up and puts in back in your hand. That's what happened with the Doubt EP by King Woman

By Matt Hinch.


Sometimes albums just slip through your fingers. And sometimes someone else picks the album up and puts in back in your hand. That's what happened with the Doubt EP by King Woman. Released in October 2014 I just recently got around to it. Not that it hasn't received plenty of praise though. The Kristina Esfandiari fronted outfit saw lots of positive press upon its release. Here's some more.

Opener “Wrong” feels like a SubRosa track with no violins and a different singer. Slow, dark, doomy and massive. The guitars surround and layers move in and out of focus as your ears shift to try and take it all in.

“King of Swords” follows with a more shoegaze slant. I'm reminded of recent Alcest or Explosions in the Sky in the way the tremolos sparkle amid the brooding cadences. Esfandiari's croon sounds freeing, like a burden being lifted from the heart. Her expressive delivery comes from deep within, laying bare her soul.

“Burn” continues with the deceptive nature of the EP. On one hand it feels simple, easy, and uncomplicated as the forlorn melodies and droning pull lumber on unstoppable. But on the other hand there is so much going on. Every member is playing off one another in some way with lush atmosphere and depressing tone. The gentle sway is hypnotic, affecting and unforgettable.

“Candescent Soul” finishes the EP with crawling doomgaze plodding away under painful melody and Esfandiari's haunting voice setting the listener free to carry on their own journey through life. I've heard comparisons to Mazzy Star, Jex Thoth and PJ Harvey but I'm more likely to pick up Fiona Apple for what it's worth.

Doubt is just a short EP but letting it repeat feels right most of the time. As much as it's about casting off shackles and finding ones self, the mood is depressing enough that you don't get that big rush of cathartic relief. But that doesn't mean you can't connect with it. Quite the opposite. Doubt is fit for contemplation, inviting, sensual and comforting in a strange way. If you have doubts, give it a shot.

Alcest - Écailles de lune & Les voyages de l'âme

By Justin C. It's always cool to see a long-established artist suddenly appear on Bandcamp. You can pick up things missing from your collection, or just get higher-fidelity copies of things you already had.

By Justin C.

It's always cool to see a long-established artist suddenly appear on Bandcamp. You can pick up things missing from your collection, or just get higher-fidelity copies of things you already had. Now, when Prophecy Productions joined Bandcamp, we got a whole slew of new digital goodies, including Alcest. I briefly debated about whether Alcest really needed a write up here--doesn't everybody already know them? But on the other hand, there are always new people getting into metal, and it's easy to miss some gems. Or maybe the often-polarized opinion of this band scared you off, and you didn't have me whispering into your ear about why you should listen.

Photo by Webzine Chuul.

Alcest is primarily the work of Neige (a.k.a., Stéphane Paut). He started Alcest as a pretty standard, raw black metal outfit, but after the 2001 demo, Neige took Alcest into a new direction. A lot of people categorize Alcest as post-black metal, but the favorite genre label I've seen attached to them is "blackgaze." Neige mixes melodic shoegaze and black metal in a way that's simply brilliant. If you really think about it (and ignore the knuckle-headed screams of "sell out!" and "girlfriend metal!" that Internet Tough Guys love to apply to Alcest), the melding of shoegaze and black metal isn't actually that strange. Both genres typically rely on waves of sound washing over the listener, and what are blast beats and tremolo-picked guitars if not (angry) waves of sound? Sure, black metal is typically a bit more aggressive than, say, My Bloody Valentine or Catherine Wheel, but sonically, they have similar aesthetics, if different executions.

Cover art by Fursy Teyssier

It was hard to pick what albums to focus on, but for my money, 2010's Écailles de lune and 2012's Les voyages de l'âme stand as the pinnacle of what Alcest has achieved so far. Aside from the early demo, Écailles is probably one of the heavier albums in Alcest's catalog. "Écailles de lune (Part I)" serves as a melancholy intro to the album, but listen carefully: At around the 8-minute mark (Neige doesn't mind a slow build), we get some blast beats and lovely tremolo guitar, even if they're a bit less frosty than typical for black metal. Hang around for the next track, "Écailles de lune (Part II)", and after a deceptively gentle intro, you hear the first proper black metal shrieks of the album. I love Neige's clean vocals--they're subdued and non-showy while still conveying deep emotion--but I'd also happily listen to an album full of his raw shrieks. "Part II" eventually moves back to shoegazier territory, but it makes the blackened fury seem all the more intense.

Photo by Webzine Chuul.

It pains me to say it, but if you're disappointed by the heaviness level of the first two tracks of Écailles, you're probably not going to like Alcest. The shoegaze parts of the music and Neige's clean vocals aren't brief respites or interludes; they're integral to the sound. But if you're still with me, I have to convince you to also listen to Les voyages de l'âme, because it holds a firm place on my list of favorite albums post-2000, and perhaps on my list of favorite albums ever.

Cover art by Fursy Teyssier

Les voyages de l'âme does move Alcest a bit further away from its black metal roots, although you still get some great blackened fury in "Là où naissent les couleurs nouvelles" and "Faiseurs de mondes". What stands out on Voyages is the maturation of Neige's melodic sensibilities. He was always good, but what he did on Voyages is at a different level. The lush guitars and vocal melodies in the album opener "Autre Temps" immediately take me to another place, which seems appropriate because Neige has explained that Alcest is largely inspired by a dream world from his childhood. This album also sees Neige's blending of the heavy and light become nearly seamless. The gentle intro to "Là où naissent les couleurs nouvelles" is brilliantly revisited in the song's blackened sections. The transition thrills me every time, no matter how often I hear it. And the vocals and guitars in the title track? I don't even know how to put those feelings into words.

Photo by Webzine Chuul.

Alcest's lovely 2014 album Shelter moved firmly into a pop/shoegaze sound, and as with most Alcest albums, the reaction was polarized. However, Neige has changed directions before--Alcest's first proper full-length, Souvenirs d'un autre monde, had nary a black metal scream on it, so it's hard to say where he'll end up next. I'd hate to see Neige completely abandon his black metal roots, but on the other hand, his musicianship will show through no matter what he's doing, and I suspect Alcest albums are going to be an "insta-buy" for me for a long time to come.

The Flenser Part Two: Have a Nice Life, White Suns & Planning for Burial

By Craig Hayes. In the first part of this Flenser Records feature, I looked at recent releases from avant-garde black metal band Mamaleek, and harbingers of electronic doom, Wreck and Reference. Both of those bands are based in California, and both are duos, but those aren't the only commonalities between the two bands. Mamaleek and Wreck and Reference also blend a lot of influences from

By Craig Hayes.


In the first part of this Flenser Records feature, I looked at recent releases from avant-garde black metal band Mamaleek, and harbingers of electronic doom, Wreck and Reference. Both of those bands are based in California, and both are duos, but those aren't the only commonalities between the two bands. Mamaleek and Wreck and Reference also blend a lot of influences from well outside metal’s usual sphere of interests into their sound, and while the two bands are sonically dissimilar, they both take a similarly experimental approach in their songwriting.

In doing that, Mamaleek and Wreck and Reference both make innovative music, but they both also feature plenty of core metal references in their sound as well. Flenser also releases works by bands that don’t reference metal as directly, yet those bands are still making music that contains a lot of elements that would appeal to fans of dark rock and metal. There’s been three albums added to Flenser’s Bandcamp page of late that fall into that category, so let’s take a look at that trio of releases, and their creators.


Every band wants to make a good impression on debut, but when Have A Nice Life released their first full-length, Deathconsciousness, back in 2008, they delivered an outright underground classic. The band’s founding members, Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga, crafted a sprawling double album, where shoegaze, industrial rock, indie pop, and traces of metal were all twisted around the heavy presence of post-punk. Deathconsciousness’ reputation has only increased since its release, so six years later, Have A Nice Life’s second full-length album, The Unnatural World, has a lot to live up to.

Thankfully, Have A Nice Life have come up with an album that is just as rewarding as Deathconsciousness. The Unnatural World takes the band’s post-punk core, and adds in a heavier dose of death-and-gothic-rock, while the presence of murky shoegaze and industrial noise is still keenly felt. For any metalhead seeking music that is meditative and mysterious, the counterpointing of gorgeousness and grimness found on The Unnatural World is bound to be attractive. Certainly, The Unnatural World is as emotionally heavy as any release from the realms of doom or sludge metal, and with waves of fuzz, reverb, feedback, and distortion spilling from walls of guitar, there’s abundant crossover appeal lurking in the album’s depths.

Dark dirges off The Unnatural World, such as “Guggenheim Wax Museum”, “Burial Society” and the bass-heavy blast of “Defenestration Song”, see ice-cold vocals thread through despairing atmospheres – bringing all that wintery '80s post-punk chill. However, along with that, much of The Unnatural World finds that aforementioned shoegaze arising from shadowy drone too. There’s static and thunder on the album as well – particularly on “Cropsey”, where industrial beats erupt into blown-out percussion – and throughout The Unnatural World, as songs tumble through the aether, the ceaseless presence of distortion and echo means everything rides on a crest of dissolving into chaotic noise.

That brings tension to tracks like “Unholy” and “Emptiness Will Eat The Witch”, undercutting their grace with the presence of something unnerving and malevolent at work. That’s exactly what makes The Unnatural World such an enthralling album overall. It’s an undeniably haunting and hypnotic release, with plenty of passages to sink into, but there’s an ever-present sense of something waiting just out of view. Something biding its time, until its decided it’s the perfect moment to crush our hopes, and shatter our dreams.




You'd be hard pressed to come up with any clear set of descriptors to capture the mayhem found on White Sun’s latest album, Totem. You'll find large doses of some kind of post-hardcore, avant-jazz, and noise rock hybridisation lurking on tracks like “Priest In The Laboratory”, “Clairvoyant” and “Disjecta Membra”. However, forget any semblance of actual structure. I mean, there’s ear-piercing guitar and concussive percussion aplenty – and tracks like “Cathexis” and “World Lock” are pretty much heaven for fans of demented guitar abuse – but everything is ground up and spat out via some glorious no-wave head-fuckery.

“Fossil Record” takes a more ambient or synthesized route, and Totem’s last track, “Carrion”, isn't so much music, as just some kind of poetic final punishment. Really, overall, Totem is just ill-natured and utterly unfathomable. White Sun’s clearly aren't interested in catering to any comfort zones, but just see if you don't hit repeat straight away after Totem finishes. Music this bizarre and defiant demands repeated listens – if only to try and make sense of why it’s so damn enjoyable. For those who claim to be very open minded, Totem is still bound to be a head-scratching challenge. Still, I’d take that over safe and anodyne music any day of the week.




Thom Wasluck’s solo project, Planning for Burial, has a lengthy discography of splits, EPs, and cassettes to be found on Bandcamp, and Desideratum, the band’s second full-length recording, is the band’s debut for Flenser. Planning for Burial takes doom and post-metal and runs that through a melancholic slowcore filter – resulting in the kinds of ambient and gothic drone that would appeal to fans of Jesu or Nadja. Tracks off Desideratum, like “Where you Rest your Head at Night” and “29 August 2012”, bring waves of minimalist, feedbacking gloom. Yet, like all of Planning for Burial’s work, heavenliness plays just as an important role as heaviness.

The connection between lost love and an aching for physical contact saturates Desideratum, and there’s no finer example of that being rendered into musical form than on the album’s final track, the 16-minute “Golden”. Cold washes of guitar begin the song, but halfway through, all the droning feedback, synth, and death-march percussion takes on a brighter hue. For sure, “Golden” remains utterly heartbreaking, but, like the best mournful musical experiences, there comes a point where utter bliss arises from misery. There's a lot of ecstasy to be found in the fragility of Desideratum; that solace that always comes from sharing the beauty and emotional rawness of despair.



The Flenser Part One: Mamaleek & Wreck and Reference.

Germ - Grief

Review by Andy Osborn.


Tim Yatras has been high on my list of favorite musicians for a number of years. One of the most prolific heavy musicians in Australia, his insatiable work ethic has seen him acting as a key member in over a dozen bands in just the past few years. Not least of those projects was atmospheric black metal duo Austere, so it was a huge disappointment to hear of their dissolution shortly after the 2009 masterpiece To Lay Like Old Ashes. But shortly after Tim announced Germ, his first completely solo venture. Germ’s debut, Wish, was easily one of the most unique 2012 releases in the realm of metal. It sprayed electronic, pop and rock elements all over his unique depressive black metal canvas into something unlike anything I’ve heard before. Now, just a year and a half later, we’re given another Germ album that tinkers with the original formula and presents a more focused effort that’s erupting with genre-bending creativity.

After opening with the ever-expected ambient intro, Grief bursts forth with the incredible “Butterfly,” a shoegaze metal anthem that fuses infectious melodies with massive guitars. The lovely voice of Amesoeurs’ Audrey Sylvain dances deftly before giving way to the main man’s tortured howls. These may take some getting used to for those not familiar and their juxtaposition with the upbeat music is jarring to be sure, but that just adds to Grief’s unique charm. It’s at once hopeful and utterly depressing, laying the world bare while trying to make something out of devastating despair.

It quickly becomes clear Tim has re-invented his project once again. Although it has much in common with the debut it feels more focused, toning down the experimental nature and making something more refined. The electronic elements still feature heavily but they’re no longer a driving force in the songs. On most of the tracks the relaxed synths give way to the huge wall of guitars and act as a thickening agent rather than primary ingredient. Over an hour passes with no two songs sounding alike, each with its own bleak personality fitting for a Tim Yatras release. Both his clean and haunting vocals are few and far between, which gives more room to his spacey instrumental arrangements and lets you get lost in his melancholy dream world.

Grief is a cross-sectional snapshot of a multi-talented artist’s brain. With so many styles of music and differing moods in and between songs it’s a difficult beast to grasp. But the parts that shine are undeniably impressive and prove that the Tim Yatras approach to metal is one of the most creative in the world. It may not be for everyone, but the amount of risks and new ideas brought forth is staggering; a true testament to a peerless mastermind.

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This White Mountain - Spanning The Void

Review by Aaron Sullivan.


Hailing from Connecticut comes the one man BM band This White Mountain. The first thing that leaps out is the production. Guitars are crisp and full. Drums are audible, and the vocals are mixed perfectly. Adding the quiet moments of Atmosphere help to add dynamics and depth to the songs. Reminding one of Wolves in the Throne Room and Skagos at times.

As his bandcamp page shows, this guy is pretty prolific. Four albums and two splits in two years. Each album different and showing growth from one to the next. Yet all with quality and forward thinking.

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Lost Inside - Mourning wept beside me

Review by Aaron Sullivan.


From the sunny city of San Diego, California comes the Depressive Black Metal band Lost Inside.

Like the genre prescribes the concentration is not on speed or virtuosity but on mood. HEAVY on mood. But unlike many other DSBM bands the production is clean, with each instrument heard clearly in the mix. Vocals are standard fare for this sort of music, but mixed well and never overbearing. Guitars lines float above the slow deliberate drumming. And no matter how depressing it gets those guitars give you a feeling of moving towards something positive. As if there may just be light at the end of the beautiful depressive tunnel. That this album is the catharsis for not only the band, but also for its listeners.

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Horseback - Half Blood

Artwork by Denis Forkas

Half Blood, the new Horseback album, has just been released on their Relapse Records Bandcamp page. This is an album that takes you on a journey. Starting with americana black metal; twisted boogie grooves, repetitive twangy guitars, and harsh blackened vocals. Ending with full on krautrock droning; gorgeous layers of organ and guitar, and the gentle tick-tock of electronic drums. Here's a couple of reviews from AllMusic and The Inarguable, and here's an interview Invisible Oranges did wth Jenks Miller, the man behind Horseback.

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Inverloch - Dusk | Subside

Review by Dane Prokofiev.

Australia’s funeral doom metal band diSEMBOWELMENT have not only reformed under this new cool-sounding name of Inverloch, but have made their return so heavy that you can literally feel walls of sound pressing down on your eardrums when you spin this disc.

As was their style when they were still diSEMBOWELMENT, the music heard in this three-track EP is generally a good balance between foreboding, plodding passages of doom metal and groovy, fast-hitting death metal assaults. While they stated in this interview that this is not supposed to be the case (“It is a totally new band and has no relevance to diSEMBOWELMENT other than having ex-members. New band, new members, new music and new logo.”), the sonic imprints of their diSEMBOWELMENT days can definitely be heard.

For example, that lengthy introduction that takes its time to build up to an audible sound level in opening track “Within Frozen Beauty” is such a funeral doom thing to do. But, the track doesn’t just HMMMMMM, RAAAHHHHHH and alternate between the two states of mind like the other two tracks (a trademark of the death/funeral doom movement pioneered by the band), there's a fast-paced guitar solo from 3:26 to 4:34 too!

Second track “The Menin Road” lumbers along at a typical funeral doom pace, stifling you with crushing riffs and tortured vocals, with Mazziotta providing sparse but atmospheric percussion support, crashing the cymbals to great effect every now and then. It serves as a apt bridge between it and album closer, “Shadows Of The Flame”, leading into the last song of the EP with a chilling silence.

“Shadows Of The Flame” is structurally quite similar to “Within Frozen Beauty”, and while it does surprise one with a sudden burst of death metal aggression right after the chilling silence, it degenerates into mere funeral doom plodding for quite a while before it starts up its engine again with a moderately-paced death metal passage. Keyboards make their haunting presence known, with James whispering in an anguished voice alongside it, matching the level of despondency built up throughout the song with an equally depressive but very human timbre.

As a collection of demo tracks, this short EP may be only slightly over 20 minutes long, but it provides a very tempting glimpse at what Inverloch possibly have to offer in their eventual debut full-length album. Regardless of the name change Inverloch still offer the same old, primitive and carnal breed of doom metal that made the name diSEMBOWELMENT legendary.

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Lamentations Of The Ashen - EKIMMV

Lamentations Of The Ashen's EKIMMV is depressive black metal. Three long and epic tracks of blackened doom metal, drone, and shoegaze sandwiched by two shorter tracks. Read the review from Don't Count on it Reviews and check it out.

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