If These Trees Could Talk, quick runthrough of their last three albums
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Above Sky, Below Earth (2009)

Above Sky, Below Earth (2009), the second album of If These
Trees Could Talk was and still is one of my favourite post rock records. When I tuned in Red Forest (2012) some years back it seemed like a lamer, albiet pretty good, successor recycling same elements.

Strangely in further years I got rid of the recycling feel and Red Forest grew to be almost at the same level. Its best individual track Red Forest, took hold of their best track title.

The latest effort Bones of a Dying World (2016) kicks in instantly. It is hard to fathom why there’s no instant recycling feel as its largely a similar record. The key components are still the organic progressing compositions and plenty of high-flying tremolo melodies with some really atmospheric ambience setting an effortless and relaxed background. The weird jazz feel of the second track Swallowing Teeth is partly to blame of the freshness.

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Red Forest (2012)

The compositions have an unseemly amount of earthliness and a remarkable amount of naturefeels, like a walk in the woods. As cliche as it may sound.

For all its glory after the 5th track The Here and Hereafter I start get a tingling feel of recycling again! I cannot really remember much of the end album even though it sounds proficient.

In anycase I am fairly sure The Bones of a Dying World will be high on my, so far short (2015 unveiled a lot of its jewels after the year had turned), best of 2016 list.

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Bones of a Dying World (2016)

For quickie listens a backwards chronological playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/user/likemusictoyourears/playlist/7262UJXtEl2MRlgeq4qnvh

Persefone – Spiritual Migration – Andorra

366353As proficient as the guys in Persefone are with their instruments, Spiritual Migration, released in 2013, suffers from swelling. It has an incredible amount of content which can only be described as “stuff”. Ranging from 6(!) instrumentals to about 1 000 000 extra notes. I enjoy extra notes as much as anyone and there’s a lot to like in the details, but compositions should have more to say.

Persefone are from Andorra, they’ve released four albums since 2001, which all seem to have a massive theme around them. A new album Aathma is due to come out 2017, Spiritual Migration is the latest released record.

You can hardly blame people who have been fooled about the quality of the record (88 %, in Metal Archives). Well, first of all it is a quality record (duh). The production is top notch, instruments are very clear in the mix and still have so much power. Flying Sea Dragons is a great intro,  the beginning of the first real track Mind as Universe promises an unforgettable ride for progressive metal fanatics with some pretty full thrash riffing before sudden breaks and keyboards getting in the mix.

It is only with further listens that one notices that Mind as Universe, albeit a good track, does not really have much when it comes to song-writing. Lots of fine details; but the only thing one is bound to remember is the thrash riff that’s most visible in the first seconds and the twisted outro riff that’s arguably the best of the album. This is the whole album in a nutshell.

The growling / grunted vocals do they job with some emotion. The clean vocals may be a bit amateurish but the singer Moe Espinosa does have a rather unique sound, and the slight Spanish accent (is it insulting to call an Andorran accent Spanish?) actually sounds really pleasant. In the beginning I felt clean vocals was one of the weakest links of Persefone, but pervertedly on further listens they turned to one of the features I most enjoy.

What do I remember from the album then? Very impressive instrumentation, you gotta give credit for the ambitious approach. The Majestic of Gaia works great as an individual piece, most notably its last 2.5 minutes of epic song-writing with just the right amount of extra dibbling. Inner Fullness has a brilliant solo and emotive rhythmic chorus with some dual work from the vocalists and really fitting massive instrumentation. Outro is a memorable instrumental that sounds like a more somber part of a Japanese Anime-film. Returning to the Source has some of the most interesting bits with a solo that could almost be classified crazy, the rhythmics are wickedly unexpected. Unfortunately the end track turns really repetitive.

As apparent from the instrumentals and these high points Persefone handles epic melodies and movielike atmospheres very well. I seem to have pointed a lot of negatives. On my defense that is because Spiritual Migration has A LOT of high points that make it an enjoyable ride. When Persefone focuses into song writing without mixing too much stuff in it, they sound pretty damn good. Not many 7/10 albums have me expecting a new album so eagerly.

7/10

Venetian Snares Modern Classical Breakcore collection

Venetian Snares is Canadian Breakcore artist Aaron Funk who has released quite a few albums. This collection is based on the best bits of his modern classical works. At 53 minutes I had to leave a couple of songs out but I feel shorter length serves this kind of orchestral electronic clattering better.

Unlike many albums this collection does not go all in in the beginning, but is meant to collect steam along the way and in my opinion the last 4 tracks Room 379, Integraation, Senki Dala and Miss Balaton conclude as one of the strongest endings in the history of electronic music. I am humble, I know; but in actuality the strongness of the two whole tracks Integraation and Miss Balaton is to blame. That is not to say the beginning is weak,  I love Frictional Nevada but its end chaos is a bit annoying.

What really brought Venetian Snares into my regular playing cycle is these tracks; the way he mixes complex electronic music with organic sounding classical orchestrations. Among his other albums Venetian Snares has released two full modern classical electronic breakcore albums Rossz Csillag Alatt Született (2005) and My Downfall (Original Soundtrack) (2007). This collection is based around those two albums which have many of his best works.

After these albums Aaron Funk incorporated modern classical as a more subtle part of his style, a track may not necessarily be a modern classical track or something else. One can only stand so much classical violin squeaking which is why bunch of tracks having other elements along with the classical have been included in this collection (from albums Hospitality (2006), Detrimentalist (2008), My-so-called-life (2010), My Love Is A Bulldozer (2014)).

I wanted to include Hajnal and Kétsarkú Mozgalom from Rossz Csillag Alatt Született too but for the sake of big picture, I had to turn them off.

Music quickies – Vektor, Current 93, Katatonia, Devin Townsend Project, Behemoth

vektor-terminal_redux Vektor – Terminal Redux (2016)
Vektor’s hyped 2016 release is astronomically progressive metal. Vektor was the best modern thrash metal band for years, it is about time for them to get recognition. For an album that sates me midway, it is astoningly good but it would be more enjoyable shorter. It’s really not a better album than their previous efforts but still ridiculously good and full of everything tasty.
9/10
Listen: Mountains Above The Sun + Ultimate Artificer

0Current 93 Calling For Vanished Faces Calling for Vanished Faces (I: Funeral Music for
Us All) and (II: Love, Sleep And Dreams) (1999)
David Tibet’s overtheateritical aesthetics drove this Sol Invictus fanboy mad for half a decade. “Maybe, I might finally appreciate something of theirs?” I thought. I: Funeral Music for Us All starts as an oddities collection I cannot recommend less but picks up on Coal Black Smith, staggers to its most annoying pieces and picks up decently at Hourglass (For Diana) soon to turn into 1 hour 30 minutes of pure neofolk bliss. Probably my favourite release on which I completely skip 1/3 of it.
I 7/10
II 10-/10
Listen: The whole second side, except the 4 ending tracks, is blissful.

570160Katatonia – The Fall of Hearts (2016)
Some outerworldly charm with heartbreaking atmosphere. Drags time to time yet still wrenches heartstrings every minute. Passer‘s descending scale should be obnoxious yet it is genuinely alluring. How on earth did they make it work.
Listen: Decima & Residual for angsting in a dark room, Passer for prog.
Grade upcoming

 

devintownsendprojecttranscendencecdDevin Townsend Project – Transcendence (2016)
Middle aged Devin is zen and re uses his components but those lures still amount some catch. Not bad, but I may have heard too much “c-grade progressive metal” (quoting their own making of documentary) to fully appreciate this kind of polished sound anymore. Danger lurks somewhere else. Here’s hoping the next album goes permanently Higher.

The second album is simply too much as can be noticed from the lack of recognition it has gotten. The (demo) titles are a very Devin Townsendish joke, the stuff is nearly as polised as the first. Love the commercial suicide though, it could have well been released it as a lone piece.
Listen: Higher
7ish/10

395440Behemoth – The Satanist (2014)
If you can think of a more epic way to start a track than in the title track of The Satanist please let me know. The track does not carry the weight of its beginning but the album does. The wall-of-sound production, mildly reminiscent of Emperor, gives it weight unlike many releases.

Incorporating a massive and satisfying finale that only runs through the last minute of Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel requires so much finesse. O Father O Satan O Sun! towers above the rest of the release with another finale, this time based on a monster riff and oration like an esoteric sermon. Here’s hoping The Satanist won’t be the last of Behemoth like Nergal hinted in the past.
Listen: Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel & O Father O Satan O Sun!
Grade upcoming

Post-rock Melancholia playlist

Melancholic post-rock slow burners collected to an album like playlist.

1. Moya is a sloooow starter from one of the biggest names of post-rock Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It is a post-rock collection after all, what would it be without some mood buildup :).

2. Glanko’s – 9003 (feat. Mote) is a really surprising sidestep by this idm artist. I repeat, an idm artist, yet its characteristics are of this collection, not of idm. Somehow his quite excellent Telekommand ep came to have this stunning blue ambient tuned piece with some mellow violin work. It is really surprising how close electronic music can get to post-rock.

65daysofstatic have a lot of electronic music influence and elements but 3. Unmake the Wild Light focuses on their organic side. I also can’t recommend their album Wild Light (2013) enough. From start to finish a terrific album which two sentences can’t do justice (duh). Unmake the Wild Light is a bit more hopeful track before the 3 closing tracks of this collection turn damn somber. The end quaternity is very close to my favourite 4 post-rock pieces all time.

4. Mogwai’s – No Medicine for Regret is a real slow burner, quoting some guy from last.fm because he said it best:
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5. Dipole Experiment and 6. Les Iris both have endings to die for. Dipole experiments 11:35 minutes feel like 3 minutes to me and the massive orchestral end buildup is definitely among the most emotive I’ve ever heard.

Yes, like Glanko, Alcest is not an actual post-rock band but Les Iris has strong foundations in post-metal / post-rock. Not to mention it is one of the only tracks that can still feel like an ethereal two ton truck after Dipole Experiment’s gargantuanity. And it feels a lot cause I know the end is nigh. Via some gentle blastbeating, and it is funny how blastbeating can sound gentle but it does, Les Iris impeccably traverses to one of the most perfect endings known to man. Alcest has an ability to conjure a completely jaw-dropping melody all the sudden. The last minute of Les Iris is the most shining example of it.

Myrath – Legacy / ميراث – Tunis

555267Myrath is likely the biggest metal band yet to come from Africa. In their 10 years of activity they have released 4 albums of solid standard.

Myrath play melodic progressive metal but during the years they’ve calmed down on the metal and progressive and added more symphonic, almost bombastic elements. The latest album Legacy does not emphasize heaviness and the progressive elements are interwoven in the tracks. There’s no Dream Theater like instrument extremities that were present on their earlier years. It is still very much a metal album, even though the lightweight video track Believer might fool the unwary.

The musicianship and songwriting is top notch. The more crooked and catchy bits like the sudden rhythmics of Nobody’s Lives or the stadium chorus of Get Your Freedom Back are natural parts in the body of the tracks. Nobody’s Lives also includes one of the most notable choruses of the album where English is for a moment replaced with Arabic. The c-part of the said track has a mighty rhythmic groove and at the same time to untrained European ears sounds like a prayer call from a minaret!

The most thrilling component of Myrath are the North African/Tunisian folk influences they augment. Singer Zaher Zorgati deserves a very special mention of his extremely pleasant voice and how he floats his voice in true Arabic fashion. I’ve never heard that being used in metal before and it sounds fantastic. Surprisingly Myrath also adds a few bits of electronic backgrounds here and there.

After the first 3 full tracks of near bliss the quality goes down, I noticed myself humming and sing-alonging way less to melodies and choruses of the latter part of the album. The Needle is a track that for the most part could have been made by any Western band and that is probably why it is less interesting. Duat and Endure the Silence also do not have as strong a melody and choruswork as the rest of the album. Through Your Eyes is a good track with mildly too sweet chorus (although it must be pointed out that it fits the lyrical theme) and Storm of Lies is a good track overall but just more of the same, failing to be the epic closer I was hoping for. Luckily The Unburnt and especially I Want to Die, with its touching lyrics, bring some top notch quality for the latter part of the album too.

The Unburnt’s lyrics surprise by showcasing the story of Daenerys Targaryen of A Song of Ice and Fire (or Game of Thrones if you prefer the watered down albeit still good tv-version). It encompasses such ethnic elements so naturally that in my mind it has already intertwined as a part of Daenerys’s character.

Myrath’s strength and weakness lay in the same area, accessibility. For a progressive metal album it’s song structures are too similar to each other to hold interest on top of the scale. However it is really hard to point out many wrongs in what they do. Picking up a single track from the last part of the album yields almost no faults. For someone who is looking for really challenging progressive music, Legacy is probably not ideal, but it has accessibility to spare for more lighthearted music fans who are not afraid of some surprising twists.

8/10

Monumental metal 3 – Finnish Epics

This playlist comprises of epic Finnish metal tracks. It ranges from melodic death metal, to folk influenced metal, progressive rock, post-metal and black metal to industrial.

1. The New Beginning is one of the best tracks of Insomnium but was never released as a “real” full-length track. It’s been released in Where the last wave broke EP and as a bonus track of Across The Dark.

2. On Lonely Towers is the centerpiece of Barren Earth’s 2015 album and welcomes them back into form. Especially welcoming is the great vocal performance by the Faroe Island native Jón Aldará (also known from Hamfero). That is not to say the previous vocalist Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow The Sun) didn’t do a good job on previous albums, but after about 10 albums that I’ve heard him sing on, the more powerful voice of Aldara is a really welcome change.

3. An epic Finnish metal collection without Amorphis wouldn’t be perfect, which is why My Kantele, in my opinion the best track of their discography was chosen for this record. It is also suitable transition from Barren Earth who have their ex-keyboard player and have drawn a lot of influence from Amorphis, to Kingston Wall. Kingston Wall in turn is one of the biggest influencers of Amorphis.

4. You can read more about Kingston Wall from my previous blog post if you are interested further.

After a few greats, I decided to go underground with a lot less known bands (5.) The Chant and (6.) Crib45. Neither is yet classic material but have produced a few fine records, most notably the ones which best tracks are featured here.

7.  Jotunheim is as close to nature Moonsorrow has yet reached. I truly adore most of their longest tracks.

8. Iiwanajulma, with its Finnish lyrics produces a pessimistic, self-hating, melancholic but staggeringly real picture of the current Finnish mentality at its worse. The closing track 2014 album Hallelujah is one of the most fantastic lyrical pieces of Finnish metal really.

Suomi on maa jossa eksyneen lapsen silmissä loistaa 666 – se laskee maailmanloppuun ja kansansairaudessa on Suomen tulevaisuus

Suomi on maa jossa ahdistunut kansa nukuttaa lapsensa yhä tukenevassa jurrissa ja herää joka päivä pahenevassa darrassa

Suomi on maa jossa kiputiloissa tehdään töitä opiaateissa – meillä on historia ja se opettaa lukihäiriöistä kansaa maan tavasta

Kaikki samassa raamatussa, icd-10 -tautiluokittelussa, yhteiskunnan bipolaarisessa mielialahäiriössä

Kerro kerro kuvastin ken on on maassa ahkerin – muotihuumepäisissä duunipäivissä saisko olla sun kaltaisesi ronex, tenox vai venlaflaxin

Ritalinia saa äidinmaidosta ja kaikki on hyvin täällä meidän lintukodossa.

P.S. Not translatable by Google Translate

Salomè Lego Playset – So Much Was Lost In The Process Of Becoming

PrintWhen you pick a free download post-rock album from an owner of a weblabel who also released it, more the surprise it is to feel enthralled almost immediately. But when the second guitar melody of L’animale morente meanders in one can’t help but feel encompassed. If this is not enough, blissful saxophone comes in to complement this lulling tune.

Salomè Lego Playset’s So Much Was Lost In The Process Of Becoming is a dark themed lull headed by frontman Nicola Boari. It meanders in terrains that fit right into my Finnish melancholy conception. It visits experimental grounds as well, but mostly through field recording sounding ambient that adds to the atmosphere.

The quality of tracks does go down after the brilliant starting trinity L’animale morente, Heimarmene and Humanity and Paper Balloons. The next few still have some serious merit but are in professional terms a tad boring. The Fountain and Il Deserto e le Fortezze are dark as opposed to starting three are melancholic. After slow and solid start The Gorge yonders welcome variation as heaviness but is the saxophone a bit off-key?

The last track Dolce Mattatoio is hard to grasp with its 20 minute length and lots of field recording and noise elements. But it doesn’t bother the big picture as its the last track. I have a great affection to last tracks that end with 10 minutes of meaningless humming leading into a hidden track! Dolce Mattatoio cannot be called meaningless humming though, it is a vastly experimental track with a lot of noise and field recording stapled together with familiar instruments from previous tunes. All in all, quite a staggering piece and very much unlike the rest of album.

So Much Was Lost In The Process Of Becoming is a professional sounding indie record with satisfyingly crunchy and organic sounds. The vocals are very delicate but they work in bands favour.

The experience was deepened further by this heartbreaking official statement that Salomè Lego Playset released a few months ago:
“2011. 5 years have passes and they couldn’t feel heavier. Salomè dismantled and so has a part of me gone forever. I honestly can’t say what I’ve done in the past 5 years since. Nothing. This lies as testimony of what I once was and what I once believed in. How long will this go on for. How long do I have left. Should anyone notice, listen, that’s somebody else he will find.”

The statement describes some of the creation pains well and I can only say that Spettro records has seemed to publish quite a lot of albums in the past years. Most of us do not even release one great album in our lifetimes  ;).

8/10

Free download:
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Salom_Lego_Playset/So_Much_Was_Lost_In_The_Process_Of_Becoming/
or
https://salomelegoplayset.bandcamp.com/album/so-much-was-lost-in-the-process-of-becoming
Salome Lego playset info & discography:
http://www.spettrorec.com/index.php?/artists/salome-lego-playset/

Rudra – Brahmavidya: Immortal I – Singapore

296609Rudra is a veteran band from Singapore. They’ve produced 7 albums since 1992 which all have gotten plenty of good critical acclaim but somehow managed to elude my radar so far.

Every eccentric band is supposed to have their own genre and so do Rudra. They call themselves Vedic metal which comes from their incorporation of Sanskrit Vedic literature, philosophy and ancient mantras (shlokas) to blackened death metal basis. They also encompass traditional Carnatic music to their compositions. These obscure elements are ultimately what keeps their ship afloat as they add plenty of interesting elements.

Brahmavidya: Immortal I is their 6th effort, while having plenty of innovative moments its also plagued by mediocreness.

The reason why I’ve given a lot of spins to the record is that the biggest kicks are served right in the beginning. Now, therefore is an enlightening starter with smoothly growing tension and interesting sections. The mantras are also really strong here and add element unlike anything I expected. Guitar leads wander in almost Arabic fashion, reminding of Myrath.

The next track Illusory Enlightement is the best of the album, with its magical chanting chorus.

Almost every track has some fascinating elements and individual melodies. However the lack of constant tension, great riffs and melodies and the unsuspensefulness of the vocals becomes evident as the album progresses. Some of the foreign elements like the mantra chorus of Incredulous Void are peculiar as it sounds like some of Finnish children’s wordplays (Appilan pappilan apupapin papupata pankolla kiehuu ja kuohuu. Pappilan paksuposki piski pisti paksun papukeiton poskeensa.). Whether its a good thing or not depends on the mindset of the listener.

Brahmavidya: Immortal I is an eccentric kettle left to boil while the fuse burns out. In the end its just lukewarm but while its hot, the early consumables will for sure give some satiety to the fans of bands such as Melechesh or Myrath.

7/10

MonuMENTAL Metal oddities

MonuMENTAL Metal oddities collection is wrapped around bizarre bands BUT NOT humour music. Odd turns, eccentric elements, milestones of human vocal capacity and also some instrumental extremities. This collection ought to surprise and bewilder the listener, however its middle point is still great compositions.

1. The starting track, Dysrhythmia‘s probably most rhythmic and meaningful song, Room of Vertigo starts with a lot of groove. Dysrhythmia excels in making seemingly random mess that starts to make sense on further listens. Room of Vertigo is one of the easiest tracks to grasp as it has immediately catchy dreamlike melodies and a steady beat.

2., 3., 4. Next to follow are tracks from Pryapisme’s Futurologie epic, which is one track divided to 11 different movements. At best Pryapisme is masterful in combining everything possible in their soup and yeah, they are French. Obviously the last track of Futurolgie release is a 23 minute orchestrative version of the release. Figures.

5. Havoc Unit started as Festerday in the beginning of 90s, quite a regular grindcore/death metal hybrid. They switched their name to Cardinal in 92, to Peacefrog in 93, to Raw Energy in 93 and 95 they finally slid off to oddland by becoming …And Oceans, symphonic black metal electro hybrid.

Their second album The Symmetry of I / the Circle of O was a double release with a symphonic black metal album + a electronic/ambient/noise album. Which is really quite boring to be honest. Later on they incorporated more electronic and industrial elements and kept having extremely weird track titles in various languages. How about Äcid Sex and Marble Teeth (You-phoria), I Wish I Was Pregnant, Mikrobotik Fields / Uråldrig saga och sång or Angelina: Chthonian Earth: Her Face Forms Worms. The list goes on.

In 2005 …And Oceans became Havoc Unit and released a brilliant brutal death / industrial / experimental album h.IV+ (Hoarse Industrial Viremia) 2008, along with a few splits. Klan Korps [Volkssturm & Erregung] (feat. Strom EC.) is a piece from this album. The circle (of O) closed in 2013 when Havoc Unit became… you guessed it, Festerday!

6. After Havoc Unit there are a few milestones. First Demilich’s When the Sun Drank the Weight of Water. A finnish progressive death metal band which is musically magnificent and also has a distinctive feature. Their singer Antti Boman (un?)officially has the deepest growl in human history. His growl goes so deep that in the 90s when they were active Terrorizer hired an expert to state that the growl cannot have been made without pitch shifting. But apparently it is! Demilich is also known for weird track titles. Some of my favourites are. The Sixteenth Six-Tooth Son of Fourteen Four-Regional Dimensions (Still Unnamed) and Inherited Bowel Levitation – Reduced Without Any Effort.

7. Fleurety is exactly the opposite extremity in pitch. Their singer Alexander Nordgaren ruined his vocal chords by shrieking like a fucking eagle. It sounds really painful and it is incredible singing like that is even possible. Profanations Beneath the Bleeding Stars is also a surprisingly solid track, however their next release Min tid skal komme is the real jewel of their discography. One of many “lost” metal releases that many consider a classic but most people have never heard about.

8. Amesoeurs can be thought to belong to what some people not all unscornfully regard as hipster metal. Their only full length from 2009 is in my opinion not too great but it appealed to a lot of people. Sure enough it has some brilliant bits. La Reine Trayeuse sums it up well by starting as a weak pop track. In the middle of its length things turn so bewildering I’m not sure any other except French people could pull this off so magnificently. First the pop base turns to fast paced black metal then the female vocalist puts on quite a lot more a torturous shriek you’d ever expect this band to be capable of. And I mean its not just 3 seconds, it lasts about half a minute. The end of the track is also damn excellent.

9. Meads of Asphodel and 10. Sigh are rare breed who both formed to monsters of mixing different genres to their mostly metal basis on their own. Just listen how My Psychotic Sand Deity switches between hard hitting metal and dreamy interludes turning into angelic female singing to hard rock soloing to black metal. Or how Amnesia Blues’s away with growling vocals and the smoothest piano jazz solo in metal history.

11. More monumental vocal and instrumental extremities with You Suffer by Napalm Death. The shortest track ever recorded and also one of the fastest lyrical outputs ever. “You suffer, but why?”. All this in exactly 1.316 seconds.

12. Behold… The Arctopus annoys me quite a bit when listened in large quantities but they work well served in careful small doses. Like the short bursting Putrefucktion. They are one of the most extreme bands in terms of the amount of different sections every track contains. Putrefucktion is more just a mindfuck, a very entertaining and peculiar mindfuck.

13., 14., 15. Meshuggah the old odd groovemonster that somehow influenced one generation of teens to create an own popular genre, Djent. The album Catch-33 is clearly my favourite bit of Meshuggah discography with its lovely rhythmic background. It is nearly a one track album as it flows from one track to another so smoothly. Just when you think you get the rhythm, it changes to something else! The last four tracks are all diamond, but in this collection I left out the last one, ending it with Shed, Persona Non Gratae and Dehumanization.

I am getting an unsubstantial amount of satisfaction about the unpredictability of these tracks, especially the end of Dehumanization. I tried to further help the listening mood by placing the tracks in rather eccentric order. The plan was to fuck with ones brain, but also to deliver logical transformations too. This was probably the funniest compilation to do and I think it transfers well to listening experience.