With over two decades’ worth of making hypnotic, powerful and thought provoking music, Berlin’s The Ocean are a unique band with a ceaseless creativity. Blending a plethora of styles across the metal and electronic genres, the band have gained a formidable reputation throughout the world of rock, metal and hardcore. Ever since their seminal 2007 album Precambrian, The Ocean have released a series of albums inspired by Earth’s geological time scale. With music that is defined by a distinct maturity and a deep thoughtfulness, the band look deep into the human psyche and explore a vast array of complex and powerful themes. After a six month world tour the band return with their latest musical journey through the ecological stages of the world, with Holocene.
Holocene takes the band into the human age, a world so transformed and significantly impacted by our dirty and bloody hands that the future continues to remain uncertain. Unlike the Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic and Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic double album, The Ocean have chosen a different course with this album. Holocene is intimately captivating and synth driven, built on the mesmerising synth wizardry of Peter Voightmann, the Berlin sextet have reined in some of the distortion in favour for luscious and layered atmospherics. Despite this they have dug deeper into their musical DNA and brought forward references from their earlier work that older fans will certainly notice. With this in mind, the heaviness of the album doesn’t truly kick in until after ‘Atlantic’. By holding back on the massive riffs and keeping the vocals clean, Holocene has twice the impact of any previous The Ocean album, in turn creating a decidedly frenetic and exciting atmosphere.
With a slew of singles over the past five months already embedding themselves into the hearts and minds of their devoted disciples, including viral smash ‘The Summoning’; the intrigue into Vessel’s continued spiritual evolution is one of the most highly anticipated melodic expositions of 2023, which leaves us especially confident in revealing that such great expectations have officially blown up and out of the ether come encountering this exceptional album in full.
As the soundscape mirrors the conversion of spiritual toils, obsessive destruction and the furthering obtainment of self-actualisation; TMBTE, could present itself as somewhat of an enigma to the contemporary heavy music scene, due to its ever converting personality and semi-covert subliminal messaging, alongside a penchant for genre-fluidity including the likes of prog metal, R&B, ambient and indie pop, which has produced one of the most fascinating audible experiences we’ve ever had the pleasure of engaging with. Most of TMBTE’s runtime is an exquisite example of how to produce a gratifying sensory overload, with a billowy flow that’s only comparable to that of dramatic sacred/ritualistic hymns; the proclivity for a fully immersive style to storytelling is a compelling full force of nature, which pommels us with every layer of its dominant monolithic presence.
Post-metal (Black metal? Doom? Sludge?) newcomers Vnder a Crvmbling Moon have only been going for about a year or so but already they come prepared to release their first full-length record. If you check out their Bandcamp there is a lot of extra material on there; all this was written by Scott Taylor as a lockdown project designed to get his ideas out there. The songs have become the building blocks for the sound and path the band have chosen to take with their debut album. I: Oblivion is the culmination of Taylor’s writing ambitions (for this project anyway, he’s also a member of Garganjua). He wrote the record as a one man band, composing every instrument, the lyrics and vocals and also taking care of the mixing duties, before recruiting friends so he could realise his vision in the live setting. As he puts it, ‘I have a fire to carry on creating,’ so this seems to be the natural conclusion of that.
‘When the Nightmare Came’ opens with a mournful dirge. Juxtaposed with heavy doom laden riffs that the likes of Electric Wizard would have been happy to have written. Over it all Taylor’s cries of Oblivion reach down your throat into your soul, and place it in a tightening vice like grip of atmospheric black metal screams. Towards the end of the song we’re treated to another layer as the outro riff is accompanied by a warbling phase ridden lead section, that is still somehow crushing whilst psychedelic in its execution.
Two years on from the release of their acclaimed third album, Nightmare Withdrawals, New Zealand based quintet Blindfolded And Led To The Woods are back, with their Prosthetic Records debut, Rejecting Obliteration, releasing on May 19th. Now in their thirteenth year, the band are seeking to rebuild themselves with their darkest and most introspective album to date, an album which looks at finding your own identity and hope outside of experiences of psychological trauma and personal hurt, navigating cycles of abuse and pain via their crushing take on progressive metal.
Across the span of these ten tracks, the listener is treated to one devastatingly raw and raucous track after another, building to form a body of work that executes its conceptual intentions effectively and powerfully; from casting a glare over dogmatic zealots on ‘Methlehem’, to exploring parental abuse on ‘Hands of Contrition’, the band are steadfast in their focus, unflinching in their execution, and surprisingly vulnerable in their art.
Of course, a great concept is only half the battle; the album requires the music to be great too, and thankfully for the band, what they have crafted on Rejecting Obliteration is exactly that. From the thunderous percussive backbone of Tim Stewart, to the monstrous vocal talents of Stace Fifield, there is a musical understanding that runs deep within this band, allowing them to use their instruments to convey the themes of each track, and the album as a whole, with incredible skill; to make your music both uncomfortable and enjoyable is a talent.
From the opening notes, Rejecting Obliteration means business, with ‘Monolith’ serves as a phenomenal opening statement, with the track transitioning cleanly between aggressive, pummelling walls of sound, and melodic passages that still harness a real guttural energy thanks to the relentless vocal. ‘Methlehem’ is a particularly fantastic track, acting as a scathing and simply brutal commentary on organised religion, packed with guitars from Stuart Henley-Minchington and Ben Atkinson that swirl around the listener like a swarm of buzzing locusts. It’s instrumentally incredible, and the lyricism, with bars such as ‘Education replaced with Mary’s bosom/Warm milk tastes better than rationality/Getting your Sunday fix’, is ruthless in its potency.
Taken in chronological order, [m]other is a journey through the technical proficiency of Veil Of Maya, and is a perfect example of music unafraid to push the limits, written by musicians as fearless as they are talented. Opening up hard and fast, ‘Tokyo Chainsaw’ lives up to the title, with razor sharp odd-meter chugging over dissonant chords from guitarist Marc Okubo and low growls from vocalist Lukas Magyar. This song makes a statement, ensuring the listener knows the brutality this band is capable of. Establishing this early contextualises the rest of the record: at its heart, [m]other is fast-paced, aggressive and wild.
‘Artificial Dose introduces’ synthwave elements, with rising subs leading into a brutal verse, and a huge chorus. Demonstrating Veil Of Maya’s melodic capabilities, it’s pleasantly reminiscent of previous album Matriarch. ‘Godhead’ offers massive riffage accompanied by ambient synths, again channelling an electronic aspect to the music. The breakdown In this one is something to not be missed as a satisfying nod to the group’s djent-focused False Prophet. It’s only natural to ask, after 4 extremely strong songs, how do Veil Of Maya continue to push and build across the rest of the record? ‘[re]connect’ drives far the boundaries of modern metal, with complex melody-building and the constant innovation offered by Okubo. A perfect representation of the absurdly refined musicality of the Chicago-based quartet, it leaves the listener questioning the discourse of what can be done, and what should be done.
Equal parts chaotic and socially aware, Lambrini Girls stormed onto the scene after forming in lockdown, quickly gaining steam in part due to their biggest fan Iggy Pop keeping them in heavy rotation on his BBC 6 radio show. Formed of vocalist/guitarist Phoebe Lunny, bassist Lilly Macieira and drummer Catt Jack (who parted ways with the band amicably in early 2023) Lambrini Girls bring the relentless and furiously feminist energy of their live show to their debut EP You’re Welcome.
Despite clocking in at well under 20 minutes, Lambrini Girls manage to find time to rip into transphobes, abusers, homophobes and toxic masculinity. The shining jewel in You’re Welcome is the track ‘Terf Wars’, a scathing indictment of transphobes appropriating feminism for their own hateful purposes. With lyrics about transphobic family members ranting on Facebook that feel both intensely personal and universally relatable, ‘Terf Wars’ succeeds as both an upbeat punk banger and a fierce takedown of bigotry. Lambrini Girls revel in shouting down hate and it’s an absolute pleasure to listen to, the repeated line “shut your fucking mouth you stupid fucking terf” in the chorus is especially cathartic and is bound to be incredible in a live setting.
