- Samael– ‘Angel Of Wrath’
After six years of absence, the archangels of symphonic industrial black metal Samael, are releasing in October 2017 their new album ‘Hegemony‘. Since signing with Napalm Records last year, they have released ‘Angel Of Wrath‘ announcing the exciting news about their new work.
Mary Kalaitzidou
- Halgrath – ‘Air Meditation‘
Halgrath was one of my first loves in the world of dark ambient. Her debut album ‘Arise Of Fallen Conception‘ was released on Cold Meat Industry during its final death throes. She then made the move to Cryo Chamber for her next two releases. Since 2014 the Halgrath project has been silent. Now finally over these last few weeks we are seeing the second single released by Halgrath through her personal Bandcamp page.
‘Air Meditation‘ represents all the splendor of Halgrath. We are presented with a highly meditative track. True to its title, these meditations focus heavily on air. There are crisp field recordings of birds chirping. The drone work is hollow like a cool breeze blowing through the mountains. Her vocals give an angelic tone to the whole endeavor, while tribal drums paradoxically ground the soundscapes in a ritualistic shroud.
Halgrath is back at it again, with all the splendid elements that made her project so special several years ago. We should have plenty of reason to rejoice and to eagerly await what may be the hints at a new album on the horizon.
Michael Barnett
- Male Gaze – ‘Tell Me How It Is’
‘Tell Me How It Is’ is a new song from the just released third album ‘Miss Taken‘ (Castle Face Records) of the San Francisco based group Male Gaze. Male gaze is primarily a contemporary post punk band but with many music influences well-mixed in their sound. Significant characteristic in their music is the vocals of Matt Jones, that remind us dark music eras such as 80’s dark wave. In their latest album they have also crossed all the above with their neon psychedelia and garage “sound rapport”.
Eleftheria Gesou
- Liars– ‘Cred Woes‘
‘Cred Woes‘ is the first single taken form the forthcoming Liars‘ album, ‘TFCF‘, released on August 25th via Mute. This is what Agnus Andrew has stated about the 8th band’s album: ‘Suddenly, the tides of the ocean became the most important thing to me, because I live right on the ocean now, and to get my boat out in the morning to get groceries on the mainland I’ve got to know when the tide is coming in, or I’ll get stuck. Very basic things like that suddenly became top priority in my life. And the effect was interesting. The last record, Mess, was made in L.A., and had very tight corners and clean edges—it was sharp, programmed, organised. It sounds a lot like living in a city. But now, everything started to fall off-time.’
Well, regarding ‘Cred Woes’ in 6 words “imagine Beck getting drunk with Brianiac“.
Christos Doukakis
- Widowspeak – ‘Dog’
Another long awaited album is due for releas on August 25th, via Captured Tracks! Widowspeak‘s ‘Expect The Best‘ that “sonically, they exist somewhere in the overlap between somber indie rock, dream pop, slow-core, and their own invented genre, ‘cowboy grunge.”, according to the press release. ‘Dog‘ is the first astonishing single in which dream-pop, indie and slow-core get in the blender, and… Yummy!
Christos Doukakis
Compiled by Mary Kalaitzidou, Michael Barnett, Eleftheria Gesou & Christos Doukakis