Vaura - "Selenelion" (2012) [Wierd Records]

Elegance isn't a quality one would normally associate with metal. A genre with roots in spandex and weapons-grade hairspray, "heavy metal" has proven itself as more of a source of fear for parents rather than a haven for the artistically inclined. Elegance, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language, is "the quality of being graceful and stylish in appearance or manner." Of course, as a person who actually enjoys music for its ability to hold my interest rather than artistic merit, "elegance" isn't a deciding factor in whether or not a band is good, though its place in metal is a worthwhile topic in our modern age. Yeah, yeah, there are bands like Opeth and Alcest whose "heightened harmonic awareness" have brought about "art metal"'s undeniable peak. However, in my opinion, neither Opeth's hellbent-for-vintage sound nor Alcest's childlike nostalgia truly exudes what I feel is elegance. Though some bands and releases demonstrate qualities of elegance, the inherent maturity and grace found within Vaura's debut album, Selenelion, acts as a doorway through which elegance, in my opinion, at the very least, has found its way into metal's swarth.*

Selenelion is one of those albums which proves itself to be exceedingly difficult to place on the "genre scale." An artistic union between the minds who brought you Kayo Dot, maudlin of the Well, Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, Religion to Damn, and lots more, Vaura's intelligent, flowing, unique approach to metal utilizes a myriad of styles as vast as the visible light spectrum, which is proudly displayed on the album cover. Based around a core of shimmering, atmospheric metal, Vaura fearlessly incorporates elements of expansive post-rock, forward-thinking black metal, 70s psychedelia, and even post-punk, resulting in a far-reaching, fresh-sounding fusion which could please Mono and Cynic fans alike. Frontman Joshua Strawn's haunting, pure voice is the perfect companion to Vaura's eerie-yet-chiming music and esoteric subject matter, ranging from the "Drachma" coin, which was used in Greek mythos to raise the dead, to a few Jorge Luis Borges references.

A selenelion occurs when both the sun and moon appear as one entity just after a full lunar eclipse. The best way to describe the phenomenon is if someone lit exactly half the moon on fire and hung it low in the sky, which is the absolute perfect visual representation of Vaura's sound. Rooted in sonic equality between light and dark, Selenelion pits Joshua Strawn and Kevin Hufnagel's chiming, at times almost cheerful guitar work against rhythm section Charlie Schmid's cataclysmic drumming and Toby Driver's deep, dark bass, all while Strawn croons and howls like a possessed Kristoffer "Garm" Rygg somewhere in space. One can only witness a selenelion a few times a year at best, but one can experience the selenelion's astral juxtaposition through this elegant record.

Vaura's Selenelion is currently available for preorder from synthwave/post-punk label Wierd Records and will be officially available on CD and super luxurious 2LP on February 28th. Order this one, you won't regret it.

-Jon

*Yeah, I said "elegance" in some shape or form six times in the intro, but using synonyms would have made it confusing. Deal with it.

Abnormal Thought Patterns – Abnormal Thought Patterns EP [CynNormal Lab Recordings] (2011)

This new up coming project was just brought up to me just yesterday I heard the teaser for this album only yesterday and I my jaw dropped to the floor ! This is the work of Troy and Jasun Tipton brothers and Mike Guy of Zero Hour. This EP is a crazy 20 minute face melting technical shred-a-thon and by far the best work out of all 3 members of the band. The EP fuses Shred, some elements of extreme metal, Instrumental music, unheard of time signatures, and colorful melodies. My first thoughts upon hearing this EP was this was like if Bottled Science and Rusty Cooley snorted a line of coke and Dream Theater being the line of coke and then Bottled Science and Rusty Cooley picked up their instruments and started playing. The bass solos on this EP are fantastic nothing but sweep picking and crazy tapping patterns the first track The Machine Within is a good example of this. The epic four part song Velocity and Acceleration is a great show case for the members to show off their talents and upon listening to each part you can get a feel each songs ways of expressing the ways of technical playing and melodic phrasing working hand and hand. Ulnar Nerve Damage is 51 seconds of bass shred and listening to it for the first time Less Claypool came to mind. The final track Electric Sun is my favorite track on this album the drummer is riding on the cymbal while he plays a slightly off tempo quarter note hit on the high hat, and while the rhythm guitars beat along with the bass drum, the solo is on this album plays mostly through out the song it is a very simple lick hearing it Steve Vai came to mind, and also through out the track while each part is played this is a light atmosphere synth pad that acts as a filler. The production of the Ep is what one might come to find in a just about every Progressive Metal band as far as mixing and mastering go. The EP was mixed by Dino Alden who also plays in Zero Hour and works with Marty Friedman and mastered by Alan Douches who has worked with Between The Buried And Me, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. These project will not disappoint ANY fellow guitar player, drummer, or bass player or really I would think any one who listens to this because these guys have so much talent and they know how to use it. These guys really do deserve some mainstream success. If you are interested here the teaser for this EP give it a listen ! -Bjørn

Leprous – Bilateral (2011) [InsideOut Music]

Avant-Garde Metal at its best, I must say! I got hooked on these guys about a year ago searching on progarchives and these guys are for sure extremely original with each album they have put out.

Bilateral is hands down their best album to date even though it is only their third release, these guys are very much unbelievable Progressive music lovers and the first thing you will hear stick out with this album is the crazy fucking amount of Frank-Zappa influence, and the epic progressive traits in the Avant-Guard style you know and love ! The opening track Bilateral, once you have listened to that track you can get a little sample of that the whole album is like in some what of a nutshell. There is also some light hearted indie rock and some post rock influences on the album as well which at times remind me of Modes Mouse right before they get into the more hard rock/metal moments when they come about. Also if you have not ever listen to this band you will soon hear the very same vocal tone of Johnathan Davis of Korn in the singers voice and also at times I.C. Vortex for instance when you listen to the first track in the first opening 8 seconds you will know what I mean or if you just listen to the album or any of their past efforts. There is some 7 string guitar parts in there but they are not the death metal temelo picking blazing around on that 7 string riffs NO the riffs they use on the 7 strings do play around on the 7^th string but they more used in the way of like something you might hear in a hard rock band except on Waste of Air they do get pretty progressive death metal like.

The overall atmosphere and feel of the album is pretty progressive but yet very kind of artsy when I listened to this band and this record alone I always kind of pictured listening to it in a caffe shop at times at least for a lot of the keyboard atmosphere parts and the post rock parts. Also I would like to point out that the key board parts remind me a lot of the late Opeth style and the other all feel of the playing of them in some of those softer songs kind of like taking acid and listening to a Pink Floyd album. Come to think of it on Bilateral this is a pretty balanced album though there is more slower parts on this album unlike the previous two records which were pretty heavy. Ihsahn did some guest vocals on this album as well and produced the album the other you get into this album you will be able to tell that this does sound like a Ihsahn produced album with production quality and other things. I would like to point out that the members of Leprous are Ihsahns fill in band for when he plays live with his solo project and upon listening there is no doubt he made a good choice in picking these guys because the musicianship very tight the flow of the band is very organic but still have has some technical characteristics there playing.

I think with this album they can reach out to people who are fans of non metal music. I do think this is their best record to date and I can´t stop listening to it ! It is pretty impressive stuff these guys are really original and their music should have no problem winning you over.

-Bjørn

Paul Wardingham - Assimilate Regenerate (2011) [Enigmatic]

As a guitarist and shredder my self I have been waiting all my life for a album like this ! Being a big fan of Scar Symmetry´s Holographic Universe (as well as their other works) this is the first offering of that albums Melodic Death Metal or aka Future Metal style in shred form as some have deemed it.

It very clear that Paul´s style of guitar playing is HIGHLY influenced by Scar Symmetry and above all Per Nilsson. Assimilate Regenerate brings out and builds upon Scar Symmetry´s Holographic Universe style and with the space synths, and Swedish style Melodic Death Metal as well as some Djent riffs in there. But if you are looking for Death Metal vocals and clean vocals you will not find that stuff here because this is a all instrumental album.

Paul´s skills are out of this world when a guitar is in his hands. His guitar tones for both rhythm and leads are crystal clean the drums are very tight as well the spacey synths parts all played in areas of the song where they belong. The over all production of the album is really high quality. ONE OF MY FAVORTIE things about this album is that Paul is not playing in the Rusty Cool uber super duper shred play 3000 notes per second which is a growing trend among most guitar players these days when it comes to modern shred. There is an equal balance between the brutality and melodic solos which all together on this album just has amazing song writing.

Through super chunky Scar Symmetry, and Sybreed riffs, melodic Per Nilsson solos, and spacey solos this album has been the high light of 2011 for me. Like I said I have been waiting for an album like this to come out I can not stop listening to it, It is a 60 minute Future Metal space trip after only listening to this album 10 times and listening to my personal favorite track Ghost in the Machine it is refreshing to guitar some one play the guitar with such energy and passion, also the album has no big label meddling in the music so it is safe to say Paul did all the music him self with no help from greedy money hungry labels.

I am sure Paul is on the write road on his musical career you watch this man is going to be going places .

-Bjørn

Grayceon - "All We Destroy" (2011) [Profound Lore Records]

Grayceon; a name I have heard tossed about for years now, but never really went out of my way to listen to them. Unless I am held at gunpoint to discover new music/bands, I do not even bother wasting my time. This is one of the few cases that I am not entirely glad I never listened to the band in question. When asked to review 'All We Destroy', I had no real idea what to expect. I have heard the 'progressive' tag thrown around when describing Grayceon, but knowing how much certain tags are thrown around without proper attention paid to their usage, I thought nothing of it. Progressive is perhaps the only word that can be used to describe Grayceon's sound, they hope around so many different genres/styles that no one singular tag can be used to describe their sound. 

I would say that Grayceon is a metal band, but there are a lot of rock tinges in their sound as well as, again, progressive music. One issue with a lot of progressive music is that in all its pseudo-technical wankery, emotion is completely lost. The ability to craft songs is also lost in the pit of trying to be as technical as one can, ending up in what sounds like loads of uber-practiced scalar runs and drum frenzies, as opposed to actual songs. Grayceon manages to craft actual songs, with hooks abound, without losing their edge of technical proficiency. My attention was captured in full while listening to 'All We Destroy', which to me, is a great signifier of strong craftsmanship. Passionate (and very well executed) vocals, complex guitar/drum patterns, melancholic cello work and fluid bass playing make 'All We Destroy' the brilliant work that it truly is. There is no shortage of talent on this recording, that is certain. Every member performs flawlessly and with painstakingly emotive density. The production is of note here too; in an age of over-produced, glossy and above all, STERILE production techniques, 'All We Destroy' is overwhelmingly organic and incredibly clear at the same time. The production compliments the music in complete harmony.

Grayceon's latest offering is nothing short of brilliant, so much so that I plan to check out the rest of their back catalog in full. I am completely impressed by the musical genius that is 'All We Destroy'. Contender for top ten albums of 2011? You bet your ass it is.


-E.

Ana Kefr - "The Burial Tree (II)" (2011) [Muse Sick Records]

Ana Kefr is a progressive metal band. They reside on the West Coast of the United States, specifically in Riverside, California. The band was formed by Kyle Coughran and Rhiis D. Lopez back in 2008. Since their founding, they have added more members and released a full length and a single. The bands newest release, The Burial Tree (II) is once again pushing the boundaries of heavy metal. This band is very different, and I stress the word different heavily. I can name drop a few bands to give you a frame of reference, but it would be best to listen to this band with an open mind, free of name drops and other aspects that might detract from the listening experience that Ana Kefr provides. Ana Kefr writes about an array of topics ranging from religion to politics and human rights to philosophy. If this doesn’t put them in their own category, then let me add a little more. Ana Kefr has toured with Exodus, Into Eternity, My Ruin, Taproot, and Death By Stereo. This list alone is all over the place. This has been a difficult band to review and The Burial Tree (II) is quite an album... Yeah, here it goes…

            

     If you are going to listen to this album, it must be listened to as a whole. Everything weaves together to create this awesome aural experience and to break it apart track by track would take from the album rather than contribute. However, I can contribute these points, this band is pushing the boundaries of heavy metal, and there is no doubt about it. I haven’t listened to something so new, innovative, and refreshing in many years. Not only is Ana Kefr pushing the boundaries, but they are doing it with a very heavy sound and with many influences. When listening to the album, I heard everything from progressive metal to metalcore to death metal and even post rock! This band brings quite a big breath of fresh air to the realm of old, recycled ideas, and they are young; meaning they have much more to bring to the table and much more time to gain the fame they deserve.

     I feel like I have to name some standout tracks before I conclude, so here are some to start. “Thaumatrope” is probably my favorite track on the album, followed by the two closing tracks, “The Blackening” and “The Collector”.  These three tracks should be a good place to get you started (if you must break this album down on a song to song basis). Overall, this album was great. I thoroughly enjoyed each song and I especially.enjoyed how creatively the band was able to weave this whole album together. I highly recommend this album to all fans of heavy metal, especially those who favor progressive metal above all. Unfortunately, I have no information pertaining to where to buy a copy of this album, but I can leave you with this. The Burial Tree (II) is set to be released on May 3^rd of this year from Muse Sick Records. Keep an eye out for it via www.anakefr.com or www.facebook.com/anakefr and for fucks sake, buy the album when a place of purchase is announced!

-         - Pat

Periphery – Periphery (2010) [Sumerian Recorders]

I must say I am truly not into the whole ‘Djent’ or core stuff I personally see it as nothing more than a trend nothing more nothing less. But a few months ago I was watching a subscription on my youtube from a guitar player I am subscribed to and he played a song called ‘Icarus Lives!’ and I was impressed with the song. I then looked up to see who the artist was and this is where I found Periphery.

Well After hearing a few songs from these guys I have to say this is not that bad. The members of this band are very talented. This album has a fair balance between Djent and Progressive metal. One thing I noticed while listening to this album is that they do not use 8 strings or tune their 7 strings to G tuning they just tune a half step down and tune the low B string down to A flat. Which is good because there is no CHUG CHUG CHUG riffs it is mostly just the guitarists doing groovy riffs on the low B string though the Meshuggah feeling and sound is there but at least they are not going on with the rest of the band wagon in the Djent trend trying to make everything chugs and low F sharp every second of the song on every song like most Djent bands seem to do.

At times the vocals remind me of Linkin Park some times which is really shitty but that is just my thought on it. This album does contain breakdown which I do fucking hate but it is something you can get past. The Dream Theater influence really sticks out like a sore thumb on this album at least in the leads and solos.. speaking of solos they are really great the only thing I dislike about bands like this is that the leads sound like random chromatic scales. Their clean and ambience guitar tones are really fantastic I do enjoy those 80s clean tones and the ambient guitar atmospheres..

I liked this album It is pretty cool that the founder Misha Mansoor started this band and did all of the music by him self and then received notice from forums and music web sites and now is touring though it is a shame this does not happen to many other great artists.

-Bjørn