Tag Archive: Cult of Luna


It’s as cold as Satan’s balls in London at the moment, and to compound the issue my heating is on the blink, I have a splitting headache, and I have one more day of work this week. FirstWorldProblems, I know.

Never mind all that though, because 2012 – year of the epic reform – has thrown up another gem in the news that Kentish post-metal outfit Bossk are reforming.

Who…? WHO?! I’LL BLOODY TELL YOU WHO!

Bossk were another one of last decade’s British metal rising stars who parted ways far too soon, releasing two phenomenal EPs and a live DVD (.1, .2 and .3 respectively) and having one of the most atmospheric live shows on the scene. The first time I saw them, supporting Envy no less, one guy in the audience just lay down in front of the stage and chilled. It was fantastic.

They also played with the likes of The Ocean, Cult Of Luna, Doomriders, Baroness and Torche in their time, to name but a few, and now they’re back. Speaking via their website, they revealed that “The time has come for the five of us to perform together again.” It’s been more than four years now, but it seems the draw of the music has called them back. I actually wrote a eulogy to the band a couple of years ago, and it appears my musical wishes are all coming true this year.

They’ll be starting off slowly, but will be recording a session with Daniel Carter of Radio 1 at the famous Maida Vale studios – including a new song – and playing at least two shows this year.

Drummer Tom Begley was in the equally tasty The Mire for a time, but it seems he’s now itching to get back to some Star Wars-related business. Sexy. In the meantime, feast your ears on this and get excited:

- CG

During one of my routine commutes this weekend, I had the newly acquired Ghost record by Devin Townsend Project on play in the car. During car trips, I usually play something a little more upbeat, fast, and heavy — but this time, the dulcet tones of flute and acoustic guitar ran through the car. Previously, my car featured the airtime of Ghost‘s pissed off oddball of a sibling Deconstruction. Where there was once chaos and insanity is now host to ambiance and serenity. This morning, I was listening to the soundtracks to one of my favorite video game series, Portal—specifically, Portal 2: Songs To Test By, an ambient electronic soundscape to… well… test to. That’s when it hit me; why do metal fans tend to enjoy ambient music? Once you stop and really think about it, it’s quite fascinating how commonplace this dichotomy is in the world of extreme music.

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Just like clockwork, every year, August Burns Red releases an instrumental Christmas song. Being a Christian metalcore band makes it a bit more than a cheesy cash-in and more of an homage from the heart, which I can certainly respect in some light. August Burns Red are among the better metalcore bands out there and their rendition of “Little Drummer Boy” (above) is probably better than whatever Christmas classics are playing on the radio this year, taking on a strong post-metal influence.

Guitarist JB Brubaker comments, “With ‘Little Drummer Boy’ I wanted to do something really different from any previous August Burns Red songs. The end result is pretty much our attempt at down-tuned post metal, which is something I’ve been a fan of for a long time now. The song was recorded in drop A, which is much lower than we usually play. Recording the track was a lot of fun as I was able to incorporate a bunch of new sounds and techniques ABR has never used before like slide guitar, ukulele, and acoustic guitar. The icing on the cake was having Magnus Lindberg mix the track. Lindberg has done all the Cult of Luna albums, and I’m a huge fan of theirs so I was so excited to have him mix the track.” Sweet.

Whenever you’re forced to hear “Feliz Navidad” for the thousandth time and want a change of soundscape, yet want to keep the Christmas spirit, you can throw on some heavier instrumentals of “Little Drummer Boy,” “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” and “Carol of the Bells.”

Listen to the latter two songs after the jump. “Little Drummer Boy” is now available on iTunes!

- JR

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I’m a bit of a webcomic fan, and there is no doubt in my mind that when it comes to character development and addictiveness, no one does it better than Jeph Jacques’ Questionable Content, which stars Marten Reed (left in above pic) as he and his circle of friends… exist. It is seriously the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning; I roll over, turn off my alarm clock, and I check QC.

In the series, Marten is the guitarist in the instrumental post-metal band Deathmøle, which fans of Isis, Pelican, Cloudkicker, and Cult of Luna should enjoy. Much like Metalocalypse’s Dethklok, this virtual band releases music, and has released all of their work for free (which you can download here.)

In a surreal turn of events, I was actually able to get an interview with Marten. It wasn’t easy, and don’t ask me how, but I managed to make contact with him and ask him a few questions!

Deathmøle – Two Chord

Thank you for talking with me today. First thing’s first: introduce yourself!

Okay uh my name is Marten Reed and I play guitar in the band Deathmøle.

How long have you been playing guitar?

I started when I was like 14 and I am 24 now so about 10 years!

I mean no offense, but you seem to be the indie hipster type of guy, so what made you decide to be in a metal band like Deathmøle?

Well it sort of happened by accident, the other guys in the band with me when we were starting out (Amir [Bass] and Nat [Keyboard/Sonic Texturalist], Nat’s not in the band anymore since she broke up with Amir) were more into the metal stuff and I just kind of went along with it. And it turns out that playing metal is pretty fun! Especially now that we have an actual drummer.

On that subject, what music inspires you, metal or otherwise?

Oh most of the stuff I write is pretty Isisy or Pelicany I guess, then sometimes I’ll be playing a riff and Amir will be like “dude that is a total High on Fire riff if you speed it up!” So I speed it up! My girlfriend is actually way more into metal than I am, she’s all about Behemoth and Opeth and Deathspell Omega and all these other bands. I really like Gojira, those dudes write some great stuff and their drummer is CRAZY GOOD. But I listen to all sorts of things, mostly indie rock but some electronic things too. I guess I get most of my guitar inspiration from people like Hum or Failure or Isis, those guys were all really good at doing huge guitar sounds.

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The Mire: Volume I

The Mire: Volume I

Bossk. Bossk were good. The first time I saw them, they outshined the headliner of the evening, Envy. Some dude lay down right in front of the stage and just took them in. I felt like joining him.

But as so many great bands do, they broke up, and our stages seemed a little darker. But towards the end of last year I got wind of bassist Tom Begley’s new project, formed with ex-members of Centurion.

They call themselves The Mire, and are as much a spiritual successor to Bossk as we’re going to get. They’re largely akin to Isis or Cult of Luna, but something about them just feels fresh. So far they’ve only put out a two-track sampler, but I’m already clamouring for more.

Did I mention it’s free? Yeah, probably should have mentioned that. Make haste, minions.

Download

Myspace

- CG

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