öOoOoOoOoOo – Samen

Dave Tremblay
Reviews
France is increasingly known as a breeding grounds for avant-garde and otherwise forward-thinking music. Maybe there's something in the culture of the country that maintains the revolutionary spirit of their an... Read More...

What Heavy Blog Is Really Listening To – 8/12/16

Scott Murphy
What We're Really Listening To
For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made withtapmusic.netthrough your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.

What Heavy Blog Is Really Listening To – 7/15/16

Scott Murphy
What We're Really Listening To
For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.
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Avant-Garde Metal Week Reviews: Akphaezya – Anthology IV: The Tragedy of Nerak

Noyan
Reviews
Akphaezya are a French Avant-Garde/Gothic metal band. They are female fronted like a lot of their fellow gothic metal bands, but there's more to Akphaezya than your average Nightwish-alike. Their albums are based on a Greek theater play they "found" (and by found they mean fabricated by their guitar player, but still a great idea). Their music is very ethnically influenced, and appropriately contains a lot of instruments, like organs, cellos, accordions and such. The avant-gardeness in their sound comes from their blend of many genres from smooth jazz, to folk. Their singer even performs harsh vocals, so a very broad palette of music is covered here. But when all these elements are piled on top of each other, does it sink or swim? Let's find out! Hint: It's pretty good!