Each month, we always seem to come to the same conclusion when it comes to our Editors’ Picks column: Friday release days open the floodgates and unleash a seemingly endless stream of quality new music. But while some of our Editors and Contributors sit down gleefully each week to dive into this newly stocked treasure…
For fans of post-anything metal, there was a turning point where we came to dismiss instant gratification. The point where we came to fall in love with the longform sonic journey, the gradual and subtle expanse of musical ideas, or the entrancing (and at times physical) nature of cascading, droning riffing and phantasmal leadwork. Bigger than that, it’s where we abandoned immediacy in exchange for the ambient, the psychedelic, the densely layered, or the ruminating.
Now that’s more like it. After a couple of uncommonly lean months, my gig diary was back up to fighting weight in November, and I saw around thirty bands (some of them twice, but we’ll get to that), including some past and present favourites, giving me plenty to write about…
I first became acquainted with the Bozeman, MT post-rock band RANGES what seems like ages ago, though somehow it was only 2015. They were a virtually unknown band that had just caught the attention of a small collection of blog writers and diligent genre fans with their 24-minute concept single…
Today we are premiering “Prayers,” a new track from the upcoming debut record by shoegazing post-metal act SOM, a supergroup of sorts comprised of three underrated figures who have had their hands in more than a few integral musical pots over the past decade-plus. Singer/guitarist/keyboardist Will Benoit was a member of…
The Load In The gig drought continues. Admittedly, I was out of the country (again) for a good chunk of the month and, typically, almost everything I wanted to see in October happened whilst I was away. I was particularly annoyed to miss Sleep Token’s first headline show, taking place…
Telepathy have recently released live footage of “Celebration of Decay” from one of these said festivals, Dunk!Festival. You might recognize the name from our seemingly endless coverage of bands which operate in the sphere of Dunk!’s influence, seeing as they are one of the lodestones of post-rock and metal today. Their presence immediately sparked our fascination and once again pointed to their rising popularity, drawing us towards the performance and how it was received. It also helps that this is one of the best tracks on Tempest and that the performance is top notch. Put all of these things together and you get this post, which, beyond including the clip from the performance itself, also has a brief chat with Richard Powley of the band about this show, the future of the band, what comes next and how they feel about what’s happened for them so far. Read on below for excellent post metal and an interesting peek into its European scene!
There was a distinct lack of post-metal in our end of 2017 round-up and, in some ways, this is unsurprising. The heyday of the genre happened over a decade ago, and its deceptively simple formula has now made it more and more challenging for bands to say something original with…
We’ve had our eyes on Pelagic Records ever since the label was started around the post metal powerhouse that is The Ocean. Their mission seems to be the quality release of anything hovering around the post metal and rock monikers, extending their fingers into dark folk, electronic beats and more. While Pelagic has been doing great things over the years since their founding, 2017 seems to have been a true watershed for them. From stellar releases (with names like Lo!, Labirinto, LLNN, pg.lost and many more) to new signings (like Ancestors, one of my favorite doom bands of all time), Pelagic has been all over the map of the metal community. Nothing drives home their upwards momentum more than a compilation they themselves have released, in conjunction with Visions Magazine.
Each month, we always seem to come to the same conclusion when it comes to our Editors’ Picks column: Friday release days open the floodgates and unleash a seemingly endless stream of quality new music. But while some of our Editors and Contributors sit down gleefully each week to dive into this newly stocked treasure trove, others find themselves drawing a blank at the end of the month due to the breakneck pace needed to keep up to date with what’s been released. Which brings us to this Heavy Blog PSA: a weekly roundup of new albums which pares down the the week’s releases to only our highest recommendations. Here you’ll find full album/single streams, pre-order links and, most importantly, a collection of albums that could very well earn a spot on your year end list. Enjoy!
