LP Review: "wilt & blossom" by Cartographs

wilt & blossom

Looking back at musical genres and my attitudes over the years fills me with a bit of shame.

Nothing serious that'll cause me to shave my head and self flagellate with my own Levi's 501's...but enough to cause a reflective shaking of the head.

The Post term, often derided by me as Post Toasties metal was the supreme way to ensure your record to remain unspun here.

Post Metal? How could that even be? Metal still exists. Well, the answer to that question remains as elusive as the Leprechaun's Pot of Gold...

Cartographs is one of those bands, should you take my meaning. As more and more of these Post-Metal bands invades my headspace, the feeling of misery really takes an effect with me.

Stilted arpeggios and thundering vocals leave little to be desired. The record switches between flowing chords and slightly dissonant melodic passages. Regardless of the tactic they chose, the effect was always instantaneous and powerful.

RELEASE 3/1/19 FACEBOOK

LP Review: "Lost Empyrean" by Dirge

Lost Empyrean

It's late November and The United States is headed towards Thanksgiving 2018 on a brighter path.

Late Autumn though, it's a good time to be alive. The world has turned grey. Mother Earth cannot decide whether or not she wants to be snowy, rainy, cold, or sunny.

November is when we all must make our choices. This year, we have more of the cold than the warm. I'm thanking all of the gods in all of the pantheons for that.

Veteran Parsian post-metal-sub-doom-with a side of death rockers, Dirge, have created the perfect soundtrack for the coming winter and the previous year.

It's been four years since they've graced the world with an album, and this one is worth the wait. It's slow, plodding, and swirling. Too many bands try so hard to be fast, heavy, and thick that the music takes a backseat to the heavy.

Lost Empyrean starts slow and thin, but builds to a crescendo. It's never overly heavy, never too mellow. It's standing pat in the upside down. Dirge has created a record to get lost in.

Take your time with it. My paltry description will never give you the sense of having heard this masterpiece of a record. Get it. Listen to it. Pay attention.

RELEASE 12/14/18 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

LP Review: "It's Hard To Have Hope" by Svalbard

It's Hard To Have Hope

It's becoming a mission of mine to get my daughter into eating Asian foods of some variety. I've gotten her to agree to try a Chinese Buffet.

It's not my personal favorite Asian food, but one of my all time great loves is Chinese food. Honestly, I'm not as well versed in the authentic fare as I should be, but the stuff they serve in restaurants here is a really wonderful thing.

To the best of my knowledge we don't have any Vietnamese, Thai, or Japanese buffets here in St. Louis. My daughter is horribly picky and eats with her eyes, so a buffet is necessary so she can try each thing.

Buffet restaurants are interesting things. Say what you want, but as a parent to a picky child eater and the husband to a very picky eater, they're kind of a godsend....

LP Review: "META" by YLVA

META

It came to my attention recently that my record library and listening to those glorious slabs spinning is my mental floss.

Most days of my life, there is a song in my ear at all times.

The difference is that when it's at work, in the car, or even at a concert, it's a different experience than being at home and watching the rotations of vinyl.

Perhaps it's because this is when I'm listening to full albums front to back and track by track.

There's something a bit magical doing that, especially when it's by masters of the format like Led Zeppelin, Metallica, etc. Sadly, front to back albums isn't as much of a thing as it once was.

Certainly there is a time and a place for everything, but there is something that's wonderful about sitting in a room without a TV connection and listening to music.

Double Vinyl Review: "Construct" by Archivist

Construct

Would you mind if I took a moment to wax nostalgic just for a minute. It's unclear to me how many of my current readers have been with me since the beginning.

This blog started off as a testament to my commitment to new music. Once it was realized that there were ten new albums in my car from that year, it was a revelation.

When Glacially Musical started, it was ab out my personal journey into modern music. Like most people of a certain age, new music had lost its sheen. Like my generation, I had aged out of appreciating  new music, new bands.

These days, that very idea is repellent to me. Music is our life's blood. Art is the most wonderful thing we have. My courses in ancient literature taught me a great deal about music. Because about 60 years ago, Music took the place of literature in telling us about modern events.

Sorry, nostalgic mode is now off. Let's move forward and discuss the most excellent double LP from Archivist.

EP Review: "Tenebrific" by Cancelled

Tenebrific

A recurring theme in my reviews is considering an artist's home as their main influence. There are a great many examples of the home turf changing the landscape of music.

Sanktuary, from The Yukon Territory, have a running sound that almost screams so people don't lose them.  Sabbatory, hailing from the coldest city in the world, Winnipeg, also sound affected by the brutal cold of their hometown.

What makes today's reviewee interesting is that his hometown is not what influenced the music we're hearing today. This project is a solo effort from Marc Bourgon of Cambridge, Ontario.

He's a member of other bands as well. The songs on Tenebrific were written and somewhat recorded while riding in the tour van.

As someone who's made the journey from Buffalo, NY to Sarnia, Ontario, I can tell you there's large swaths of that trek where the Royal Highways look like backwoods State Roads here.

Stream: "Saffron" From "Stone & Skin" by Thera Roya

Recently, we reviewed Stone and Skin by the Thera Roya.

Granted, the year is young, but this has been one of the best avant-garde metal releases of the calendar year.

Connect on Facebook or buy the album on Bandcamp.