Split LP Review: "Split LP/CD" by Bunkur and Mordor

Split LP/CD

Once more we go into our oft tread fields of Splits.

They've become one of my absolute favorite things to cover if we're being completely honest with each other.

Today though, there was a terrifying thought in my head as I was listening to this album.

Glacially Musical is, frankly, a cheerleader website. It's no secret that we only do positive reviews. My philosophy is that quality music is  not only being made, but being made in abundance.

This labor of love was started when it came to my attention that music was still worth a damn and The Big Four weren't the only ones still making music we all need to hear. It's actually a method of keeping my readership lower than it could be. No one wants to read about positive stuff all the time. So thank you for being here.

At the halfway point of the first side, it occurred to me, oh lord, what if side two totally sucks? Then what do I do?

Concert Reveiw: Delain at Concord Hall in Chicago April 28, 2017 Photos and words by Danny Nichols

Delain is a Dutch Symphonic Metal in the style of Nightwish.  Even thought Delain had already become a force in Europe and garnered significant attention in the United States, I was unfamiliar with them a year ago, when my wife recommended I give them a listen.  Soon after their fifth album Moonbathers appeared in my inbox and they announced a North American tour with my favorite band HammerFall.   Clearly the universe was pointing me in the direction of Delain.  I wish the universe had not waited so long to introduce me to this amazing band.

Charlotte Wessels

I was surprised by the number and the dedication of the Delain fans.  This first thing I noticed as I approached the venue, after an epic battle with Chicago traffic, was the many Delain t-shirts donned by queuing metalheads.  A few brief conversations revealed many were not casual fans either, but enthusiastic and knowledgeable followers as excited to see their the Delain set as I was for HammerFall.  Their status as co-headliners was well deserved.

Album Review: "Moonbathers" by Delain

Delain is a Dutch symphonic metal band which takes its name from a fictitious kingdom featured in my favorite Steven King novel.  They are highly regarded throughout Europe, have released five full length albums and two EPs, all but one of which have charted in several countries.  They also play amazing heavy music which fits neatly into the wheelhouse of what I want to hear.  Yet, until they announced a North American tour with my favorite band Hammerfall, they had almost completely escaped my attention.

This is a fine example of why I find it so frustrating when someone declares there is no good music coming out, or decrying the death of rock.  I try to keep up with new music, and by virtue of reviewing albums for this website, am daily bludgeoned with access to much of the best new metal. Yet, I still regularly miss some of the finest bands.  The problem is quite opposite of the rumors of rock's death, there is so much quality material, some of it gets lost in the shuffle.

Sill, this is only part of the problem.  The other part is I live in the United States, where symphonic metal seems to be tragically unappreciated.  I have a few theories on why this might be so, but I am not sure any of them are valid or supportable enough to see print.  Whatever the reason, it seems Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and Evanescence (whom I consider to be close enough to symphonic metal to bear mention here) are the only of these acts to have garnered significant attention stateside.

Album Review: "Death Poems" by The Fifth Alliance

Death Poems

When people ask me what kind of music I listen to....

Well, I think of myself as a metalhead, because once you go metal, no one else will accept you. So, hopefully my little piddle patch here will show some others that just because we listen to extreme metal doesn't mean we can't rock out to some dance pop too.

But anyway, I didn't want to talk about that. How do you define metal?

Black Sabbath has zero in common with Metallica. Metallica has zero in common with Napalm Death. Napalm Death has zero in common with Ahab. Ahab has zero in common with Babymetal.

Metal has wound itself around so many things that it's created a forest of sub-genres, many of the devotees even see these as separate genres unto themselves.

So, today I'm telling you about an upcoming metal album that I find has zero in common with any of the aforementioned bands.