Welcome to year four of The Ways of Exile. I’m delighted to be still here and that people are still reading someone’s blog this far into the 21st Century. It means a lot to me, so thanks again.
The more alert amongst you will have noticed that I skipped February this year. For some reason there weren’t enough releases that I enjoyed to make a post worthwhile. March has more than taken up the slack though, to the point that I’m not reviewing anything that came out on the 28th as this post would be too long and no one would read it. I’ll get to them next month. But lets crack on with March.
Hexwave
Beyond Beneath
Electronica
Hexwave describes his work as “dark heavy apocalyptic, sci-fi or fantasy themed electronica/darksynth/melodic techno” and I’d be hard pushed to beat that description. This is atmospheric, moody electronica at its best. It feels fully formed, but has enough space in its sound design to let you project your own narrative into it.
Starting with Fire Salamander, you quickly get the feel of the album, with its vintage synths sounds and ominous bass. There’s a sinister vibe that feels a little John Carpenter, without ever feeling like a rip off, while the entertainingly named Wizard Of The Glade is a bit of a banger with some fun, blown out bass.
The rest of the album is atmospheric, downbeat electronica, that draws you into its world and keeps you there till the last second. Wrapped in its hazy atmosphere, blocking out the light of the world around you. This is more top class music from a great producer and another fantastic world to get lost in.
https://lynkify.in/song/fire-salamander/S3RbKojW
BÅKÜ
Soma
Post Metal
I’m always amazed at how quickly my impressions can change on an album. Take Soma here, on first listen the opening track was too much for me. Just the assault of the post metal onslaught, over 11 minutes almost had me turning the album off. Now? Well it’s still heavy as hell, but I can hear the gaps, the air the band left in the song so it can breathe. But before we talk about that, let’s have a look at this cover. How good is this?
As I said, the opening track, OPPOSITE 1 (all the songs are in caps) may start with a pretty, almost ambient intro, but it doesn’t stay that way. At over 11 minutes, it’s almost an endurance test as the band comes at you with an intensity only found in the bleakest parts of bands like Cult of Luna or Neurosis.
This is relentlessly heavy and abrasive, but then, just as the repetition starts to grate, OPPOSITE 2 arrives and the album takes a turn, morphing into something far more interesting that the usual post metal. Weird proggy sci-fi synths, monks chanting, and strange soft passages make this one of my favourite songs of the year so far.
It’s this playing with convention that makes BÅKÜ so interesting. OPPOSITE 3 switches up from the sludge and pretty slow sections to launch into blacked hardcore. OPPOSITE 5 starts with another blackened assault, quickly drops into some great chugging and delivers some great trad post metal.
There are a few downsides though, all the songs are 8+ minutes and it can get too much in places, I think some editing would make the album a bit punchier. They are also still a little too indebted to their influences but that is something that will hopefully clear up as the band progress.
None of this alters the fact that Soma is a brilliant debut and it’s always really interesting to watch a band find its voice. Hopefully, they continue to explore the weirder, more prog side of their sound, as it’s what really makes them stand out from the crowd. This album isn’t the easiest listen, but if you’re looking for a soundtrack to stare into the abyss, this is the album for you.
https://lynkify.in/song/opposite-2/wg0bb4Et
Rupture//Rapture
Ascending
Downbeat / Post Dubstep
R//R has been a stallworth of this blog pretty much from the start. Rob’s blend of melodic techno just hits the sweet spot for me and I’ve been happy to champion his music for a long time now. However, on his last ep, 2024’s Realms, R//R has pivoted from his trademark sound and moved toward more downbeat electronica and it fits him perfectly.
Ascending is the sound of late nights and smoke filled rooms. The music’s chilled atmosphere is perfect for relaxing into. Its pitched up vocals, post dubstep bass and glitch beats all combine to drop the listener’s heart rate and relax, and the addition of guitars really adds to the texture of the EP.
Ascending isn’t anything revolutionary but it doesn’t have to be. All it needs to be is very good, and it crosses that bar with ease.
https://lynkify.in/song/eclipse/E6MwRU3v
Myriad Drone
A World Without Us
Post metal
There are so many different flavours of post rock and post metal at the moment. Just in this month’s post alone, we have 3 clearly different styles, but of the three, Australia’s Myriad Drone delivers the most unique version.
A World Without Us starts more like a post rock album, pretty guitars and unexpectedly, some clean, plaintive vocals. Then half way through the song, it just fades out to silence. Then it slowly builds up with some female vocals that feel like they should be on a Dead Can Dance album. As the song heads for the nine mark, the guitars explode and the harsh vocals come roaring in shattering the peaceful mood and showing that Myriad Drone are a band with the patience to pull a fast one (metaphorically) on the listener.
DYHAMTTAJ introduces some face melting injections of heaviness but it’s Disharmonia’s blackened assault that is the biggest surprise on the album, being more aggressive than everything else on here. But, surprising as it is, it works perfectly with the soaring, heady feel of the album. The aggression of the track stops the album dipping into a mid paced blur.
The closer, Valediction throws another curve ball at the listener. While other heavy bands have been influenced by Sigur Ros, very few have used Jonsi’s vocals as the inspiration. And while they are very different, the vocals on this track remind me of the Icelandic singer.
A World Without Us is one of the more interesting post metal albums I’ve come across in a long time. It melds the gentle and the pretty with harsh in ways that most bands can only dream of. This is a fantastic album and anyone interested in the heavier side music should check it out.
https://lynkify.in/song/dyhamttaj/VI2PGh1Y
Alex Banks
Afterlife
Electronica / Dance
Alex is undoubtedly my favorite electronica producer out there at the moment. He always manages to mix interesting sound design with the kind of synthy bangers that I really love.
Both tracks here are just straight up dancefloor fillers, if surprisingly trance flavored. That’s not normally my thing but this is just an undeniable bit of dance music. Leave your snobbery at the door please and join us while we throw some shapes.
https://lynkify.in/song/afterlife/KKi4pHfj
The Infinity Ring
Ataraxia
Dark Folk / Post Rock
The Infinity Ring’s last album wasn’t shy in showing the band’s love of 90’s era Swans. Now that is no bad thing but it felt like the band needed to find more of their own voice to grow and Ataraxia is just that.
The band describe themselves as playing dark folk, which surprised me. I would normally run miles from anything with that description, but the opening track, Obsidian, proved that not only do I like this kind of music, I’ve been listening to it for decades. Its slow, bass heavy build, with violin and crashing drums create such a dramatic atmosphere that I would have just called it post rock, but I can see now that this album is both at once.
The single, Elysium, may be the album’s highlight, its driving drums giving the song a huge feel, the male / female vocals lift it even further and then, unexpectedly they add bells to make a dazzling crescendo.
There’s a lot more acoustic guitar on this album than I’m normally comfortable with, but the country feel that it adds makes Ataraxia stand out, certainly in the music I listen too. The violin is also a cornerstone of the album, it brings out the folk feel in places and piles on the drama in others. That folk / country feel effortlessly blends with the band’s heavier elements and post rock drama and would mix perfectly with heat, whiskey and dread.
Ataraxia may not be a comfortable listen, but it is a great one.
https://lynkify.in/song/elysium/ItYDdCSz
Jinjé
Zenji
Techno / Electronica
It feels like Lee Malcolm has eclipsed his band, Vessels at this point. Vessels haven’t been seen in a long time, while under his Jinjé alias Maclom has been dropping ep after ep of top quality electronica and with Zenji it doesn’t look like that’s going to stop any time soon.
While the ep starts slowly enough it doesn’t take that long before the first window rattling bass to land during Luminal Motion, while the title track isn’t shy in deploying the subs either. The sample in Zenji saying “Time to get tidy” isn’t Zapp Brannigan, but it’s close enough to make me smile every time.
Then the ep relaxes to a far more chilled sound, moving into warm, downbeat electronica before picking the mood back up with Crazy Horse, the ep closer. This track deploys some heavy kicks, while the synths chirp and the bass fills the room with a fuzzy hug, making the song the ep’s highlight.
Zenji is the perfect soundtrack to this time of year. It feels like crawling out of winter, blurry eyed and looking forward to things getting brighter and better and I can’t ask for better than that.
https://lynkify.in/song/luminal-motion/nIS2zjcz
And that’s all for this month.
The ways of exile 