The summer music slowdown hasn’t had much of an impact this year, at least not for June. It is a bit downbeat though, so hopefully July will have some dance bangers for us. And June? It’s mostly sad people with guitars. Mostly.
Cwfen
Sworrows
Goth Metal
As we finally get into summer and temperatures are hitting record breaking highs, you’d imagine that the last thing you need is a goth metal album. But, to be honest, you’d be wrong. Cwfen, Welsh for Coven (Despite being Scottish) call up the kind of doomy gothic majesty that begs for dark autumnal days. That’s not what we’ve got, but it’s not something that’s going to hold Cwfen back.
Bodies, the first track proper, wastes no time setting the album’s mood. Its low slung doom riffs set the tone, while singer Agnes Alder’s voice feels as much an intonation as singing. It’s very clear, very quickly that Cwfen are planning on dragging you somewhere dark and kind of threatening. But for some hypnotic reason you’re happy to go with them.
Reliks feels very Fields of the Nephilim inspired, which is always a great thing to see in a band. This album is dramatic in the best way. Throwing gloomy shapes and reveling in the darkness. Embers is a massive slab of goth doom and the blackened vocals backing up the clean singing towards the end of the song adds an extra layer of heaviness.
Sorrows was released at the end of last month and missed the review cut off, but this is far too good an album not to cover. So close the curtains, keep the light out and curl up in the dark space Cwfen carves out. This is a (mostly) safe place that the sun can’t find, and will shelter you during the blistering summer.
https://lynkify.in/song/wolfsbane/U0Uf3sde
The Great Procession
To Another Sun
Metal
This is the second month in a row where a French metal band has assaulted me with their opening song, pushed me to the point I thought I was going to have to turn the song off but then, switch to a more melodic section and just drag me in. I mean I’m not sure if it’s even worth mentioning, but it’s the fourth time this year it’s happened. (Shout outs to À Terre, BÅKÜ and Nvage.)
The initial blast that opens this album, and no other word properly describes it, apart from maybe assault, is an incredible way to grab the listeners attention. It’s just brutal. Everything is blown out and red lined to the last.
It’s just punishing, and to be honest, I wouldn’t be able to listen to a whole lot of it, but the song suddenly pivots and embraces melody. But this is only just to give you room to catch your breath before you’re grabbed by the throat and dragged through the rest of the song. It’s a hell of a way for a band to say hello.
To Another Sun is an interesting grab bag of styles, The Great Reboot, the second track has some fantastic sci-fi synths that seem to come out of nowhere and give you the first hints that things here may be a bit more proggy than the first track may have suggested. Of Stars and Shattered Night has almost symphonic metal keys on it, but make no mistake, this record is filthy and guttural in the best way.
Is this record Deathcore? Symphonic? Prog? Metalcore? All of the above? Encyclopaedia Metallum lists them as post metal, but there’s far too much going on in the band’s music for that genre tag to fit. Much as I love post metal, it can be very samey and that is something The Great Procession can never be accused of. There’s so much happening here that it feels closer to a thrill ride than an album. Chaotic, but never letting things get out of control, with the band showing great song writing by making all the changes in style meld together.
To Another Sun is a bit of a challenge at first, but with more listens, it opens up and shows itself to be an inventive, blisteringly heavy album that’s well worth your time.
https://lynkify.in/song/the-great-reboot/p5VjLgq2
Steve Queralt
Swallow
Shoegaze / Post Rock
It might surprise you with the amount of shoegaze that gets covered on this blog, that I don’t really enjoy many of the original Shoegaze bands. Slowdive are easily one of my favourite bands, but the rest of them don’t do much for me. Why am I bringing this up you ask? Steve Queralt is the bass player from Ride, so I had no idea what to expect.
What I didn’t expect was a mix of shoegaze and post rock tracks. Emma Anderson from Lush turns up on a few tracks on the album. Lonely Town, in particular, could just be a very good Lush track rather than anything you might expect the bass player from Ride to sound like. But this is an album of two moods, the brighter shoegaze and the darker, fuzzy post post rock.
On the post rock side, High Teens is a fantastic track that reminds me of Angelo Badalamenti, and its glorious guitar fuzz is enough to soothe the darkest heart. The Mogwai-esque title of A Porsche Shaped Hole, is another pretty, fuzzy bit of guitar music, while 1988 feels like it could give Rock Action era Mogwai a run for their fuzz soaked, chilled out money.
I’m not sure why I checked out this album, but I’m so glad I did. This is an unexpected treat of an album and one I can’t stop listening to.
https://lynkify.in/song/lonely-town/N8vQ8jdc
Dimscûa
Dust Eater
Post Metal
Dust Eater is Dimscûa’s debut album, and there is almost no way of telling that from listening to this album. This is such an incredibly self assured piece of post metal it feels like the band must have been toiling away at this for years.
The opening track, Elder Bairn, is a hell of an introduction, slowly unfolding until it lets loose after the five minute mark, going huge, introducing its harsh vocal and exhibiting just what the band is capable of.
There are a few ways you can tell Dimscûa are a new band because their influences are still a little too on show. There is more than a bit of AmenRa in the mix with track two, The Dusteater, sounding like A Solitary Reign in places. But if you are going to play intense post metal, I can’t think of a better song to be inspired by. And make no mistake, this is an intense record but it balances the pretty and savage as well as any other band I can think of. Existence (futility) feels like watching someone screaming into the void, while On Being and Nothingness is almost pastoral until the riffs kick in. And kick they do.
This is such a stunning debut and I honestly can’t wait to see them at Arctangent this year.
And I’d like to end this review by saying with my tongue in cheek, I was listening to this album before Gavin McInally said anything about them. Shout out to Echoes and Dust and the great work they do. https://echoesanddust.com/
https://lynkify.in/song/elder-bairn/RvNg6GRu
Life in Mono
If I Could Sleep
Shoegaze / Doomgaze
How does Bristol do it? Year after year the city keeps producing great band after great band, and Life in Mono really seems poised to join that venerable list of acts.
Life In Mono have been releasing music for a few years now and really seem to be honing in on what makes their sound great. This is a dark, alt rock take on shoegaze, and you can hear the influence of acts like Placebo, Deftones and A.A. Williams but the band makes this sound their own.
Sleeping and Dreaming holds off the explosive climax but Basic Reality just explodes into a huge wall of glorious post rock that seamlessly switches to metal and then switches back for a beautiful outro to the song.
Life in Mono is a band I don’t know a lot about but will be keeping a very close eye on in the future.
https://lynkify.in/song/mother-tongue/ZyYQyZsc
CG Prod
Voyage
Electronica
At last! Amidst all this metal and moody music, finally there is some dance music to help get the party started on these sunny evenings!
While the cover may give off synthwave vibes, Voyage is an album of warm dance music that will just put a smile on your face with some housey beats. Thi is a pretty low key release, there are no club bangers here, just music to slip into and let it take you with its flow.
Dessert sets a laid back mood as it builds you up for The Shine, which is perfect for sunset dancing, slow paced, but building and blissfully euphoric. The closer, Flashback has a lovely build that’s going to get some swaying hands in the air and that’s the whole feel of this ep. Voyage leaves you wanting the sun lowering in the skies behind you, maybe sand between your toes and a cool drink in your hand, all smiling, lost in your own world. I’m not sure I can pay it a higher complement.
https://lynkify.in/song/the-shine/YdLBVWCv
Hopefully there’s more dance bangers next month.
The ways of exile 