Ciconia – Winterize

One complete movement or song split into ten standalone chapters, Winterize is one riveting adventure for ears and imagination. The new encounter from Spanish instrumentalists Ciconia, the concept album is a bold and fascinating merger of progressive rock and metal with post rock attributes aligned to a whole array of other flavours and styles from stoner to folkish enterprise. Winterize is quite superb, a mesmeric and invigorating incitement leaving pleasure and spirit eagerly aroused.

Hailing from Valladolid and drawing on inspirations from the likes of Opeth, Anathema, Distance Calling, Toundra, Mogwai, Liquid Tension Experiment, and Porcupine Tree, the 2013 formed Ciconia soon grabbed attention with debut album The Moon Sessions the following year. Its impressive body drew the band to the attention of the Independent Music Awards in Spain last year, that recognition backed by The “Z” Sessions EP, which featured a trio of tracks from the album re-mastered and remixed by Roy Z and was unveiled as the band hungrily took their live presence around Europe; the likes of France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary taken in as well as extensive shows across the band’s homeland.

Now it is Winterize set to awaken new spotlights; an aim easy to see succeeding such the beauty and impressive melodic character of the album alone. The trio of bassist Jorge Fraguas, guitarist Javier Altonaga, and drummer Aleix Zoreda open the album and creative narrative up with Snowfields. From wintery winds and a solitude suggesting ambience, a single melody flickers into life and begins seducing ears and imagination. Like a flame in the cold air, it dances on the senses, painting provocative imagery in thoughts before the band cast an alluring mix of classical and Spanish like guitar. With the theme of the release from artwork to aural suggestion, expectations were that the album would provide cold and imposing soundscapes to ponder. The pure warmth and elegance revealed by track and album throughout was not predicted but swiftly devoured as it added to the inventive palette presenting the imagination with plenty to work with.

The gentle flight of the first track is replaced with the busy and bullish tenacity and energy of Eloina´s Inn. Strands of varied metal and heavy rock enterprise entangle as they descend feverishly on the senses, the track like a celebration and boisterous oasis out of the starker air of surrounding creative scenery. Rhythms are virulently dynamic and guitars a blaze of flirtatious and descriptive adventure whilst the skills of the individual members are as open and gripping as their combined endeavour.

There is no way words can present all that is going on in songs and album or of the diverse flavours lured into each dramatic piece of composing and invention but as the volatile soar of Limbus and the snarling confrontation of Scarsman proves, Ciconia create music which does not need to offer or receive any hints or clues to help the listener invest in their own adventures.  The first of the two takes thoughts through spatial hues whereas its successor creates a flesh marked protagonist in another mentally sculpted exploit which you would might be wary of yet reassured of their involvement.

As each track passes it offers a theatre of sound and rousing ingenuity; the epic serenade of The Forgotten casting a melancholic embrace and tempestuous fire of attitude and emotional turmoil all in one whilst A wolf never comes alone is as predatory as it is anthemically irresistible. A tempest of ear lashing beats and carnivorous riffs at its core, the piece is also a maze of classic rock acidity amidst antagonistic turbulence and quite thrilling. Its darker moonlit secrets and dangers midway only add to the bewitching drama of a song which leaves ears and emotions alive and ready to be ignited further by the outstanding Reel of Trevinca. Spanish folk rock meets Celtic spicery, the song has a great essence of Horslips about it at times as it whips up a jig and romp to get physically involved in.

The very brief melodic stroll of Forestwalk beside the crystal beauty of running water leads thoughts into the classical, almost vaudevillian exploits of Fiadeiro. Extreme metal textures collude with the radiance of classically spun melodies, further growling textures emerging with each twist of the song’s adventure and the sonic enterprise which colours the scene painting imagination shaping it.

The album is completed by the sixteen minute plus Towards the Valley, an emprise of craft and unpredictable incitement that seamlessly and beautifully moves though peaceful scenery into shadow drenched and in turn danger spawning challenges. Continuing to revolve and evolve through various shades of each across its long but seemingly quick in the ear such the eventful nature of its passage, the track is a striking end to a sensational release.

With Winterize, Ciconia have pushed themselves to the fore of instrumental and progressive rock; more importantly though they have given ears and the imagination one truly exciting and irresistible collection of aural pigments to go conjure with and inevitable richly enjoy.

Winterize is out now @ https://ciconia.bandcamp.com/ and http://www.ciconia.bigcartel.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ciconia666   https://twitter.com/ciconiaband

Pete Ringmaster 19/04/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com

Apherium – Embrace The Fall That Brought Us Here

Our introduction to British alternative rockers Apherium came last September with the Neoteric EP. It was a striking and attention grabbing offering if one whose major peaks left the surrounding adventure of the release seeming like it was lacking a spark or two. The potential was inescapable though, and now in full flow in new offering Embrace The Fall That Brought Us Here. The new three-track EP from the Somerset quartet blows its predecessor out of the water and though it might contain less songs each shows a band on close terms with increasing craft and tenacious invention.

Its members having met at college, Yeovil hailing Apherium emerged in 2011 and within a year had released a self-titled EP and debut album The Cycle. Drawing on inspirations from the likes of Midgar, Biffy Clyro, InMe, TesseracT, and Anathema, the band continued to evolve and hone their sound in an exploration which provided a stirring tapestry of flavours in last year’s acclaimed Neoteric EP At that point it was announced as the band’s finest moment to date, though as suggested, the foursome of vocalist/guitarist Larry Turner, bassist/vocalist Callum Shortland, guitarist/vocalist Ross Derby, and drummer Ashley Jones have burst onto a new plateau of sound, invention, and seemingly passion with Embrace The Fall That Brought Us Here.

Recorded with legendary producer and sound engineer John Mitchell (YouMeAtSix, Lower Than Atlantis, Enter Shikari), the EP opens up with Resolve, a song swiftly enticing ears with jabbing beats and a moody bassline as guitars cast a thick mesh of sonic coaxing. A moment’s relaxation sparks a bold stroll ridden by the impressive vocals of Turner. Thereafter, the song is a forceful and anthemically engaging proposal, enhancing its gripping start with potent backing vocals amidst a rhythmic intensity and melodic flames which rise up with increasing contagion. By mid-way on the first listen, it is impossible not to be fully involved with participation a given by the second and certainly third outing with the excellent encounter.

It is an attribute all three songs have, a familiarity which plays like an old, but previously unknown, friend. They also share the quality to be the lead song, the big invitation to the EP. Embrace has that pleasure and quickly has its infectious claws in ears as stabbing beats and irritable riffs collude with the emotive tones of Turner and the brewing ascent of evocative melodies. Raw vocal expulsions are amongst the unpredictable and inventively infused elements that create even greater hooks within the catchy, bordering on volatile blaze where angst powered roars are seamlessly merged with elegant calms.

Closing track Ever Present bruises and seduces from the off, the scything swings of Jones imposing drama backed by the moody tones of Shortland’s bass whilst the guitar enterprise of Derby and Turner is at times pure creative theatre and persistently an arousal of the imagination. Emotively inflamed and dynamically compelling, the song is a mighty end to the thrilling next step in the rise of Apherium.

With their last EP, comparisons to bands such as Funeral for a Friend were easy to suggest, but as the band has untapped further into the creative depths hinted at previously, Embrace The Fall That Brought Us Here emerges as something solely Apherium; with the promise of more to be discovered bringing extra intrigue in their future.

Embrace The Fall That Brought Us Here is available from February 29^th, and able to be pre-ordered @ https://apheriumofficial.bandcamp.com/album/embrace-the-fall-that-brought-us-here

Upcoming Tour dates:

Feb

29th – Leicester, Sumo

Mar

1st – Guildford, The Star Inn

2nd – London, The Garage

3rd – Bristol, Stag & Hounds

4th – Yeovil, Quicksilver Mail

5th – Wigan, The Old Courts

http://www.apherium.com/     https://www.facebook.com/apherium   https://twitter.com/apheriumband

Pete RingMaster 23/02/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/

Helfir – Still Bleeding

Dark and atmospherically emotive, imposing yet seductively immersive, Still Bleeding the debut album from Helfir, is a haunting and at times chilling embrace radiating an inescapable and persistent persuasion. It is a fascinating and more often than not bewitching proposition providing escape from the mundane of life but ironically explores just as solemnly reflective and emotionally melancholic climes. The contrast between the two though is as rich as the sounds fuelling the temptation, the album soaked in noir brewed beauty transporting ears and imagination into sublime and sorrowful realms.

Helfir is the solo project of Italian multi-instrumentalist Luca Mazzotta, the co-founder and guitarist of Silvered and guitarist of neofolk band NID. 2013 saw Mazzotta begin working on his solo project, subsequently performing alongside Antimatter, a band it is easy to suggest is an influence to Helfir alongside the likes of Anathema and Porcupine Tree,. Apart from additional drum parts from Antonio Fanizza and Francesco Politi on a few tracks, Monza hailing Mazzotta provides everything upon Still Bleeding, enveloping ears and tantalising the imagination from its very first breath.

The initial cold caress of Oracle starts off the dark flight of sound and emotion, keys with a funereal air coaxing thoughts before a spoken narrative and warm guitar enticement add to the captivating start. Apart from that early brief passage of narrative, the track is primarily an instrumental reflecting the dark words spoken with haunting elegance and poetic melodies.

     My Blood slips in as its predecessor departs, a similarly bred but individually mournful embrace of sound and emotion smothering and igniting the senses. The expressive voice of Mazzotta is as downcast as the melodic beauty around him and as compelling, his tones alluring and emotive within the web of samples, prowling rhythms, and incendiary guitar invention, and all within a tempestuous atmosphere. The track is spellbinding, sparking deep thoughts and feelings which as the whole album, inspires the imagination to run with its own dark tales alongside those of the proposition.

An even darker and disquieting hug follows in the shape of In The Circle, its initial gently shadowed kiss evolving into a rich tapestry of flavours and textures. There is a volatile heart and landscape to the track too, its blaze of progressive and alternative rock one of the flames forging the dramatic incitement. As its predecessor, it grips with immediate strength and prowess but as Still Bleeding itself and most tracks within, blossoms into an increasingly powerful and emotional impact over time.

Alone is further proof of the thick creative theatre and engrossing prowess of songs and sound, its crestfallen heart and shadow fuelled radiance as invigorating as its disconsolate smog is light sapping whilst Dresses Of Pain exposes its own grander and bolder but no less melancholically intimate and emotive depths. There is a fiery ambience and energy to the song which ebbs and flows so that personal aspect can unveil its raw palette within the more explosive textures. Both songs seduce the dark corners of thoughts and feelings to console with those of the song; a persuasion which Black Flame equally sculpts into its pungently expressive and doleful touching beauty. Again a common factor across the album, the vocal and lyrical prowess of Mazzotta is as enthralling as the almost maelstrom like weave of skilfully crafted sounds.

Arguably the darkest emotional anguish and suffocation loaded shadows on the album are revealed by Portrait Of A Son, its dour yet beaming charm fuelling one invasive trespass and mesmeric kiss. The song is gripping setting up the listener for the brief instrumental led haunting of Where Are You Now? and finally the climactic tempest of Night And Deceit, a conflagrant roar of invention, craft, and blackened emotion.

At times a proposition which could push already darkened hearts into inescapable turmoil through its open and beauteous melancholy, Still Bleeding is a feast of imagination and emotional intensity. Luca Mazzotta as Helfir might not have created the most immediately welcoming listens but as an impacting and persistently alluring incitement, he has unveiled a haunting success.

Still Bleeding is available now via My Kingdom Music @ http://mykingdommusic.bigcartel.com/product/helfir-still-bleeding-digicd

http://www.lucamazzotta.net/   https://www.facebook.com/helfirofficial

RingMaster 10/07/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard on Reputation Radio @ http://www.reputationradio.net

Empty Yard Experiment – Kallisti

   Kallisti is an album to which you have to commit time and attention but rewards with an enthralling journey for thoughts and emotions to deeply immerse within. The new release from Empty Yard Experiment, the fourteen track encounter is a transfixing and compelling proposition which never lets you comfortably settle into its exhausting textures and climactic structures but equally never relinquishes its grip and temptation on the imagination. A riveting web of progressive and melodic rock with just as rich veins of post rock and alternative metal, the album is an expansive landscape of consuming atmospheres and provocative emotion wrapped in a craft and enterprise which pushes Empty Yard Experiment to the forefront of progressive exploration.

Formed in 2006, the Dubai based band consists of musicians from the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Iran, and India. Taking influences from the likes of Tool, Porcupine Tree, Nine Inch Nails, and Mogwai into their own invention, Empty Yard Experiment (E.Y.E.) has certainly on the evidence of this second album, forged a unique yet almost recognisably engaging presence and sound. It comes in an ingenious tapestry though which sets it well apart from the band’s influences and others engaged in a similar weaving of multi flavoured styles into sonic experimentation. With the band already earning acclaim through shows with the likes of Evanescence, Metallica, and Anathema, their Joshua F Williams (Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder) produced Kallisti has the quality and potential to thrust the band into the keenest spotlight. Named after the inscription on the ancient Greek Apple of Discord, Kallisti is a concept album themed by the threads of chaos and discord which permeate our lives and existence, its lyrical provocation as rich and intensely provocative as its sound.

The journey starts with Sunyata, an instrumental introduction which places melancholic keys from Gorgin Asadi and strings in a crystalline and slightly portentous ambience. It is an easily engaging opening cloaked in emotive shadows and swiftly has thoughts wrapped up in its restrained yet potent drama. The track builds up a sonic link between itself and the following robust and intimidating Greenflash. That threat is slightly defused with the great ragged rub of riffs which soon emerge and mellow vocals which instantly brings a whisper of Deftones or Palms to the otherwise predatory entrance of the track. As it opens up its rhythmic pressure and sonic ruggedness everything takes on a fresh, bordering on antagonistic, approach to the melodic temptation. The result is a song which flirts and melodically roars like a mix of Alice In Chains and Karnivool. As with most tracks there is so much going on that we can only give brief glimpses, each proposition within Kallisti an on-going exploration of an evolving soundscape.

The outstanding track makes way for the dystopian ambience of Red, a brief instrumental clad in an emotively sinister ambience before it in turn slips into the reflective caress of The Blue Eyes of a Dog. The track is like a stark imposing breeze, its emotional intrusion at times a wispy elegance and in others a forceful wind all sculpted by respectful rolling rhythms, melodic experimentation, and emotional turbulence. The instrumental is a beacon for ears and especially imagination to find their own scenic visions within the track and album, matched to more sinister effect by the more disturbed There Will Never Be where keys and vocals unite for a severely troubled caress.

Entropy provides the loftiest peak on the album, the track an enslaving bait of sinew stretched riffs from Bojan Preradovic and the probing beats of Josh Saldanha within an atmospheric sonic glaze courted by a gripping throaty bass temptation unveiled by Kaveh Kashani. Vocals swiftly add their smooth and evocative tension as keys swarm tenderly over the senses with a smouldering breath of seduction. The song prowls as it seduces, expelling raw abrasing flames of sonic and emotive passion throughout for a climactic and absorbing flight.

Blue is another short cinematic slither of industrial bred scene setting before the transfixing beauty of Anomie immerses ears and senses, the skilled designs of guitarist Mehdi Gr a gripping narrative alongside the increasingly mesmeric vocal qualities of Preradovic. There is a sinister almost bedlamic eruption of discord kissed sonic ingenuity within certain twists of the song which simply adds to its engrossing intrigue and unpredictability. The following Lost In a Void That I Know Far Too Well has less of the second of those two aspects but certainly a wealth of the first within its soaring melody strewn instrumental landscape. The piece again has thoughts flying their own agenda before Untitled spreads its unique but easily accessible melodic rock revelry and provocative expression. Detours into cinematic glimpses of life and festivities wrong foots at first but opens up further exploration within the constantly surprising track which over time only enhances its suasion.

The dark cavernous depths of Sama make another short but impacting twist in the narrative of Kallisti before it seamlessly evolves into the melodic enchanting of God Has His Reasons, a self-reflection driven slice of melodic and harmonic beauty. Keys and vocals steal the ears but only because the striking canvas built by restrained rhythms and an inescapable web spun by the enterprise of the guitars and bass gives them a potent background.

A final short piece called Green leads into the closing triumph of The Call, a track from its initial rhythmic trap binding ears and passions in a nine minute travelogue of gentle and tempestuous emotional climates and rugged aural terrains. It is a final emprise for thoughts and feelings, a thrilling sonic gest to lose reality within.

Though many tracks work alone superbly, Kallisti works best as a whole even though that means greater attention and effort is needed. The rewards though are enormous as Empty Yard Experiment proves themselves to be one of the truly exciting emerging forces in melodic and progressive endeavour.

The self-released Kallisti is available now @ http://emptyyardexperiment.bandcamp.com/album/kallisti

http://www.emptyyardexperiment.com/

RingMaster 29/09/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://audioburger247.webs.com/

 

Nethermost – Noetic

Transporting the listener down into the depths of depressive yet intoxicatingly emotional and epic landscapes, Noetic is a strikingly compelling entrance from US metallers Nethermost. Released via Horror Pain Gore Death, the band’s debut album is like an inventive soul stealing nightmare where you feel you should maybe make a struggle to awaken from but really want to immerse deeper into its pestilential embrace. A thick fusion of melodic death and doom metal, the release simultaneously manages to be a bruising and sonically seductive devourer of the senses. It does not leap out as much as some similarly sculpted releases but definitely lingers for a just as rewarding success.

The successor to the Texas band’s first release, the four-track Alpha, their new album engrosses ears and imagination from start to finish. Admittedly passions ebbed and flowed at times across its nine imposing songs but never rested on less than enthused appetite for the erosive incitements on offer. Mixed and mastered by Marco Santini at Antigravity Studios in London, Noetic needs little time to involve imagination and emotions in its presence, the opening of Matrix Divine a tantalising coaxing of expressive guitar. That lure continues as the song expels a caustic energy and breath, the vocals of John Johnston raw and impassioned making an instant mark whilst the sinew driven beats of Edgar Pinto take a firm hand of the senses. The song is more a smouldering than a fire but with the craft of lead guitarist Cinthya Rocha and rhythm guitarist Waldo Rocha spinning a melodic web within a rugged nest of riffs it never releases its captivating grip.

The strong start moves onto Weald Realms, a similarly structured weave of hostile intensity aligned to persistent grooves and sonic temptation which swiftly draws willing submission with their unrelenting persuasion. The track is a transfixing encounter, the vocal buffeting lying easily with the acidic melodies that vein the almost toxic emprise at work. Thoughts of bands like Daylight Dies and Anathema offer themselves during song and album, but only as flavours in something emerging individual to Nethermost, as shown again with The Void Of Souls. Opening with a sultry groove which would not be out of place in any album from The Mission, the track twists and flirts with an exotic lilt to its melodies, which alone ignites ears, and a prowling intensity to its heart. It is a superb track, a fall through a cavernous yet spellbinding climate into an emotional examination.

The pair of Nous Alliance and Synergos keeps the impressive presence of the album high, if without quite matching their predecessors. The first is a heavier predatory offering but bound in enticing of sonic enterprise and slow searing grooves whilst the second takes the other route with a lighter melodic flaming within imposing shadows. Both though reveal more of the creative tenacity of the band and individuals, the guitars unafraid to make swift turns in their adventurous suasion whilst rhythms equally are able to fluidly switch their attack through the changing terrain of songs. It is only the vocal squalls of Johnston which show little want to expand but to be honest if he did tracks would relinquish their essential ferocity and potency.

If there is any issue to offer up against the album it is the familiarity between some of the melodic and sonic designs, Arcanum coming straight after Synergos and without attention the two merge together with little notice. It is not a major issue here, such the impressive nature of those tracks, but ahead there is hope for stronger distinction between songs. The muscular stroll of Sphere Caliginous ensures it does immediately leap out from the previous encounter, riffs and rhythms laying down a ravenous and intimidating scene for the guitars to colour with their ever provocative hues.

The short and outstanding instrument I Envision seduces ears and imagination next, its gentle stroll basking in the enterprising scenery and beauty of guitar strings and keys. Thoroughly mesmeric, the piece makes way for Order Of Mithra to bring the album to a fine end. Managing to be the most malevolent proposition on Noetic but holding a flaming melodic radiance, the track ensures ears and thoughts leave the album heavily drenched in the creative invention and immersive atmosphere which makes the band’s debut very easy to enthusiastically recommend. There is still plenty of potential within Nethermost which you feel is still to be unleashed and listening to the quality of Noetic that is an exciting thought for sure.

Noetic is available now via Horror Pain Gore Death Productions now @ http://netherdoom.bandcamp.com/album/noetic

https://www.facebook.com/nethermostband

RingMaster 25/09/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://audioburger247.webs.com/

 

 

Nemost – As The Ocean Burns

As The Ocean Burns is one of those self-released propositions which could easily be missed in the never ending torrent of offerings but deserves the strongest of attention such its impressive and riveting contents. A rich and intensely striking blend of varied ideas and flavours upon a canvas of progressive death metal, the latest album from French band Nemost is a thought provoking and imagination igniting proposition which shows the Paris quintet to be one of France’s most exciting potential loaded prospects.

Formed in 2005, Nemost are not exactly newcomers but still a relative secret outside their homeland metal scene, though As The Ocean Burns will surely have a say about that. A self-titled demo in 2008 was well-received by fans and critics with debut album The Shadow’s Trail two years later drawing greater attention and reactions for its striking sounds. Four years on with the band’s songwriting and invention evolving as potently as their skills and sound, As the Ocean Burns is a new plateau for the band and a compelling addition to the ranks of melodic and progressive death metal. It is a release which grips from its first breath, leading the listener through cavernous scenery of sonic and rhythmic intrusiveness and intimate climates of melodic and atmospheric radiance.

Pressure Nation is the first encounter and straight away embraces ears in a melodic weave of guitar temptation and heavily jabbing beats from drummer Thybo Saz’Rain. It is a warm coaxing yet holds an intimidation which is soon ing the band) realised in a tempest of sonic causticity and bellowing intensity, the vocals of Arnold Petit roaring from within an imposing cloud of aggressive grooves and riffs from guitarists Johan Nat (since left with Pierre-Jean Catez joinuand Samuel Eymonym. It is a muggy climate which immerses the track but still allows clarity to the gripping drama and individual inventiveness of the band. The rampaging skilled urgency of Saz’Rain is impressive baiting for the senses alongside the magnetic and heavy tones of the bassist of Thomas Krajewski but it is the enthralling guitar craft and invention which steals the biggest chunk of the limelight in the exceptional track.

The stunning start is followed by the similarly hostile and engrossing Beasts and Bullies. Grooves worm into the psyche within seconds as rhythms hurl mighty and unpredictable swipes down on ears for a threatening yet addictive entrance. It would be a debilitating start but for the outstanding mix of guttural scowls and outstanding clean vocals which entwine for a glorious and aggression tempering enterprise alongside the sizzling guitar play which emerges to ignite the imagination. Already two songs in it is hard to remember too many melodic death metal encounters this good and inventive, nor as virulently contagious as the first pair of tracks are.

Diversity is as much a key to the success of As The Ocean Burns and proven by the cinematic start and ambience of Respawned. Haunting crystalline keys tease ears first, followed by an expanding electronic charm and revelry. It is just the doorway into the delicious and relentless nagging of corrosive riffs and predatory rhythms, though it retains the melodic enticement of the song’s start throughout. A new dark throat emerges in the bass whilst the vocal harmonies seem to be fuller and more provocative than ever over the maelstrom of addictive ingenuity and adventure beneath them. There is a total lack of predictability to the album and songs, every time as here, you think you have handle on its intent and direction it twists or evolves its gait, direction or simply sound to bewitch and enthral.

Both the fascinating The Aimless Endeavour with its merger of Breed 77 like Latin melodies with insidiously dark malevolence, and the smouldering antagonism of Fight turn the temperature and persuasion up on the passions, the first a heat wave of sonic enterprise and aurally incendiary ideation. Its successor has a closer intimacy and more restrained purpose to its tempest yet it still immerses the ears in an almost oppressive texture of energy, as well as a cinematic menacing from its hooks which latch onto equally gripping melodies and the smooth vocal temptation of Petit. The track would make the perfect soundtrack to the darkest adult only Bond escapade and is another massive highlight on an album offering nothing but so far.

There is an inhospitable tone to Lifeless Heat, the song feeling like it wants to violate the listener even though it too comes with a sublime sonic inventiveness from the guitars. It does not live up to its predecessors in many ways but keeps the emotions enjoyable warm for the erosive might of Sandstorm. The track is a tempest of a track, a bear like ferocity unleashed by drums and riffs in league with a venomous beauty which soaks the ever impressing vocals and toxic lure of grooves. It’s incessant almost waspish irritancy and charm lights up ears and emotions perfectly before making way for the initial gentle and ultimately scarring brilliance of The Pale Observer. The track is ultimately a blaze of malicious invention and smouldering seduction, a battling tempest in the ears which evolves its fury into another fire of stunning technical and thoughtful enterprise blessed with gripping drama.

A kind of respite for the senses comes with Hourglass, though thoughts and emotions are kept busy by the entrancing sway of elegant melodies and emotive hues within a rugged sonic wind, before the fierce splendour and rabid invention of Year of the Libra and subsequently the bordering on demonic Atomnium treat and excite. The tracks bring yet further unique character to the album, each a dramatic exploration in sound and lyrical intrigue wonderfully impossible to pin down with real comparisons, though we suggest any fans of bands such as In Flames, Opeth, Katatonia, Lamb of God, Beneath The Buried And Me, Anathema, The Contortionist and the likes will especially get a kick out of the glory that is As the Ocean Burns.

The title track brings the release to a close, a song which is probably the lightest in intensity on the album but also one of the most spellbinding with its weaving of light and dark, seductive and violent textures into a fluid and beguiling landscape of originality. As the Ocean Burns is a gem all should take time to search out and investigate, a triumph which should not be allowed to slip through the net.

As the Ocean Burns is available now @ http://store.dooweet.org/en/cd/151_nemost-as-the-ocean-burns.html

http://www.nemost.com

RingMaster 18/09/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

 

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://audioburger247.webs.com/

Deathwhite – Ethereal

Looking for something intriguing with a fresh breath but still holding that raw edge which suggests that impressive early days have the potential to lead to major encounters? Then try checking out the Ethereal EP from US dark melodic metallers Deathwhite, a striking blaze of inventive and superbly crafted songs which rigorously capture the imagination and ignite the senses. The debut release from the band is an honest and striking introduction to the band, one unafraid to show its honed and less polished edges. It is also an encounter impossible not to get excited about as dramatic landscapes pull the listener into immersive and provocative explorations which leave senses and emotions as keen as a swiftly established appetite for the band’s sound.

Deathwhite was formed in 2012, its secretive line-up already well-established in extreme metal bands. The project is a vehicle for its members to explore new avenues, taking inspirations from the likes of Katatonia, mid-90’s Paradise Lost, Alcest, In the Woods, Green Carnation, Antimatter, and early Anathema into their emerging invention. Despite a semi-aborted EP which the band began last year, Ethereal is the unveiling of the band. Recorded at Pittsburgh’s Very Tight Studios with producer/engineer Matt Very earlier this year (with its closing song recorded in the fall of 2013 at a different studio), the six-track proposition takes little time in making a rich impression and placing Deathwhite deeply into the gaze of attentions radar.

The release opens with its title track, a brief instrumental crafted by expressive guitar with emotive melodic hues. It is a thoroughly engaging entrance to the EP which hints at things to come without revealing too much, similar to the band’s presence online. What does swiftly come next is a glorious rhythmic incitement as the following When I (Wasn’t) You bursts into life. Roaming beats of drums make a punchy bait without being demanding, continuing their impressive coaxing as guitars gently and then with a fiery breath swarm around them. It is a dramatic mix which sets up an instant appetite for the song; one soon fed by the roving emotive prowess of the guitars and deep throated shadows from the bass, whilst strong if also at times unpolished vocals unfurl the narrative. As contagious as it is melancholically imposing, the track almost stalks the imagination as it virulently infects the passions. Individual skills are openly appealing as is the united tempest of their creativity and though the production is also raw in its touch it tempers its less forgiving side by empowering a greater growl to the riffs and sonic endeavour to further feed ears.

The strong start to the release continues with the equally impacting Give Up the Ghost. Another caustic wash of sound brings its heart into view, making way for a flowing melodic breeze around charged vocals. It brings essences of Tool and in some ways Karnivool to the mix, though they are mere whispers of spice within the expansive roar and intensive almost portentous air of the track. Though it fails to match the heights of its predecessor, the song adds further colour and variation to the songwriting and potent sound of the band, a new avenue to their growing scenery of invention and skilled designs within the release.

The following Silenced prowls around ears with a sinister yet seductive lure, its keen gait a spark to the brooding vocal and lyrical wrap which draws greater hunger towards the fluidly shifting ground of sound. It is possible to suggest favours of styles within Deathwhite songs as here, but impossible to pin it down into a description which truly represents the creative emprise the band offers. It is a refreshing and intrigue fuelled potency which adds to the promise and already sturdy stature of their sound, as evidenced again in the next up Feeding the Illusion. Erupting with a sturdy rhythmic weight and flame encrusted sonic heat the track is soon enveloping the vocal croon with a blistering torrent of incendiary melodies and driving riffs, all caustic to the touch and rigorously gripping. As the previous song, it suddenly slips into unpredictable asides, progressive and post metal additives colouring the adventure as one terrain seamlessly turns into another. The track from its strong initial engagement persistently grows in the passions, becoming one of the lingering exploits of the release.

Closing with the rugged and slightly corrosive A Burden to Carry, another heavily enticing and thrilling track which needs a better productive to thrive in; Ethereal is an immense base camp for Deathwhite as they start a certain ascent. As mentioned the release has its issues, the similarity of some passages of riffs between songs defusing their individual potency at times another, but like any other ‘niggle’ it will evolve and work itself out in time. This is a band with the armoury and invention to make waves; we wait with interest whilst basking in their impressive debut.

The self-released Ethereal is available now @ http://deathwhite.bandcamp.com/

8.5/10

RingMaster 01/07/2014

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