Recently I had the honor to be part of a jury within a contest / award organized by Unexplained Sounds Group’s chief Raffaele Pezzella. The most interesting thing was, of course, the ‘Music’ involved. I was trusted with several acts that contributed (for some of them I did write reviews in the past), others I just knew by name, and there were some projects I did not know yet at all.
As (Black) Metal ‘fan’, one might recognize the name Admetos from the Greek projects Elegos (Epic Symphonic Black Metal; all instruments) or Faunus (solo; melancholic Doom-laden Atmospheric Black Metal). Admetos, however, also runs a non-Metal outfit, called Anglachel. It’s a productive project, inspired by Tolkien and this author’s immense imaginative worlds.
I didn’t know what this band – or rather one man project with some special guests - would sound like, the promo mentioned Gothic Metal/Rock. But listening to this album was a very enjoying experience.
Note: once again a sense of charity floats behind this release. All donations will go to charity-programs in Ukraine that focus on orphans out there. Respect!
Another short one…
Country (for what it’s worth): U.S.A.
Members: Neal Rodriguez (vocals + guitars), Lara Daniel (drums), Yair Vero (guitars), Irving Masvidal (bass)
Production & engineering: Nick Nativo
Duration: 19:28
Genre: Thrash Metal
Introduction: Bloodrunner is a Thrash-act from Chicago (Illinois) that started almost two decades ago. After a demo and a first official album, things got silent for almost fifteen years. …until now…
Quite recently I got in touch with George ‘Solaris Lupus’, the guy behind Aspaarn. Aspaarn is a Swiss solo-outfit that released two full length and two mini releases until now. This review will deal with the debut, because, dixit the soul behind it, ‘it is the genesis of the project and by far the most instinctive and spontaneous’. That’s a good reason for focusing on that first recording.
I wouldn’t define this Ukrainian band like just a side-project of Bestial Invasion, yet fact is that the (original) members are (were) involved with that well-known Sumy-based act (relocated to Zhytomyr in the meantime). The trio started under the Cosmic Jaguar moniker in 2022 and released their first full-length The Legacy Of The Aztecs in early 2023 via Thrash / Speed / Heavy / True Metal label Metal Warrior Records (also home to Bestial Invasion).
This review actually deals with a quadriptych (or tetraptych, if you want to), (recorded and) released over several individual moments in less than one month. Yet since all four chapters must be seen as one whole (dixit the author / composer), the four of them will be reviewed as being one total experience.
The King and the Emperor are back (and I admit that there is a third crusade in the meantime, and that this project is working on their fourth album too – but let’s now focus on their second one). Robert Koning (all instruments and clean vocals) and Yorick Keijzer (lead vocals) released the follow-up for their debut called I (or just Walg, if you want to), which is smartly called II (and indeed, the third part, released in early 2023, is titled III; ah, I adore certainty and perspicuity).
This time, I won’t spend my time in introducing this UK-based act; several of Sir (bleak)’s releases have been reviewed for this webzine before, so in case of interest, I would kindly ask you, dear reader, to check them out. When it comes to this specific project spawn from Peter B.’s disturbed mind, and for your convenience (or the lazy ones amongst us), I did add some links beneath…
