ALBUM REVIEW: Our Mirage – Eclipse


 

Metalcore has evolved significantly since the early 2000s, with countless bands finding their own creative strategies to embrace the melodic side of the genre without forgetting about its metal roots. Rising up from Marl, Germany, Our Mirage solidify what makes their brand of metalcore special with their somber yet hard-hitting tone as well as their captivating ways of storytelling. Their sophomore album Eclipse (Arising Empire) takes the heavy rock riffing and balances it with atmospheric touches that bring out a certain delicacy amongst the havoc.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Greg Puciato – Mirrorcell


Since The Dillinger Escape Plan disbanded in 2017, their enigmatic frontman appears to be a man on a mission, allowing his creative juices to flow and taking the opportunity to musically expand and collaborate like never before. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Northlane – Obsidian


Northlane reinvented themselves threw years ago with their fifth album, Alien. Pulling on their previously established metalcore sound and adding heavy synths, they creating a dark rave, almost Matrix vibe. The quartet continue on this unique sound in their latest project Obsidian (Believe)

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ALBUM REVIEW: GGGOLDDD – This Shame Should Not Be Mine


GGGOLDDD, based in the Netherlands, have for the past decade been releasing material that defies genre conventions and blurs the boundaries between all manner of musical styles, from Metal, to post-Punk, to Pop, to Trip-Hop. Their fifth full-length release, This Shame Should Not Be Mine (Artoffact Records) is based around deeply personal themes to vocalist Milena Eva, who uses this record, conceived during the 2020 lockdown, to address traumatic events including sexual assault.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Blood Incantation – Timewave Zero


Timewave Zero (Century Media) is, to say the least, not what you’d expect from the band picture of the Blood Incantation. The almost archetypal group of hirsute metalheads, adorned with bullet belts and indecipherable long sleeves trying to look hard in a graveyard. Even by their own standards of innovative recordings though this is a pretty-radical departure from their previous albums.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Wreche – All My Dreams Came True


The concept of metal without electric guitars might feel like an oxymoron. After all, guitar riffs of one type or another have been the key bedrock of the genre ever since Black Sabbath. But Wreche is different. John Steven Morgan, the multi-instrumentalist and vocalist behind the band, makes a kind of experimental black metal using acoustic piano as the lead instrument. All My Dreams Came True (Handmade / Acephale Winter Productions) is the second Wreche album and the first on which Morgan operates Wreche as a one-man-band (aside from two guest appearances), providing synthesizers, drums, and vocals as well as what the press release describes as an “88 key, 700lb behemoth running hot on distortion and space echo.” Morgan also recorded, mixed, and mastered the album himself.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Steve Von Till – No Wilderness Deep Enough


Steve Von Till’s reputation precedes him. In addition to being a long-serving member of post-metal visionaries Neurosis, he has been releasing solo material for the past two decades. In 2020 Von Till released No Wilderness Deep Enough (Neurot Recordings), which marked something of a departure from his usual guitar-based, folk-influenced solo singer-songwriter material.

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EXCLUSIVE STREAM: Chalk Portraits – “Memory III”


When we last brought you news of Chalk Portraits, the ambient music instrumental project from New Jersey musician Greg Kennelty, we shared the full EP stream of his debut, No Visibility. Now returning with a new release, Memory, we hear the sound evolving in a more cinematic style. Listen to “Memory III” now!

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EXCLUSIVE EP STREAM: Chalk Portraits – “No Visibility” Full EP Stream


Ghost Cult is proud to present the full EP stream of No Visibility, from Chalk Portraits, an ambient music instrumental project from New Jersey musician Greg Kennelty. Reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails Ghosts albums, Wendy Carlos, synth-laden spacey Pink Floyd, and the solo work of Mike Armine (Rosetta), Chalk Portraits mines a musical inner space for the listener to contemplate. Alternately boxing you into an uncomfortable space, but also possessing moments of chilled-out resolve, in just four short tracks, No Visibility takes you on an epic mini-emotional journey. The EP can be purchased at Bandcamp and streamed on all DSPs today. Stream the EP now at Ghost Cult. Continue reading


K-X-P – IV


Ambient music is tricky. Get it right and you can create some of the most mind-blowing, expansive, forward-thinking art imaginable. Get it wrong and you’re left looking like a pretentious mess. It’s very difficult to ride the line of pretension and come out on the right side when making anything that forsakes a conventional song structure, but by album six, you’d think K-X-P would be pretty adept, right?Continue reading