Interesting Things

There have been a few albums released recently that I consider ... interesting. For various reasons, here are a bunch of albums that could prove intriguing.

Before The Dawn - Rise Of The Phoenix

Before The Dawn in a post about interesting things? Aren't they just doing what they always do? Well, no, actually. Hot on the heals of last year's Deathstar Rising comes Rise Of The Phoenix, complete with absolutely no clean vocals at all. Indeed, gone are the duelling growls and cleans that have defined the band's sound.

After the tumult and anguish the band went through before the release of Deathstar Rising, which saw vocalist Lars Eikind and drummer Atte Palokangas leave the band, it seems that Tuomas Saukkonen wants to take the band in a new direction. Perhaps he felt that the band's previous sound had run its course and it was time for something new and exciting to come out. A phoenix rising, indeed, but this time heavier, blacker and bleaker. I've given it a quick once over and it sounds good to my ear, but we shall have to see if the infectious choruses of earlier albums translate to this new sound.

Moonspell - Alpha Noir / Omega White

Moonspell are not a band that have really been on my radar. Hailing from Portugal, they started out with a folky, gothic black metal sound but have transitioned to a more death/doom style over time. What makes their new album interesting isn't so much the album itself, Alpha Noir, but the special edition that comes with a "twin" album in the form of Omega White. While Alpha Noir seems like a mix of gothic and death metal, Omega White is the polar opposite, a sort of ambient doom. The band's press release labelled Alpha Noir as "an incendiary album", while Omega White is an album of "pure atmosphere and shadow".

This is the band's first release on the Napalm label, and their first double album (although you can get Alpha Noir on its own if you'd prefer). I've yet to find any way to really give it a listen without buying a copy, which somehow feels odd in this world of internet releases, bandcamp and Spotify.

Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Lost In The New Real

If there's one man that always deserves a spot on a list of interesting things, it's Arjen Anthony Lucassen. After some mind-boggling work on his Ayreon project, he has now produced the solo album he has aspired to for a long time. While being similar to Ayreon in many ways, it's a separate story, although the influence of Ayreon is evident.

Set in the far future, our protagonist, Mr L, wakes up and is astonished at the new world before him. Throughout the album, his advisor helps him adjust to the "new real". This advisor is voiced by Rutger Hauer and is named, somewhat amusingly for fans of Blade Runner, Voight Kampff.

If you're a fan of Mr Lucassen's work, you're pretty much guaranteed to like this. The style is instantly recognisable, the narrative and lyrics immediately accessible to any fan of Ayreon or Star One. And I'm sure it'll be just as mind bending.

Here's the title track. It seems that somebody has uploaded the entire album to Youtube if you want to listen to it, but obviously it would be better listened to in a decent quality with a properly acquired copy!