Tangentially Metal Related Pictures

I found these cars on the Internet, and I thought they look pretty damned awesome. Both coach builds, one-offs, money-can't-buy type vehicles. Still want one. It'd be pretty awesome to roll up to a Bloodstock VIP tent in one of these! Most metal car on site, and yet, with the most class.

1932 Buccali TAV12

1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Jonckheere Coupe

Dark Tranquillity - Zero Distance EP plus Bonus DT and Laethora Videos!

I'm not really sure why I forgot about this back in April, but I did. Dark Tranquillity released a new "virtual EP" (i.e. no physical product) called Zero Distance, and released another one of their mind-boggling videos courtesy of Aduro Labs, which is made up of Niklas Sundin, Peter Herneheim and Love Andersson. Sundin, if you remember, was responsible for the last 3 DT videos I posted here.

The EP is available from iTunes and Amazon and is a good, solid new load of exactly what you want from Dark Tranquillity. It's five track listing goes as follows:

1. Zero Distance
2. Out Of Gravity
3. Star Of Nothingness
4. To Where Fires Cannot Feed
5. The Bow And The Arrow

As if the one Aduro video wasn't enough, here is another by Niklas Sundin himself. This one is for The Sightless by Laethora, a band made up mostly of members of The Provenance, and with Mr Sundin thrown in on guitars and videos for good measure.

I'd recommend viewing the HD version of these full screen with the music very loud. But I think that goes without saying!

Aquilus - Classical black metal infusion for the mind

I discovered Aquilus and their latest album Griseus quite by accident on bandcamp recently, and was immediately intrigued. As far as I can tell (although I could be wrong) this is a one man project combining black and folk metal with contemporary classical music. One Horace Rosenqvist is the only listed member, and if he is really doing this alone then I can only admire his significant musical talent.

The music itself is reminiscent of many things; Agalloch, perhaps, for the black metal/folk infusion and vocal style; Opeth, for the proggier guitar riffs that punctuate the songs; Handel, Grieg, Vivaldi, and any number of modern classical musicians for the beautifully intricate, occasionally delicate, sometimes soaring classical sections that fit seamlessly between the disquieting rasp of the black metal and jangly folk guitars.

At over and hour long, with some of the songs stretching over quarter of an hour each, this is a time consuming yet thoroughly rewarding listening experience. While there are 8 songs on the album, I have so far listened to it all at once several times over so it has taken on the feeling of a single 80 minute soundscape, ever rolling, rising, falling as the styles shift seamlessly new parts appear, vanish and reappear to make sure it never feels repetitive or dull.

If you like classical and metal, and even more if you like the sound of combining the two, I’d heartily recommend giving this a listen. According to the one Facebook post that has so far been made on the band page, the second album is already in production. Watch this space, then, I suppose!

Mostly Autumn - Ghost Moon Orchestra

Coming both suddenly and after what feels like an age, Mostly Autumn have finally released their second album since Olivia Sparnenn took the vocal reins. Ghost Moon Orchestra is a shift in style for Mostly Autumn, presumably to take advantage of the abilities of their new singer.

Ostensibly this is a loose concept album about the titular Ghost Moon Orchestra, a supernatural array of spiritual musicians playing the music of the world. From the lyrics, it’s apparent that the orchestra of malevolent, the devil himself seeing competition in the race to damnation. When you hear the orchestra, they’re playing your song. And when you hear your song, your time is up.

In fact only a few tracks appear to feature the Ghost Moon Orchestra itself, including the superb album opener Unquiet Tears. Combining the best of Heartful Of Sky’s disquieting sections with a new symphonic sound really showcases Olivia’s vocals and shows her to be more than just Heather Findlay MkII.

This style is continued on and off through the album, in particular on the title track and Wild Eyes Skies. It’s a departure from their usual style, but seems to have injected some much needed energy into the release after the pleasant but ultimately forgettable Go Well Diamond Heart.

It’s said that one should take the rough with the smooth, though, and there is some rough on this album. Most particularly track 3, a Josh-fronted blues rocker entitled The Devil And The Orchestra. In fact, Bryan’s vocals seem weak and, in most cases, off key until track five. The trademark lyrical clunkers are there, too. “Some of you buggers go up to eleven” is a terrible lyric to include in an otherwise wonderfully atmospheric track, and “hungry” only has two syllables. You’ll know it when you hear it. It’s jarring.

The rest of the album from track five is back on form, though, with the previously noted Wild Eyes Skies being the pinnacle from which Top Of The World carries it through the finish line.

Overall, then, this is a good album with a healthy dose of the new symphonic style complementing some good, traditionally Mostly Autumnal tracks. Get rid of track 3 entirely and take Bryan’s parts out of tracks 1, 2 and 4 and this would be great album. As it is it’s tainted with a frustrated annoyance as each clunky, missung note and lyrical faux pas detracts from the listening experience. It’s a shame because it feels like, had it gone once more through the mangle, all these kinks could have been ironed out. Still, I shall continue to listen because the good is very good, and the bad is not so bad that it ruins the experience completely.

Except track 3. I always skip track 3.

Hello? Is this thing on?

Good grief, it's been a while hasn't it? This unplanned lull has come about due to many, many things going on from house moves to illness to Bloodstock. Suffice to say it's been a busy couple of months, and indeed continues to be so.

So what has happened since July? Quite a bit, it would seem.

Picking up from where I left off, A Forest Of Stars' new album, A Shadowplay For Yesterdays is as good as I had hoped. Gatherer Of The Pure is a somewhat isolated track, the others swirling and cascading around it. Which isn't to say the rest of the album isn't good. Far from it, in fact.

Gatherer Of The Pure is still my favourite track on the album, but I wonder if it's more based on familiarity than anything else. I'll be honest and say that I'm not entirely convinced by the rather overwrought voiceover on the first track, but that aside it jumps straight in to some beautifully eerie riffs and turns. There are little crossovers between tracks, such as the "I don't want to be left behind here" motif that appears a few times, and each track is distinct and yet blends wonderfully into the whole.

I also picked up Gojira's latest opus, L'Enfant Sauvage. I won't bother you with "Baby Sausage" jokes, but instead say that I enjoy it immensely. I know a lot of people have said that it's not a patch on The Way Of All Flesh, but rather than go down the route that so many have trod, writing off an album as bed when it's merely not topped their existing favourite, I'll say that it's a solid album with some good tracks that's kept me coming back for multiple listens. I'm not entirely sure what The Wild Healer is all about though. A bleepier or bloopier track I don't think I've heard since the early 90s. Most peculiar. And for some reason it puts me in mind of 80s action movies. Everything else, though, it tip-top Gojira material and it pleases me greatly.

And of course Bloodstock happened. I'll do a proper little post about what happened there in a bit, but for now let Vassily, the metal meerkat, sum it up for you all:

On the prog front, I have picked up the new albums from Big Big Train, Mostly Autumn and the mighty Threshold, and on the awesome front I am currently awaiting my copy of Epicloud and matching t-shirt from the man himself.

Creepiest Video This Year - A Forest Of Stars

As a huge fan of creepy and disquieting metal, I was intrigued to discover this new video of Gatherer Of The Pure from The Gentlemen's Club Of A Forest Of Stars (or just A Forest Of Stars for short). A 7 piece band producing a deathly ambience, chilling riffs and a beautiful if deeply disturbing video. Using the shadow puppet theatre style recently seen in the Drag Ropes video from Storm Corrosion, this takes it to a new level of intrigue.

It's all very steampunk-esque, if the band name didn't give it away. A peculiar, eccentric variant of black metal produced by people with names like Mister Curse, Katheryne, Queen of Ghosts, and The Gentleman. Faux Victoriana abound, smog and streetlamps and murderous intentions. I recommend watching this video full screen, high resolution with headphones on. It's really quite lovely, if something this deranged could ever be called lovely.

Brief Update: I gather from the band's somewhat chaotic website that the new album that Gatherer Of The Pure is from is due out in three weeks. I shall be sure to check it out.

A Glut Of Agalloch

Good news for Agalloch fans today. The band's new song, Faustian Echoes, is available for immediate download. Clocking in at over 22 minutes long, it's the longest Agalloch song ever, leaving the 17.5 minute Black Lake Niðstång a distant second place. Have a listen here, then go to the bandcamp page with $6 if you want a nice, high bitrate version of your very own.





But if that wasn't enough, also available are the older EPs The White EP and The Grey EP, priced at $7 and $5 respectively. I've never heard them before today, but have been giving them a spin this afternoon and have enjoyed them thoroughly. There are also a bunch of other older singles available for $1 a pop from the main Agalloch bandcamp page if you fancy being completist.