Képzelt Város - Mit Nekem

Artist: Képzelt Város
Album: Mit Nekem
Label: Major
Year: 2009








Tracklist:
01. Sol
02. D2
03. Papírhajó
04. Zuhanó
05. Sergei6
06. White Noise
07. Hercules
08. Futok

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Celeste - Misanthrope(s)

Artist: Celeste 
Album: Misanthrope(s) 
Label: Trendkill Recordings, Denovali
Year: 2009

 

Tracklist:
01. Que Des Yeux Vides Et Seches
02. Comme Pour Leurrer Les Regards Et Cette Odeur De Cadavre
03. Toucher Ce Vide Beant Attise Ma Fascination
04. La Gorge Ouverte Decharnee
05. Il Y Aura Des Femmes A Remercier Et De La Chair A Embroche
06. Mais Quel Plaisir De Voir Cette Tete D'Enfant Rougir Et Sue
07. Une Insomnie Avec Qui Tout Le Monde Voudrait Baiser
08. A Defaut De Te Jeter Sur Ta Progeniture
09. ...Anesthesie Vos Membres Dans Une Orgie D'Enthousiasme

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Celeste are a ***ing heavy band. Whatever genre you put them in, post-hardcore, screamo, metal, their atmosphere is completely and utterly choking, almost unbearably so, the sound is dirty and raw and the vocals are raging and spat out with aggression. It's not about being fast, it's about being gruelling, utterly relentless and enraged. After listening to Celeste for the fifty minutes that 'Misanthrope(s)' lasts, you'll probably have choked to death on its gory and insipid atmosphere, and you know what? Celeste will love it, they'll watch you choke and just plod along to the next victim. You can tell that Celeste just love being dirty.

If you hadn't guessed already, Misanthrope(s) is anything but an accessible album. It might take you several listens to really soak in the disgusting and corrosive music that they play, but once you have, there's almost a filthy level of enjoyment you can get out of the release. While song's often linger around mid-tempo, there's a lot of enjoyment to be had from the varied riffs of the guitarists, who can spit out dense and metallic riffs, or pound forward with hardcore style aggression. The vocals are literally spat out with intensity, sitting somewhere between a a black metal rasp and a more typical hardcore roar, the fact that everything is french only adds to the mystery of the release.

As an entity, Misanthrope(s) is as dense and malicious as albums come. Post-hardcore and black metal aren't usually two genres that you'd imagine together, but between the varied riffs and raspy screamed vocals there is something here that comes close and its nastier than you'd ever imagine. For the light hearted, it might be just a little too much, Celeste simply refuse to let up throughout the near hour long length of Misanthrope(s), but for those who enjoy it rough, raw and dirty then this is definitely something you should at least taste. Just don't come crying to me if that taste is sour.
 -by Crimson @ sputnikmusic.com



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Fall Of Efrafa - Inle

Artist: Fall Of Efrafa 
Album: Inle 
Label: Halo of Flies, Sound Devastation, Alerta Antifascista Records, Behind the Scenes Records
Year: 2009

Tracklist:
01. Simulacrum
02. Fu Inle
03. Republic Of Heaven
04. The Burial
05. Woundwort
06. The Sky Suspended
07. Warren Of Snares

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Fall of Efrafa proves further that there is still a great deal of inventiveness in existence within the underground music scene by basing the entire concept (from band name, to topical song material, to artwork) around a singular work of literature by exploring the themes and moods and the mythology within Watership Down. Inle is the final installment in a trilogy of albums by this U.K. act and impressively lives up to its moniker (in Watership Down the black rabbit of Inle is the Grim Reaper of the world in the book) by bringing an end to the cycle for the band.

Fall of Efrafa demonstrates an exceptional skill with manipulating soft to loud and loud to soft dynamics while at the same time imbuing their music with a spatial depth that mixes harsh distortion with pleasant melodies. Coarse vocals contrast with music well and adds another element to the band's overall sound. Still, the one aspect of Fall of Efrafa that is most impressive on Inle is the exceptional compositional quality of their songs; the songs flow well and do not wear at all, even with some tracks that easily break the fifteen minute mark, possibly due to the music having a narrative quality itself, like it is speaking to the listener. The tension builds and falls only to start the process all over again as the songs roll in a wholly natural and organic manner that is evident from the very beginning with “Simulacrum,” and while the band somehow marries the different musical motifs (imagine if Neurosis got together with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and created a kind of amalgam of their unmistakable styles) to create their sound. Powerful sounding guitars and percussion combine with impassioned vocals and excellent song composition to provide an engaging and oft times exciting listen, and without a single weak track to be found on Inle, the album captures one's imagination.

I truly am taken aback by Inle from Fall of Efrafa, due in no small part to its breadth and scope. The whole album is impressive with little detail, if any, left out of the release from the music from the composition to the overall sound to the lyrical narrative to the packaging. The best way to experience Inle is to sit with the record on the turntable and the stereo turned up loud enough to force out any type of interruption; have the lyric sheet out so that you might follow along with the story, and just absorb the entire atmosphere that emanates around you while you listen.
-by  scenepointblanc.com 


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Old World Vulture - How The West Was Lost

Artist: Old World Vulture
Album: How The West Was Lost
Label: Audiolab Recording
Year: 2009








Tracklist:
01. How the West Was Lost
02. How Was the West Lost (Valiise remix)

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After the successful digital release of their debut single "Benny," Toronto instrumental noisemakers Old World Vulture will release a second single, "How the West Was Lost," as a free digital download on November 1, 2009, followed by the release of "Bastard Engine" on December 1, 2009.

The songs will only be available as a free download for 30 days from the date of release. All three songs will appear on the band's forthcoming debut EP, slated for release later this year.

Drawing comparisons to Holy Fuck, Do Make Say Think and Mogwai, the band — Mike Costanzo (guitar), Devin Hughes (synthesizer), Jamie Hunter (drums) and Anthony Perri (bass) — are releasing the singles exclusively through their website (www.OldWorldVulture.ca).

The three songs were recorded between May-July, 2009 in Toronto at Audiolab Recording Company with Chris Hegge (Career Suicide, Fucked Up, The Meligrove Band). Also included with each single is an exclusive remix by electronic composer Valiise.

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Last Rizla - Last Rizla

Artist: Last Rizla
Album: Last Rizla
Label: Self Released

Year: 2009

Tracklist:
01. Hypoxic
02. Duality
03. Nine One One
04. Threedom
05. On Earth
06. Sixteen Seconds

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pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com

Last Rizla is a band from Hermoupolis, in Greece (on the Island of Syros, in the Cyclades Archipelago). The band started playing in 2003 and, as humorously reported on the myspace page, experienced various line-up changes. The present band’s members are: Greg (drums), Choko (guitar), Zak (vocals) and, last but not least, Kooh (bass).
The demo album was recorded in March 2009 in Thessaloniki, Greece, and was mastered and printed in Athens. It was released just a few days ago (22/10), 1000 copies (cd only) each with slightly different artwork (the band’s members hand-stamped all the packages). It is a self-financed release and the band is unsigned. The band is giving the album for free.


In his e-mail message Kooh says about the band’s musical style: “I won't cope categorizing into a genre - there's a lot of different sounds in there. Well, it's heavy.”
Variety appears to be a constant character of this nice band. Look what they say about their look on myspace!: “The vast majority of the Last Rizla Group members encounter a dispiriting problem of bad, plain bad, haircuts or hairstyles; ranging from total baldness to buddha-looking-chubby-heads, oily-lovelocks to 80s-mane-full-of-shame, disoriented-dreadlocks to yippy-yow-cowlicks, one-bread-all-head to pussy-looking-fluffy-mohawks and weak-afanaz, Last Rizla have made their statement to the world of style! Viva Bad Taste!”


After these due “technical” and “hairstyling” details, let’s move on to the music …
Well, as announced by Kooh, Last Rizla’s sound is definitely heavy and isn’t boring at all! It is truly a melting pot of styles ranging from space-psychedelic rock to fuzzy desert-stoner rock with pinches of doom, hardcore, jazz and even a hint of reggae … So it is quite difficult indeed to give a tag, although the dominant styles are space-psychedelic and heavy desert rock in pure Kyuss style.
The demo contains six tracks whose length varies between four to over nine minutes. The song structures are quite complex as you can get all these different styles into a single track. However the length is adequate to merge the styles quite well. The result is quite dynamic songs where rhythms vary markedly from the slower spacey-psych parts to the faster stoner parts. Some slow parts with strongly distorted and fuzzy guitar sounds and dark, half spoken vocal parts mark occasional “invasions” of the doom realm by this creative band.
The space-psychedelic parts may recall bands like Los Natas or White Hills, although sounds change quite a lot: in certain instances typical space rock sounds give way to parts where an almost jazzy, leading sound of bass is coupled with background reverberating guitars and occasional reggae-like rhythms.
The vocal parts are accordingly variable. Vocal parts are not dominant but just essential and vary from dark, half-spoken to minor hardcore-style shouted (somehow in background), with occasional superposition of the two vocal styles. The effect is nice.
I must say that a character I liked particularly in this excellent demo is the role of the bass. I like it a lot when the bass sound is well heard: I think it helps in giving depth to the sound. I expressed this preference of mine in other occasions (even when dealing with black metal albums …). Here the bass sound is prominent, and I dig it a lot.
And, btw, thumbs up also for the production, guys!
-by Mari @ sludgeswamp.blogspot.com

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Marasme - Marasme (Demo)

Artist: Marasme
Album: Marasme (Demo)
Label: Self Released
Year: 2008







Tracklist:
01. Waves
02. Firebreather
03. Maze

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Something athmospheric. Something chaotic, obsessive, melancholic. Claustrophobic and free: something dark, complex, painful. Marasme was born in January of 2008 when five twisted minds joined together to make something different: Jeroni (vocals; ex-Strangled), Tomeu (guitar; TeCorrs, ex-Venus Inferna), Manuel (guitar; ex-Stones From The Sky), Jaume (bass; ex-Dogma) and David (drums; ex-Dogma).

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Vere - We Are Time

Artist: Vere
Album: We Are Time
Label: Self Released
Year: 2009







Tracklist:
01. Yop Rope!
02. Thanks Again
03. Yop The Plank
04. Pterodactyl

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Vere is a Rock band from Memphis and Jackson, Tennessee. They formed in March 2008, and they self released an EP titled "We Are Time", recorded at Ardent Studio.

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The End Of The Ocean - Calm Seas Don't Make Sailors

Artist: The End Of The Ocean
Album: Calm Seas Don't Make Sailors
Label: Self Released
Year: 2009







Tracklist:
01. Docks
02. Romancing The Stars
03. Setting Sail
04. Siren Sound

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The End Of The Ocean is a five piece instrumental post-rock band based out of Columbus Ohio.
Engulfing listeners in waves of eerie nostalgia and sorrow, the ambiance of The End Of The Ocean becomes a self-voyage of life’s ebb and flow unfailingly finding a beacon of hope at the horizon.

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Collapse Under The Empire - Crawling

Artist: Collapse Under The Empire
Album: Crawling
Label: Believe Digital
Year: 2009







Tracklist:
01. Crawling
02. Captured Moments

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Collapse Under The Empire is an instrumental/post-rock duo from Hamburg / Germany. They formed 2007, when Chris Burda and Matthew Jason got together to develop their own music under the name of Collapse Under The Empire. They both released the first four songs for the EP Paintball in summer 2008.
After that they came up with their self-produced debut album, Systembreakdown, which was recorded in their own studio and saw the light as a digital album of day in spring 2009. The songs were praised by critics and audience alike and brought the young band a lot of attention on the scene.
For the second album the band were signed by the indie label Sister Jack. The new album Find A Place To Be Safe will be out over Cargo Records on Nov. 27th 2009. It was mastered by Michael Schwabe (Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Toten Hosen, Beatsteaks) at Monoposto Studio. The appropriate single Crawling was pre--publicized on Sept. 25th 2009 over Believe Digital.

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Doomina-March On Dead Man

Artist: Doomina
Album: March On Dead Man
Label: Self Released
Year: 2008







Tracklist:
01. El Magneto
02. Psychotron
03. March On Dead Man - Hypersonorous
04. Morbus Sacer - In The Absence Of God

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Doomina is a combination of ELECTRIC WIZARD and ACID KING with a harmonic influence of late NEUROSIS pieces that in some parts even reminds you of MOGWAI and TORTOISE…

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Ahab - The Divinity Of The Oceans

Artist: Ahab
Album: The Divinity Of The Oceans
Label: Napalm Records

Year: 2009

Tracklist:
01. Yet Another Raft of The Medusa (Pollard's Weakness)
02. The Divinity Of The Oceans
03. O Father Sea
04. Redemtion Lost
05. Tombstone Carousal
06. Gnawing Bones (Coffin's Lot)
07. Nickerson's Theme

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pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com

Way back in 2006 Ahab released The Call Of The Wretched Sea, a crushing funeral doom album based on Herman Melville's novel "Moby Dick". The album went on to win the Metal Storm Award in the Extreme Doom Metal category.

So how would 2009's follow up, The Divinity Of Oceans stack up?

For starters, the nautical theme continues with this album. The Divinity Of Oceans is based on "The Loss Of The Ship Essex, Sunk By A Whale" by Owen Chase and Thomas Nickerson. The book is about the horrors suffered by the crew of the Essex after the ship was sunk by a whale… some 20 sailors spent 90 days floating around the South Pacific, thousands of miles from home and hundreds of miles from land in small wooden boats. The book was also the inspiration for the climactic scene of "Moby Dick".

The album kicks off treading the same musical water as its precursor. A nice quiet, serene clean piece slowly ushers in the album until a tsunami-sized riff slams home and consigns you to a watery musical grave.

But whereas their initial offering was fairly one dimensional (albeit a fantastic album within that dimension), The Divinity Of Oceans has more depth to it, primarily in the vocal department. You aren't more than a couple minutes in to the album, with familiar riffs and growls before vocalist Daniel Droste switches to a clean tone, which is every bit as mournful as the growls are menacing. He alternates between both clean and guttural through-out the record.

The music itself has a bit more to offer as well. Aside from just crushing, slow riffs that seem to ebb and flow with the tide, there are some great melodic and melancholic guitar leads over the riffs adding to the atmosphere. At another point during a calm break around the four minute mark of "Tombstone Carousal" a nice clean, almost optimistic, guitar comes in for a few seconds that reminded me of acoustic wizard Adrian Legg's Guitar For Mortals and conjures images of the crew languishing in their little life boats during a light rain… Of course the peace is very short lived. It's as if they added a couple shots of darkwave to their own brand of nautic funeral doom.

The nutshell version? They took the same formula that spawned the immense The Call Of The Wretched Sea and built upon it, resulting in an album that surpasses their initial, award-winning offering.

Doom ahoy, mateys. -by BitterCOld @ metalstorm.ee

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Pandoras.Box - Barriers

Artist: Pandoras.Box

Album: Barriers

Label: Clinical Archives

Year: 2009







Tracklist:
01. A Modarete Breeze
02. This Tenderness
03. Golden Spoon
04. Arrows & Bows
05. Next To Mine
06. Dolphins & Seaquakes
07. Sight unseen
08. I Don´t Care
09. City Cultures
10. Chaos Back
11. You Master
12. Interlude
13. Virtual Sun
14. Minerals

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Download Arrows & Bows (RMX)

One of the best moments during music discovery is the one when you hear an album the first time and instantly are addicted to it. To know that you will hear it over and over again, that after hours of mediocre or boring music you found a new pearl in the ocean of music.

The independent rock band Pandoras.Box from Lower Bavaria with their album Barriers gave me the last incarnation of such a moment. The album could as well be sold on CD, the quality of song-writing and production does not need to hide behind commercial releases. I would be surprised to not see their next release in stores.

Their sound reminds me of Muse’s rich instrumental arrangements and Blur’s distinct vocals. The album is very balanced and features both slow melancholic (Next to Mine) and fast paced (Golden Spoon) songs. Golden Spoon is my favourite (non remixed) song of this album. The song Interlude is an instrumental meditation with guitar and strings. The final song is a danceable Remix of the fourth track “Arrows & Bows” by Rampue which I personally like best because it frees the original song from its lethargy. -by (ojdo.de)

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Oak Is Keeping - Animal Style

Artist: Oak Is Keeping

Album: Animal Style

Label: Self Released

Year: 2009






Tracklist:
01. SiNk
02. No Kiss
03. How We Treat Girls
04. Tell Me These Things
05. Tempt
06. Book of Matches
07. Devil in the Truth
08. Burn It All Down
09. So Sweet
10. What We Live

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Oak Is Keeping’s first full length studio album is a successful straightforward alternative rock album from a band that is still making a good name for themselves. Animal Style is a title that that leaves little to the imagination. That animalistic behaviour can be, and still is, very much a part of people. This is the subtle theme throughout but can also be given as a direct and obvious sign in the album’s first few tracks; most notably “No Kiss”. The solid direct guitar riffs matched with unison vocals sound like they challenge you to think about humanity – that were not as refined as we make ourselves out to be: “The human race cut off a nose despite the face – let’s split some hairs let’s see what were about” Animal Style can feel like it’s an opinion piece cloaked in a musical compilation. The words are as direct as the music in terms of delivery.

Delivery may be one of the most admirable qualities of the record. Almost every track sticks with the solid forms of traditional alternative rock but each guitar riff is set with a unique quality. Each song has a tight melody but perhaps the most interesting examples are seen at the end of the album. “Burn It All Down” and “So Sweet” definitely have the markings of a rock influence but they really use a more spacious sound with a recurring swoop of a fast drum line. In tone they sound more optimistic than the others but they still demonstrate the overall theme Animal Style tries to create. There are many sides to people, on the outside there may be subtle differences. Beyond that, we all share the endearing animal style theme of humanity.-by (awmusic.ca)

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Sihr - Beneath The Twelve Mile Zone

Artist: Sihr

Album: Beneath The Twelve Mile Zone

Label: Self Released

Year: 2009







Tracklist:
01. Russian Legs
02. Comes With The Territory
03. Working With Knots
04. Running Wild
05. Unbecoming Misdeeds
06. Kumari Kandam

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Sihr are heavy, sludgy, fuzzed out metal with elements of experimental noise, progressive, psychedelia and stoner groves. For fans of Neurosis, Electric Wizard, Mastodon, Melvins, Clutch, Bongzilla, Intronaut, Big Business, Kylesa, Minsk, Young Windows, Cursed, The Sword, Mouth Of The Architect, Hawkwind, Ufomammut, 35007 etc.

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Rising Winter - In Times Of Great Storm

Artist: Rising Winter

Album: In Times Of Great Storm

Label: Self Released

Year: 2009







Tracklist:
01. H0st
02. Remnants Of Society
03. New World Rising
04. pH45
05. Another Empty Shell
06. Hyperborea
07. Rural
08. In Times Of Great Storm
09. Upon The Winter Way
10. Rebirth
11. Where Moment Lasts Eternity

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Formed in January 2009, with the idea of playing rock music, Rising Winter has achieved much in past couple of months. From its very beginning band was meant to be international project, a collaboration of musicians from around the world. Line ups came and went and recording became more or less a problem. Also due multiple composers band had too much space between sounds of the songs. From 18 composed songs, only 10 were selected for debut album “In Times Of Great Storm” which is finished recording and its being slowly prepared for mixing. Band decided to release the album as internet release.
Concerning the band line up, band is open to collaborate with session musicians but there are four permanent members in line up at this time – Nordawn, Dušan, Mathijs, Igor and Marko. The line-up is working on the second album whose recording is expected to start in October 2009. Much more work will be dedicated to it. Meanwhile work on small EP called “Svet U Ogledalu” is in progress. EP will be sang in Serbian and also available for free download when completed.

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A Backward Glance On a Travel Road - A Backward Glance On a Travel Road

Artist: A Backward Glance On a Travel Road

Album: A Backward Glance On a Travel Road

Label: Self Released

Year: 2009

Tracklist:

01. Regular Barbary
02. Falling
03. Johny Got His Gun
04. In Absentia part I
05. In Absentia part II
06. Hier Régnant Désert
07. Approximativement Moi

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As a musician and producer, I find it truly amazing to be introduced to something new that touches my mind so intensely, I not only hear the music, but I also feel and see the music. A Backward Glance on a Travel Road, or ABGOATR, is a project born of the group Hypno5e. Knowing the work of gifted, multi-instrumentalist Emmanuel Jessua and drummer Thibault Lamy, my first thoughts predicted pieces of intense, powerful progressive metal that the band Hypno5e master. I would have welcomed a new record of equivalent weight, but I was encouraged by this album’s alternative beginnings.

A dark mix of progressive rock, experimental landscapes, and unique emotional texture, infused with multiple layers of ethnic styles, instrumental arrangements and moments of vocal majesty, A Backward Glance on a Travel Road is not music for your average listener. It contains some moments of heartfelt sincerity that mercilessly pull on your hearts strings, and in the same moment, can send dark, threatening visions of evil though your mind seamlessly. Without a true category which to be placed, this collection can only be looked at as beautiful unique, art form from the minds of true innovators.

"Regular Barbary", hypnotic and desperate, takes some illusive vocal samples and intertwines them with colorful acoustic guitar to add a perfect level of dramatic appeal. This is beyond a song or a just a good tune. It is too grand to be attached to such a small label. A sonic painting would be a much more accurate description. The middle-eastern and Spanish influences make this piece live beyond ones hearing. The second, "Falling" expands on the same architecture and fills you with a feeling of sadness and dread, but somehow holds you comfortably as the voices sore. Again, the brush strokes paint a very powerful picture if you are listening carefully. It makes you visualize more than just listen. Threatening at times, but consistently beautiful.

The classically, progressive influences come out clearly within "Johnny got his gun". It is horror, sadness, gloom, and a touching stroke of pleasurable pain set carefully between each and every one of its notes. Clearly an experimental homage to both Dalton Trumbo's 1939 novel of the same name, and Metallica's "One," the overall production, use of dynamics and chanting of "S.O.S. help me" makes a truly frightening and brilliant ending to the song. The beginning cascade of "In Absentia part 1" floats down softly, but darkly. The overall shapes and musical arrangement achieved in this composition is tight and warming. Again, it is an audible, but truly visual experience if your ears are tuned carefully.

As the remaining half, "In Absentia part 2" reaches for your senses, it's mood follows an upward motion like ascending slowly to the light from a deep, dark pool. There is still an underlying coat of darkness but you can feel it climb to something powerful and bright. "Hier Regnant Desert," a rhythmically aggressive ride away from the heavier textures and space of the earlier pieces, it latches on and pulls you down a road of tight, thumps and clicks joined by the same mystical phrasing that makes the other pieces so inviting. By the time the vocal cadence appears, you are held captive. These musical journeys are full of change, adventure and stories waiting to be written. It has beautiful breath and stamina which over powers you by its conclusion. "Approximativement Moi" wraps up the piece with less detail but with huge scope and depth. Soundscapes with obvious restraint, its tone and ambient quality is fitting to end a great album of pure, human emotion. (-by Bryon Turcotte)

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Caravels - The Earthling Sessions

Artist: Caravels

Album: The Earthling Sessions

Label: Self Release

Year: 2009






Tracklist:
01. Dark Obsession
02. Snake Plissken
03. Flawless Victory

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Caravels is 5-piece band from Las Vegas, Nevada, who play a unique brand of progressive hardcore, owing just as much debt to early screamo acts (Portraits of Past, City of Caterpillar) as they do to Botch and These Arms Are Snakes.

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