Fall

BY Borknagar

(Customer Reviews)

$11.00

SKU: 196588654220

Label:

Century Media Records

: Category:
Black Metal

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"BORKNAGAR might’ve been born at the backend of black metal’s second wave in the mid-90s, but the course they’ve set sail on over nearly three decades and 12 albums travels further than the genre’s rigid confines. If 2016’s Winter Thrice was the blueprint, and 2019’s True North the prototype, 12th album Fall is the unveiling of their progressive black metal masterpiece.

Soundtracking the human struggle and survival against nature, Fall is a multi-dimensional journey through the mountainscapes of Norway. Opener Summits is a sweeping cinematic shot of mountain regions unfolding in your eardrums; espresso-sized wailing howls and harmonic cleans drizzle off into heaping honeypots of thickly-woven dissonance. That’s about as traditional black metal as Fall gets, and it’s all the better for going off the beaten track.

Nordic Anthem’s tribal percussion and hypnotic harmonies see you descend into the mysterious depths of the mountains, echoing the nomadic desert blues of TINARIWEN. Rather than explode like fireworks in the night, Nordic Anthem lives and breathes like the Northern Lights’ swirling rivers of light; its quiet, sombre moments erupt into a chorus so anthemic you’d see it sung in stadiums, showcasing the sheer depth that ICS Vortex and Lazare’s dual-vocals have given BORKNAGAR visionary Øystein G. Brun to play with.

Afar is your moment to feel out the mountainous regions you’re making home in, as the experimental fierceness of BATHORY bleeds into the silky, synthy hinterlands DREAM THEATER create; Moon’s double-bass drums and dissonant riffs flood your eardrums like a wildfire spreading through the forests before Brun and Jostein Thomassen cool the burning blasts with solos straight from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal playbook.

Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow’s blast beats are supernovas colliding in the night sky as ICS Vortex sets the Stars Ablaze, before Unraveling does just that to their tapestry of sounds, symbolising how nature adapts and evolves to counter humanity by commandingly straddling both MASTODON’s Crack The Skye and Hushed & Grim eras simultaneously. The Wild Lingers does just that; plucking strings conducted operatically as if a living, breathing forest speaks to your soul, before the nearly-10 minute closer Northward is a kaleidoscope of sharp dissonance, blistering blast beats and howling vocals, as if the elements are at war.

By the time its nearly hour-long runtime wraps up, you’re fully submerged in nature’s grasp. Your mind is left lingering on the many food-for-thought lyrics Fall offers long after it ends. At once, this album is deliciously dark yet hauntingly hopeful, summarised emphatically on Nordic Anthem: “The north wind whispers in our ears / Old tales of hardship, of hopes and fears / We fought to forge our own destiny / Now we stand strong for the world to see” — the question you’re left battling with though is who’s left standing strong, humanity or nature?

Fall is the masterful culmination of nearly three decades of work, a testament to the dedication of Brun and BORKNAGAR at large to pushing black metal’s envelopes beyond its cavernous boundaries. Now, where will they take us next?" - Distorted Sound

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Enslaved
Heimdal

Black Metal

"Greetings and god Fredag. This is a journey into sound. And sounds. And time, and shifting perceptions, and journeys (journeys of journeys), and our relationship to all of these things, but mostly to sounds. And mostly to the sounds of Heimdal, the 16th full length album by the legendary Enslaved. Let’s begin by setting the stage with some blanketing statements, both of which can be true:Heimdal is handily the best album Enslaved has released in over a decade, since at least 2012’s Riitiir.It still probably won’t replace your favorites.We’ll get into the first statement in greater detail below, but first let’s tackle the latter. First of all, it’s okay for a new album to not eclipse the peaks. Have you heard Isa? It’s incredible! Have you heard Below the Lights? It’s splendiferous! The number of metal bands that have recorded albums of that quality can be counted with your combined hands and feet.Perhaps more important is your personal relationship with this band. Enslaved’s career has long been marked by eras, even if the exact time when each begins or ends is often blurred by their evolution and progression. As music fans, we go through our own eras, with any number of our innumerable experiences shaping how we perceive and appreciate things. This can be extra true for a band with as dramatic an arc as that of Enslaved’s first 15 years, where we might not appreciate a particular album, phase, or sound until our personal circumstances are just right, and even then the ones that made the biggest impression on us at that key moment in time may always be our favorites.Basically, Enslaved has an extremely high Get Out What You Bring With You factor, and while that doesn’t mean it’s completely based on circumstance, those factors can and of course will influence how much a very good new record like Heimdal will leave you ensorcelled. Enslaved is also a big Patience Will Be Rewarded band, and even for them Heimdal is a fairly deep and diverse album. In other words, your weapons (snap judgments), you will not need them.But what if you’re the type that really misses that constant Enslaved evolution? How much did you believe the statements from the band that Ivar Bjørnson was more inspired as a songwriter this time around? Here are a couple more points about Heimdal that can both be true:It does indeed sound more inspired than recent efforts, and is undeniably darker, more intense, and relatively weirder than the last few albums.Inspired is one thing, and evolution is another, and the album’s shifts are minute compared to the rapid changes the band used to exhibit from album to album.Basically, if you’re okay with Enslaved not shapeshifting faster than a T1000 dipping its little piggies in lava, you’ll be way on board, because again, this is the best set of tunes they’ve penned in a good while. After a three-album run in which they seemed to be in a holding pattern, it’s great to hear that extra touch of fire and focus on an album that features an organic but obviously well thought out flow (it feels nearly as “concept album” in structure as Isa). They might not be rapidly and restlessly moving about, but they definitely sound like they’re starting to stir from what has felt a bit like a decade-long chill sesh on the couch. Let’s dive in, yes?Opener “Behind the Mirror,” almost crucially, does not unload all the album’s intensity from the get-go, but instead begins things with a slower, slightly doomy prog riff that wouldn’t sound out of place on many a King Crimson album (that almost cheeky menace at which Fripp so excels is present). The clean vocal passages are rather communal and understated, which provides a great contrast to Grutle Kjellson’s somehow never better growl. It’s a very good, not quite amazing track, but what makes it work so well as an opener is it introduces the kind of on-the-move, traveling, journeying vibe that permeates the record, which is amplified much more on later tracks.It also sets the stage by being a bit of a stylistic deke before the band goes nuts on “Congelia,” a tune that is almost shockingly heavy and urgent, especially considering the type of material you’d expect of them these days. It spends several minutes hammering the listener with a choppy-chunky riff, Iver Sandøy’s relentless drum pattern, Grutle’s growl, and some positively killer organ warble and spaced out key parts from Håkon Vinje (who really stars throughout). All the intensity is eventually rewarded with a wicked, triumphant swell of group clean vocals in one of the album’s biggest moments, of course punctuated by a smooth and deeply narrative Ice Dale solo (the man is a marvel). It ought to be an instant Enslaved classic.The journey continues with “Forest Dweller,” which again shifts the mood into something more classically prog, with serene-but-eerie vocal melodies, simulated flute sounds, and plenty of sections that feel like blackened Deep Purple and/or later Opeth peppered with harsh rasps. It’s another track that doesn’t so much shift a paradigm as it refines the model in glorious fashion. It’s also a great diversion between the beastly track that precedes it and the wild, fun, and riffy “Kingdom,” which is fairly irresistible all the way through with its techy harmonies and spaced out keys, but really reaches another level when it pairs some serious bombast with a nice sassy hook.The journeying vibe reaches its peak with “The Eternal Sea” and “Caravans to the Outer Worlds.” The former begins with sounds of being lost at sea, framing the dominant catchy drive and clean vocal melodies with sorrow, almost a lament. It’s beautiful, simultaneously distant and immediate, and perhaps the biggest grower track of the bunch. The latter flips that feeling of trekking across great distances into something resembling a battle, with its punchy keys, twitchy riffs, and a fittingly less smooth Ice Dale solo. The track, despite being introduced through its titular EP in 2021, feels even more at home here, fitting in perfectly with the overall arc of Heimdal.Since the days of “Miðgarðs Eldar,” Enslaved has spliced their speed with slowness, and that touch of doom really helps Heimdal’s closing title track set the scene for the end. The main riff pattern of its initial passages is like a meaner and slower inversion of the riff that opens the album, and ‒ because of a somewhat unbalanced prog setting ‒ feels the tiniest bit drunk (oddball keys and Grutle’s vocals help the unsettling vibe). And then, almost out of nowhere, it suddenly becomes a completely different song, infectiously pushing forward as if driving away from destruction without a worry in mind, as if the only goal is to keep chasing the sunset.It admittedly comes off as a strange choice the first few times you hear it, but everything comes together when you remember a great truth about this band: Enslaved is best when they’re at least a little weird. Heimdal is probably only a little weird (at least to seasoned ears), but it’s certainly weirder than In Times, E, and Utgard. It isn’t just weirdness for the sake of weirdness, however, it’s the sound of a creative band feeling looser and more at home both within their songs and with each other. Heimdal is the first time that this “newer” Enslaved lineup sounds fully gelled, with all five guys turning in excellent performances that add just the right touches (and then some) to these tunes.It’s admittedly a comforting feeling to be excited about an Enslaved album again. It’s a somewhat tempered excitement, sure, but that might be less about the record (which is great and has the potential to keep growing in stature) than me, us, I, we. We ‒ meaning fans and band both ‒ are older, a little less excitable, and generally stiffer in our joints when the barometric pressure acts up. And to reiterate a big point, this band has released 16 (SIXTEEN!!!) albums! That’s a lot of records!!! And the worst you can say about their output is that a few albums feel a mite superfluous, because none are nearly bad. That they can emerge from the type of rut that is really only a rut for a band of their caliber and climb at least halfway back up their own colossal mountain of standards ought to bring a smile to many a fan’s face.Enslaved is even celebrating the record with a release event called Heimhug, which yes, translates to “homesickness” (at least according to Google), but these world travelers surely knew that putting “hug” into the name would make it seem rather affectionate to non-Norwegian-speakers. Regardless, it’s a fun thing for these joyous old vets to do with their fans, and just the latest in a great recent stretch of events and live streams and other little things that make them so relatable. They clearly want their fans to be part of their journey, and Heimdal not only feels like a big part of their story, but one of their destination albums. Give them and this great record a good squeeze, you will." - Last Rites
$13.00

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Lonely Robot
The Big Dream

Progressive Rock

"John Mitchell is a man with a rich musical heritage and history - from musician and vocalist, to songwriter and producer. So it’s no great surprise to find him as the mastermind behind a new project called Lonely Robot. The eponymous forthcoming album is the first time he has done something of this nature, and he's loved every minute of making it.“I can honestly say it's the most fun I've ever had in the studio. That's not to belittle anything I've done before but with this, I can wake up in the morning with a song idea in my head, write it and have it recorded by the evening.”Mitchell had long thought about embarking on a project like this, and when he found a break in his schedule due to plans for the next It Bites album being delayed, he finally took the opportunity.“People had suggested I do an album like this for a long time, but I procrastinated so much that in the end, it took Thomas Waber from InsideOut to push me into doing this.“With Lonely Robot, I have a clean slate and that's very exciting, because nobody expects anything in particular. It reminds me a lot of how things were when the Kino album [2005's ‘Picture’] was done, in that no-one knew what would come out of it. Musically, the Lonely Robot album is very proggy, but more about atmosphere than technical expertise. It reminds me in places of Kino and Frost*, but stands apart from both.”There are 11 songs in total, with the versatile Mitchell handling much of the instrumental performance and vocals himself. But he also lined up some intriguing musical talents to guest on it.“Craig Blundell does all the drums. I mapped out all the parts for him in advance, but he brought a lot of his personality to the songs.”Marillion vocalist Steve 'H' Hogarth performs on two songs, but not in his accustomed role. “He does backing vocals, yes. But his main contribution is playing the piano, which he does with such a delicate feel.“Throughout, what I wanted to do was to take the guests outside of what they're usually known for. For example, Kim Seviour from Touchstone sings on one track called ‘Oubliette’, and I got her to do it at the lower end of her vocal register, which she doesn’t normally get to use.”There are two other acclaimed singers featured on the album, the first being Heather Findlay.“We duet on a song entitled ‘Why Do We Stay’, which was actually the first one I wrote for the album. Heather is usually known for her folk style of singing but for this song, I gave her the brief of taking a more Kate Bush approach - breathy and emotive.”Perhaps a surprise inclusion on the album is Go West lead singer Peter Cox.“When you think of Peter, you immediately think of Eighties pop, don't you? But I felt his dusty baritone would suit my track ‘The Boy in the Radio’ perfectly.”Still on the 1980s pop trail, John also asked Nik Kershaw to contribute a guitar solo for the track ‘Humans Being’, as he’s long been a fan of his style. John also couldn’t resist asking good friend and keyboard player Jem Godfrey of Frost* fame to add his unique musical treatment to two tracks, including the title ’Lonely Robot’, with Nick Beggs playing bass and his signature Chapman Stick on a few other songs.There's one more significant contribution to the album. And that comes from the narration provided by renowned English actor Lee Ingleby.“He's one of Britain’s finest character actors right now. He was in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Master And Commander, as well as having the lead role in the recent BBC TV series ‘Our Zoo’. What I asked him to do was to provide motifs at certain key points in the album, to help to link everything together to the overall album theme.“The concept is about the way in which some ancient civilisations – for instance, the Mayans, the Egyptians and the Chinese – had technology way beyond what they should have had at the time. And I'm talking about the millennium up to 1000AD. It’s as if some people had been transplanted onto the planet from another world and time.”Mitchell also put a lot of thought into the overall project name. Lonely Robot isn't just the juxtaposition of two disparate words.“It represents the human condition. I'm not suggesting that human beings behave like robots, but so many people lead regimented lives and it’s easy to get stuck in a rut and not realise or know how to get out of it.”Lonely Robot is certainly the soundtrack of John Mitchell's prolific imagination coming to life.“What's the album like? Like nothing I've ever done before!”"
$15.00

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Borknagar
Borknagar - 25th Anniversary (2CD)

Black Metal

Norway’s avantgarde Black Metal innovators BORKNAGAR celebrate the 25th Anniversary of their self-titled debut album. Back in 1996, “Borknagar” saw mastermind guitarist Øystein G. Brun join forces with like-minded musicians from Enslaved, Gorgoroth, Arcturus, Immortal and Ulver with the goal of rupturing the peripheries of what was then deemed “traditional” Black Metal. This “Borknagar (25th Anniversary Re-issue 2021)” edition comes as Digipak 2CD with a careful remaster of the 10 album songs, a makeover for the original artwork, a disc full of previously unheard bonus material, exclusive photos and profound liner notes, making it the definitive version of a pioneering Norwegian Metal classic!CD 1:Vintervredets Sjelesagn (Remaster 2021)Tanker mot Tind - Kvelding (Remaster 2021)Svartskogs Gilde (Remaster 2021)Ved Steingard (Remaster 2021)Krigsstev (Remaster 2021)Dauden (Remaster 2021)Grimskalle Trell (Remaster 2021)Nord Naagauk (Remaster 2021)Fandens Allheim (Remaster 2021)Tanker mot Tind - Gryning (Remaster 2021)CD 2:Vintervredets Sjelesagn (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995)Svartskogs Gilde (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995)Krigsstev (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995)Dauden (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995)Grimskalle Trell (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995)Fandens Allheim (Live Session at Grieghallen Studios 1995)Ved Steingard (Alternate Mix)Nord Naagauk (Alternate Mix)Vintervredets Sjelesagn (Rehearsal 1994)Grimskalle Trell (Rehearsal 1994)Ved Steingard (First ever recording 1994)Vintervredets Sjelesagn (Alternate Mix)
$11.00

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Vly
I / Time

Progressive Rock

Vly began as strangers sending 1's and 0's across the Atlantic Ocean. British-based guitarist Karl Demata had a vague idea and a few demos, when a friend put him in touch with New York singer / artist Keith Gladysz. Keith began working on the demos, adding a more melodic, dream-like and decidedly indie sensibility. "It was a new way to work", says Gladysz. "The music and collaborative art I've made always started with people I knew, and creating naturally came out of that understanding. That's not the case with Vly. We managed to make an album without ever meeting. There was no gauge or reference point except for the music. It was a total shot in the dark".The sound of Vly shooting in the dark hits elements of progressive rock, classic rock, folk, early-Floydian psychedelia, intimate pop melodies, massive walls of epic guitar riffage, post-classical, post-rock and electronic music. And it's the diverse background of the members that lead to the breadth of their sound.The progressive sentiment of Italian keyboardist Elisa Montaldo quickly attracted the ear of Demata. "The first time I heard Elisa play" says Karl "I knew we had to be in a band. Her innate melodic approach and instinctual understanding and knowledge of 'anything prog' is simply remarkable"."Karl asked me to join the project at the very beginning" Elisa picks up: "My idea of prog is somehow more vintage, more typical 70's Italian style. After various experiments on arrangements and sounds, I went to Karl's studio to record most of the keyboards, where we found the right balance".Connecting with strangers, and expanding circles of mutual friends became the pattern for Vly. Karl next recruited experienced bass player Chris Heilmann who worked together previously in Crippled Black Phoenix. Chris provided a solid backbone with a more classic rock attitude.Demata doesn't hold back when talking about Sweden-based musician Mattias Olsson. "He is simply a genius. And he's never predictable as a drummer. Mattias also contributed some vintage keys and odd analog noises, which have a definitive effect on the bands sound. A common friend described him as a 'lateral thinker', and I can't think of a better way to describe him."Vly makes good on the futuristic dreams of the late 1990's, when promises of international recording sessions via the Internet excited incredulous musicians. Now that it's a reality (thanks to Dropbox and Skype), the method may be less glamorously sci-fi than one had hoped; still, they get the job done."I always disliked the cliches about music as a universal language, and more recently about the Internet bringing people together", explains Keith. "I'm even more uncomfortable with those sentiments now, since Vly proved them true".Vly's debut album, I / (Time) is available on the Laser's Edge imprint September 18, 2015. It's engineered and produced by Karl Demata, with additional production by Keith Gladysz and Mattias Olsen, and audiophile mastering by Bob Katz.VLY is:Keith Gladysz (Diet Kong, Typical Reptiles) - Vocals.Karl Demata (ex-Crippled Black Phoenix, Karl Demata Band) - Guitars, synths, programming.Elisa Montaldo (Il Tempio Delle Clessidre) - keyboards and synths.Chris Heilmann (ex-Crippled Black Phoenix, Bernie Torme', Shark Island) – Bass.Mattias Olsson (ex-Änglagård. White Willow, Necromonkey) - Drums & keyboard
$5.00

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Enslaved
In Times (Digipak)

Black Metal

"Enslaved are back with their 13th studio album, In Times, marking their first album in three years. The gap between discs ties their longest since the span between Frost and Eld. A lot has changed since then as the band has been blending their fondness for ’70s progressive rock with lengthy black metal songs remaining at the core since the dawn of the new millennium.At first glance, six songs may not seem like much for a new album by the modern standard, but the Norwegians echo the sentiment of quality over quantity. Five of the six songs clock in between the eight and nine minute mark with the title track being the lone exception at nearly 11 minutes in length.The opening track “Thurisaz Dreaming” tricks the listener by fading in with a sound that seems to be setting the tone for a lengthy and progressive introduction. Instead, Enslaved go for the throat as Grutle Kjellson shreds his in a matter of seconds with shrieks that alleviate any doubts that the band has strayed far from their black metal foundation. As quickly as Grutle presents himself, he sits back resigned to his bass, content letting the soothing clean vocals take over for a bit as the band embark on another journey revering the sacred runes.With each passing album, keyboardist Herbrand Larsen has become a more integral part of the band utilizing his soothing clean vocals to contrast and compliment Grutle’s uncompromising rasp. This is true again on In Times as the duo continue to vie for center vocal spot, creating a playful atmosphere where the listener can feel fully absorbed by both the progressive and black metal facets of Enslaved.The best demonstration of this can be heard on the masterful “One Thousand Years of Rain.” A true conquest among the entirety of the band’s catalog, this song sees each member of the band contribute a performance that transcends their individual duties. This is also where Cato Bekkevold’s drumming starts to truly stand out as the kick drum anchors In Times, often stitching together the disharmony.“Nauthir Bleeding” continues the experiment of clean vocals intersecting with the blackened side of the band and vice versa with astonishing results. This ambidextrous-like quality rounds out their most progressive aspect, allowing them to excel and innovate in both genres independently.With successive listens it becomes quite evident that In Times is written to be listened to as a whole. Each song flows into the next so seamlessly that it can be easy to forget where one song ends and another begins. Certain songs will always stand out more than others, but that isn’t what this album is about. The ever-consistent Enslaved have churned out another album to cement their legendary status in a style the continue to call their own." - Loud Wire
$12.00

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Transatlantic
The Absolute Universe: The Breath Of Life (Abridged Version)

Progressive Rock

"TRANSATLANTIC — the multinational progressive rock supergroup featuring vocalist/keyboardist Neal Morse (SPOCK'S BEARD, THE NEAL MORSE BAND), drummer Mike Portnoy (SONS OF APOLLO, DREAM THEATER), bassist Pete Trewavas(MARILLION) and guitarist Roine Stolt (THE FLOWER KINGS) — will release its fifth studio album, "The Absolute Universe", on February 5, 2021 via InsideOut Music. Representing the band's first new music since 2014's "Kaleidoscope", with "The Absolute Universe" the band has done something unique and created two versions of the record: "The Absolute Universe: The Breath Of Life (Abridged Version)" and "The Absolute Universe: Forevermore (Extended Version)".As Portnoy explains: "We've got two versions of this album. There is a two-CD presentation, which is 90 minutes long, and a single one — that's 60 minutes. However, the single CD is NOT merely an edited version of the double CD. They each contain alternate versions and even in some cases, new recordings. We wrote fresh lyrics and have different people singing on the single CD version tracks as compared to those on the double CD. Some of the songtitles have also been changed, while others might remain the same, but compositionally, what you'll hear has been altered."You must appreciate that what we have done is unique. We revamped the songs to make the two versions different."Trewavas adds: "We did write some new music for the single CD. What's more, there are also differences in the instruments used on some of the tracks across the two records."Each album will be available on CD, LP and digitally. But there will also be what has been called "The Absolute Universe: The Ultimate Edition", which collects both versions together in one lavish package that includes 5LPs, 3CDs and a Blu-ray that contains a 5.1 Surround Sound mix with visuals and a behind-the-scenes documentary. All editions have unique artwork created by Thomas Ewerhard.Initial tracking began in September 2019 when the band met up in Sweden to write and arrange the new material. As Portnoy explains: "Over a period of 10-14 days, we mapped out the songs. Then we all went back to our home studios and did the recording. That's the way we always do it. At one point, though, it was suggested that instead of doing what was by that time going to be a double album, we should just be content to do a single CD.""What happened was that everything kept expanding and expanding," recalls Stolt. "Therefore we decided it made sense to make it a double album. It was Pete and Neal who then came out and said they felt this would be too long, and we should reduce it to one…But we were already recording, and it didn't seem feasible to cut it back. There were so many pieces that each of us loved in what we were planning and didn't want to lose. That's when we ended up in discussions over the best way forward."This album also marks a return to the concept album for TRANSATLANTIC."Well, the idea of TRANSATLANTIC deciding to do a concept record this time around won't shock anyone, right?" laughs Portnoy. "What we have is essentially one giant composition, split into chapters. The storyline is about the struggles facing everyone in society today.""We didn't start out with the idea of this being conceptual," admits Stolt. "The way things work with us is that we have a load of ideas, and these are developed spontaneously when we meet up. Everything happens in the moment."So, how does this new groundbreaking album compare to TRANSATLANTIC's previous four albums?"I always try not to compare albums as much as possible," insists Morse. "It's very difficult when you're trying to be creative, because your natural instinct is to constantly compare. But in order to create you have to kind of step away from that. Having said that, I would say this would have more in common with 'The Whirlwind' album [the band's third, from 2009] than others that we've created."For Trewavas, "The Absolute Universe" is a momentous project. "I think it is right up there with the very finest albums we've done," he says. "As the others have said, it compares very well to 'The Whirlwind', which I believe represents TRANSATLANTIC at our best. As on that album, we took our time to write and arrange everything, and that shines through. I am very excited for people to hear it."TRANSATLANTIC formed in 1999 and released its debut album, "SMPT:e", the following year. Sophomore effort "Bridge Across Forever" followed in 2001, but the group went on an extended hiatus after Morse left SPOCK'S BEARD in 2002 to focus on his newly launched career in the Christian music industry.The group reunited in 2009 and released third album "The Whirlwind", which consisted of a single 77-minute track, that same year. A fourth album, "Kaleidoscope", was recorded in 2013 and released the following year, when it debuted at No. 6 on the German top album charts. The band has also released several live albums and live videos, most recently 2014's "KaLIVEoscope".Portnoy and Morse are frequent musical collaborators, having recorded more than a dozen albums together outside of TRANSATLANTIC, including three FLYING COLORS releases, three by THE NEAL MORSE BAND and seven Morse solo albums."
$10.00

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Lalu
Atomic Ark

Progressive Metal

Virtuoso keyboardist Vivien Lalu has created a new progressive metal epic featuring an all star cast:Band [A-Z]---Martin LeMar (Mekong Delta) - VocalsMike LePond (SymphonyX) - BassSimone Mularoni (DGM) - GuitarsVirgil Donati (PlanetX)- DrumsVivien Lalu (Shadrane) - KeyboardsGuests [A-Z]---Jens Johansson (Stratovarius)Joop Wolters (Shadrane)Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie)Mike Andersson (Cloudscape, Fullforce)Peter Wildoer (Darkane, James LaBrie)Born of Noelle and Michel Lalu, musicians from the ‘70s French progressive act Polene, Vivien Lalu has released a surplus of recordings through an array of different bands and projects since 1997, as the keyboard player for underground black/doom band Time For A Change. At the turn of the millennium Lalu played keys for two underground progressive metal bands from Paris, Sad Warden and then Mind’s Orchard, and in 2002 was hired by Hubi Meisel (ex-Dreamscape vocalist) to compose and record the keys for his solo album EmOcean, the following year doing the same for Meisel’s sophomore album Kailash, both of which were released by Lion Music.It was at this time Vivien Lalu begins recruiting his own associates from major prog and metal bands — some of which he shares time composing music alongside in progressive metal act Shadrane — and forms his own solo project, LALU. The first full-length Oniric Metal was released on Lion Music in 2005 and began an entirely new chapter for this composer and his insatiable need to create mind-expanding, cinematic music.These accomplishments helped Lalu to begin securing score and soundtrack work for film and television; over the last few years he’s written many cues for the orchestral soundtrack for the Warner Bros movie Seuls Two, for the show Science X made in association with Lucasfilm Ltd. Additionally he joined the production team behind Laszlo Jones in order to assist the recordings and production of Banana Nation (Universal Music Group). He’s composed many soundtracks for French television, music and sound effects for Neko Entertainment, worked as a sound designer for Ubisoft Entertainment and much more.After collaborating with Shadow Gallery for a song on their Digital Ghosts album, and working with Canadian drummer Chris Nalbandian for his Paralysis of Analysis solo album — recording all keys and sharing solos with Derek Sherinian and Alex Argento — Vivien finally settled in and began work on the second LALU opus. Handling all composition and songwriting duties, as well as all keyboards on the massive production, Vivien weaved the cloth of the new album with vocalist Martin LeMar (Mekong Delta), bassist Mike LePond (SymphonyX), guitarist Simone Mularoni (DGM), drummer Virgil Donati (PlanetX), the album’s parts recorded in several countries including the United States (Los Angeles and New York), Germany and Italy, produced by Lalu in his own studio, and mixed at Boumbox Studio in Paris by Yan Memmi (Dio’s Lock Up The Wolves, Marcus Miller’s The Sun Don’t Lie, etc.). Additional contributions from Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), Joop Wolters (Shadrane), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie), Mike Andersson (Cloudscape) and Peter Wildoer (James LaBrie) were also carefully built into the album, the final product boasting over fifty minutes of exceptional, massive cinematic, atmospheric metal Lalu has dubbed, Atomic Ark.
$5.00

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Leprous
Aphelion (Mediabook)

Progressive Metal

NOTE: THE MEDIABOOK CONTAINS TWO BONUS TRACKS"Norway’s inventive Rock mavericks LEPROUS return with their seventh studio album, “Aphelion”. Although unmistakably the work of the same band that made “Pitfalls” in 2019, “Aphelion” immediately stands out as a radical statement: Veering from some of the most intense material of their career to some of the most delicate music in the LEPROUS career, “Aphelion” is an album of beautifully crafted and meticulously arranged mini-masterworks. Recorded at three different studios (Ghost Ward / Sweden, Ocean Sound Recordings / Norway and and Cederberg Studios / Norway), mixed by Adam Noble (Placebo, Biffy Clyro, Nothing But Thieves) and mastered by Robin Schmidt (The 1975, Placebo, The Gaslight Anthem, etc.), "
$8.00

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Jordsjø
Pastoralia

Progressive Rock

"Norwegian prog-rockers Jordsjø are something out of the ordinary as evidenced by the stunning quality of their previous releases (the flawless Nattfiolen in particular) and the band’s entirely unique sound and spirited compositions. Yours truly can think of no other act out there who sounds even remotely akin to Jordsjø or inhabit those same traits and characteristics that one associates with said outfit. With respect to their upcoming opus titled Pastoralia, words and phrases are heartfelt and original, intriguingly layered and infinitely captivating, and exquisitely crafted from top to bottom, constantly present themselves when in the company of this oftentimes pastoral-sounding effort where superb melodies are beautifully interwoven with each other.Pastoralia is a musically cohesive yet playful and loose affair that incorporates a myriad of different influences, elements, and vibes. There is something almost rural and earthy about their folk-tinged passages and there are certainly also parts that are drenched in a thick, passionate sense of melancholy. But what about those slightly eerie and unnerving sections that occasionally creep into the mix? Those delightfully jazzy tones that sneak into the eclectic soundscape also? What exactly is this LP? Perhaps it is the most suitable soundtrack to unearthing the secrets of the past that you will come across this year – that’s what this is. Personal favourites and highlights include the Baroque-ish ‘Fuglehviskeren‘ and the sprawling (not to mention dazzling) epics that are ‘Skumring i Karesuando‘, ‘Beitemark‘, and closing track ‘Jord III‘. Every tune contains plenty of light and shade and so things never turn stale or boring here; there is always something exciting going on. The lyrics and words are in their native tongue, which lends an air of authenticity and authority to the compositions, and the title of the record, Pastoralia, is meant to signify a fictional place where the forest people dance around campfires on warm nights in northern Norway.While there are subtle parallels and nods to Jethro Tull, Van der Graaf Generator, and Camel throughout, Jordsjø possesses a musical identity that is entirely their own. Pastoralia does require time and patience on the part of the listener as there is an awful lot to absorb here and it only really starts to makes sense once you have spun the disc several times. It is darkly magical and strangely enchanting albeit with ever so slightly sinister textures shimmering underneath it all. This is the perfect album to immerse oneself in if you require solitude and/or escapism, and this eight-track offering is one of the finest and most adventurous and musically explorative Norwegian works within the field of progressive rock yet, which is saying something. I simply cannot detect any flaws here and this is Nordic prog rock with a folk-ish twist to it that leaves nothing to be desired." - Velvet Thunder
$11.00

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Redemption
Alive In Color (2CD/Blu-Ray)

Progressive Metal

2CD+BluRay. Co-headlining the legendary ProgPower Festival, Redemption's "Alive In Color" captions the perfect musicianship of all members in the band, making this concert a real treat for fans of Progressive Metal! Combining unapologetic melodies and hooks with technicality, complexity and thundering riffs, the band occupies a unique place with it's powerful, heavy, intelligent and deeply emotional music. "Alive In Color" captions the perfect musicianship of all members in the band, making this concert a real treat for fans of Progressive Metal!- Disc 1 -1 Blu-ray: Intro / Noonday Devil 2 The Suffocating Silence 3 The Echo Chamber 4 Damaged 5 Someone Else's Problem 6 Little Men 7 Long Night's Journey Into Day 8 Threads (Featuring Ray Alder) 9 Black & White World 10 Indulge in Color (Featuring Chris Poland) 11 Walls - Disc 2 -1 Intro / Noonday Devil 2 The Suffocating Silence 3 The Echo Chamber 4 Damaged 5 Someone Else's Problem 6 Little Men 7 Long Night's Journey Into Day - Disc 3 -1 Threads (Featuring Ray Alder) 2 Black & White World 3 Indulge in Color (Featuring Chris Poland) 4 Peace Sells (But Who's Buying) (Featuring Chris Poland) 5 Walls 6 Threads (Featuring Tom Englund) 7 Indulge in Color (Simone Mularoni Solo)
$18.00

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Borknagar
Fall

Black Metal

"BORKNAGAR might’ve been born at the backend of black metal’s second wave in the mid-90s, but the course they’ve set sail on over nearly three decades and 12 albums travels further than the genre’s rigid confines. If 2016’s Winter Thrice was the blueprint, and 2019’s True North the prototype, 12th album Fall is the unveiling of their progressive black metal masterpiece.Soundtracking the human struggle and survival against nature, Fall is a multi-dimensional journey through the mountainscapes of Norway. Opener Summits is a sweeping cinematic shot of mountain regions unfolding in your eardrums; espresso-sized wailing howls and harmonic cleans drizzle off into heaping honeypots of thickly-woven dissonance. That’s about as traditional black metal as Fall gets, and it’s all the better for going off the beaten track. Nordic Anthem’s tribal percussion and hypnotic harmonies see you descend into the mysterious depths of the mountains, echoing the nomadic desert blues of TINARIWEN. Rather than explode like fireworks in the night, Nordic Anthem lives and breathes like the Northern Lights’ swirling rivers of light; its quiet, sombre moments erupt into a chorus so anthemic you’d see it sung in stadiums, showcasing the sheer depth that ICS Vortex and Lazare’s dual-vocals have given BORKNAGAR visionary Øystein G. Brun to play with.Afar is your moment to feel out the mountainous regions you’re making home in, as the experimental fierceness of BATHORY bleeds into the silky, synthy hinterlands DREAM THEATER create; Moon’s double-bass drums and dissonant riffs flood your eardrums like a wildfire spreading through the forests before Brun and Jostein Thomassen cool the burning blasts with solos straight from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal playbook.Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow’s blast beats are supernovas colliding in the night sky as ICS Vortex sets the Stars Ablaze, before Unraveling does just that to their tapestry of sounds, symbolising how nature adapts and evolves to counter humanity by commandingly straddling both MASTODON’s Crack The Skye and Hushed & Grim eras simultaneously. The Wild Lingers does just that; plucking strings conducted operatically as if a living, breathing forest speaks to your soul, before the nearly-10 minute closer Northward is a kaleidoscope of sharp dissonance, blistering blast beats and howling vocals, as if the elements are at war.By the time its nearly hour-long runtime wraps up, you’re fully submerged in nature’s grasp. Your mind is left lingering on the many food-for-thought lyrics Fall offers long after it ends. At once, this album is deliciously dark yet hauntingly hopeful, summarised emphatically on Nordic Anthem: “The north wind whispers in our ears / Old tales of hardship, of hopes and fears / We fought to forge our own destiny / Now we stand strong for the world to see” — the question you’re left battling with though is who’s left standing strong, humanity or nature?Fall is the masterful culmination of nearly three decades of work, a testament to the dedication of Brun and BORKNAGAR at large to pushing black metal’s envelopes beyond its cavernous boundaries. Now, where will they take us next?" - Distorted Sound
$11.00

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Custodian, The
Necessary Wasted Time

Post Progressive

The Custodian is a new British post-progressive rock band formed by Richard Thomson, vocalist for cinematic death metal band Xerath. Unlike Xerath, The Custodian is an outlet for the more melodic, rock oriented writing from Thomson.While there are moments in the album that harken back to old school bands like Genesis and Yes, the music of The Custodian is contemporary in sound. Necessary Wasted Time is an album full of dynamics - light and dark shadings balancing acoustic vs electric, heavy vs pastoral. While atmospherics and tension are a strong component of the album, the band demonstrates their adept musicianship offering up long instrumental passages to complement the emotion filled vocals. When needed the band unleashes some complex electric runs.The Custodian's debut should deeply resonate with fans of Steven Wilson, Riverside, Pineapple Thief, and Anathema.Necessary Wasted Time was mixed by noted engineer Jacob Hansen and give the full audiophile mastering treatment from Bob Katz.
$5.00

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Hackett, Steve
The Circus And The Nightwhale (CD/BR Mediabook)

Progressive Rock

Legendary rock guitarist Steve Hackett will release his new studio album “The Circus And The Nightwhale” on 16th February 2024 via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, “The Circus And The Nightwhale”s 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: “I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.” Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK – with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the line-up for “The Circus And The Nightwhale” includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute. Summing up “The Circus And The Nightwhale”, Steve says: “It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?”
$24.00

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Viper Solfa
Carving An Icon

Black Metal

"I actually found Carving an Icon quite the retroactively blind purchase, suspiciously ironic since I had been tracking this project for quite a while and assumed I knew what to expect from Morfeus in regards to his avant-garde songwriting and abstruse, distinctive approach to the axes. From this isolated point of view, his sonic handprint is indeed all over Viper Solfa, making the unreasonably long wait for Dimension F3H’s This Mechanical World somewhat easier to mitigate since the dude has at least kept the old creative mind juiced as ever. What I wasn’t quite able to ready myself for was the remaining contributions, hardly something to just gloss over, as Viper Solfa is presented as something of a “supergroup” after all as opposed to a mere side-project.Ronny Thorsen supposedly leads Viper Solfa for all formal intents and purposes, the proclivity for many a conflagration granted by his burly speaking timbre and rousing death roars is a concerted force to be reckoned with. It can be argued that he is just another head in the pack, hardly boasting the standalone merit to turn one’s knees to jelly, but Viper Solfa isn’t done yet. The centrepiece of the band isn’t actually Thorsen, but Miriam Renvåg, whose swaying, affecting timbre opens doors unexpected for the band both conceptually and stylistically. So while I can’t feign shock now, I do recall bemused skepticism at the introduction of such audaciously disparate factors. Renvåg’s voice is very sleek and refined, with an almost pop-caliber cadre of appeals that land Viper Solfa closer to bands such as earlier Sirenia once the vocal trade-off between Thorsen is taken into account. It isn’t what I expected, having come into this project for Morfeus alone, but I certainly applaud Viper Solfa for attempting to merge sodden, opaque, death growls with avant-garde female vocal idiosyncrasy.With nearly all preconceptions espoused by this point, and with Renvåg’s quivering and psychedelic banshee wails taking their mental toll, I realized that there are plenty of parallels that can be drawn between Dimension F3H and Viper Solfa. Symphonics are used sparingly and as punctuation as opposed to the primary arsenal. Morfeus is basically the main songwriter here, and he is still shipping out crunchers of high order in the modern black/death format he began employing in earnest on Legacy of Evil during his waning years with Limbonic Art. In fact, the hard-lined, basal distortion sounds very similar to that record, and as the rollicking, flighty webbing of tremolos grow thicker and denser, Carving an Icon hammers out a welcoming mat to the most unexpected clientele.This ends up being the album’s tripping point, however, as far too much time is spent grooming vocal melodies that sound almost shoehorned in just for the sake of keeping the singers occupied. Thorsen’s petulant rasp gets one-upped by Renvåg’s (sometimes sorely overacted) caterwauling, and the end result borders on the monotonous more often than it should. The band still makes a good show of their missteps, what with a dense, abysmal grandeur pervading the nether reaches of what is honestly a relatively compact and easy listen on the whole, but these shortcomings remain. Carving an Icon may not be a masterpiece, or even the best outlet for all of the talents involved, but I can promise that it sounds like absolutely nothing you have heard lately, or likely will in the near future. At the end of the day, a neat project that delivered at least a few truly lethal numbers like “Whispers and Storms,” “Deranged” and most notably the floods of choppy, aggrandized viscera that embody the aptly-titled “Vulture Kingdom.” My expectations are not in line with the norm due to my familiarity with Morfeus’ back-catalogue, so take of this what you will, but Carving an Icon got more than a few spins out of me."
$7.00

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