Browsing Tag

Blue October

Star-rove through the desolation in Othenic’s latest single, SUPERSONIC LIGHTSPEED

Posted on 5 November 2023

By using dark and spacey tones as a metaphor for the desolation of alienation and emptiness and pairing them with pensive lyrical iconography, Othenic proved his worth as an evocateur in his latest single, SUPERSONIC LIGHTSPEED.

The trappy nuances that bleed through the backbeat and the sharp delivery of his quasi-harmonised vocals become a sense of gravity in the reverb-swathed atmosphere of the star-roving single that instantly immerses you within the melancholy of the exposition of how inhospitable Earth can be when you’re forced to go through the motions without another soul as a compass.

Emanating the same sense of heart-on-sleeve deeply affecting appeal of Blue October and Porcupine Tree, the Kentucky/Cincinnati-hailing artist, who is quickly becoming our favourite discovery in 2023, is establishing himself as a song crafter with superlative tenacity when it comes to sonically locking into the darkest facets of the human experience.

SUPERSONIC LIGHTSPEED was officially released on November 2nd; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Go down the downward spiral with Daniel Antonio’s dark electronic rock debut, everything I touch

Posted on 25 November 2022

Any fans of Blue October, Celldweller, and Three Days Grace will be gripped with the evocative raw candour that complements the turbulently dark electronic rock aesthetic in Daniel Antonio’s debut single, everything I touch.

For infectious appeal, the debut fuses pop hooks with glitchy electronica and down-tuned guitars. With the bilingual lyrics adding yet another repeat-worthy facet to the track that exhibits Antonio’s fearless vulnerability equally through the lyrics and vocals, every time you listen to everything I touch, the immense sensory experience becomes that little bit more visceral. The single was written to encapsulate a relatable dark downward spiral that made losing touch an inevitability and admirably as an admission of fallibility.

Away from the music industry, the Sheffield-based solo artist starred in the BAFTA-nominated film Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – which explains the colossal cinematic touches in his debut. He also provided backing vocals for Ed Sheeran & Bring Me the Horizon’s earworm, Bad Habits, which hit number 3 on the UK charts. If this single doesn’t chart too, I might start a riot on his behalf.

Everything I touch will be available to stream from November 25th. Catch it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Indie alt-rock meets hip hop in TREELOCK’s latest single, Hide Your Feelings.

Posted on 23 October 2021

As more rap artists become bolder and increasingly more honest in their lyrics, Maine, US-hailing alt-hip hop artist, TREELOCK, switched the narrative by serving a reminder of the dangers of candour with his latest single, Hide Your Feelings.

Any fans of Blue October will instantly find themselves drawn in by the melancholic indie instrumentals and raw vocals. As the single progresses, discordance starts to amass in the production until the track reaches its evocative peak and TREELOCK breaks into guttural alt-rock screams and lyrically, you couldn’t ask for more urban poetry with cutting lines such as “I feel like I don’t feel”.

Hide Your Feelings is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

OurNova reached the pinnacle of dark electro-rock with ‘Nicotine & Nosebleeds’.

Posted on 15 June 2021

OurNova’s latest EP, Bloodlines, Vol. 1, finds the middle-ground between lo-fi alt-rock and synth-pop; the perfect introduction to their dark electronic rock style is the ambiently plaintive standout single, Nicotine & Nosebleeds.

With the tempo of a Portishead track, chilling mechanical electronica tones reminiscent of NIN and the evocative sting of Blue October, Nicotine & Nosebleeds sits on the more melancholic side of the emotional spectrum. Yet, with the refreshingly honest lyrics and the sharp angular guitar progressions that cut through the dark atmosphere of the single, there’s no danger of falling into an existential hole while listening to the reflectively powerful single unfold.

Check out Nicotine & Nosebleeds for yourselves via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Existentially meta lyricism meets emotive alt electro-rock in Observe the 93rd’s latest single ‘awareness of death’

Posted on 10 March 2021

What Davey Havoc started in the 90s, Observe the 93rd are finishing with their latest atmospheric electro-rock release ‘awareness of death’.

With hints of Reznor in the darkly mesmerising single perfectly rounding off the duo’s eccentric and sporadically caustic sound, awareness of death isn’t a single that you can listen to half-heartedly.

The symphonic layers wrap themselves around the existentially meta lyricism which serves up lyrics such as ‘We all know that this is more abstract than any dream’, making it all too easy to get lost in a mind hole as you listen to this contemplatively artful single unfold.

Catch the official video which premiered on February 5th by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Shifting Jack – Exit: Progressively Cinematic, Ominously Arrestive Alt Rock

Posted on 2 March 2020
https://open.spotify.com/track/0YjIr7Aa9rAEgbo1aDRZM9

Shifting Jack have recently dropped their darkly progressive 2020 album “Valentine”. Anyone with a penchant for artists who audibly push against every genre boundary and constraint to serve you pure unbridled ingenuity will definitely want to indulge.

Each of the nine tracks stand a testament to Shifting Jack’s deft skills when it comes to creating cinematically ominous music. Yet, the perfect introduction to their sound is the epic 7-minute feat of intricate aural disconcertment “Exit”.

With a prelude which shares reminiscences with Faith No More’s “Motherfucker” followed by a seamless progression into a soundscape which is sure to win over fans of Nine Inch Nails, Exit is the Alternative Progressive track we never knew that we needed. At that point, you’re not even close to knowing just how much Exit has to offer. There’s a myriad of stylistic turns to encounter in Exit. Expect blistering crescendos, iron-wrought tension, and an unparalleled dosing of emotional magnetism.

If you could imagine a melange of all the Alt Rock tracks which appeared on the Saw 3 soundtrack, you’ll be left with an idea of what to expect from the Norwegian studio artist.

You can check out Exit along with the rest of Shifting Jack’s album via Spotify.

Keep up to date with their latest releases via Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast