Browsing Tag

Deftones

Set your alt 90s nostalgia alight with Highdiver’s sludgy feat of art-rock ‘Human Disaster’

Posted on 28 February 2021

American Horror Story taught us that all monsters are human, with the lead single from their latest album ‘Dual Control’, alt-rock artist, Highdiver are here to tell us that all disasters are human too.

With seductive bass grooves, cutting shoegaze guitars and adrenalizing percussion in the sludgy feat of art-rock, Highdiver simultaneously delivered a postcard from the alt 90s and a spacey introduction the future of hard rock.

If you could imagine what it would sound like if Deftones adopted Josh Homme as a vocalist and Thom Yorke as a producer, you’ll get an idea of what’s in store if you hit play on Human Disaster.

Human Disaster is available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Temperature Falls revived the Alt 90s sound with their Trip Hop track “Cut the Wire”

Posted on 30 October 2020

Temperature Falls’ 2020 single “Cut the Wire” is an Alt 90s dream wrapped up in an Urban Pop earworm.

If the tantalising tones as used by the likes of the Deftones send your synapses into overdrive, you’ll find the very same spark in Cut the Wire which oozes with feminine sensuality. There may be reminiscences to the likes of Portishead, but the modernity, the hunger, and the sheer level of contemporarily-contorted emotion will ensure that Cut the Wire sticks with you long after it has faded out.

The Oslo-based Alt Trip Hop duo offers more than just ingenuity or a fresh new sound. They achieve what so few bands do, they reignite rhythmic nostalgia while leaving you transfixed by their own signature sound.

You can check out Cut the Wire for yourselves by heading over to Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Xeren Lia – Swipe Right to Drown: A Sultry Dark Pop Earworm Which Pays Ode to 90s Industrial Rock

Posted on 23 October 2020

Swipe Right to Drown is the third single to be released from Texan Alt-Pop artist and producer Xeren Lia. It threw me right back to the 90s while greeting me with galvanizingly fresh energy.

Not many artists manage to replicate the sex appeal of Nine Inch Nails while simultaneously offering authenticity, but Xeren Lia manages it with ease. The soundscape may be slightly more turbulent than Trent Reznor’s sultry rhythms, but that perfectly ties in with the theme of Swipe Right to Drown which was penned after a bad breakup and a serial-dating experience. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Desperately aching for connection, for something visceral, only to get wrapped up in superficial affection we want to scrub away the next day. I really hope I’m not alone there. But what I suppose I’m trying to say, is that Swipe Right to Drown is one of those tracks which stir up a smorgasbord of unexpected emotion and will set every one of your senses alight.

That definitely doesn’t happen every day. You won’t want to let this release slip you by if you’re a fan of the darker side of Pop.

You can check out Swipe Right to Drown for yourselves by heading over to apple music.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Toronto’s The Silk Demise stalk in with seductively haunting single ‘’Professor’s Lake’’

Posted on 22 May 2020

Wrapped in a promise, under stars. I set our feet as we melt in the dark.

Founded in 2006, this is the ultimately dark ambient electronic, trip-hop, and chillout music for the soul- to be enjoyed with the lights ideally off. 

‘The Silk Demise’ are highly influenced by trip-hop legends Massive Attack and Portishead and they expertly conjure their own smooth brand of the genre, relying on samples, synths, and melodic drones. Their music is a bit scary but enjoyable and this is a quality outfit.

Let’s enjoy this top act from Toronto, Canada and hope for more quality release while they create that one massive hit to propel them to the front of the queue. 

Stream more from ‘The Silk Demise’ here on YouTube.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Chants Would Be A Fine Thing

Posted on 25 December 2017

As alt-rock has become a testosterone fuelled battle ground trying to be the hardest, heaviest and most alternative, one thing has been lost along the way. Melody! No matter what you think of classic rock…the thing that alt-rock inversely defines itself against, you could sing along to it at least. What if a band came along that blended the modern alt musical trappings with the accessibility of music from an older time. Well, The Chance do just that.

Won’t Let You Go sits in a sweet spot for rock music, the tune is memorable, the vocals infectious, and the melodies pass the acid test of lingering in the brain long after the track has finished. But it also has enough modern grit and rough edges to appeal to the black clad modern age rocker. This isn’t alternative rock at all, this is evolved rock, rock music which has learnt the lessons of the past and moulded it to the fashions and tastes of the modern music fan. How hard was that? Consider yourself schooled.

You Win Again Gravity – And the winner is….

Posted on 24 December 2017

The fabulously named You Win Again Gravity are one of those bands that more you dissect and try to unpack the music, the more you wonder just how they fit some many ideas, so many genres, bend so many rules and jump so many musical boundaries, all in such a small space. Grace and Focus is Tardis music, seemingly easily defined from the outside but mind-bogglingly expansive once you get inside the door.

Most post-hardcore bands follow fairly well defined lines, all grunt and no grace, all brutality and no beauty, You Win Again Gravity are just the band to redress such a balance. Yes, at their sonic far end they have no shortage of heavy, bombastic sounds and guttural growling, but what is more interesting than merely being amazed at their top end performance is how they get there. And they get their through musical textures which are progressive without being mere technical show boating, through the deft melodics that link between music set pieces, through meandering riffs which are interesting rather than histrionic. This is the sound of Post-Hardcore music growing up, finding its feat and joining the musical conversation. I guess we will need to find a more eloquent name for it now.

The Zero Won’s New Track “Lights” Will Definitely Hypnotise You

Posted on 14 November 2017

The Zero Won are a band from Athens with a very distinctive sound, bridging a link between indie pop and disco through hypnotic sonorities and mesmerising vocals. With a strong electronic influence in their sound, these guys have something fresh to offer and upon first listening to their new track “Lights,” one of the primary things which is noticeable is the image evoking quality in the music. All the elements are blended so well within the texture that the sound created has the ability to take you on a visual journey just by listening to it. In fact, I personally can’t wait for a music video to accompany the song.

Apart from the mesmerising and hypnotic quality expressed in the music, “Lights” also features a variety of sounds ranging from delicate guitar countermelodies, big synth sounds, pointillistic percussions and a strong melodic line in the vocal part. This, in fact, results in a memorable expressive chorus which drives the music constantly forward. As the song reaches the end, momentum is built up towards a final climax which is literally an explosion of sound featuring all the interesting elements of instrumentation chosen and combining everything together through a great mix. Listening to this song is just a hypnotic experience from start to finish.

-Sarah Marie Bugeja

Crisis King – Tonight – If You Thought That Extreme Music Could Not Be Eclectic, Think Again!

Posted on 3 November 2017

Crisis King is an artist with a fondness for hard-hitting metal, post-hardcore and industrial tones. His recent studio work, Tonight, is an EP that features 6 original songs. The artist’s music explores genres as diverse as hardcore, industrial, new-metal and more, going for an eclectic, yet direct sound. Opening number, “Die Easy”, is an extremely powerful wall of sound that feels like a stampede of vikings, crushing and burning everything in their path. The song has powerful drums and loud guitar riffs that are down-tuned and aggressive, perfectly matching the vocals.

The dark lyrical themes on the songs of the EP are also a great match with the album’s production aesthetics, but there is also room for melodies here and there.

“The Tides” highlights the group’s most melodic side, yet it still features hard-hitting drums, loud guitar walls and serendipitous changes. Throughout the span of these 6 tracks, Crisis King really stand out for the diverse approach they are able to bring to the table, exploring different sides of their musicianship and offering up an EP that feels eclectic, yet extremely direct, just as you would expect from a band such as Crisis King!