Wait A Minute! This Isn’t Metal! – May 2025
Metal Storm’s outlet for nonmetal album reviews
The place where we’ll talk about music without growls or blast beats
unless they still have those but still aren’t metal
We here at Metal Storm pride ourselves on our thousands of metal reviews and interviews and article; metal is our collective soul and passion, which is why we bother with this junk. That being said, we’d be lying if we stuck to our trve-kvlt guns and claimed that metal is the only thing we ever listen to. Whether we want to admit it or not, we do check out some other stuff from time to time; some of us are more poptimistic than others, but there’s a whole world out there aside from Satan-worshiping black metal and dragon-slaying power metal. We do already feature some nonmetal artists on our website and have a few reviews to back them up, but we prefer to limit that aspect of the site to those artists who have been a strong influence on the metal scene or who are in some way connected to it. This article series is the place for those artists who don’t matter to metal in the slightest but still warrant some conversation – after all, good music, is good music, and we all know metal isn’t the only thing on this planet for any of us.
Down below, you might find some obscure Bandcamp bedroom projects or some Billboard-topping superstar; as long as it ain’t metal and the album itself isn’t a best-of compilation, it fits. Obviously, we’re certain that not everything will be for everybody (you guys can be viciously territorial even when metal is the only thing on the menu, and we’re all supposed to like the same things), but we do hope you find at least one thing that you can enjoy, instead of just pointing and screaming in horror “Not metal!” as if that would be an insult.
Here are our previous features:
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
And now to the music…
Grails – Miracle Music
[Synth Rock | Ambient Electronic]
The current line-up of Grails, containing members of Om and Zombi, remains consistent from previous record Anches En Maat; that album featured synths from Zombi’s AE Paterra in a central role, but they are arguably even more dominant this time around. Miracle Music feels a bit more ‘important’ and understated than its already relatively understated predecessor in comparison to some of the band’s earlier work; several tracks border on ambient electronic territory, turning what may have been song intros on past records into entire tracks.
One song to which this does not apply is opener “Silver Bells”, a gradually escalating effort that increasingly layers both texture and melody atop a driving rhythmic base, eventually swelling to an almost overwhelming level of imposing and evocative sound. This kind of purpose is somewhat missing in the subdued songs that follow, such as the meandering new age “Primeval Lite I-III” and the ambient-meets-nu jazz “Strange Paradise”, but other cuts such as “Earthly Life” and “Visible Darkness” do retain a hint of the opener’s compelling atmosphere. Long referred to as an experimental rock band, Grails have pretty much left rock behind altogether; Miracle Music may be a step too far in the direction established by Anches En Maat for some point, but it is an intriguing take on soundscape-focused electronica.
Bandcamp | AppleMusic | Spotify
by musclassia
Turtle Skull – Being Here
[Psychedelic Rock]
Australian neo-psych rockers Turtle Skull opt for a ‘live’ approach on album number three, deliberately shifting away from the methodical layering heard on Monoliths. There’s a slight rawness to Being Here, but at the same time, the serene psychedelic aura of the band’s multi-vocal harmonies (complemented this time around by new keyboardist Ally Gradon) remains undiminished. There’s a stoner rock fuzz to the band’s louder guitar riffs, but this isn’t really a desert rock album (aside from odd moments, such as certain riffs popping up in “Moon & Tide”), opting in large part for slower, lighter, gentler songwriting. The opening title track sets the mood for the album in effortless fashion, ripping out memorable choral hooks to good effect.
This is very much a 70s revivalist rock sound, and tracks such as “Apathy” and “Bourgeoisie” feel destined for the arenas of that time, but there’s also subtle nods to more modern indie rock in places; reference points that come naturally to mind include the most recent Weedpecker material, as well as King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Turtle Skull are also very capable of remaining compelling even when dialled down; there’s a real muted vibe to much of “Into The Sun”, but its calming vocals and effortless groove retains interest through to the brief moments in which the ante is upped. The live recording approach does perhaps cause some imperfections to slide in, as the vocals in the chorus of closer “Moon & Tide” in particular feel like they’re hitting a couple of iffy notes, but on the whole this is going to be a leader in the psych rock genre in 2025 due to its soul and memorability.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by musclassia
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Carpe Diem, Moonman
[Psychedelic Rock | Neo-Psychedelia]
RaduP’s pick
Even within an already stacked scene in the Australian psych rock scene with acts like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard,Tame Impala, Tropical Fuck Storm, Pond, and Prizes Roses Rosa, some of which do stand out because of their names,Psychedelic Porn Crumpets found a way to make their name stand out even more. Now with a title and cover art that looks more like something Primus would’ve done back in the day than anything the band has presented before, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets build upon a pretty strong run of modern psychedelia that they started back in 2016.
And of course that psych rock has its genre trappings and pitfalls, and I find it quite amazing how well Carpe Diem, Moonman manages to avoid them by not only making their sound more expansive and more intricate. There are moments of heaviness that border on stoner metal, as well as moments of tongue-in-cheekness and intricacy that both give credence to the Primus comparison I just made, as well as giving the music a math rock feel. But most of all, it just sounds really good, applying that haze specific to psych music and an energy specific to garage rock to music whose progressive tendencies usually aims for cleaner sounds.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Black Map – Hex
[Alternative Rock]
Black Map was formed in the wake of each of its constituent members’ bands (Dredg, Far and The Trophy Fire) going on hiatuses or disbanding; it’s unfortunate that three bands met similar fates in a narrow enough window of time for this to be possible, but from the ashes of one project (or indeed several) rose another, and the synergy of the members has sustained Black Map even with the revival of Dredg. After a decade and three albums, the trio signed with metal-focused label Spinefarm Records in preparation for the release of Hex; however, while this is a heavy album, it’s not quite a metal one, instead offering up a loud take on alternative rock.
In spite of the members’ origins in prog bands, Hex is straightforward and direct musically, each of its 9 tracks clocking in at under 4 minutes. Instead, Black Map focus on chorus hooks and accessibility, as exemplified by opener “Disintegrate”. There’s an evocative warmth to Ben Flanagan’s vocals and the backing guitar work in the song’s verse, while the chorus is built around a simple yet effective refrain. The song, and quite a lot of the album, feels somewhere between early Muse and Karnivool, although there’s something about either the tone or delivery in this song’s chorus that sounds like what Wheel might write if they ever aimed for simplicity. Other highlight picks on the record include the title track, dominated by satisfyingly passionate vocals trading off with a chantable arena-aimed chorus, and the boppy “Oblivion Season”, a song that could have easily made it onto 00s-era Kerrang radio. Some of the other songs geared towards this kind of audience, such as the crooned “Tethered” and Foo Fighters-imitating “Little Undead”, don’t quite do it for me in the same way, but it’s quite charming to hear an album in 2025 that harks back to the heavy alt music of a somewhat nostalgic era.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by musclassia
In Covert – Bleak Machinery
[Deathrock | Post-Punk | Industrial]
Based in Los Angeles, In Covert was conceived in 2019 by guitarist and synth player Wes Lopez as a way to experiment with ambient textures and drone sounds. The project began as a solo effort, and it took a while before it gradually started to take shape as a full-fledged band. The pandemic disrupted early progress, but it marked a turning point for the music to become darker, colder, and more ominous. By late 2022, Lopez reunited with longtime collaborator and drummer Oscar Ruvalcaba, and reignited the project. 2023 saw the arrival of vocalist Kris Balocca, while, in 2024, bassist Victor Gutierrez joined. In a nutshell, this is how Bleak Machinery emerged.
This debut is one moody endeavour, mixing post-punk, industrial, deathrock, and, at times, shoegaze. It sounds like a collaboration of Nine Inch Nails, Christian Death, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, and The Cure, in which they all attempt to create a soundtrack for The Crow and/or The X-Files (there is even a track called “The Truth Is Out There”). The atmosphere is chilly, bleak, and often menacing, and there is a looming feeling of dread and isolation. The songs can be dark and gloomy or abrasive and mechanical, but for all intents and purposes they make for a very cinematic experience, where the visual incarnation of the music could very well be a horror/sci-fi VHS tape that was hidden somewhere in a poorly lit basement, and it is now being played on an old TV in an abandoned building, only to kickstart the end of the world.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by nikarg
Kusanagi – Paramnesia
[Post-Rock]
musclassia’s pick
Kusanagi don’t rush into releases; album number three Paramnesia comes close to a decade after their sophomore record. One might wonder what would take an instrumental post-rock band quite so long to put together an album’s worth of songs, but Kusanagi exhibit much clearer songwriting ambition than many of the crescendocore acts saturating the genre. Math rock rhythmic sensibilities and technical proficiency introduce welcome complexity, while the songs’ emotional cores are well-realized. Opening song “Night Symmetry” prioritizes that emotional impact a bit more than other songs, with some satisfying grandstanding of heaviness and pleasing lead guitar lines in its climactic minutes.
Subsequent songs on the record demonstrate the band’s musical proficiency; “Polymorph” winds through twisting, dainty guitar work before taking a sharp turn towards a big, emphatic classic post-rock finale, while “Equilibria” builds itself around complex time signatures and stop-start riff patterns. Emotional resonance remains central to the band’s ethos, however, and the lush yet sorrowful guitar motifs in “Spacial Awareness” very much hit the spot, as does the huge, engrossing wall of distortion in the closing minutes of “Luminosity”. Paramnesia is very much the way to go about writing compelling post-rock in 2025; the song structures are unpredictable and complex enough to keep listeners on their toes, and the pay-offs more than justify the journeys that the tracks take the audience on.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by musclassia
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film
[Neo-Psychedelia | Indietronica]
Hey, it even has “metal” in its name!
Stereolab is a band I’ve discovered during my first extensive explorations of the post-rock genre, even though their music is not one I’d classify as post-rock, the blend of psychedelic analog synths giving a space rock vibe with noisier shoegaze pop on albums like 1993’s Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements and 1996’s Emperor Tomato Ketchup felt like they bridged the cap between Kraftwerk and the first wave of post rock. Still, even if that was the angle I discovered them from, I’d argue that they’re an even bigger influence on the indietronica scene that exploded in the 2000s, along with a myriad of other indie pop/rock sounds that dominated that era, all owing something to Stereolab.
Instant Holograms on Metal Film comes 15 years after the band’s previous record, 2010’s Not Music, making this quite the comeback album. Given how late we are in the band’s career, it’s no surprise that Instant Holograms on Metal Film is far from the band’s most experimental record, but it is one that encapsulates some of the best qualities of the band’s sound, from how trippy the analog synths sound, to the relaxed vocal performance, to how anachronistic it sometimes feels, and it does result in some really enjoyable songs. I’m not sure if the album benefits from its (almost) hour long runtime, but it doesn’t feel like it drags on either.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Jenny Hval – Iris Silver Mist
[Ambient Pop | Art Pop]
In the field of ambient pop, Jenny Hval is a name we’ve been covering for quite a while, from 2019’s The Practice Of Love and 2022’s Classic Objects, to the stuff she made with Lost Girls, 2021’s Menneskekollektivet and 2023’s Selvutsletter, all of them showcasing an artist willing to work in the more left-field and ethereal sides of pop, while still occasionally drifting through more conventional synthpop sounds, something that was especially true in 2016’s Blood Bitch, my favorite of hers but one that we never got to cover.
Iris Silver Mist, while not entirely unconventional, doesn’t do the same synthpop drifting as some of its predecessors, preferring to instead push even further in the “ambient” side of “ambient pop”, though not in a way that makes the album feel too abstract for its own good, but rather even more of an ethereal journey. There are more abstract instrumental or spoken word interludes that do give the album’s flow a more flexible feeling, with most of the album having sparse instrumentation, though lush enough to have its drums and guitars alongside its synths, around the sultry high-pitched vocals of Hval. Truly a gorgeous album.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Natalia Lafourcade – Cancionera
[Ranchera | Bolero | Singer-Songwriter]
Natalia Lafourcade released another album and of course Radu had to send it to me as I’m the only latino around these parts. This is the third album of hers that I have reviewed. And most of what I wrote the previous two times applies here. Her previous work, De Todas Las Flores, was a highlight for me among the non-metal releases of 2022. It’s not the type of music I listen to regularly but goddamn when I’m in the mood for it she is truly the best. Her music covers many different latin american genres like bolero, mariachi, samba, and cumbia. With a cloak of jazz undertones on top of it all, Natalia’s music ends up being rich, emotional, playful, soothing and very charming. I could go on with the adjectives as there are so many layers hidden in her songs and it’s impressive just how easy it is to love her music and get fully immersed in her world.
Cancionera feels even more traditional and old-school than her previous album and that can be felt even through the production. Natalia has gone for a less pristine sound and instead chooses a live sound that truly makes you think that she is in front of you. Even quiet sounds in the background from the interaction between the session musicians and Natalia at the end of the tracks can be heard; further enhancing the organic, easy-going feeling of this album. From the delicate moments of the morning to the cheerfulness of the day. From the seductiveness of the evening to the melancholia of the night. If you are looking for a great album to have on a beautiful summer day that works for all these moments then Natalia Lafourcade has you covered.
by X-Ray Rod
Ols – Poświaty
[Neofolk]
musclassia’s pick
Poświaty represents the third full-length output from Ols, the Polish solo project of Anna Maria Olchawa. Promotional materials refer to the album’s sound as an integration of dark neofolk with post-black metal; I have to assume that the metal influences are of a more spiritual nature, as compositionally the contents of Poświaty are almost entirely absent of instrumental distortion. This is a dark folk album at its core; however, that’s not to say that it’s confined to one specific sound, with instruments of acoustic, electric and electronic persuasions all making their presence felt across the album.
Several songs, including the likes of “Proch Kość Liść”, “Mów Do Mnie” and “Pierwszy Mit”, follow in the legacy of the various Nordic and North European neofolk acts that have driven a resurgence in the style’s popularity in recent decades, among them the likes of Wardruna, Myrkur and Forndom; of them, these songs are perhaps closest to Myrkur with the smaller folk instrument range and clean female refrains, but there is compelling arrangement of droning instruments alongside the melodic ones, and the songs are consistently charming and stirring. Alongside these songs are those that are more wildcard in their nature, whether it be the trip-hop beats accompanying the enchanting vocal harmonies in opening song “O Niej”, or the louder instrumentation and distorted textures in the long and gloomy “Światło III”. Whatever Olchawa sets her mind to on Poświaty, the results are usually strong, perhaps none more so than with the achingly tender harmonies shaping the sorrowful “Marzec”.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by musclassia
Billy Woods – Golliwog
[Abstract Hip-Hop]
RaduP’s pick
Billy Woods has been one of the names we’ve gotten to cover in our series the most, not only because of how consistent he is an artist, with a lot of the albums being some of the best in the hip-hop field in their respective years, but also because of how prolific, both in terms of being a solo artist, a part of the Armand Hammer duo, and a frequent collaborator. This does have the unfortunate effect of having to figure out new things to say about an artist whose work I’ve already talked about ad nauseam, as well as times when some albums didn’t land as well as they could because of how much of that sound I’ve already gotten. Thankfully 2024 was free of Billy Woods releases, so Golliwog arrives with a bit less saturation.
One thing that is immediately noticeable for Golliwog is how vivid the sound samples in the beats are, and as much as abstract hip-hop has often used beats that are less overtly musical, it’s not very usual to have this amount of non-musical sound collage worked into something a bit more musical in order to create such an immersive and slightly horror tinged backdrop to whatever Billy Woods is rapping about, which in this case a lot of what Golliwog is about feels even more overtly political than the already heavily political stuff that Woods usually raps about. Most of the features on the record come from Woods’ Armand Hammer colleage, Elucid, keeping a strong connection going between his solo and duo work.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Aesop Rock – Black Hole Superette
[Abstract Hip-Hop]
What an incredible run Aesop Rock has been on for the past decade, especially for a rapper that is nearing his 50s, with 2016’s The Impossible Kid already having had the feeling of a late career classic, then followed by a run of albums, collaborations or otherwise, with no more than two years in between albums, being started by 2019’s Malibu Ken collaboration with Tobacco (and the first of his albums I’ve covered). But it’s more 2020’s Spirit World Field Guide and 2023’s Integrated Tech Solutions whose surrealistic conceptual take on the modern world’s relationship with spirituality and technology respectively being indicative of the conceptual headspace that Aesop Rock is in for Black Hole Superette as well.
The Bandcamp description states that the album is about “the invisible forces that shape our lives and psyches”, with Black Hole Superette sharing its two predecessors conceptual exploration but one that’s geared towards the mundane. Being entirely self-produced, this kind of auteur hip-hop from one of the most verbose rappers does also make for a fun listen in how the beats and the flows effectively function as more storytelling and worldbuilding instead of leaving that role just to the lyrics, in ways that feel like Aesop Rock is still trying to push the envelope in hip-hop intricacy. Somehow I feel like this has even more replay value than anything he did since The Impossible Kid.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Fly Anakin – (The) Forever Dream
[Abstract Hip-Hop]
At this point I should probably explain why all three of the hip-hop albums I covered in this edition are tagged as “abstract hip-hop”. I like all sorts of hip-hop, some more than others, but I don’t feel like all of them work as well in an album setting, nor do I feel as compelled to talk about them specifically. Hip-hop that’s more interesting to me is usually the kind that feels like a brain massage with its intricate wordplay and especially due to how dreamlike its beats feel. “Abstract” is not a term I came up with for it, but it made things click. Also heard the term “drumless” which emphasized how important percussion is for most hip-hop beats, and how weird hip-hop can feel when that’s removed.
(The) Forever Dream isn’t entirely drumless in its beats, but it feels like the beats are trying to run a marathon through jelly, working with some kind of dreamlike logic to them, in turn giving that quality to the flows that lay on top of the beats, and with how many guest verses this album has, that’s a lot of flows. Out of those, it’s Pink Siifu I’m happiest to hear, having discovered Fly Anakin through the FlySiifu’s collaborative album they did back in 2020, but also Quelle Chris‘s role as both a guest feature and executive producer really rounds this up. Even though the album is far from short, a lot of its tracks are, so that vignette like feel works with the dreamlike quality the album has.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Car Seat Headrest – The Scholars
[Indie Rock | Rock Opera]
Just like black metal (and its post/gaze counterpart) had a phase where a lot of lo-fi stuff would make it big on Bandcamp, so did other non-metal genres like indie rock, with Car Seat Headrest being one of the leading examples back in the 2010s. The original Twin Fantasy from 2011 is still a cornerstone of the genre in the modern days, and even as Will Toledo’s project signed to a label and expanded its contributing lineup, it retained an auteur-esque lo-fi appeal, in addition to being one of the only cases where an album re-recording actually felt worthwhile with 2018 re-recording of Twin Fantasy, a move that was sadly followed by a lackluster experimental album with 2020’s Making A Door Less Open.
Five years later, Car Seat Headrest is trying to restart its momentum with a quite large and ambitious project. The Scholars is a 70 minute concept album, though one that didn’t lose its experimental edge, with this time the experimentation being applied to increasing the scope of the band’s music. The cleaner band-focused sound feels like it takes the singer/songwriter indie rock that the project started with and crafts a prog rock opera around it, injecting some power pop and heartland rock into its choruses and making some of Making A Door Less Open‘s electronic touches feel better integrated into the overall sound. For such a long album, it doesn’t overstay its welcome as much as I thought it might.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Sentries – Gem Of The West
[Noise Rock | Art Rock]
When I discovered Sentries, I made it a point to note how unusual it is for noise rock bands to actually be a one-man project, something that feels more suited for other genres. Even the Bandcamp page feels the need to note that “that’s it just one guy”. Thankfully the album that I covered back then, Snow As A Metaphor For Death, had that lo-fi rawness that is specific for one-man bands, so listening to it with the knowledge of the band’s unitary lineup did make sense. That was an album that came an year after the band’s debut with 2023’s Agonizer, so I guess it does make sense that a follow-up also came similarly hastily.
There are things about Gem Of The West that somehow feel more in line with it being a one-man band, with the sound having a stronger emphasis on the indie rock / art rock side of the sound, and the noise rock / post-hardcore side, one that was already more angular and dissonant than heavy and dense, somehow managing to pack a punch regardless. There’s a pretty strong conceptual feeling to the album, one that makes it feel longer than the 43 minutes that it spans, and one that goes hand in hand with the uncompromising nature of the project’s songwriting, as if taking full advantage of the fact that sole member Kim Elliott is in full creative control.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Cascadent – Telemetry
[Post-Hardcore | Math Rock]
Blue Swan Records, the label of Dance Gavin Dance guitarist Will Swan, has signed quite a few bands performing a similar math rock/post-hardcore mash-up to DGD, but evidently there is a limit to how much resemblance they are willing to tolerate, as Cascadent’s borderline tribute act has yet to earn the band an invitation to the label’s roster. Telemetry are almost uncanny in its resemblance to songs from Dance Gavin Dance at times (just check out the chorus of “Sunset, In A Sense”), particularly with some of the clean/harsh vocal exchanges, although thankfully Cascadent have curbed the more irritating tendencies of DGD. There’s also a hint of At The Drive-In/The Mars Volta to the vocals and mathy jankiness.
For those interested in this populous musical niche, Cascadent are pretty on it in finding a good balance between rhythmic/technical complexity and energetic catchiness. “Watch The Tail”, featuring a guest appearance from Satyr, throws the kitchen sink at listeners, from stop-start rhythmic attacks and shredded vocals to big choral hooks and a pyrotechnic solo to wrap things up. The rest of the record mostly follows suit, but throws up memorable moments such as the guitar tapping in the lush chorus of “Collision Hymn” and the The Mars Volta-esque frantic percussive bridge in “Playground Parachute”, and there’s very minor changes of pace in songs such as the slightly slower and more clean-dominated “Cauterized”, as well as the salsa trumpet blasts lighting up “The Baku’s Bargain”.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by musclassia
Model/Actriz – Pirouette
[Industrial Rock | Dance-Punk]
RaduP’s pick
Bands from under the post-punk umbrella have had a huge share of the rock music from the past decade, and one of those that stood out for me for how they tackled adjacent sounds were Model/Actriz, first from their EPs starting in 2020 (that I discovered in retrospect), to their 2023 debut, Dogsbody, that I covered and that served as my entry point. The fact that I introduced them by namedropping Swans, Chat Pile, Xiu Xiu, and Death From Above 1979 should be a pretty good indicator that we’re dealing with some weird angular music.
A lot of Pirouette is in a similar vein to Dogsbody, pulsating industrial synths whose repetitive grooves can create a dance-like feel to them, all serving as an anxiety inducing backdrop to a manic and passionate vocal performance. But there’s a slight shift in the dance industrial sound, with some of the no wave leanings of Dogsbody leaving way for a more melodic take from the vocals that does at times infect the instrumental side to make Pirouette lean closer towards art punk, without undermining the dissonant and noisy energy that they create. The vocal performance grabs a lot of the attention, with how theatrical it is even when it’s quieter, but the rhythm’s section mastery over tempo, repetition, and polyrhythms makes this such a brain massaging listen.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Stratford Rise – Stratford Rise
[Noise Rock | Post-Hardcore]
You know how whenever I cover a band that’s still quite starting out I mention how this is a sound they’ve been building on since they debuted with one or two EPs, but then I admit that I only discovered those EPs retrospectively, thereby showcasing my poseurness? Well, this time I actually discovered a band from their EPs. Sure this makes it more of a risk because I don’t know if Stratford Rise will make it to the full length stage or if they’ll be that relevant when they do, but I liked what I heard on this EP so I’m buying my Stratford Rise stocks early.
This thing is only four tracks long and it’s shorter than 15 minutes so it really passes like a breeze, but it left quite a strong impression in how quirky its aggression is. This Belfast quartet is noisy as hell, sometimes the noise feels a bit too overwhelming on the EP, both songwriting-wise and production-wise but in a way where both its avant-garde tendencies and the overt noise clipping could be polished with further releases. The vocal performance feels punk in a very theatrical way, like a mix of Jello Biafra and Geordie Greep, the latter making a lot of sense considering how much Black Midi seems to be an influence here. Curious to see how this sound is developed.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
Shearling – Motherfucker, I Am Both: “Amen” And “Hallelujah”…
[Experimental Rock | Noise Rock]
This is the kind of album that’s gonna give me so many issues when compiling the playlist because it’s a single hour long track. Not something unheard of, but man does this one specifically feel like a behemoth.
So Shearling is one of the bands that came out of the ashes of Sprain, one of the bands that felt like the biggest trailblazers of experimental rock in the past decade, and whose 2023 album The Lamb As Effigy felt like it could be a future classic, before the band unexpectedly called it quits. Last year I’ve covered frontman Alexander Gregory Kent‘s solo album, Teaches Dust to Reason, an album that was similarly focused on huge runtimes with two 20+ minutes tracks, though with a more drone sound.
Shearling is taking the long form songwriting to its absolute limit, while also having a band approach to it. Obviously Kent’s vocals still capture most of the attention with how overly dramatic they are in their Alexis Marshall meets Jamie Stewart way, and how much it resembles some very theatrical poetry reading, but there’s a lot of thought put in how the entire band makes the album flow through these very experimental soundscapes, a lot of which is more ambient and noise focused, but with enough of it having a rock leaning sound, mostly in a post-rock, noise rock, and post-hardcore way. The one track approach isn’t entirely necessary here, since it does feel like the track’s movements don’t have as much in common with each other to justify not being split into separate tracks.
Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify
by RaduP
And that was it. You’ve made it through still alive. Congrats. See ya next month. Here’s a Spotify playlist we compiled out of stuff featured here: