Once again, I invite you all to let your mind and body levitate to the beautiful soundscapes created by the magic brains of Bend The Sky. After the memorable debut album "Origins", released in July 2012, this band has returned with their new, epic EP "Observatory". Get ready to leave for another unforgettable musical journey. Your ears and spirit will thank you for it.
For those of you who don't know this band, all you have to know is in the presentation we posted a month ago right here. Basically, this amazing Australian band puts creates instrumental progressive metal on a whole other level. To give an idea, you can download their debut album "Origins" for FREE on Bandcamp!
This amazing experience lifts off with the intro track "Alpha". This is mainly an atmospheric start with some electronic hints that leads to the real opener of the EP, "Orbit". This is such an intense track that in the final section you will feel your soul jump out and embrace the greatness. The title track "Observatory" is probably the most remarkable chapter of this release. Especially because it features guitar passages heavier and more complex than usual. But it doesn't disturb the greatness of the song. Instead, it empowers it and brings it to an even higher and more dramatic level.
"As Planets Collide" starts as a joyful track but keeps growing in darkness until a very aggressive and unexpectedly fast section rips towards the end. Probably the heaviest episode off "Observatory". "Void" is a groovy track, showing how the band has improved in a very short time through elaborating new original guitar solutions. The ambiance keeps playing a fundamental role in this track as well, with a melodic section strongly influenced by both traditional progressive metal and modern djent innovations. The last track is "Reform II" is a worthy sequel to the track of the same name which opened "Origins". It's one of the most theatrical tracks off the EP, even though it's very short and apparently built just to end the EP in the perfect way.
That's all. I really have no criticisms of this new release. It's got everything we could expect from a Bend The Sky EP. This is what they do best, done at their finest. It successfully provides unbelievable, orchestral instrumentation and an impressive surrounding ambiance. It also substantially improved on the few flaws of their debut album "Origins" by not making the new work excessively based on ambiance, but also evolving and giving more importance to the guitar passages, delivering a more elaborate, conscious and original riaffage. This is all you have to do, download it, listen to it, love it and dream of it every night.
AC/DC! Ok that's kinda obvious...oh gosh, we're here for an exploration! Give us something new! Ok...Australia definitely has a prestigious history when it comes to metal and hard rock. But in the last few years, from 2000 onward, a lot of new bands started to gaining worldwide exposure. Two big names, Airbourne and Wolfmother, picked up the heritage of AC/DC but Australia has recently developed a really fecund underground metal scene with a lot of talented bands emerging from every genre of modern metal. Let's try to make a small recap of the best things that this great nation has to offer to the world, since a lot of people don't even know that some of these bands are actually from another continent.
Let's start by taking a look at the local metalcore scene. The first huge name we all immediately think of is Byron Bay's Parkay Drive. This band definitely became one of the world's leading metalcore bands, especially in the wake of their last two albums "Deep Blue" (2010) and "Atlas" (2012).
A strong push to the Australian metalcore scene was also given by the local label We Are Unified which discovered almost all of the following metalcore bands, some of which also got signed by Roadrunner Records. For example, the party hardcore of Deez Nuts is currently enjoying huge success and it's taking them on tour all over the world. They have a new album coming out at the end of the month called "Bout It!" and it's looking to be a hit. Another band which is kicking ass world-wide is The Amity Affliction, recently signed by Roadrunner Records. Also Buried In Verona, who are currently on tour with Chelsea Grin, Attila, Betraying The Martyrs and Within The Ruins and will soon be trekking across Europe with Emmure and Obey The Brave too! Other bands like In Hearts Wake or Dream On Dreamer also have a good fan-base internationally and were both launched by We Are Unified.
There's plenty more to find if we talk about death-related genres. Thy Art Is Murder took the world by storm with their huge 2012 album "Hate", which led directly to their record deal with heavy metal giant Nuclear Blast Records who are now planning to re-release the album. Huge sounds, aggressive and groovy riffage, raw talent and creativity got this band to a really high level during the past few months. Now they even have a nomination as "best new band" at the Metal Hammer's Golden Gods Awards! A really important technical deathcore band is the amazing Signal The Firing Squad. They released a full-length album in 2012 too which was called "Abnegate". It was easily one of the best deathcore albums of the year. Should also mention Make Them Suffer, a young talented symphonic death metal band who's earning big time recognition everywhere thanks to their latest album, "Neverbloom". Psycroptic is another technical death metal band which is well known everywhere by now. They were also signed by Nuclear Blast Records and released a new album in 2012 called "The Inherited Repression". Last but not least you should really give a listen to Universum, a good melodic death metal band which had the honor of working with a lot of amazing guest musicians from bands like Soilwork, Scar Symmetry, Nightrage, MyGrain, and Mors Principium Est!
But some of the most intresting proposals are coming from the progressive scene. The "Toolish" progressive sound of Karnivool, for example, has earned them a ton of followers and the same thing is happening currently for the djent-influenced progressive metalcore band Northlane, which just released their new album "Singularity", brought to you by We Are Unified, again. But the greatness doesn't stop there. What about Dead Letter Circus and their amazing take on progressive rock? The incredible experimentation of Ne Obliviscaris? The sharp cyber-metal delivered by Synthetic Breed? ONAN's incredible guitar skills? The beautiful and symphonic-influenced instrumental soundscapes created by Bend The Sky? The high level music of Circles? The Schoenberg Automaton and their hyper-technical math metal? And there's even more! Halcyon, Memoirs, Escapist etc... Australia is STACKED.
It's safe to say there's a lot of amazing stuff coming out of Australia right now. So many that it looks impossible to make a complete recap of the awesome music you can find down under. So many that I'm sure I forgot someone. We couldn't provide music from every band for obvious reasons, but if you're interested in listening, go ahead and search The Circle Pit or on Youtube / music provider of your choosing. Great stuff \m/
Bend The Sky is an amazing Symphonic/Progressive metal quartet
hailing from Perth, Australia. Their debut album "Origins" is a dreamy
instrumental journey that will bring you to the extreme borders of
imagination. Their music is mainly based around ambiance and atmosphere
perfectly created with synths and beautiful orchestral insets.
The
band doesn't stray from heavy, complex guitar sections,
but the elements that make "Origins" an exquisite musical experience
are the intense and deep sensations they're able to evoke through their
musical composition. This is an epic and magical aural adventure that will make your body
and mind levitate through space to touch on distant planets through amazing soundscapes.
Your mind needs to go through this album and witness the beautiful
passages of songs like "Tempest", "Glaciers", "Concinnity", and "A Mindful
Wave". So go give it a listen below
and don't forget that it's all available for free download on Bandcamp!!
The big
news is that they recently uploaded a trailer for their new EP
"Observatory", coming out on March 31, 2013. Check it out below the stream. It is looking pretty damn amazing. And to make it even better, the EP will be available for a free download
on their Bandcamp as well. Get ready!
