It's happening! Praise the lord! These two amazing artists have been working for awhile but now their collaboration has become a solid reality. Plini and Sythu Aye will release their first split EP “I” very soon, on November 28th precisely. They also revealed the artwork and a beautiful teaser to announce their plan.
The tracklist is composed of 4 tracks: “Orm”, “Rupture”, “Solstice” and “Moonrise” and will feature guest appearances from David Maxim Micic (Destiny Potato) and Jakub Zytecki (Disperse).
The cherry on top? This EP will be available for a "name your price" download! It looks like this EP already wins...
Destiny Potato's ultra-talented guitarist and mastermind David Maxim Micic just released his long awaited, third solo release “Bilo 3.0”. As we wait for his band's debut album to be released, this is something worth being loved.
Expectations were huge after the amazing, previous episodes of the “Bilo” series but this time David pushed himself beyond with an unforgettable and inspirational musical journey. The album, lasting over 40 minutes (!!), features 6 tracks and a load of guest appearances bringing different vocals, big instrumental variety, beautiful guitar solos, and contributing to the realization of an overall supreme artwork: Jeff Loomis, Per Nilsson, Jakub Zytecki, Dunja Markovic, Aleksandra Radosavljevic, Vladimir Lalic, Aleksandra Djelmas, Larissa Terescenko, Vasil Hadzimanov, Mina Mladenovic, and the Bilo Choir (Aleksandra Djelmas, Tanja Knezevic, Vladimir Lalic, Marko Pantelic, Ivan Propadovic, Marko Zivkovic).
As David stated, this is music for the sake of music, just the most striking, simple, and amazing form of art. You need to experience this. The full album can be streamed on YouTube, Bandcamp, and Spotify and can be downloaded basically everywhere. Enjoy it!
On 11/11, via their Facebook, Chelsea Grin announced details regarding the release of Richardson’s solo song “Thought.” For the behind-the-scenes work, Richardson teamed up with Mike Milford and the team over at Artery Recordings to bring everything together. According to Chelsea Grin’s post, this track is “10 minutes” in length and “instrumental” in its entirety. As a sign of support with Richardson’s creation, Chelsea Grin orders their fans, “Make sure to download a copy of this madness!!!”
Richardson’s “Thought” will be available on 11/29 through iTunes, but for now check the preview:
It's been about four years since the release of the damn near flawless
Exivious self-titled debut. What was originally a Cynic / Textures side
project has experienced a few line up changes in that time but has still
emerged strong as a full-time band. With the departure of drummer Stef Broks (Textures) came the installment of the insanely talented Yuma van Eekelen. Tymon Kruidenier (ex-Cynic) and Michel Nienhuis still command the guitar corps as Robin Zielhorst (ex-Cynic) handles the bass. Together, they make awesome things happen.
For example, the band ran a very successful crowd funding campaign earlier in the year which allowed fans to
make custom tweaks to the album artwork through a unique application (representing a constant state
of change, thus "Liminal"). Ever since, the anticipation has mounting and now they're on the loose again with their
sophomore full-length "Liminal"!
If you haven't got to listen yet, it is PHENOMENAL! It is the manifestation of pure creativity and taste. Same as with their self-titled, they bring an excellent mix of hypnotizing instrumental progressive music with a jazzy, experimental flavour. Except this time around it's much more melodically focused and matured in some ways. You can actually stream the entire album through our friends at got-djent.com. I've been letting my mind melt onto this one since last week. It's successfully become the soundtrack of my life, if you will. And with good reason.
The single "Entrust" appropriately opens the experience with a sense of awe and mystery, two things that will ensue throughout the duration of the album. Before you know it, the opener thrusts your ears into a world of beautiful melody and creative force, two more elements that will follow through the record. Because of this, it more or less functions as the perfect opening.
And the fun doesn't stop there. Every single track on "Liminal" has something exciting and original to offer. Right after "Entrust", Yuma lets loose with an awesome drum solo on the track "One's Glow". The second single "Alphaform" brings you to a world of elevated musical sensuality. "Triguna" is the most experimental track on the album. "Deeply Woven" is possibly my favorite track on the record with an awesome Jonas Knutsson sax contribution... but it's very hard to say with the sheer amount of aural pleasures present. Especially when you stack it up to the remaining "Movement", "Open", and "Immanent" which are all beautifully conceived, breathtaking additions.
I have no real criticisms here. But I will criticize you if you've read this much of the review and don't give "Liminal" a try. This album's damn near perfect, if not perfect. It's an easy 10 out of 10 in my book. And strangely enough, the only two 10's I've ever given on this site have been back to back...
To wrap things up, Exivious have truly outdone themselves. Rebounding from the last record and the events since, they've managed to create a truly awe-inspiring and matured experience in "Liminal". Missing this album should be considered a crime for music lovers.
Go ahead and stream the tracks above. And don't forget, got-djent.com has the entire album running online. If you enjoy the music as much as we do, be sure to support Exivious and grab yourself a CD here!
There are plenty of incredible solo artists in the world, but Plini may have taken the cake for 2013. This is why we had him featured as our Artist of the Week not too long ago. His latest EP "Sweet Nothings" (review here) and it's predecessor "Other Things" (review here) both came out this year in absolute triumph. They bring a number of elements in an awe-inspiring instrumental package including bits of Fusion, Prog Rock / Metal, healthy experimentation, etc.
We recently conducted an interview with the one and only Plini. Be sure to read up and learn below!
MT - You just dropped an excellent new EP "Sweet Nothings" to follow up "Other Things". What all went into creating those?
P - A fair bit of time and a lot of sitting around! The writing and recording of the first 80% of both releases only took a day or two per song, but I get scared when something is almost “finished” and hesitate to call it done. The stuff on Sweet Nothings was actually close to finished a few months before I recorded Other Things - I was just more confident to put out the stuff on Other Things (most of the orchestral parts on Sweet Nothings didn’t exist until a couple weeks before I released it) so it got to come out first!
MT - What was is like transitioning between the two releases?
P - I had a lot better of an idea of what to do/how to do it with “Sweet Nothings”, because for whatever reason, the reception of the music and art of “Other Things” far exceeded my expectations, so it was kinda like “oh yeah I’ll do it like that again, that worked last time...” And then the reception of Sweet Nothings exceed my expectations yet again!
MT - Is there anything you can tell us about the third EP in the "Other Things" trilogy?
P - Right now it only exists in my memory and a couple of very short clip. But I feel like overall it will be bigger and more dense, but also smaller and frail. The heaviest, but also the softest, and definitely the best. You will buy it.
MT - How did the EPs get their names?
P - It was going to be an album - “Things” - and “Other Things” (as a sorta bonus EP) but I decided to arrange it into a story/trilogy and not emphasise one or the other. So yeah.
MT - Any favorite songs from the new EP?
P - I like how Tarred & Feathered came out, it was purely acoustic guitars and drums until a week or so before releasing it I decided to go all out. I also love the solos Gru and Stevo did, and Luke’s playing (especially the ending) on Sweet Nothings. But I basically have a love/hate relationship with everything I write, so it’s hard to pick a fave.
MT - How has the response been?
P - Stupidly good, very surreal. Having a box of CDs that I made in my room and sending them to addresses all over the world to make people happy is one of the strangest and most awesome things I’ve ever done. Also discovering that some of the musicians I really admire have somehow found my music and enjoy it/share it with their fans is CRAZY.
MT - How did you get your name, Plini?
P - It was from a book (The Glass Bead Game) my mum was reading when I was a baby.
MT - How did your solo career get started up?
P - I wouldn’t call it a career just yet... but I started recording stuff a few years ago and eventually felt optimistic enough to put it online (back in the days of myspace and soundclick, good times). People seemed to enjoy it, shit happens!
MT - How do you typically go about writing music?
P - I fuck around a lot until something worthwhile happens and then I see where I can go with it! Normally it’s a guitar riff with a drum feel. Then I just keep building it up until it feels like anymore would be too much. After the first half a minute or so is written I tend to get a picture in my head of the overall form of the song, which I then arrange it to.
MT - Who or what inspires ya?
P - People, music, art, nature, science, feelings. The main musical ones at the moment are Steven Wilson, Ulf Wakenius, Justin Timberlake and CHON.
MT - Do you play live at all?
P - I played at my high school once.
MT - Did anything crazy happen at that show?
P - People clapped, I was surprised.
MT - I'm not! If you could collab with any artists in the world, who would they be?
P - The ones that (I hope) will happen soon are Sithu Aye, Mario from CHON, Aaron from Intervals... and many more. A couple of dream collabs would be like Steven Wilson or Kimbra or something.
MT - What are your plans for the rest of 2013 / early 2014?
P - Got a little side project I’ve been working on for a while that will be coming out at the end of November and then I’m having a lil holiday. After that I’m gonna get stuck into figuring out how the trilogy ends!
MT - Here's the fun round... Plini plise take my moni?
P - With pleasure!
MT - Anything you want to say to the fans out there?
P - You all rule and I am extremely grateful and can’t wait to release more music and hopefully start touring and meeting you lovely people soon! <3
MT - Thanks for your time! Seriously... take my money
Krimh is the name of the one man band we'll be looking at today. This is a project by Kerim Lechner, a super-talented Austrian instrumentalist putting together his creative musical elements of instrumental metal, ambient and acoustic sounds.
He started playing drums in 2003, having played in several bands since, and then taught himself to play guitar and bass. He then started uploading covers of metal songs and more material on a YouTube channel. He gained such notoriety from this that the Polish death metal legends Decapitated contacted him to replace their late drummer Vitek (RIP).
After several tours and an album released with Decapitated (“Carnival Is Forever”), he started working on this solo project and the result is his debut album called “Explore”. This is a magnificent and unforgettable underwater adventure pulling in elements of progressive, black, and death metal with memorable atmospheres and amazing creativity. The album was released at the end of September and can be entirely streamed on Krimh's Bandcamp page, where you can also purchase it for just 7 euros ($9.48).
For fans of Prog Metal and the like, we have a band you'll most likely enjoy. Signed to the awesome Rogue Records America, Chicago's Outrun The Sunlight have been doing big things as an Instrumental Progressive Metal act. Driven by guitarists Austin Peters and Cody McCarty, Outrun The Sunlight
have a very impressive, experimental approach to how they write music.
And it yields some awe-inspiring musical results.
The band recently added two new members to their ranks - drummer Pedro Villegas and bassist Connor Grant. To show off the skill of the fully formed line-up, the band opted to record selections from the album "The Return of Inertia" via live studio sessions. Add them up and you have the new "Metamorphosis" EP. Give a good listen to the tunes on the YouTube playlist below!
If you're interested in listening to more and supporting the band, take a look on their official Bandcamp. You can also grab "Metamorphosis" here!
Tides From Nebula (for those of you who haven't heard of them before) is a Polish instrumental, progressive rock band. They've been making a name for themselves with several shows across Europe and they'll soon be on tour with The Ocean, Shining, and Hacride. Their music manages to be truly uplifting, bringing the listener amazing and inspiring soundscapes. This is music you truly need to discover.
The good news is that their new album “Eternal Movement” is finally out in Europe... but not in North America where you'll need to wait until November 5th to listen. Ahahaha (evil and cruel European laughter). Check out the single “Only With Presence” below along with some splendid tracks that have already leaked on YouTube. And don't forget to purchase (or pre-order if you reside in the US) the album if you enjoy the music!
Australia's 21-year-old musical genius, Plini, is back to pleasantli please us with yet another amazing release entitled "Sweet Nothings". And believe me, it's sweet! "Sweet Nothings" is the second part of a trilogy of EPs Plini's been working on and editing over the past two years. The trilogy is entitled "Other Things" just like it's first release that this EP follows up.
The very first track, simply titled "Opening", immediately leads to a dreamland filled with serenity and lightness of an ethereal nature. This music is literally like a therapy or a brain massage if you will. It's able to make you feel so careless and forget about all of the crap happening around you. Instead, you can simpli enjoy these opening minutes of relaxation and mental levitation. There's an amazing gem included on this track - the last guitar solo of the song was performed by Piotrek "Gru" Gruszka and my god it is brilliant! "Opening" is probably the most "proggy" track of the EP and it works perfectly as an introduction. It not only gives you an idea of what you're getting into, it switches off your brain and lets you float into what comes next.
Now that your mind is prepped for travel, it will find something more catchy and uplifting. The second track entitled "Tarred & Feathered" is somewhat reminiscent of the song "Heart" (featured previousli on Plini's "Other Things") with it's amazing use of rhythmic acoustic guitar with soft and memorable sounds and riffs. Towards the end, the orchestral elements will make it one of the most epic instrumental songs you'll hear in 2013.
Next step is called "Away". Combining thin and refined guitar patchwork and wisely detailed riffage, both layered with intelligent and amazing synths, Plini has made another unquestionably inspiring song. It packs the same "proggy" approach heard in the first track, but with more of a catchy take on the guitar work which makes it less atmospheric and more ear popping in some ways.
Perfectly balanced musical ideas appear in the final song "Sweet Nothings", especially in the beginning and in the epic ending. A simple lead brings you to an ending in which guitar gets heavier but sill not aggressive. Between low end riffage and an amazing solo emerges an epic and surprising finale in which the synths play the same riff of the beloved song "Heart" (the previously mentioned opener of "Other Things"). This definiteli finishes things in the best way possible (or maybe even better!). You should also focus on the brilliant piano details, performed in this track by Luke Martin, pushing the whole song to a higher level.
This is a damn near perfect EP, touching and delighting in it's allure. "Sweet Nothings" is therapy for the mind, body, and soul. You need to listen to this, repeatedly. The world around you will look much better and you will feel much better. It packs memorable guitar work that manages to be progressive and even jazzy without being foolishly complex. Instead it's amazingly simple and catchy despite being original and uncanny. There isn't really much more to say when you're in front of the best instrumental EP of the year. Amazing.
Chimp Spanner lives! Wasn't too worried though. The musical genius behind the project, Paul Ortiz, recently issued a statement to the fans updating them on his current musical dealings and the future of Chimp Spanner. He left no stone unturned.
You can either read the full statement on his official website or down below. Awesome music included.
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As you guys know I’m currently working on the next full length album, but I’ve had a few questions lately regarding when the next tour will be, or what’s happened to Chimp Spanner…
Not this...
It’s been a quiet year or so on the live front, and for a few reasons. First and foremost I want to make sure that the next time I hit the stage it is with new material, as well as old. While I know there are still a lot of people who haven’t heard At the Dream’s Edge or All Roads Lead Here, they’ve still been doing the rounds for a fair while and I’ve been playing some of this material for the best part of five years now. Plus, in hindsight, releasing an EP probably wasn’t the best move in terms of getting more gigs. Without the up-scaled publicity surrounding a full length release it felt a little harder to get shows off the back of it. A lesson learned, although I’m still ultimately happy that you all got to hear new music without having to wait even longer.
Secondly, as is the case for most artists and bands out there, there’s a lot of work to be done outside of Chimp Spanner. One of my major long term goals is to get my music paired up with adverts, trailers, games and so on, and to that end I’ve had to spend a lot of time working on more musically diverse material before I can even consider putting myself out there. The plus side of course is that I’m learning some cool new stuff that will prove useful for Chimp Spanner. If you’ve been keeping up to date with my Soundcloud you’ll have an idea as to what that might entail.
It’s no secret that touring is expensive, so it’s vitally important that when it’s done, it’s for the right reasons and with all the supporting material to make it viable (a new album, brand new merchandise, etc.).
It’s also no secret that this is about the albums first. Touring is something that will naturally happen under the right circumstances, and with the right bands.
So in short, Chimp Spanner hasn’t “gone” anywhere, although a break this long in a genre evolving so rapidly would probably suggest otherwise. But for everyone who has supported me so far and seen the handful of shows and tours we have done, there will be more. It all hinges on the next album.
As to when that will be done, there’s no easy answer to that. Those of you who write & record will appreciate how quickly inspiration/motivation can strike…or evaporate. What I can tell you is that channeling my energies into other genres and projects has been a huge help. I’m spending enough time on non-Chimp material now that when I do come back to it, it’s fresh and it’s exciting. And ultimately that’s the best place to be in if the album is to be a worthy successor to my last two releases.
So again, thanks for supporting me and for being patient.
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It's been about four years since the release of the damn near flawless
Exivious self-titled debut. What was originally a Cynic / Textures side
project has experienced a few line up changes in that time but has still
emerged strong. Now they've emerged from the studio after creating their
sophomore full-length "Liminal"! And from the
songs / clips that have been made available thus far, it is sounding PHENOMENAL!
After running a successful crowd funding campaign which allowed fans to make custom tweaks to the album artwork (representing a constant state of change, thus "Liminal"), they're currently gearing up for the actual release.
Speaking of which, the band recently sent us (and all their supporters) a detailed press release. Read up for additional info below (including the release dates) and ogle the artwork / jam the single. Your ears can thank me later.
P.S. Our friends at got-djent exclusively released another track. Get on that!
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Hey guys!
OK, this is not really a studio report because the album has been done for quite some time now. But let's just keep the tradition of using the term 'studio report' for any kind of updates on Liminal.
Announcements
In all our excitement from announcing us being signed to Season of Mist and us working with booking agency Factory Music, we actually forgot to update you guys through email. We know, not everyone is following us on Facebook so some of you might have missed these announcements. If you want to read more about these announcements, please visit our new website at www.exivious.net
Release date
So, we finally have a release date for Liminal! November 8th in Europe and November 12th in the US. We wish it could have been faster, but unfortunately, labels need their time to prepare releases and November was the absolute earliest they could do. Our apologies for the long wait!
Crowdfunding / label version confusion
There's been some confusion about a crowdfunding version of Liminal verses a label version. To clear things up: there will only be one version. The customers who pre-ordered the digipak will receive the digipak as is. The customers who ordered the Personalized Unique Edition will receive the digipak packaged in a fancy little box together with their own unique poster, some stickers and a flyer. All orders (digipak / Personalized Unique Edition / PUE plus shirt etc.) will be sent out at the same time: as soon as we receive the digipaks from Season of Mist.
Thanks for the patience and the support!
Exivious
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Now THIS is a steal. Intervals are an incredible band through and through. Based in Toronto, they've been making quite a buzz around the metal underground. First off with their 2011 EP "The Space Between" then with their 2012 follow up "In Time".
I must say the band has one helluva line-up. This instrumental unit is led by the guitars of Aaron Marshall and Lukas Guyader. Anup Sastry (drummer for Jeff Loomis and Skyharbor) resides behind the kit while Mike Semesky (Raunchy, ex-The HAARP Machine) handles the rumble from down under.
If you must know how incredible their latest EP was, read the review here. But it's highly recommended you just listen below, head over to Bandcamp, and download all their work for the price of your choosing. Show Intervals some love! They deserve it.
We get so many great submissions from our followers it's kinda nuts. Every once and awhile I'll open one and just get my face melted off. This is one of those cases.
Arthur Amity is an ambitious, aspiring guitar player hailing from Moscow, Russia. A little over a month ago he put out his debut EP "The Depths of my Own Universe". Ego aside, this release is pretty damn nuts. It combines a number of styles into one awesome, hard hitting package. His instrumental approach primarily brings out a Progressive front with shred, djent, death, orchestral and metalcore elements in the mix. All these elements brilliantly shine through the seven tracks that make up the EP.
You can stream through the entire release down below and grab it on Bandcamp. This one is highly recommended to the prog heads and instrumental addicts of the world. You'll most likely walk away with pleased ears.
I've been following Encircle (aka Anthony DiGiacomo, aka Alucard XIX on Youtube)
for awhile now. I found him by his dead on covers of various challenging metal
songs posted up on the Alucard XIX channel. Later on, I found he wrote
music of his own and was immediately impressed by his songwriting ability. Encircle is a solo project with a lot of power and
creativity pushing behind it.
His latest album "Into The Dreamstate" is no exception. If you want to gauge just how awesome this album really is, read up on our review right here. I have a special reason for bringing up Anthony DiGiacomo's work on this fine day. It turns out he's currently offering up "Into The Dreamstate" (along with all his other work) for a "name your price" download over on Bandcamp! Stream below and take advantage of this... twice.
The man Ben Sharp has officially returned! Businessman by day, polyrhythmical genius by night. Under the guise of Cloudkicker he's created all kinds of music ranging from melodic Meshuggah-esque tunes to full on acoustic work and even some drone recently. There's no doubt his sound has involved significantly from the beginning but all of the above is musically solid.
His latest release "Subsume" is absolutely no exception. It provides a solid mix of forward thinking Progressive Rock / Metal with serious ambient elements to boot. With four tracks clocking in at just over 40 minutes, it makes for a extraordinary, full-bodied listen. Definitely worth the experience.
And in the usual Cloudkicking fashion, the release was put out without much warning or hype. And also in his typical style, this incredible music has been released for FREE! Head over to the official Cloudkicker Bandcamp and "name your price"!
We sat down with Animals As Leaders in the green room at The Fillmore last month to talk some music. I had the chance to ask a few questions about their highly anticipated, upcoming album along with some questions about side projects and Summer Slaughter. You may be pleasantly surprised by some of the details including a brand new project between Javier Reyes and Ben from The Dillinger Escape Plan. Tune in.
Our friend Sean Hall recently dropped a brand new single to follow up his mind ripping EP "Beneath The Solace" (read our review here). "Phoenix Rising" is an exceptional track providing a solid mix of modern metalcore with some progressive and light electronic elements. The more I listen to Sean Hall's recent work, the more I get the impression that the "Caves" spirit of Elitist (his old band) that everyone was so stoked on left the band when he did. This is basically a extension of that magical sound, but instrumental and relatively more matured in some ways. Definitely music worth hooking your ears and brain on.
What's more? Sean Hall is holding tryouts in support of this new single. Looks like there will be voices included in his future works. He has invited vocalists to give it a go and record their best on top of this intense track. Check the first submission. Guidelines listed below the videos.
Post-metal/sludge metal/whatever you want to call them band Pelican are returning after 4 years with their new album this year, more specifically, this October 15th. This will be the band’s second full length album released on Southern Lord records and the first release that features guitarist Dallas Thomas as an official member of the band. Also, that album artwork is amazing, wow.
Pelican has released two singles at this point for “Forever Becoming” and it sounds promising. The first single titled "Immutable Dusk" is the longer of the two and grooves along in a more plodding fashion, it’s a perfect Pelican song. "Immutable Dusk" was released over a month ago, which seems to have been a bit early for a record that is due out in October, but I guess they wanted to get the hype train moving early. The song moves along with an interplay between a couple of groovy riffs before entering a bass fueled bridge section that is dominated by clean guitars and delay pedals. Here the band is clearly indulging their post-rock side, and this sections melodies take on a pop music like sensibility, which here actually works. This section builds very slowly to distorted guitars and breaks into a thrash metal riff and the song exits in a very metal way.
The second single, an alternate version of a track appearing on the album titled "Deny the Absolute", follows the recent trend of Pelican music and is a little more up-tempo, but the driving groove of the drums and the interplay of a couple solid riffs, combined with another minimalistic, though this time distorted and palm muted, bridge leads to a solid Pelican track. The production so far seems to be raw enough, yet definitely clear enough to satisfy everyone. Check out these tracks on Pelican’s soundcloud, linked below, and keep checking for updates on this one and get ready for the release of “Forever Becoming” in about two months on October 15th.
Here is a deal and a half! Rising from what was Water's Edge, Constructing Infinity is a solo project powered by guitarist Alex Quaglieri. Stylistically, the music is very reminiscent of the Instrumental Prog
Metal sound Water's Edge brought, but with some new twists. In other words.... this music is god damn awesome!
His debut "Stonewall EP" is available for a "name your price" download on Bandcamp. This means you can grab some full price quality music for however much your want. And yes, free counts as a price.
It's highly recommended you stream the EP down yonder. If you enjoy the greatness that passes through your ears, be sure to grab it here and show Alex support in his musical endeavors.
CHON play throughs are always a welcome treat to the eyes and ears. So when news of a new one came around, you better believe people were pressing the play button.
This time around the chill Cali-style guitar masters covered the track "Bubble Dream" from their debut EP "Newborn Sun". Excellent song from an excellent release. It's highly recommended you check the Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen Nitrogen greatness down below if you're looking for something laid back and musically sound.
It's happening! Praise the lord! These two amazing artists have been working for awhile but now their collaboration has become a solid reality. Plini and Sythu Aye will release their first split EP “I” very soon, on November 28th precisely. They also revealed the artwork and a beautiful teaser to announce their plan.
Links: Plini Facebook // Bandcamp // Sithu Aye Facebook // Bandcamp
