Audience Killer Loop: Dir En Grey

Dir En Grey

Oh man. Where do I even start with these guys? Lets start with the obvious. They are unclassifiable. At best I could say that they are Avant Garde Metal. Essentially they use a loose template of metal and build everything else from there. Metal is the canvas but it is not the palette. These guys have been around since 1997 and have kept the same line up ever since. They originally started out as a Visual Kei band, but have since morphed into this Slipknot/Korn/Rammstein band that we can hear today. With downtuned guitars, slapping bass, hip hop rhythm and industrial sensibilities. They were originally born from the ashes of a rock band called La:Sadie's, but for whatever reason they disbanded. Or rather the then bassist left, but the rest decided to hire a new bassist and forge ahead under a new name, thank goodness. As I mentioned before, they've managed to keep the same line up ever since which is no mean feat, and you can really hear that in the latest album Arche. Which is quite possibly their best album yet. If only because it also comes across as the most focussed of their albums. Which also completely defies Angry Metal Guy's Law of Diminishing Records.

 I first became aware of them due to their phenomenal album Uroboros. An album that for me was the album of the year of 2008 just about dislodging Opeth's Watershed. I had never heard anything quite like them up to that point. Uroboros has got what I consider to the be best album intro. Every they release something I let out a little noise of celebration. They are possibly the biggest musical phenomenon to be exported from Japan and by all accounts they are the biggest metal band in Japan since X-Japan. Which shouldn't be too surprising since X-Japan overlord Yoshiki helped to launch their career and 'hide' was a major influence on Kaoru guitar playing. The other remarkable thing about them is that they managed to do all of that without having to sing in English. The only other metal band that has managed international success using their mother tongue is of course Rammstein.

Visual Kei era

So they went through a stage of Visual Kei playing slightly more alternative rock, more akin to Jane's Addiction. But seemingly completely shed that image by the time they released Withering To Death.  It feels a bit like they went through the same epiphany as Sepultura did when Korn released their brilliant debut album (Yes, it is brilliant). Withering to Death, is cut from the same mould as Korn's debut album, it's full of jagged edges, slight hip-hop bass lines, off kilter rhythms and maniac vocal stylings. The main difference being is that Kyo actually knows how to sing in tune, as well as flex his vocal chords into the suffering of every victim in the nine hells as described by Dante. All those usual pop influences have been swapped for something rawer, more energetic, avant garde and more personal. They are one of those bands that have managed to transcend any kind of genrefication. At best they would fall in Extreme Metal genre. They go from nu-metal to metalcore to progressive metal with the occasional dipping into pop. Amongst all the madness and surreal violence you get from them you also get nice little piano ditties like 'Shinsou'. Or they take a jazz foundation and turn it into some brutal like 'Asunaki Koufuku, Koenaki Asu'. Funking it out in 'Stuck Man'.

Kyo with blood on
face and chest

Now some of the puzzling things about this band is that some of the song titles are in English. But none of the lyrics are so that can get a bit confusing. Not that it actually detracts from the music. Kyo does apparently write extremely good lyrics. It's just that I can't be bothered to read the translations of them because they way I think of his vocals is that it's just another musical instrument. Talking about instruments. I can understand why Kyo gets as much attention as he does, I mean he completely and utterly outdoes Mike Patton in terms of vocal ability, but the rest of the band... Just wow, they are all individually amazing. On the bass front Toshiya seems to have taken some lessons from Jason Newsted, in the sense that the bass isn't just there to fill out some kind of void. But to be an active part of the songs without being the centrepiece. Though songs like 'Phenomenon'  and 'Bottom Of The Death Valley' do put the bass front and centre to great effect. Both the bass player and the drummer, Shinya, provide excellent foundation that let Kyo, Die and Kaoru let their respective talents loose onto the listeners ear canal. The guitar riffing is great, but what is really special is the guitar noodling that comes in to surround the main riffs. Always subtle and never in the way, all seem to enhance the listeners experience. The sense of melody that they imbue is just out of this world. Often it feels like the songs are just about to descend into a gigantic mess, but it never happens. 

By all accounts their live shows are something to behold. Prior to Uroboros Kyo used to, frequently and apparently, self harm whilst on stage. Due to his singing he's been hospitalized several times, couple of times because of oedema of the lyranx and vocal nodule dysphonia. Oh and partially deaf in his left ear. The man does suffer a lot for his art and from all the videos I have seen he squeezes every single emotion into his performance. As demonstrated in this video taken from their Tabula Rasa tour.



I am a little surprised why they haven't got as much of a recognition in Europe(Or maybe just in the UK) because these guys are one of the best bands out there right now. Pumping out quality album after quality album. And their evolution from Visual Kei band to what they are now has been fascinating.

Mother Country Music Loving, Part four.

This will be my fourth(duh!) part of writing about bands from Iceland. If you'd like to catch up here is Number One, Number Two and Number Three.

Ask The Slave, 2010

Ask the Slave, is an Avant-Garde metal band. I first heard of them and heard them when I attended Eistnaflug in 2008. The little I do remember from my alcohol induced haze was that I really enjoyed their music. Someone had remarked that they were the Icelandic version of Faith No More, I personally after listening to them would say that they are more akin to Mr. Bungle. There are a lot of genre lumped together into one song, lots of rhythms shifts and melody changes, but most of those don't sound out of place or forced. Valurs vocal does sound like he went to the Mike Patton school of Vocal Tormenting. He's easily the most versatile singer to come from Iceland. But everything he does regarding the singing is for the betterment of the song. Which is the wonderful thing about this band, while Valur could/would/should be the stand-out member, but he isn't. They all function like a well oiled machine, if one of the other instruments would be taken of the songs it would fall to pieces. So far there are two albums, "Kiss Your Chora" and  "The Order of Things" out and one B-Side collection called "The King of Prunes", with a new LP, called "Good People, Bad Things" which is meant to be out next year. And yes I am looking forward to it. They also make some excellent music video's for example the song "Sleep Now" which sounds like a lovely ballad up until you watch the video and realise how creepy it actually is. It is one of those instances where the video makes a good song great.
Both their albums while being all over the place manage to suck you in and keep your interest throughout. And I personally am looking forward to the day when they open up for Mr. Bungle and Mike Patton walks on the stage then drops the mike stating he can't keep up.

Dr. Spock

Dr Spock, is a very unusual rock. Again we are looking at the Avant-Garde section of things. Most of all it is plain and simple good fun rock and roll or in their own words "Heavy Metal Cabaret with a dash of Surf-Porn Cartoon Funky Polka". By all accounts their concerts are once in a lifetime experience. Which doesn't really surprise me, in their ranks they've got the gruff voice from HAM, who continues barking orders and sounding like he's cursing the entire world. In the most jovial manner of course. It is very chaotic music that is on display, but at the same time even with my rather low-fi laptop speakers I feel like dancing like a mad cow and thrash my living room, the song "Sons of Ecuador" being the perfect example of this manic musical genius that is going on. But as far as I can see nothing new has appeared since 2008, which is a crying shame. But even with a short life they've left a long lasting legacy and much like HAM their reputation seems to be growing with their absence. And if only they had actually got into Eurovision with their song. It would have been perfect. But Ottar Proppee finally did manage to perform on the big stage in 2014.

Börn

Börn, now there is a certain amount of nepotism going on here in the sense that I probably wouldn't have given this band a chance if it didn't include family members. But to be clear I don't write blogs  about a band that I don't like. It just so happens that this band includes my youngest sister on vocals and her boyfriend on the drums. They have been playing together in various forms of punk bands. The earliest incarnation that I know of was Tentacles of Doom, which then got changed into Norn, but they had to reconsider their name choices when it turned out that there is a black metal band in Iceland using the same name. So here we've ended up with Börn. And unfortunately I giggle probably way more then I should when I type in the url of their BandCamp site. On the whole I'm not a big fan of the punk scene. Never have been though of course like other genre's there are always bands that manage to captivate my attention. Börn being one of them. What this album reminds me mostly of are the first two albums by Killing Joke. There is this almost joyous tribalism running throughout this smog of despair. It all sounds exceptionally simple, all the instruments seem to be geared towards being rhythmic and, well, dancable. Alexandra barks out her lyrics with pure unbristled ferocious commanding singing, all about self-reliance, equality and independence. On this album she sounds like she could and should command armies. It would be great to see them and It Hurts To Be Dead play at the same gig.

We all follow the call, as Fjoergyns voice sounds in us

Fjoergyn

Here is another band, called Fjoergyn, that I had been aware of some time. I had given them a listen few years back and then somehow just buried the memory of it. I had liked what I heard. I recently re-searched for them on Spotify and it was worth it. They have been advertised as Avant-Garde Black Metal, while I agree with the Black Metal portion, I'm not so sure on the Avant-Garde one. Oh certainly they are unusual and unique. But I'd say they are more Progressive then Avant-Garde though how I'd exactly define the difference I am not too sure about. These guys aren't afraid to mix it, for example they've got a song on their album 'Jahreszeiten' called 'Wie Jahr Um Jahr', which seems to be built upon a lullaby in structure and it is beautiful to listen to (As it turns out there is a song on that album that uses a lullaby, but it's not this one). There is a lot of classical going on, some Viking Metal thrown in for good measure, it's epic as epic can be. We have our black metal screecher mixing it with a clean vocalists, flutes, acoustic guitars, lots of nature elements on display and all sung in the second best metal language available to humankind. One of the aspects that really drew me towards them was their album cover designs. Which I have to say are the least metal album covers I have seen, especially for a black metal band. Their light and full of rather pleasant colours. They've been around since 2003 in some kind of form, though to be honest there is only one guy left of that original line-up but for the most part it has contained two guys Martin L. who originally played the bass but now occupies the drum seat and Stephan L. who has done guitars, keyboards and all manners of different vocals. And for a long period they worked as a duo but currently they work as a five-piece with an extra vocalist and an extra guitar player. It had originally been conceived as Stephan as a solo project with the aim to get some orchestral compositions. But as with so many good things it got even better when he decided to add some guitars to it.

Ernte Im Herbst

Their first album came out in 2005 and it was called 'Ernte im Herbst', which roughly translates as 'Autumn Harvest'. But before I go into the music, just take your time and look at that album cover will you. It is beautiful. Something you can't say often about metal album covers let alone black metal album covers. It's beautiful, it's serene, it's tranquil. Like a Quantum Weather Butterfly that flaps it's wings to create a storm. I was half-expecting an album full of pan pipes with thunders in the background. Apparently this is a first of a trilogy regarding nature's revenge against humankind, which makes these guys metal eco-warriors a bit like Gojira. From the start we are lulled into this false sense of security in the form of sort of medieval orchestra with bells and suchlike then towards the end of the first song we get thrown into a black metal song with plenty of blastbeats. For a debut album it is really well crafted, well accomplished and really well thought out. The interplay between the vocalists provides a great contrast, as well as the acoustic instrumentation against electric. The symphonic element almost sounds genuine and not just something hammered with synths. In one song called 'Requiem', they manage to reinterpret Beethovens 'Ode To Joy'. The flowing melodies intertwine very well with the eco-viking brutality that comes with it. A lot of credit has to go to Stephan Löscher, he seems to be the mastermind behind Fjoergyn. His guitar work is excellent, his keyboard playing is excellent and his singing which goes from clean baritone to screaming, screeching and howling. In terms of vocal talents I'd say he ranks alongside Martin Wiese from Enid. He obviously has also been listening to a lot of Solefald and Vintersorg and has been modelling his singing to that style. The drum programming is really well done, so well done I never actually paid it any notice that they weren't real until their Last.FM profile pointed it out, though now that I listen to it again the double drums should have given it away but I suppose that is the good thing about good songwriting like the one that is one show here, you ignore like quibbles like that in order to enjoy the whole. Towards the middle we have an instrumental called 'Wenn Stürme Ruhen' which is another beautiful (I know I've been using that word a lot but it applies so often) I would pay good money to hear that song being performed by a proper orchestra. It comes with sort of renewed hope in mankind, though the song that follows quickly demolishes that. For a debut album it is almost as close to perfect as you could get.

Sade Et Masoch

In 2007 Fjoergyn released Sade Et Masoch. The title refers to Marquis De Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. The men who lent their names to Sadism and Masochism. Now the album cover has a little bit more of sinister feel to it. Presumably the apple is meant to represent the forbidden fruit and the maggots for what happened after it was bitten. Or it could be representing the apple that Snow White was given thus we also have the angel wings. Who knows. But it is another very simple, very elegant cover. On this one Martin decided to take his place on the throne behind the drumkit. And boy does it show. The production is again crystal clear, the musicianship has improved and the songwriting that was already great has become that little bit greater. The melodies are bigger. The ideas thrown about all hold together. There are more notes taken from the Falkenbach book of Viking Metal. There is even some groove metal thrown in for good measure on the song 'Katharsis'. Stephan still duels with himself on the vocal front, though not as much as on their debut and does it well. With plenty of Norwegian style black metal vocal screeching. There isn't a weak spot to find on either of these albums.

Jahreszeiten

Then in 2009 they released the conclusion to their story called 'Jahreszeiten', which translates as 'Seasons'. This time we have a four piece playing. And now we're back to the elegant beautiful album cover. Again the cover completely betrays the content of the album, the only thing I could imagine it representing the end yet with the seeds of new beginnings floating off. The music follows the same game plan as the past two, but it's more fleshed out with those two added musicians. There is some great bass slapping going on which I always enjoy listening to, probably because of my love of Iron Maiden. Talking of Iron Maiden there are some great dual guitar playing going on on this album, with harmonized guitars that Dave, Janick and Adrian would be proud to play. Out of all three this album has to be my favourite, those two extra musicians added a lot to the sound even though the sound was already big, but they provide more oomph, more meat onto the juggernaut that is Fjoergyn. It all flows a little easier then on the previous releases, which you would only really notice when you listen to them in sequence. And my gods Martin proves what an excellent drummer he is on this album, with no unnecessary fills, knows when to show restraint and when to go full on ear canal attack. Some new idea's are explored for instance in the song 'Jera', Stephan decided that the best tactic was to narrate the song with orchestral music in the background and again that is a piece of music I would so love to hear with a full symphony providing the music. The main melody from 'Sturmzeit' is lifted from a German lullaby (Yes they exist) called 'Guter Mund, du gehst so stille'. Some Alt-Rock is attempted then aborted for a better song in 'Der Herbst ist da'. And some industrial is thrown in for good measure on 'Der Himmel fällt'. All in all it's a brilliant album, again they are unafraid to throw ideas about and see which ones stick. But the really great thing is that all of those ideas do stick.

Monument Ende

And now for their latest opus. 'Monument Ende', this was released in 2013. Now we have what could be construed as a classic metal album. Black with some greys, faded out trees and this beautiful red aureole. What it all means I have no idea, but it is another gorgeous album cover. On this one Martin decided to opt out of the lead vocals and hand in those reins to Marcelus, he had been playing the guitar for them for a while and does seem to be slightly more professional singer. Now Martin doesn't have to duel with himself. There is more death metal going on here then in the previous albums. They still follows this throw everything at the wall technique and somehow everything does. While they are obviously influenced by a lot of other bands,  music is mostly derived from classical compositions. Those orchestra moments are done so well it's nearly impossible to figure out whether Martin did it all on his computer or if he managed to hire a small symphony in order to flesh out his ideas. There aren't really any weak songs, only songs that could be said to be weaker then others, but even that doesn't do justice to how really really good the songwriting is on this album. In fact not just on this album but all of them. My personal favourite has to be 'Thanatos', it's big and majestic, it leaves a trail of destruction after listening to it. There are black metal riffs, classic heavy metal riffs, galloping bass playing, harmonized singing. In essence it's the perfect song to showcase their talents. It most definitely wouldn't sound out place on a latter day Rotting Christ album that is for sure. The story seems to be centering around a destruction of a town, there is a malevolence permeating the whole album. One of the songs is even called 'Der Monolog des Antichristen', occasionally you will hear the laughter of children being slowly faded away into the sound of burning. Thankfully there seems to be some kind of salvation towards the end of the album, though it doesn't quite feel like it. It took them four years to create this album and it is four years really well spent. I'll be very excited to hear the next one because I would love to hear how they are going to top this album. So far they've improved every time they added another musician so the next one should be something groundbreaking.

The Lone Rangers

I was going to write another Usual Locations article, which I decided to change as I started noticing that all of them essentially were one-man projects. So with a quick rewrite it has become the Lone Rangers. There are a lot of articles about one man bands bandying about, mainly centred on Black Metal. An interesting documentary has been made exploring the idea of one man black metal projects. One WikiHow you can also get a guide on how to start your own Lone Ranger. The great thing about one man bands from the the one man's perspective is that it gives them a complete control, but the problem for the listener, often not always, is that the instrumentalists rely an awful lot on drum machines and synths, both that can be used for extremely good effect and can be done really really well, but more often then not it comes across as half-hearted shit that should have stayed in the mix longer. My personal favourite would be Thy Catafalque who I've written about previously, though I'm not too sure on it's One Man stand, even if it is Tamas Katai's brainchild. Well here is a choice selection of one man projects of varying quality, mainly from Very Good to Great.

Ars Moriendi
La Singuliere Noirceur D'un Astre

First in line is a French one man band called Ars Moriendi. In the recent years there seems to have been a bit of an explosion of good quality metal bands coming from France. Gojira, Hacride and Alcest being probably the top of the pile. Though I should probably also mention Grorr and Psygnosis who are very interesting to listen to. Ars Moriendi is manned by a multi-instrumentalist named Notre Amertume. Though whether that's his real name I have no idea. He's been steadily releasing albums since 2001. But the only album I have heard is 'La Singuliere Noirceur d'un Astre', The music on show here could be defined broadly as Black Metal. It is very experimental in nature, symphonic and atmospheric, with horror movie samples used as start. There is a fair bit of ambience used that could at first be construed to be just some padding in order to make the songs sound longer. So far I am very impressed with the instrumentation, a lot of thought has gone into what goes where, even the synths don't sound out of place and provide the necessary symphonic oomph the he needs. There is a lot of buzzsaw guitars on display, but that is then punctuated with some classic metal guitars and bookended with acoustic guitars as well. His singing veers from screeching, gutturals and whispers. All in French. The language of love is not on display or at least it is not showing it's intimate side here. It's all rough and edges, with side drip of evil going on. This is pretty much how I imagine Vincent Cassel if he was bathed in blood of thousand virgins screaming for the devil to forsake him while covering songs by early Enslaved. He isn't breaking any new ground here, but it all does sound good if some times a little generic in black metal terms, though the breakdown that happens in De l'intouchable Mort is pretty nifty. The bass playing on here is really something else to listen to, it's not often you get to hear such clear bass playing in Black Metal. None of the songs go below the 8 minute mark so there is quite a bit to digest, but all in all pretty good. I'll happily put this on and enjoy the screaming of French Horror.

Wulf

Neurotech hails from Slovenia. I knew Slovenia existed, but as far as I'm aware I had never heard any music from there let alone metal music. I was introduced to this by Blacksmith Biologist and boy am I grateful. Lately I had been listening to a lot of Samael, who play a sort of symphonic techno metal with lots of rather uplifting lyrics to boot. The focus is on synths with programmed drums and rough baritone singing with droning guitars. The only thing that Neurotech doesn't do, as much, is the uplifting bit. The music would be very fitting for a cyberpunk apocalyptic Mad Max style future. Neurotech is one guy, who likes to be called Wulf but his real name is Andrej Vovk. Well that's at least according to the Holy Book of Armaments. To be honest there is a lot more symphonic elements going on here then Samael have tried to incorporate. Being the clever dick that I am, I decided to listen to the albums chronologically, which has really paid off. The earlier albums like Transhuman and  Antagonist  have a lot more rawness to them, though maybe raw isn't the best description. But at the same time there is a certain clinical coldness to them.  Antagonist is probably a bit more party-oriented which makes the similarities to Samael even more evident. Whereas Blue Screen Planet and The Elysian Symphony seem more, well, sophisticated. There is a lot of symphonic elements at play in those two and so far they've become my favourite of his work.

Dommedagssalme. Now I'll have to admit to having close connections with this project. No it is not mine. He is the godfather to my youngest child. His name is John Marshall and he has been involved in the black metal scene, albeit very very very underground, for quite some time. First being part of a duo called Circumscriber, which then morphed into Contra Ignem Fatuum, but since 2004 he's been releasing on a infrequently periodically basis as Dommedagssalme. The music itself has been described as Depressive Black Metal, a title that John doesn't agree with. Though I can see why people want to label it as Depressive. It is all very hard listen. But not without rewards. There is a lot of distortion going on, it's bloody hard to understand what the hell he's singing about, the drums are droning, the keyboards provide a constant ambience, there is so much fuzz and buzz on the guitars it's like a chainsaw going through a ever multiplying featherfilled pillows. But, you (well me that is) feel a certain cathartic feeling when the songs are over. I personally always feel like there's a load that's been lifted off my shoulders and I somehow feel happier about the world. The vocals sound like they are sung from the fifth circle of hell. The one item that is possibly missing are interludes with the sound of footsteps in snow. The last album came out in 2012 and was called Division which only contains two songs. Those two songs are to be fair over 20 minutes long each. But his confidence in songwriting and all around maturity is best on show on that one. There is more going on, more breaths being taken with some interludes between fuzzfilled riffs. There are more technicalities on show, the vocals are slightly more audible yet still incomprehensible. The production is really rather good as well. Most of the time, this wouldn't be my cup of tea (I tend to drink coffee), but I had to listen to his work and I am glad that I have. It still isn't my cup of tea, but I can certainly appreciate John's work without it I probably wouldn't feel as relaxed.

The Life Long Learning journey of the Dear Hunter

The Dear Hunter

One of those blogs that I make a point to keep reading is Angry Metal Guy. I've found out about several great albums thanks to Mister Angry and his Merry Crew of Debauchery. Not only do they do quality metal reviews, but whenever they step outside the metal comfort zone it on the whole tends to be great stuff they write about. I also have a special enjoyment of reading lists and they do some awesome lists on there. But the one that influenced this blog entry was where Mister Angry had alluded that he might be leaving the site. Most of the list I concurred with, others I hadn't listened to. But there was one name that I had never heard of and the way he described it sounded intriguing and almost joyous:

Act III is a ride that shows off everything you need to know about this band and it’s an immensely entertaining ride—orchestras, Queen harmonies, and a 40 genre-style-changes later, you’ll just want to start the disc over again.

How can anyone resist a description like that? The band he was talking about? The Dear Hunter and their album Act III: Life And Death. Now due to the name I actually got confused and thought that they were referring to this indie rock/post punk band Deerhunter. But thankfully it wasn't. So I went on Spotify and gave it a listen. And then another. And then another. And then another. And then another. I think I forgo listening to any other album for about 5 days. It really is that good. So of course being the music nerd that I am I decided that I have to listen to EVERYTHING they've done and read more about them.

Casey Crescenzo

Of course since then I've found out that it isn't really them, it's a him. Casey Crescenzo is his name, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire. He first hit the spotlight when he was a member of a band rather clumsily titled The Receiving End of The Sirens. I haven't really listened to that band but maybe I should. They apparently were categorized as Hardcore, which generally puts me off fairly soon. But I am going to have to put those reservations to the side. Since what Casey has done with The Dear Hunter has got me extremely intrigued. Casey had started writing stuff outside of the band for a while, material that he didn't feel would fit in the general oeuvre of The Sirens. After a while it would seem that they asked him to leave, presumably because his mind was else where. Ah well, their loss. And they folded a couple of years later.  Their loss, our gain.

So Casey decided to throw his weight behind The Dear Hunter. The best way I could describe the music that The Dear Hunter comes out with would be that it is everything that Coldplay wish they could do, but can't. If Freddie Mercury were still alive this is the direction that Queen would have taken. And there is a little bit of Elbow in there as well. Nearly every genre is covered in some way or other and it all fits perfectly. The music swings from one mood to the other using one genre and blending into another. It all sounds very familiar without being repetitive and staying nearly flawlessly original. What we got was an epic concept album, actually. We got Three epic concept albums. All telling the story from birth to death of a character named The Dear Hunter. The story takes place in the later years of the nineteenth century into early parts of the twentieth century. In terms of scope and amount of ideas that are going on the only real comparison would be to Coheed & Cambria who did a five part story, two of which were comic books and three albums where they mixed Heavy Metal, Prog, Hardcore all being conducted with Rush mentality, in fact Casey's singing style is not that dissimilar to Claudio, if only a little less nasally. It is quite obvious that Casey is also an omnivore when it comes to music and he's not afraid to wear his influences in his sleeve.

Act I

The first album was called Act I: The Lake South, The River North, in which the main character is born to a prostitute and a soldier. The father doesn't care so the mother decides to try and raise The Boy on her own, so she renounces her old lifestyle moves to the countryside but in the end she returns back to being a prostitute most likely in order to support her child financially. This album apparently is also bit of a family affair Casey did most of the instrumentations, but recruited his brother to drum and his mother to do some backing vocals. While it doesn't go for the same uber-genre crossing as the subsequent albums, it is by no means any less interesting.  There is a lot of classic feel to this album, with plenty of indie rock thrown in, with lots of harmonized vocals. Though in one song there is plenty of slow swing, jazz if you will thrown in the form of "The Pimp and The Priest" with this slight malevolent sound going right through it. It's a short album, well comparatively speaking, and it's a lovely album. Great starting point.

Act II

The second album was titled Act II: The Meaning of, And all Things Regarding Ms. Leading. This album deals with the teenage years and very early adulthood. The story starts with The Boy burying his mother and setting off for the big city to figure out the history of his mother and possible fatherhood. Whilst there he meets a girl named Ms. Leading, they make love but as it turns out she is a prostitute working for the same pimp that his mother worked for. Eventually his heart his broken and he leaves, with a bad taste in his mouth. The music is massive! In scope, scale and grandeur. Not to mention that the album is also almost twice as long as the previous one. There is a lot more going on in terms of musicianship and general noise then in the previous album, the album starts of with a classical beginning and gets then thrown into hard rock territory. There is a lot of early 1900's feel to this album which when you consider the period it is meant to be set in makes, well, sense. There's swing to be had in great quantities and  harmonized vocals set along with some screaming singing. But I wouldn't have it any other way because in my mind this album is a great teenage angst album without being overtly (and I hate to use the term but) emo. But there is this joyful playing that goes through all the album, especially when the swing and jazz comes through. And the melancholic moments occur on a fairly frequent basis as fits with the story. The best use of that would be in the song "Blood of the Rose".  This is a great album and I would love to hear the material that was cut in order to shorten the album.

Act III: Life And Death

And the concluding album that ties up all the loose ends(well not really) and the pinnacle of the story arc is the aforementioned Act III: Life and Death. It is as close to a perfect concept album as you could get. The background for the album is the First World War. During this story he meets his half-brother without knowing. At one point during the war, there is a bit of downtime and a group of soldiers start sharing stories of their past lives and as it turns out his father happens to be one of them, where he talks about going to a brothel and sleeping with a prostitute called Ms. Terri. During this time the father is nearly killed only to survive because of the half-brothers heroic sacrifice and due to the fathers indifference The Dear Hunter poisons him. The story ends with him taking his half-brothers identity and walking away. If Casey makes good of his promise and releases a book that expands on the story of The Dear Hunter I will be buying it. As for the music on here, well it is again bombastic and grand. There is a lot going on with some serious genre-bending going on. One song ends with a traditional soldiers song, another song goes for folk music with great use of the banjo. There's also hints of arena rock with this big huge massive guitar going on a rampage, akin to Jeff Wayne's War of The Worlds. I don't think Casey will be able to top this album, but quite frankly he doesn't need to.

The Color Spectrum

After the massive story arc about The Boy, Casey decided to go for another huge undertaking and created an EP to represent The Colour Spectrum. Truthfully I haven't listen to all of those, but the ones I have heard have been very good in particular the Yellow Ep and Orange Ep. They all seem to go for this same genre bendifying music that had been done so well with the Acts. It really does help that Casey is a very very capable songwriter, helps even more that he's backed up by extremely capable musicians who assist him in getting his visions to the public. One of these days I will have to listen to all of the EP's when I get the time of course.

Since then he's put out an album named Migrant, this album came out this year and on it Casey really scales back the bombasticity. But thankfully he has enough talent to work with minimalistic approach. There is no concept threading all the songs, instead what we get are individual songs with individual focus. And it does give this open and unrestrained feel about it. The songs are good. I mean they are really good. All the songs are rather hard to define genre-wise, so the best category to use would be indie quite frankly as that is what it is.It is a lot more contemplative album with a more introverted sound to it, and in some cases it sounds more personal with songs like Bring You Down and Shouting at the Rain, the latter one also features an absolutely heartbreaking video. There is a lot more Elbow sounding songs as well, the perfect example of that being Whisper, songs that are sort of geared towards being played with a string quartet and big hearty choruses.

I think it is safe to say that The Dear Hunter have buried themselves into my ear canal and are flatly refusing to leave and I won't be asking them to leave.

What is in that goulash in Hungary?

Ever since writing about Thy Catafalque, I've been dipping more into the music scene in Hungary. What I have found is a veritable melody treasure chest. Most of the ones I'll be talking about work in the Metal genre bar one. So I'll get this one out of the way right.


The Moon And The Nightspirit, is a folk project headed by Ágnes Tóth and Mihály Szabó. They play this mystical pagan traditional folk music and since the second album they've sung in Hungarian. The duet have been active since 2003. Up to now they've released 4 albums, 'Of Dreams Forgotten and Fables Untold', 'Regõ Rejtem' ( I conjure Magic), 'Ősforrás'(Ancient Sources) and Mohalepte (Moss). The music is filled with traditional musical instruments, along with all the standard folky ones(flute, drums, violin) and they do manage to create a magical universe (even though I have no idea what they are singing about), and not that fancy pancy universe with unicorns and ever healing nature. But the one that where while some creature are friendly there are also the monsters in the dark, there are songs full of desperation, songs full of joy and songs full of sadness and melancholia. All in all it seems like the songs represent the way nature actually is, an amoral being that doesn't care whether you live or die. The majority of the singing is done by Ágnes Tóth who has featured before on albums by Thy Catafalque, and have to admit that she has become one of my favourite folk singers out there outshining most stars like Candice Night. There's this refreshing and beautiful honesty in the way she carries tunes. Mihály Szabó does provide a nice bass full counter point to Ágnes Tóth fragile soprano vocals as well, by being the manly man in the forest clothed with leather loincloth. With every album they've been able to expand their sound, and have since added two more members to flesh out the sound. I for one can't wait to hear their next offering.

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It would seem that every country need their version of Mr. Bungle, and the Hungarian one is Damned Spirits' Dance. First time I came across them was when I was browsing my favourite Music Labels webstore, Code666, and they had this odd band, with a rather stupid name. And their album cover didn't help either. And neither did the  album's name. Weird Constellations. But I got the album, and it nearly blew me away. Wow, as I said before these guys are the Hungarian Mr. Bungle, which is as good a compliment as I can give really. They've only released this one album, and an EP... oh and a demo. These guys started out as rather high brow melodic Black Metal, like so many other bands do. It does seem like to be the standard to start of as either Black Metal or Death Metal(In some rare cases, j-pop) before trying to go Unfortunately according to Metal Archives, these guys are now On Hold. Which is a real shame because I was really looking forward to the follow up, hopefully with slightly less ridiculous cover and album name.

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This next band, are as far as I'm aware, the biggest metal band from Hungary (Someone correct me here please, if I'm wrong). At least the on that gets the most mentions. Sear Bliss, they play a form of atmospheric Black Metal, like no other. Which is probably a good thing because what they do include is brass instruments. And when you least expect it they breakdown into playing this big band brass section in their songs. I don't think any other band could actually get away with it, still sound coherent, melodic and atmospheric. They've been around now for 20 years and have been steadily releasing albums since, all with bassist/vocalist András Nagy at the helm. His vocal style does need getting used to, best probably described as Dani Filth with more testosterone. But it definitely fits the mood that he goes for. The other thing that is worthy to mention is his bass playing, which comes directly from Steve Harris school of thought and at times it sounds like he's playing a fretless one at that. In the last album 'Eternal Recurrence' there is a lot of harmonized singing to complement András ,ehemm, singing. What seems to connect the albums together as well is that it seems like their about this doomed Space Pirate Ship... Think Disney's Treasure Planet with more metal.

The other band I was going to write about was Dalriada. But to be honest I haven't listened to them enough to make an opinion, the only reason I know that they exist is because they somehow beat Thy Catafalque's Rengeteg to Best Metal Award in Hungary. So it wouldn't really be fair of me to do a write up until I've had a good listening session.The bits and pieces I have heard have got be me intrigued to say the least. Arkona springs to mind straight away.

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Avant Garde madness of Thy Catafalque

Thy Catafalque. Ho, boy. Thy Catafalque is a one man project from Hungary, named Tamas Katai (or Katai Tamas, depending on where you live). He does all of the instrumentation and music programming(that I'm aware of anyway), with clean vocals being provided by Attila Bakos on both Rengeteg and Roka Hasa Radio. Janos Juhasz provides a  helping hand on the guitar front. Other stars of the Hungarian scene to guest on his albums, specifically Agnes Toth from The Moon and the Nightspirit. It should be noted that Tamas Katai also published an album under his own name called Erika Szobaja. Which is a brilliant folk-ambient album of extraordinary proportions. When I feel introspective, or slightly emotive or just want to put something light in the background that album is the one I go for. Then there's Gire, a very unusual death metal project where Tamas plays the keyboards and programming. 

The first time I became aware of it was when I was trawling through Metal Reviews, and at that point in my musical life I was very interested in the Avant Garde section of music. So I procured their album Roka Hasa Radio, and oh my was I taken away by it's sheer magnitude. There was a lot going on there, but at the same time it all seemed so simple. What was the most mind-blowing about the whole thing is how well put together it was, shifting and turning in every direction, yet there was always some kind of order to it all. The music is not avant garde for the sake of wanting to be different and sound out of place, it is avant garde because that is the only label that will suffice to describe the music that has been sprouted. Roka Hasa Radio, was probably the most original metal album I had listened to since, I started listening to Iron Maiden all those years ago.

In fact I would argue that Thy Catafalque is the most original metal project going at the moment. Being original is by no means a stamp of quality, because you can be original and still sound like shit. But Thy Catafalque is just pure original quality.

One of the things that I do love about this project is the fact that since Tuno, ido Tarlat the language of choice to sing in has been his native Hungarian. I tend to prefer it when bands sing in their native tongues, it's not a necessity but it adds to the flavour of the music.

Generally, the albums have their basis in Black Metal. But there's also quite a bit of dance element in there, especially in the rhythm section. Yet, in between you get this gorgeous folk in between flurry of black-techno-metal and lush ambience of nature calling (not in the urination sense). The songs tend to be long, very very long, but that's okay as well. Because they never stretch to the point of boring. Best examples of this are the songs Neath Waters from 'Tuno, Ido Tarlat' and Molekuláris gépezetek from 'Roka Hasa Radio'.

The latest album 'Rengeteg', is also just littered with great songs. It starts of with blistering heavy metal with 2011's greatest metal riff:

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And from there it only gets better. I mean the whole song pretty much runs on just that one riff and some really really angry barking in the background to begin with. All that catharsis being vented on all fronts, but when he's exhausted the vocals he just drives home that riff like a tractor ripping through a barn when powered by nuclear waste. But that one riff is enough to carry the whole song, and while it shifts and turns like a snake in the background the riff itself just keeps on going and grinding and fascinating.

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While there does always seemed to be a theme underlying all of the albums, I have not always been able to decipher those. The only guess I can stab at are that 'Tuno, Ido Tarlat' is aquatic in nature, Roka Hasa Radio seems to be urban and Rengeteg is like running in the forest. And they are all so original, all so fresh that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Yes they do take a bit of time to get used to, but there is something for everyone to enjoy on these albums. And I can't wait for the future releases, especially when Tamas told me that the next album is going to have a lot of Erika Szobaja influenced moments and passages.

Unusual Locations

Well some people on my friend list might have noticed that I have the tendency to share links with bands playing usual(so to speak) music from unusual places. It is not that I go out of my way to hear bands from Backanistan or anything, though it does always peak my interest when I see a band that is advertised as anything beside Death or Black Metal or Pop coming from places like Pakistan or Bangladesh. It's even better when they sing in their native tongue. I find very few things as annoying as a non-English speaker singing in a faux-American accent with horribly cheesy lyrics, most often then not rhyming Fire with Desire, Madness with Sadness, Oranges with Blancmanges... And so on and so forth. It is not enough of course just to be unusual or from what can be relatively called unusual location, the musicians have to have the talent to actually play the music. Good intentions are all well and good, but those good intentions turn into waste of times if not done correctly.

Even better I find is finding usual(so to speak) music blended with whatever the ethnic music making is. For example Tengger Cavalry are from China, they play fairly consistent heavy metal a la Iron Maiden and Judas Priest but in with it they blend Buddhist Throat singing and a Mongolian Instrument that bears the very savoury title Horse Head Fiddle. And it sounds great. It sounds like it should fall apart any moment but it never does. Which of course is the mark of a good band. Tengger Cavalry manage to evoke so many feelings and emotions it is hard to believe, in their native tongue as well. I have no idea what they are singing about but I like to imagine that it involves the Mongolian Expansion across Asia on horseback. Galloping, slaying, freeing, consolidating, resting and repeat.















The Nine Treasures hail from Mongolia, and they do sort of the same thing as Tengger Cavalry, except the play more like speed metal with lots of native Mongolian instruments. They also did what has become my favourite version of Whom The Bell Tolls.


My current favourite Avant Garde band  is Thy Catafalque, who hail from Hungary. Well it's a one man project by a guy called Tamas Katai(Or Katai Tamas, if you want to be pedantic). So far Tamas hasn't released, as far as I can tell, a bad album. Even his 'solo' album Erikas Room, is superb. Thy Catafalque is intense, supremely intense and close knit. Where as Erikas Room sounds loose and mellow. Thy Catafalque, is angry, the first albums were furious, but the last two Roka Hasa Radio and Rengetag are still angry, but supplemented with gorgeous interludes.

My latest discovery is a band called Saturn. From Pakistan, and the play Progressive Metal. Apparently they've been around for 9 years. Very competent musicians and very interesting music. A friend of mine said that they bear certain resemblance to Tool and Riverside. I've never listened to Riverside(yet) so I can't really comment on that, but I think he's spot on with the Tool comparison. I'm looking forward to checking out their past albums and future albums, provided they don't do another ballad.



So far I've talked about bands that sing in their native tongues. Here's one that sings in English, and don't sing with silly lyrics. Ka Mmen, hail from Ukraine. The play what has been described as Post-Metal/Prog-Rock. They are most definitely proggy. But I wouldn't put them in Post-anything personally. They have got a very unusually sound, almost indie like. They again sound great. Love their latest album, The Sands. The singer has a very unusual singing voice, but it fits. As far as I'm aware they've only released one album, so they are worth watching out for.



One instrumental band to be aware of is The Phoenix Paradox. From Mexico. Who are, well, happy. Very happy. In fact they've would have been perfect as an alternative soundtrack for Grim Fandango. Again they fall under the Progressive Metal, and they are very progressive. And happy. They sound like a good mixture between the instrumental songs by Iron Maiden like Losfer Words and The Ides of March played with Combo De La Muerte

Maybe it is because I am from Iceland, and every time some band or singer from there is featured in a magazine outside of Iceland it is mark of unusual music. Though annoyingly it somehow is always compared to either Björk or Sigur Rós. Which is completely unfair of course. Kontinuum for example sound nothing like either, but put out one of the best metal albums I have had the joy to listen to last year, Earth- Blood - Magic. Though it somehow gets lumbered with Black Metal. It is epic and alternative, it swings from feeling to emotion, it is simply a brilliant album. According to Last.fm I've listened to their songs 198 times, though I'm sure that is an understatement. They have only released one album but the main guys are veterans of the Iceland Metal scene and got fair few albums between them.  One thing that is quite good about the Icelandic scene is the size. It is small which does result in a lot of mixture and side projects.



So, if you'll excuse me. I'm just going to do some Buddhist Throat Singing to get rid of this phlegm.