And Here Is That First Post.......

Tracklist:


01. Actualize
02. Contraband
03. Currency
04. Altered Perspective One
05. Altered Perspective Two
06. Vertigo
07. The Decline
08. Degenerate
09. Looking West
10. A Climate For Change 


ALONE is the debut album by Evan Brewer (bassist of The Faceless), the concept of which is astounding, and not to mention incredibly ambitious.

The entire album is comprised entirely of bass – no guitars, no drums, just plain ol’ bass.


Now, in no way is this man un-talented.

Anyone who has listened to The Faceless, and has a working pair of ears can back me up on that, but listeners beware, if you go into this album expecting to hear lots of tech-death riffs played on repeat for half an hour, you’ll be sorely disappointed, because what you will hear from this is a wide range of styles and influences, mainly taken from Jazz and Funk.


I know what you’re all probably thinking:
“Jazz and Funk? But where’s my technicality?”

The answer to that question is that it’s still all there, but it appears in a different way.


The first two tracks, “Actualize” and “Contraband” showcase some intense slap-bass skills, which would impress anyone who knows anything about the instrument itself.

The next three tracks, “Currency” and the “Altered Perspective” parts delve into more of a relaxed and chilled style.


People who have paid attention to Evan’s YouTube account would recognize the first and third track as videos that he posted a couple of months back, titled “Slap Bass Evan Brewer” and “Evan Brewer Two Basses” respectively, both of which were clips posted from these songs and used as teasers for his upcoming album.


But I digress, the fifth track, “Vertigo” combines the chilled out atmosphere of the last three tracks with the intensity of the first two, and manages to transition the two ideas seamlessly into one song.


“The Decline” serves as an interlude (filled with some faded in slapping) into the next track “Degenerate”, which once again demonstrates this man’s love for slap-bass perfectly.
The last two tracks on the album, “Looking West” and “A Climate For Change” derive their influences heavily from Jazz music, which becomes more evident on the latter track.


I’m going to end this review with a segment where I’m going to ask myself a question and say:

“Who would have ever thought that the bassist of a technical death metal band could come up with an easy-listening album?”

The answer to that question being “Evan. Fucking. Brewer.”


This man is a genius on this album, and I hope that The Faceless start to use more technicalities in their bass guitar instead of that one opening sweep on The Ancient Covenant.


Evan Brewer’s debut album Alone receives 5 simultaneous bass lines, out of 5.

Introducing Our New Columnist.......Cygnia!

"Hey guys, my name's Barney, but for the sake of this blog I'll go by the username Cygnia.

It seems that I'm going to have a weekly column on this site, which I guess will be filled with reviews, impressions or opinions about whatever I feel like writing, as long as it's music related of course.

For the first post, I reviewed Evan Brewer's debut album Alone.
Stay tuned for more from me in the future.

Free Stuff For Everyone!!!

Happy Wednesday Djents! 


This is just a quick post as I have to leave for work very soon. 


The lovely People at The Helix Nebula have given Musings an exclusive FREE download of their brand spanking new track. Aptly named - Track 3. This is one of their best yet and heralds back to the shredding technicality heard in their first track.


There is a link to the song HERE so you can listen before you download. 


And HERE is the download link. 


You CANNOT download this anywhere else at the moment. So make sure you tell your fellow Metalheads to head over to Musings Of A Djentleman for awesome free music! 


By the way, I will also have an interview up with the guys from THN in the next few days, as well as tabs for Track 3 so all you budding shredders can play along! 


Much Love Guys.

This Week's Featured Artist......The Helix Nebula

Good evening Djentlemen! 


A new week has begun, this can only mean one thing here at Musings...... New featured artist time! 


Every week I try to pick out one band/artist who I feel is just that teeny bit above the rest and needs that extra push to help them on their way to success. Not that all the other bands don't deserve it, as they all do. But yeah, to avoid me digging myself a hole and continuously rambling for the remainder of this post, you know what I mean. 


This week, my featured band are some really cool guys from Australia going by the name The Helix Nebula. 

They are a two piece instrumental band comprising guitarist Jake Lowe and bassist Simon Grove, who produce some insane shit from their studio in Sydney. They started out early this year and have been gracing out eardrums with shredding loveliness ever since despite only releasing 3 tracks, all of which can be found on their Facebook page. 


Jake and Simon formed the band after meeting at the Australian Institute of Music, where they studied and became good friends. After a while they started writing and recording together and thus, The Helix Nebula was born. 


Due to the fact that there are only two of them, touring is a bit difficult. However after speaking to Jake, there are plans to take The Helix Nebula live if they can find other members who are interested. 


I have lots of cool stuff lined up this week in regards to these guys so make sure you check back during the week!


Hit up their Facebook HERE
And here is their Youtube Account: http://www.youtube.com/user/thehelixnebulashred

Speak soon guys! 

Another Week Gone....

So here we are at the end of the second week! 

Again, thanks so much to all of you who read the blog! Really is appreciated. I am doing my best to say thankyou to all of you, but more on that later.....

I thought I would use today as a chance to round up what has been happening in the last week and to look forward to what's coming up both here on Musings and elsewhere. Where to begin? 

Of course, the week started on a massive shit note due to the death of Ryan Dunn. Massively sad thing to happen and I dont care if people say he had it coming due to his involvement with Jackass. Nobody deserves to die so young. The week did eventually get better though, some awesome bands posted on the Facebook wall, namely The Nocturnal Chaos. There were a few others but right at this moment in time I cant be arsed to trawl through the page looking for where people posted. So to all the bands that posted, sorry I didnt mention you. However it is appreciated! Keep on posting people! 

I will have more from the guys at The Nocturnal Chaos in the next month or so, so make sure you hit up their Facebook Page in the mean time. 

The main news from my point of view this week is the fact that myself and David Hurst from Monolyth Studios are teaming up to produce and promote the Debut EP for The Immerse Project. This is the solo project of 18 year old guitarist Connor Sweeney, who we are really excited about. We feel he has a massive amount of talent and so we are helping him get the exposure he deserves. We hope you will support us and him all through the process. Although saying that, I am sure you all will considering the amazing community we are! 

In regards to future events, next week will see a new featured artist as always, bringing with it some exclusive treats for you guys ;) So make sure you keep checking back! I promise it is worth checking back for. We also have another exclusive in the way of a review, I have managed to bag myself an early copy of Encircle's LP Watch The Sky Fall, so I will have that for you tomorrow. We also have the release of both Evan Brewer's Alone and Francesco Artusato's Chaos And The Primordial this week so I am sure you will see reviews cropping up when I find the time to write them and have had a good listen through. 

Staying with future stuff here on musings, Over the coming weeks I will have an early review of The Paradoxical Spirals amazing new album as well as some exclusives surrounding that for you people. There are also possible features from Remi Gallego, A.K.A The Algorithm, but I cant confirm that yet! 

Will be back tomorrow with stuff from my new featured artist and of course, the usual pointless ramblings! 

Much Love Guys! 

Encircle. Awesome.

Why hello there fellow Djents. 

If any of you have been reading the various pages and websites to do with Djent recently, you will have heard the news about Encircle releasing his début full length. Now, if any of you have heard the sampler he posted a few days ago and are like me, you will have continually raped that replay button. 

Watch The Sky Fall is shaping up to be absolutely fucking amazing. I spoke to the man behind Encircle, Anthony DiGiacomo, a few days back about the teaser and he said that he purposefully picked his LEAST favourite parts to put in there. Yes, you read that correctly. The LEAST favourite bits. If you have heard it, you will understand how utterly insane that sounds. The sampler was fucking incredible and just had me hooked, so if those are the shit bits I believe I may have an accident in my trousers when I hear the good bits! 

I have also been lucky enough to hear one of the tracks from the album a bit early. And boy is it awesome. Its heavy, technical, ambient and melodic all at the same time! It just made me want the album even more to be honest with you. 

The album is slated for release THIS TUESDAY the 28th of June. Which, coincidently, is when Evan Brewer and Francesco Artusato's solo albums come out. However this is a tentative release date as there are still a few bits left to sort out on the album. 

What makes it even more awesome is that the album has been produced by Tre Watson. This of course means excellent quality which invariably will make everyone happy! 

Sorry for the pitiful length of this post, I haven't really had time today and just wanted to share this awesome artist with you! 

Check out his Facebook HERE

And here is a link to the album sampler on the old YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Bc7Ii7mPQ

Will post something more substantial tomorrow! Probably a review of something or another. 

Much Love guys! 

Record Label Special!

Good afternoon! 

Before we begin, just a quick thanks to the guys over at GotDjent?.com for featuring my interview with Ganesh Rao yesterday. Much appreciated! I hope you all enjoyed it too, I for one thought it was bloody interesting.

Anyway, on with the today's article! 

A few days ago, I received an Email from a guy called Mark Weller. It transpired that he is one of the head honchos over at League Records and he has asked me to tell all my lovely readers all about them. So here goes...

League Records are a newly formed label comprised of some of the members/founders of the League Of Extraordinary Djentlemen. They support all types of music and are not restricted to just Djent, they just want to better the metal community as a whole. So bands from all walks of life, including Metalcore, Deathcore and Hardcore are welcomed by what seems to me, a rather awesome new label. 

Another point Mark was very eager to make was that of their ethical stance, and for good reason. With League Records, bands come first. No bullshit with these guys, if you sign with them you are top priority to them. You are not just a way of making money. Which, incidentally, is another point League Records want to make. They are distancing themselves greatly from the money obsessed business side of music and aim to;

 " get great, reasonably priced music out there to the masses". 

This makes me happy. I hate the fact that most labels will happily charge extortionate prices for, in some cases, piss poor music. *Cough* Victory Records I'm talking to you *Cough*

Unfortunately I am unable to tell you who they have got signed at the moment as they refuse to divulge this information before the big reveal in a couple of weeks. So make sure you give League Records a 'Like' HERE and check back to the page on July 2nd when the good people at League reveal all! Apparantly the signings are "Completely different". I am definitely intrigued...

Now, I can hardly call this a "special" if I only feature one awesome label. So next up, I would like to tell you guys about Myriad Records. This is run by a really cool guy called Jaime Gamble and christ almighty have they got some good shit coming up. 

  Myriad have already secured The Schoenberg Automation to their line-up and boy have they got some other awesome bands ready to announce. I am, again, unable to divulge the information because I am sworn to secrecy but believe me when I say, it will blow your mind. 

You need to go 'Like' Myriad now because it is run by more awesome people who strive, like those at League, to bring you top quality music. HERE is a link to Myriad's Facebook.

Please go like these two awesome labels, they are doing all this shit for you guys and I really feel we should help them out as much as we can. 

Thanks for reading guys, I'll be about on the page as usual if you want to get in touch. Make sure you check back tomorrow for a feature on the brand spanking new Encircle album which is due in the next week or so! Much love people 

Exclusive! Interview With Ganesh Rao.

Hey there fellow Djentlemen! 

After dicking you around last week with the promised but not delivered interview with AOS, I am pleased to present to you an exclusive interview with my featured artist this week. The one, the only, Mr. Ganesh Rao. Sorry it's so late but I have only just got in from work. 

Enjoy peoples! 

Hey there Ganesh! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Firstly for all those people who haven't heard of you before, give us a rundown of what you do?

Hey Tim, thanks for this interview. I really appreciate what you're doing with this blog and wish you the very best. Well, I make ambient metal music and develop conceptual visual pieces.

You released Empyrean earlier this year, which might i add was awesome. Which came first, the music or the video idea?

Thanks! Actually, they both developed side by side. Most of the visual ideas came to me in several separate dreams. I took these concepts and developed them, then wove them together to create an abstract visual piece. Later I developed a musical theme that captured the mood and emotions which I had felt in the dreams. The aim was to recreate the dreams and have everyone experience it. Once the music was locked in, it helped see things clearly, and it guided the artistic decisions during production, filming, and post production work.

Could you explain the meaning of the video?
This abstract piece is really intended to evoke feelings and emotions like as if it was your own dream, rather than being understood. I think 'understanding' involves logic and facts, where as 'feeling' involves a higher degree of subconscious effort. Each person will 'feel' it differently based on their own personal experience in life, their memories, their cultural backgrounds and their state of mind. And everyone is able to experience these feelings and extract a meaning from them internally. It's like walking through a maze without a map. It's exciting when you don't know where the exits are. It can be fun or frustrating, but that leads each person to ultimately find a unique pathway to the exit. And the pathway that each person chooses is absolutely valid and correct.

How did you go about filming Empyrean? What was the creative process?

The creative process was that of experimentation and trial and error. Once I had a rough concept, I asked my friend Jonny Greenwald if he'd be interested in the project, and he agreed to work with me. He brought with him his amazing photography, storytelling and technical skills and together, we developed the piece further. We had never done anything of this proportion before, and that led us to spend a lot of time in the studio experimenting and testing different ideas, constantly failing and learning new things from our failures. It took us about four months to prepare for the actual shoots. However, once we had done all the preparation, we became extremely confident and experienced in dealing with the technical challenges involved in such projects. Filming it became a very natural task and everything moved ahead very smoothly.

You released Empyrean as a solo artist, are you also part of a band?

I've been in a few bands before and played some small gigs. Unfortunately I was never part of a group that I felt matched my wavelength. I ended up either suppressing or stretching myself to match the expectation of the other members. It was fun and educational while it lasted, but I started to feel frustrated as I couldn't freely do the things that I wanted. So I've decided to stay a solo artist for a while and exhaust my inner creative spirit. It's a very cathartic process and extremely rewarding. There's no one to tell you what to do and you just go by your own instincts and learn from your own mistakes.

What can we expect in the coming year from you?

More experimental music attempting to blend Hindu music with ambient metal. Maybe audio/video podcasts on updates regarding my video album.

It has surfaced you are producing a "video album". Could explain what that will consist of and why you decided upon it?

Yes, the debut music video album titled "Forbidden Circle" will be ready by May 2012. It's an album entirely drawn upon dreams and the subconscious. It will have four, maybe five tracks thematically linked to Empyrean. There will be a video piece for each track, and Jonny has agreed to continue working with me on all of them. Quite a few artists have agreed to collaborate on this, although we haven't started production yet. Igor Omodei and Matthieu Romarin from Uneven Structure have agreed to contribute ambiences, heavy riffs and vocals. David Maxim Micic and Jakub Zytecki will bring face-melting guitar solos to the mix. Grayson Cain will lend us his prowess in industrial ambiences. Tom Still from Invocation will share powerful riffs. And Patrick Browne of Dawn Heist will add deep vocal sweeps. I'll soon be setting up a Kickstarter page where people can contribute to the project and make it happen. Contributors will get several interesting rewards including limited edition DVD/BluRay, t-shirts, behind-the-scene access, source tracks and mix-session files, concept artwork, posters etc. I really hope we get a lot of support, because making videos like Empyrean is extremely expensive!

Who are your influences as an artist?

I feel my ambiences are largely influenced by David Gilmor, Steve Wilson, Air, Buddha Bar. My guitar inspiration include Steve Vai, Dimebag Darrell, Michael Amott, Mattias Ia EkLundh, Fredrik Thorendal, Keith Merrow, B.M. Sharp. Melodic and compositional influences I'd say Prem Joshua, classical Indian music, movie OSTs, I really enjoy following music that has a strong narrative element. Visually & conceptually, I love and adore the works of Darren Aronofsky, Adam Jones, Mark Romanek, David Lynch, Tim Burton, James Jean, Salvador Dali.

Are there any plans to go on tour with the music you have written?

Someday, yes!

Finally, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Follow your intuition. It's been working all day everyday your entire life to give you the ability to make the best decision. And dream as much as you can, it's the best drug, and no one can stop you from using it.


Big thanks to Ganesh there for taking the time to talk to me! 

Make sure you head on over to Jonny Greenwald's site as he helped make Empyrean possible!  Link is HERE. And check out the official Forbidden Circle Facebook page HERE.

Was originally going to post this tomorrow but thought fuck it. Hope you enjoy reading! Good night folks.

What Is It About Australia And Shit Hot Metal? This Is A Review By The Way.....

No, this isn't me going into detail about how the Aussie's seem to just continually shit out fucking amazing metal bands. It's actually a review on one of these aforementioned fit as fuck bands.


The band in question is Northlane. 

I had heard of these guys before i really got into the progressive scene. In fact it was in my "If it isnt the most generic deathcore, its shit." phase. And dont lie, nearly all of us have had one of those or at least something similar. I dismissed them back then, foolishly. I had completely forgotten about them until some nutty looking bloke called Nick Stevens posted on the Facebook Wall saying simply "Northlane". I then remembered I had downloaded their début effort, Hollow Existence, and so trawled through my 1TB hard drive to find it. Eventually I did and fuck me sideways, do I feel stupid for disregarding it! 


Hollow Existence is SOLID. I am used to releases being kind of hit and miss in the "Progressive Deathcore/Metalcore" genre, I.E. there is one really good track, maybe two, and the rest just feels like filler material. This is definitely not the case here. From start to finish these metalheads from Sydney just repeatedly rape the shit out of your ears with a big dollop of heavy progressive loveliness. 


The EP starts as it means to go on, fusing heavy chug style chords with a more melodic, ambient tone in the background. It flows through, switching effortlessly between sounding like melodic hardcore right through to deathcore. All the while it maintains that progressive feel with, i hate calling them breakdowns because they aren't but yeah, polyrhythmic breakdowns and some sweet riffing. However if normal breakdowns are your thing then there are a few of them thrown in for good measure.

Track Listing

1. Hollow 
2. Keymaker
3. Set In Stone
4. All Seeing Eye
5. Metamorphosis 
6. The Deadmines 

Most of the album reminds me a little of Architects. Before you cry out in anger, I am talking pre The Here And Now. Ya know, before they went shit. Hollow Crown era is when I'm talking. Back to the point, it is chaotic and just in your face in places which is exactly how a metal album should be. I also hear a lot of For The Fallen Dreams in there too. Again I'm talking pre Back Burner. 

My favourite track on the album is probably Metamorphosis, its heavy but carries a definite groove throughout it. The chugging in the verses is interspersed beautifully with little riffs that compliment the heaviness. The end of the song is fantastic too, a trance sounding track kicks in once the song finishes, soon to be replaced by the guitars then the drums. It rounds the track off wonderfully as it builds to a crescendo, ushering in the final track of the EP.

So, this is a top quality first release from these guys and I definitely look forward to their first full length "Discoveries" which is due Mid-Late 2011. The vocals are done very well, utilising the vocalists obvious talent for highs as well as lows. The guitar and bass work is pretty much spot on and the drummer obviously knows what he is doing with a top quality display. 

Make sure you check out their Facebook page HERE and give them a big old 'Like'! 

And for those of you who haven't heard any of their stuff, here is a YOUTUBE link to the song Metamorphosis.

Thanks for reading guys, I will be about on the Facebook Page as always. If you haven't already checked it out, head over to Facebook and search Musings Of A Djentleman. I hope to see you there! 

Will be back tomorrow with more random shit and possibly an interview. Maybe. 

This Week's Featured Artist......Ganesh Rao

Why hello there you lovely people! 


Another week begins which can only mean one thing. Featured artist time! A time spent plugging the shit out of a band that I believe everyone in the world should listen to without any question whatsoever. This of course never happens, people will ultimately always disagree. But anyway, I am getting off topic...This week's artist is not a band as such but I feel he is awesome and so needs to be featured! 

Mr. Rao is a student from Texas who is studying Visualisation I believe. Now, before you start saying "Why the fuck is this relevant?!" He creates some of the most amazing stuff you will see in a long time. If you frequent Got Djent?, which of course you do, you will have heard of this guy and his music video/project Empyrean. This is a 3 minute long track which was written,performed and mixed by the man himself accompanied by a gorgeously shot video, directed of course, by Ganesh. 


I spoke to him last week about his background in music, this is what he had to say;

I started song writing and playing guitar about ten years ago. I had got my hands on Fruity Loops around 2001 and had instantly fell in love with the concept of virtual instruments, music programming and mixing. Ever since then I've steadily picked up some music theory and experimented with guitar tunings and effects to create interesting sounds and soundscapes. I'm a very visual person, I sketch, paint, make conceptual art and keep having vivid, elaborate dreams. Most of my music and art either comes to me in my dreams, or are my attempts to recreate the things that I see and feel in my dreams

This really does show in the stuff I have seen of his. It is very surreal, very dreamlike and makes little to no sense until you look deeper into it. The music itself, which I suppose is why I am featuring him, is actually very good too. It is straight up Djent. This is always a good thing in my opinion.

I will have an interview with the big man himself posted later on in the week, so keep checking back for that! I am not arseing about saying its an exclusive and shit, because although it is, that will get fucking annoying after a while if I say it every week! 

Check this guy out. Seriously. You will not be disappointed. 

FACEBOOK LINK

Much love guys! Check out my new Facebook page HERE if you haven't had a chance already. To those that have 'Liked' it, thanks so much! 

Will probably post something tomorrow. See ya then peoples.

First Week Hurdles, Gushing Thanks and Amazing People.

And now, for the second time today............... Another post that has nothing to do with music at all! Dont you just love it?! 

Anyway, here we are, the end of the first week for me here at Musings Of A Djentleman. I am genuinely taken a-back at the support I have got for this thing. I started out hoping for around 50 views in my first week, largely coming from friends who have taken pity on me and visited the page purely to humour me. However, I have received over TEN TIMES this in merely 6 days. 

This is honestly well over what I ever could have expected and all I can do is thank everyone so much for reading my incessant ramblings over the last 6 days! It does just prove to me that the metal community is a fucking amazing one. 

I would like to say a special thankyou to a few people who have really put MoaD out there and introduced so many people to it;

Firstly, Simon Garrod and the wonderful people at The English Djentlemen's Quarters. He has helped me pretty much from the first day and i am really greatful. I am sure he will become a good friend to myself and all things Djent! If you haven't checked out the EDQ page, there is a link HERE

Secondly, David Hurst of Monolyth Studios. This guy is just awesome and has been helping me plug the blog all over Facebook. Lovely guy and a pleasure to talk to! Make sure you hit up his page HERE

Thirdly, I would like to thank Bryan Shephard for all of his hard work on the design. I think you will agree it looks the tits! If you ever need any graphics work done, send him a message at: margoloh@gmail.com. He is crazy talented and very reasonable. He also loves Djent, so is therefore instantly awesome. 

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has been reading. It really is humbling to get feedback from you saying you are enjoying reading. I love doing it and to know you guys are getting something out of it is just fantastic! 

Now before I finish this post, I would like to also apologise! I promised you an exclusive with An Obscure Signal, which is yet to surface. I have emailed them and I hope to get the interview up next week. If not I have some more amazing bands lined up for you guys! 

The very last thing I would like to say to you guys is i decided to set up a Facebook page! So check it out HERE. It should update all you wonderful people when a new post appears so I dont have to spend all day trolling Facebook for views. Would be amazing if you could give the page a big old 'Like' while you are there too! 

I promise to post something music related tomorrow. 

Should I Set Up A Facebook Page To Accompany The Blog?

Pretty self explanatory really?  

Comments would be greatly appreciated. I would set up a poll thing but I have just pulled an all nighter and I am in no fit state to arse around with Blogger at the moment. 

Oh, Happy Fathers Day and all that. 

Thanks Guys 

In The Shadow Of God's Review

Well what a miserable fucking Saturday. All it has done this morning/afternoon is either piss it down with rain or look like its about the piss it down with rain. 

With this in mind, I decided to spend all morning listening to Basick's UK Tech metallers No Consequence. They have been on my radar for a while now, ever since I got into the genre really. It was a case of discovering SiKTh and then stumbling across them on a related YouTube video I think. 

Anyway, In The Shadow Of God's is their very well received début effort. And it certainly does impress. Unfortunately since then, one of their vocalists and their drummer have departed from the band but still. The show must go on and all that shit. 

This album doesn't fuck about. It dives head first into the crazy brutality from the word go. Ocular Gyro Crisis opens the album with a bang. An open chord is left to ring out as the song begins, soon accompanied by some absolute fucking wizardry on the guitars. The vocalists also kick in with their demonic howls to complete, what could certainly be described, as an absolutely mental sound-scape  Don't let this put you off though, its not just random riffs all loosely thrown together. It is VERY catchy and has a distinct groove intertwined through the madness. 

This is where No Consequence's appeal lies. It is heavy, yet catchy. Its a phenomenal piece of writing and just means the album flows through wonderfully. Ocular Gyro Crisis seamlessly flows into The Arrival Of Predators, which has a much more Tech Death feel to it than the other tracks. There are still little licks on the guitar which encompass their overall sound but this track is certainly heavier than most of the other songs on the album.  

Track Listing

1. Ocular Gyro Crisis
2. The Arrival Of Predators 
3. Forged 
4. The Fallen
5. Age Of Fear 
6. Synaesthesia
7. Ashes 
8. Longitudes 
9. Latitudes 
10. Shallow Be Thy Name 
11. Inevitable Silence 

In my personal opinion, I think the best two tracks on this beast are The Fallen and Synaesthesia. The Fallen is just an unrelenting assault on the ears which does nothing but make me want to go ballistic. Regardless of the situation. Synaesthesia is an instrumental track which just sums the album up perfectly in 3 short minutes . Its fast, its groovy but you can still start a pretty decent pit to it! 

Now, I know a review is supposed to encompass the whole album, but I don't see the point in giving brief descriptions of singular songs. I wont do them justice and will end up repeating myself. Which incidentally is the ONLY criticism I have of this album. It is quite samey throughout. It isn't a major issue considering the stuff they are coming out with is top quality metal, but some variation along the way certainly wouldn't go a miss. 

In conclusion, No Consequence have a bright future ahead of them and are a shining light for British Tech Metal. I am stoked to hear how their new album turns out, which is due in summer/autumn this year. 

A demo track can be found HERE

Sorry for the pointlessness and total shitness of this review, I felt I should post something in the absence of my promised Exclusive. Which I WILL have up before Monday. 

Speak soon guys and, as always, Thanks for reading! 

Why Do We Always Miss Out On The Good Tours?

So. 

Do the words, Frak The Gods Tour anger pretty much every Djent fan in Europe at the moment? It has certainly disappointed me. I know we got the LXD tour earlier this year, which was fucking awesome, but I just think the line up for this one is a bit better? Although that is purely personal taste. So I am sure there will be plenty of fellow Djentlemen who totally disagree and couldn't give half a flying fuck about this tour xD 

If this applies to your good self. Skip the next 2 paragraphs? You will be far less angered and we will therefore have less reasons to argue. 

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. I cant really slag our colonial cousins off too much because I know I have some readers from the states. With this in mind I would just like to inform you that you are lucky bastards to get such a good tour. 

I think the reason why I am so annoyed that we Dont get this tour is NOT because of Periphery but because of the support. I mean LXD had some awesome support in the shape of Tesseract and Monuments but this one has brought out the big guns. I am personally in love with The Human Abstract since Digital Veil dropped. The Contortionist are groovy yet heavy as fuck, which is of course an instant win. And well, textures? Need I say more? 

I also know that quite a few people really aren't too bothered about missing out on this one. Some of the comments I saw on the English Djentlemen's Quarters' page about this particular piece of news, went very much along the lines of;

"Meh, Periphery are good but Spencer's vocals have got too many effects on them, blah blah blah"

Now while this is true, I think it adds to the overall sound. But lets not get into that now? I can understand where people are coming from. I also understand that us Europeans/Brits had some fucking awesome tours come our way. For example LXD and who can forget, the almighty Tech Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself tour.

Now, i thought as I had set myself up for an almighty rant, i would post another couple of tours we miss out on! Just to lighten the mood.

I saw this and thought "OhMyGod. When, Where, How much. I am so going to thi......Oh. Its a US tour" I know they are American bands but still, why can they not do that over here?! Veil Of Maya are one of my favourite bands and The Contortionist are also well up there. So yeah. I thought I would just compound the misery a tad more. Aren't I a nice chap?! 

Before you all start telling me about Animals As Leaders UK tour in September, I am annoyed about this one because Intronaut AND Evan Brewer are on it. I have really gotten into Intronaut recently and well, you all saw me wax lyrical about Mr. Brewer a few days ago, so yeah. Shit.  

RANT OFFICIALLY OVER. 

If you are lucky enough to be in the States around any of the tour dates for any of the three tours i was moaning about, check them out. I can promise you that you will not be disappointed. Veil Of Maya fucking slay live. Periphery are awesome. And well, AAL, Intronaut and Evan Brewer are all just stupidly talented and I'm sure will be insane live.  

Make sure you guys hit up The English Djentlemens Quarters HERE if you haven't already. The admin know their stuff and the general community there are all fantastic people who all love Djent as much as you and I. 

If you have made it this far, I commend your staying power. 

Seriously, thankyou so much for reading. Its appreciated guys. 

Check back tomorrow for something exclusive! (I bet you can't guess what it is ;) ) 

Oh Sumerian, How I Love You.

Happy Thursday! 

Anyway, in the last few days, our favourite progressive record label (Bar Basick) has announced the signing of another promising young band called The HAARP Machine. 

Now, me being the patriotic guy that I am, was stoked to hear they hail from England. More specifically the Reading area, which seems to be a breeding ground for top quality metal acts. They were originally called HAARP but had to change due to some bizarre legal reason. 

After hearing some of their stuff online, i have come to the conclusion they sound very "Faceless-ey" . They certainly aren't a carbon copy of the tech metallers but there is definitely a hint of their style within the songs I have heard. This is no bad thing, especially as they have put their own spin on it and really "Djent-ified" it. (Christ I'm coming up with some good new words today) 

A key theme running through the two pre-production tracks I have heard, is that of a middle eastern/Indian influence. Sitars and such the like can be heard intertwined with the shredding guitar riffs and polyrhythmic time signatures. It adds a different dimension to the band, which sets them apart from a lot of acts these days. It's refreshing to see a tried and tested tone of metal turned on its head slightly to give it new life entirely. 

I know that the tracks I have heard are only demo's but I am excited to hear some more from these guys. The vocals are spot on, which is always a plus. The guitar riffs and written brilliantly, going from technical as fuck stuff to a more shreddy death metal style. The bass accompanies everything wonderfully, not restricted to being purely back up. If you really listen to the music, you can hear the bass riffs and they really are beautifully written and compliment both the drum and guitar tracks.  

As for the drums, they are also very well crafted. As with most "Djent" bands the time signatures are crazy and add that chaotic nature which juxtaposes with the ambient guitars at times. Overall, they sound very impressive and are well worth checking out. 

According to their Facebook page, a début release will drop around the end of this year. Although knowing Sumerian, it could be years from now. Oh well, I just wish them the best of luck for the future. 

Check out their Facebook HERE

Speak soon guys

Just A Quick One....

Well I have finally got the new layout to work! 


I think it looks absolutely awesome and I would like to thank Bryan Shephard for all his hard work. If anyone needs any graphics work done at very reasonable prices, drop him a line at: 


margoloh@gmail.com


Will post something else tomorrow. At the moment I really cannot be bothered 

Two Words. Evan Brewer.

Now, I am almost certain that these two words will mean nothing to quite a lot of people reading this. Hell, they meant nothing to me until about a month ago! 

Evan Brewer is the bassist from the band The Faceless. A very good one at that. He used to be in Reflux with the mighty Tosin Abasi before they decided to call it a day. I knew pretty much nothing about him until I went to go and see The Faceless on the European Invasion tour last month. Because I was going to see them headline, I thought I would check out the latest goings on in regards to the band, then low and behold i see an article dedicated to Evan. I read the article and was quite taken a back to discover he is releasing a solo album consisting of JUST the bass guitar. No drums, no vocals, just bass. 

Now, i like to see myself as a very open minded kind of person when it comes to music, but, even i was a bit sceptical about how this would turn out. It is certainly experimental and different, especially considering it is still being marketed in the metal scene. 

However. From what I have heard, it is absolutely fucking fantastic. No it isn't heavy, or BRUTAL! What it is, is musicality at its most impressive. This guy knows how to play and clearly loves the instrument. Some of it is just mind blowing, in regards to its technicality and composition. It really does show you can do just about anything with a bass guitar. 

In a way I feel quite sorry for metal bassists because they get none of the attention that other band members receive. It is seen as a mainly support instrument, which i suppose it is, but Evan is showing you can do so much more with it. 

Here are links to youtube videos of him playing through some of the tracks on Alone:

Two Basses

Slap Bass

There is also a video of him discussing the album HERE

Alone drops on June 28th through Sumerian Records, so make sure you grab yourself a copy!