Style: post-metal, sludge metal, shoegaze, noise rock, stoner rock, post-hardcore (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of:  Parannoul, Asian Glow, Neurosis, Boris
Country: South Korea
Release date: 15 May 2025

Modern medicine is amazing. People have lived well over a year with an artificial heart, and doctors can perform entire heart transplants. Alas, the human being still needs a heart, be it a machine or originally somebody else’s, and a person would wither and die almost instantly without the blood-pumping organ. South Korea’s Baan have a mission: rip out the still-beating heart from four genres and try to keep the result alive for sixty minutes. According to their Bandcamp, Baan aim to be “Doom but not boring / Screamo but not crying / Hardcore but not macho / Shoegaze but not sucks.” Dodging all four of those pitfalls while playing those genres is gonna require a musical miracle to occur on Neumann. Do Baan achieve what doctors cannot?

Let’s proceed one by one. Neumann certainly avoids the crying part of screamo by not being screamo beyond some halfheartedly shouted harsh vocals; the record also contains some amateur cleanly sung, crowd-chant adjacent cleans. Both vocal styles are completely obliterated by the mix to the point of being nearly inaudible—they may have recorded them from across the street—rendering them a strident nuisance. Similar to the self-described “screamo” aspect of Baan’s sound, the macho part of hardcore, by virtue of mostly avoiding true punkiness, is eschewed by Baan. Those two soul-of-the-genre omissions are cheating, though, and Neumann is really post-y, noisy, atmospheric sludge metal, with the atmospheric part coming from shoegaze and stoner rock influence.

Thankfully, the doom metal (read: sludge and post- metal) parts are not boring, and the shoegaze aspect don’t sucks [sic]! Fuzzed out guitars and Baan’s love of noisy amplifiers drive Neumann, and the South Korean band have a keen ear for melody and rhythm, with wistful yet hard-hitting guitar parts and dynamic, Mastodon-esque drumming. “Birdperson 새사람” has the first shoegaze part around 3:40 with airy guitars above pummeling double bass, but it’s not until the second track “Early Bird Dies Fast” where Baan hit their stride, the spacey trem picking of the simultaneously woolly yet shimmery guitars playing a beautiful tune—almost nostalgic in tone, as if Astronoid wrote stoner doom. The strongest asset in the band’s arsenal, however, is their weaponization of noise, with exemplary moments like the middle breakdown of “Sing a Brave Song 2 씩씩한 노래를 불러라 2” and the sludgy violence of “Reversal of a Man.” The bass playing is also killer, but unfortunately it almost never makes an appearance with the exception of “Sing a Brave Song 1 씩씩한 노래를 불러라 1” where it gets significant time leading. 

Despite the strength of the riffs and drumming, the album wears itself thin within forty minutes, the schtick played out. By the end of the three-part “Sing a Brave Song 씩씩한 노래를 불러라,” I’m snoozing at the prospect of more Baan, and the boring track “Not Yet” contributes nothing that previous songs like “Histrionic” hadn’t done better. Moreover, the closer, “Oldman 헌사람,” plays into a tedious atmospheric intro that lasts for several minutes before recapping with uninspired shoegaze vocals from Asian Glow; so, I’m forced to admit that while the shoegaze instrumental sections don’t sucks, the shoegaze vocals sucks. Baan clearly had fun tinkering with their amplifiers and jamming out—at the expense of a more concise, better album. 

South Korea is truly a hotbed for noisy, homemade shoegaze recently (Parannoul, Asian Glow, Huremic), and Baan have certainly made a name for themselves with the release of Neumann. Their mix of energetic, growly, and fuzzy guitar tones with passionate and delicate melodies contributes something new to their scene. The band just needs an editor and a better singer. But fans of everything from post-metal to punk will find something to enjoy in Neumann—I certainly did.

Recommended tracks: Early Bird Dies Fast, Histrionic, Sing a Brave Song 1-3 씩씩한 노래를 불러라 1-3
You may also like: Meth., The Angelic Process, Glassing, Huremic, Sadness
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Label: independent

Baan is:
반재현 [Baan Jae-hyun]
김진규 [Kim Jin-gyu aka April 28th]
이성재 [Lee Seong-jae]
장진웅 [Jang Jin-ung]

The post Review: Baan – Neumann appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: post-rock, dream pop, MPB, shoegaze, psychedelia (mixed vocals, mostly clean)
Recommended for fans of: Parannoul, Turqoisedeath, Os Mutantes, Mestre Ambrósio, Celeste OST
Country: Brazil
Release date: 5 May 2025

Isaac Newton predicted that the Rapture would happen around 2060. That the end is nearing seems like a given with the state of the world these days, so Newton’s timeline comes across as delayed if anything. Some virulent super-bacteria or virus could take us out (probably something bioengineered); we’ve got a demented, wholeheartedly evil person in possession of the nuclear football (and multiple major-scale global conflicts going on, as well); but perhaps most likely is the imminent climate catastrophe. I won’t beat a dead horse too much—we’re all intimately aware of the dire situation in 2025—but corporate greed and ever-increasing industrialization are unceasing, and we’re about to pass the event horizon of its damage. This crisis is displacing millions of global citizens every year, myself included as of earlier this year, and its impact will only worsen. I think going out by an asteroid dino-style would be easier, or maybe with false vacuum decay, but we as a species have got to make the best of the situation at hand.

Lua, the woman behind Brazilian shoegaze act Sonhos Tomam Conta, has started a new project Antropoceno, and Natureza Morta is driven by a pseudo-manifesto of hers, a tirade against the evils of climate change inspired by indigenous authors such as Davi Kopenawa Yanomami and Ailton Krenak. Lua’s thesis, as given on Bandcamp, is that “Postponing this apocalypse necessarily involves rejecting the exceptionalism that seeks to conceive humanity as an organism separate from the body of the Earth.” She asserts that we ought not to forget our pre-industrial origins and look toward tools and methods of the past to slow the disaster; Natureza Morta is a loud call to action.

Antropoceno matches the concept to the music, with Natureza Morta incorporating pre-industrial folk music styles (samba, choro) into psychedelia and shoegaze, representative of the distorted corruption of modernity. The result? An impeccable vibe. The record blossoms out of bird chirping and strummed acoustic guitars, while the remainder of Antropoceno’s sound is formed by layering Brazilian percussion, psychedelic trem-picking of a non-distorted electric guitar, and bubbling, sugary synths. All together, Natureza Morta is like floating on a cloud in a dream, utterly serene, and the record flows freely, too, drifting from idea to idea—song to song—effortlessly. On “35ºC de Bulbo Úmido,” Antropoceno dives deep into psychedelia with exquisite choro mixed in for a sweltering effect, as if you’re melting while listening to the short piece while the crisis (and album) march on unrepentantly. Other tracks, like “222 Dias de Calor Extremo,” use longer, post-rock songwriting, letting Lua’s masterful synths guide the listener through tropical soundscapes.

The ethereality of Antropoceno’s base sound often veers into a more violent approach; as the natural world is destroyed by the increasingly hot temperature, hails of blast beats, distorted guitars, and harsh vocals colonize the alluring folky psychedelia. Inspired by fellow Brazilian legend Caio Lemos (Kaatayra, Bríi, Vauruvã), Antropoceno mixes Brazilian rhythms and acoustic guitars atop the blast beats to stunning effect, such as on the tracks “Queda do Céu” and “Natureza Morta.” Moreover, Caio Lemos is a guest feature on the track “Debaixo da Terra,” his vocals adding a tasteful, folk edge to the track. In addition to Kaatayra, Antropoceno manages to get a Parannoul feature on “The Waves,” with the South Korean shoegaze legend also providing his distinct vocals to the track.

As the tracks bleed into each other, they slowly lose their identities, all succumbing to the vibe that Antropoceno curates. I could listen to the dreamy Brazilian psychedelia all day, but Natureza Morta slowly drifts its way into pleasant background music over its runtime. The record’s bigger problem is Lua’s vocals, which are more on the shoegaze side of things—that is to say, unrefined. The clean lulls are distractingly amateur compared to the gorgeous instrumentation; thankfully, much of the album plays around with extended instrumental sections. These issues should be easy to iron out on subsequent releases and are hardly a damning problem on a project debut. 

Antropoceno presents Natureza Morta to combat an issue she sees as crucial. With a blend of Kataayra-inspired folk and Parannoul-esque shoegaze, the music matches the message; more importantly, Antropoceno’s music is extremely high quality. I’ll still be silently cheering for the easy out of false vacuum decay, but Antropoceno’s calling for us to consider a return to animist principles in the modern world hits home. Come listen to Natureza Morta for the awesome psychedelia, and leave with a renewed sense of urgency.

Recommended tracks: 35ºC de Bulbo Úmido, The Waves, Debaixo da Terra
You may also like: Kaatayra, Rasha, Sonhos Tomam Conta, Samlrc
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Label: independent

Antropoceno is:
– Lua (everything)
With guests:
– Kaatayra (vocals)
– Parannoul (vocals)

The post Review: Antropoceno – Natureza Morta appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Post-rock, post-metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Pelican, Tool, Vulkan, Oceansize
Country: Belgium
Release date: 23 April 2025

Growing up with autism, my relationship with the concepts of solitude and authenticity was perhaps unusual. Over the years, many people have commented positively on my authenticity in spite of the social pressure for conformity. Little did they know, however, that a large amount of that perceived authenticity stemmed from sheer social ineptitude—after all, one can’t conform to rules they are unaware of or neurologically incapable of adhering to in the first place. Similarly, the frequent periods of prolonged social isolation I have gone through have seldom been voluntary. Belgian post-metal band Capitan’s second album, Facing Currents, explores the emotional struggle of discovering one’s true identity through prolonged solitude and trying not to lose that identity when reconnecting with others. My autism has forced me to undergo this process many times, maybe even to the point of trauma¹, so while I do not relate to the voluntary aspect, I did find myself moved by the concept. 

Post-metal can be a fairly homogenous genre with many bands playing some shade of Neurosis and/or Cult of Luna worship: long build ups with increasingly sludgy riffs building in complexity with tribal drumming building to an eventual cacophonous crescendo—that’s the name of the game. Capitan are primarily rooted in melodic post-rock, but regularly get heavy and incorporate tribal percussion in line with the post-metal tradition. They also integrate psychedelic elements and some proggy transitions redolent of Tool. This leads to a familiar, yet fresh overall sound in a similar ballpark to the seldom-replicated Oceansize². Further brought to life by a vivid, crystal-clear production, Facing Currents is a very immediate album. Björn Nauwelaerts has an uncharacteristically powerful voice for post-rock, and his bright tone and melancholic melodies give the songs on Facing Currents a lot of memorable moments en route to the big finish. He can also belt with the best of the best of them, giving a lot of meat to the heavier moments; most post-metal bands would place harsh vocals there but with Nauwelaerts’ performance I didn’t even miss them!

Capitan’s lyrics are poetic not in structure but certainly in how they evoke mood and emotion, immersing you in the emotional state of the protagonist as they go through the process of self-rediscovery. Water, breath, and light are used as recurring symbols to express emotional overwhelm, suffocation, loss of identity, and healing. The story of Facing Currents is not so much about the events as they are about the emotions corresponding to them: from drowning in the feelings of isolation (“Immerse”), to feeling suffocated by daily life (“Choke”) and unfulfilling relationships (“Apnea”), to the confusion and fear of an identity crisis (“Facing Currents”), to eventual healing (“A Pale Blue Light”) and refinding one’s footing in the world (“The Ascent”). The lyrics are raw and expressive, capturing the protagonist’s emotional journey with striking vulnerability. Facing Currents doesn’t even necessarily read like finding new facets of your personality; its real beauty lies in accepting and finding solace in what is already there.

Clocking in at thirty-eight minutes spread across six tracks (plus the intro), Facing Currents is refreshingly concise for a sprawling genre like post-metal. The first half is paced effectively, with each track having its own unique identity and momentum: “Immerse, Pt. I & II” are built on hypnotic tribal grooves and psychedelia-tinged guitarwork, leaning heavily on the Neurosis and Tool influences, whereas “Apnea” is a more conventional post-rock/metal hybrid track, starting with a spoken word piece and somber vocals before gradually lifting up our emotions with ethereal strumming to prepare you for the thundering, heavy grooves of the song’s second half. “Choke” keeps up the momentum as the most immediately aggressive track on the album, recalling Cult of Luna in its double crescendo structure. The second half of Facing Currents, however, starts to show Capitan’s limitations. Every remaining song starts with a long, ethereal post-rock section that becomes increasingly indistinct as the album goes on. “Facing Currents” and “A Pale Blue Light” erupt into distortion at nearly identical points in the song, and “The Ascent” only differentiates itself by keeping the floatiness for a guitar solo crescendo instead of yet another heavy climax.

This strict adherence to traditional post- song structures ends up making Capitan sound surprisingly conventional despite their distinctive palette, causing the songs to become increasingly predictable as the album goes on—a slow, clean buildup into a heavier, emotionally charged climax works only so many times before it gets stale. That is not to say the second half of Facing Currents is without stand-out moments, though. The repeating vocal motif in the title track is deeply moving, and the crushing doom riffs of “A Pale Blue Light” are a welcome change in intensity. Björn Nauwelaerts also consistently stands out for his expressive delivery, even if his melodies become a bit predictable near the end. Another point of critique is that the crescendos on Facing Currents often end up being underwhelming. Take “Apnea”, for instance, whose guitar solo and eventual doomy outro do the minimum of what is required to make them work but nothing more; or “Choke”, whose second crescendo merely repeats the pounding rhythm of the first one with no variation or development. Similarly, the guitar solo in “The Ascent” has a beautiful narrative structure but is barebones in execution and finishes the album with a disappointing fadeout. I usually found myself more compelled by the journey along the way, thanks to Capitan’s unique mix of styles, rather than the big finish.

On Facing Currents, Capitan have made a refreshing niche for themselves. They blend genres in a natural way with sophistication to evoke an ethereal yet earthy sound with powerful, melancholic melodies and rich atmospheres. But for all its sonic variety, the album often plays things structurally safe, leaning too heavily on predictable builds and familiar post-metal formulas. Still, the foundation is strong—Capitan are never anything less than competent, and they deliver some magic on a few occasions. If they can find a way to support their unique voice with more daring songwriting, they might well become one of the most exciting groups in the genre. But such is the road to self-actualization: there is always room to grow.

Recommended tracks: Immerse Pt. II, A Pale Blue Light
You may also like: Riviẽre, Múr, Mother of Millions, Sgàile
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Capitan is:
– Björn Nauwelaerts (vocals, keyboards)
– Kevin Brondel (lead guitar)
– Rafaël Clavie (rhythm guitar)
– Jonathan Lievrouw (bass)
– Nick Boonen (drums)

1.  The Thought Spot made a great video linking autism to repeated ego death. ︎
2.  Seriously, where are the Oceansize imitators at? I need mooooooore. ︎

The post Review: Capitan – Facing Currents appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Doomgaze, Post-Rock/Metal (mostly clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Holy Fawn, Latitudes, Alcest, Cult of Luna
Country: California, United States
Release date: 24 July 2024

Us reviewers often like to claim that we are objective, but in reality, there is a huge subjective component to it: which scoring criteria to use, what importance you assign to each of them, and even how a band scores for a given category all differs greatly from reviewer to reviewer. However, one criterion which is almost universally agreed upon to be important—almost regardless of genre—is that of variety. It is not that we necessarily expect bands to be genre hopping every other song, but we generally do want each song to have its own identity instead of an amorphous blob of interchangeable tunes (well, unless you like drone, in which case I can’t help you). With that said, though, a band priding themselves for eclecticism has a higher variety bar to cross than one making an atmospheric mood portrait (more on that later). 

Today’s doomgazing subject, Mountaineer, is very much of the latter variety. While I did not love their 2020 album Bloodletting as much as my former colleague Jonah did, “The Weeds I Have Tended” and “Ghost Story” were among my favorite songs of the year because of how incredibly powerful they were emotionally, pulling especially from doom metal for the riffs and post-hardcore for the emotive vocals, with the shoegaze aspect reserved primarily for the atmosphere. On Dawn and All That Follows, however, the band has forgone a lot of their more immediate—perhaps even abrasive to some—elements like the powerful post-hardcore style singing and the heavier, darker doom riffs in favor of a more subdued approach focused on ethereal atmosphere guided by gentle singing. 

And this is really where the variety issue comes in, because, let’s face it: this record has little of it. The Dawn and All That Follows is a vibe, as the kids say; it’s an exploration of a warm, ethereal soundscape that envelops you like a fuzzy blanket. Mountaineer are content to spend the majority of their time cycling through slightly melodic, somewhat sludgy doom riffs, drench it all in shoegaze-y fuzz, and then have Miguel Meza croon on top of it all with his velvety voice. When they’re not riffing, they typically revert to post-rock tremolo picking with only the bass remaining as a source of fuzz. The formula is certainly pleasant, but unfortunately it quickly starts to homogenize as their songs seem to move endlessly between mode A and mode B. For instance, the post-rock section in the title track is pretty much identical to the one in “You Will Always Be One of Us”, and the myriad of lower tempo riffs throughout the album are an even bigger blur of fuzz. Mountaineer certainly succeeded in enacting the opening track’s mission statement—Close your eyes and drift away—but for all the wrong reasons.

The atmospheric mood portrait approach can work amazingly (see for example: The Mantle), but it is important to explore the different nuances of the emotion you’re going for, whether through musical storytelling or by use of shading in a more amorphous composition doesn’t matter. Mountaineer clearly went for the musical storytelling approach, now relying more on crescendo structures and atmospheric development to carry the drama than anything abrasive. The crescendos they’re pretty good at, the atmospheric development not so much, often ending post-rock sections abruptly after some mild strumming instead of carefully building layer upon layer. The one track where both are done well however is the opener, “Cradlesong”, in which hefty post-metal, fuzzy shoegaze, and melodic post-rock leads intertwine in the crescendo. Extremer pastures also make a minor but triumphant return in the title track and “Testimonial” as harsh vocals and heavier, darker riffs aid in their crescendos, giving back at least some drama to the album. 

I really wanted to like Dawn and All That Follows more than I do, given how much I enjoyed Bloodletting. Sadly, Mountaineer stripped back a lot of the aspects which made them so compelling previously, and did not adequately replace those elements with new ones to justify the change. They doomed, they gazed, and they posted, but it’s all smudged together in a uniform manner, neither innovating nor excelling at any of them, ultimately making for a pleasant, but largely forgettable experience. Onto the next one.

Recommended tracks: Cradlesong, Dawn and All That Follows, Testimonial
You may also like: As Real, Dead to a Dying World
Final verdict: 5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: A Thousand Arms – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Mountaineer is:
– Miguel Meza (vocals)
– Clayton Bartholomew (guitars)
– Isaac Rigler (guitars)
– Forrest Harvey (guitars)
– Dillon Variz (bass)
– Jordan Norton (drums)

The post Review: Mountaineer – Dawn and All That Follows appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: post-rock, art pop, shoegaze, indie folk, noise, post-metal, indie rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Parannoul, Turquoisedeath, Toninho Horta, Mount Eerie, Godspeed! You Black Emperor
Country: Brazil
Release date: 8 March 2024

The internet is a magical place where everybody has a voice; the sacristy of anonymity, a platform for self-promotion. Unfortunately, as with most good things, the hipsters have taken it over, and the inability to dox them for their stupid-ass opinions is a shame. The music world has always had a propensity for pretension (myself included), but Rateyourmusic is a true cesspool for it—though I admit it is an excellent tool for finding music if you can ignore its users’ frequent foolishness. In these weird internet echo-chambers, unexpected styles surf the zeitgeist—the chart for this year currently ranges the gamut from neotraditional country to wildly vitriolic dissonant black metal to sick industrial hip-hop from Brazil—far afield from what you’d naturally find unless you’re another one of those terminally online freaks. While some of the most popular music of all time nary makes an appearance on the RYM charts, a strange conglomerate of hipster-y mixes of indie folk, post-rock, and shoegaze consistently seem to soar high: acts like Parannoul, Turquoisedeath, Boris, and Mount Eerie don’t maintain much mass appeal, but if you only trawled the music interwebs, you’d probably think they’re bigger than Queen and Aerosmith combined (they’re not).

Samlrc is born of this movement, and I’d have never found her music had the weird nerds not pushed her to number one on their chart of the best albums of the year for a week. At just nineteen years old, Sam shows artistic maturity, ability, and vision across A Lonely Sinner, and for once I’m thankful for the RYM people being able to vote for their hipster nonsense! Besides cues from all sorts of RYM-core music—from Björk to Merzbow to the Silent Hill 2 OST to being a furry—how did Samlrc climb to the top of the chart?

A Lonely Sinner tugs at the heartstrings with simple lyrics about the nature of love, swirling synths, dreamy guitars, and post-rock crescendos galore. Sam’s sincerity in the performance comes through, and the production is extremely intimate. Tracks like “Philautia”—which progresses from minimalist folk to cheeky electronica to an indie folk strumming section that’s supremely pleasant all the way up to a massive buildup—and “Storge”—working with breakbeat drums, metal heft, and spoken word—are explorative yet unified, raw yet beautiful. With the exception of “Sheep Theme” which leans into a bland indie rock pattern for far too long, the songwriting throughout A Lonely Sinner consistently impresses, constantly evolving trying to wring all the emotion out of you it can. Sam’s lilting voice and the gentle acoustic sections can be rather gorgeous, and the sections with fuller percussion and grand movements toward powerful crescendos are sublime. The absolute highlight of the album, though, has to be the final climax of “For M.” with a heart-wrenching violin solo—utterly stunning writing and performance redolent of Bruit ≤. Finally, despite not being a furry, the story is cutesy and easy to follow for those of you into such things, and the music matches the relative lyrical intensity well, matching the peaks and valleys of the story. 

Although I praised Sam’s singing, it is the weakest chain in the album, taking a similarly depressed indie folk tone as Phil Elverum, and although it fits the style to a tee, it’s not my preferred mode and feels unrefined (noticeably so when compared to her songwriting and instrumental ability). Occasionally, the instrumental tones also sound meek, particularly in slower indie folk sections and the aforementioned indie rock track. These things can be forgiven given the bedroom recording, but they do detract from A Lonely Sinner overall. Finally, the metal section of “Storge” sounds like if somebody who didn’t know metal except via RYM’s weirdly blind-spotted taste in the genre tried to write metal, and it’s not very convincing to somebody more in tune with the genre’s pulse. I appreciate the attempt at a heavier section as a contrast to the lighter folk and shoegaze, but while the obvious passion and knowledge Sam has for the other genres comes through in the songwriting—she’s clearly a passionate student and lover of music—I think a bit more polish on the heavier aspects of A Lonely Sinner would go a long way as the riffs and tones are bland. 

I’m glad a young artist like this has exploded in popularity even if it’s in a niche community because Sam is incredibly skilled, passionate, and has a bright future composing. With a bit more refinement, the formula of A Lonely Sinner could produce a stunning indie folk album for the ages. Regardless, I’m very impressed by Samlrc and am glad I still check RYM religiously despite my reservations about the internet. Maybe I am a hipster after all… (just kidding, this was never in doubt).

Recommended tracks: Philautia, Flowerfields, For M.
You may also like: Bruit ≤, Yo, An Elephant Sitting Still (OST)
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Label: independent

Samlrc is:
– Sam (everything)

The post Review: Samlrc – A Lonely Sinner appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Post Metal (mixed vocals)
Review by: Evan
Country: United States
Release date: September 10th, 2021

Post-metal is hardly a descriptive genre title. What you would expect, perhaps, and what the genre originated with, is sludge riffs mixed with atmospheric elements from post-rock. What you typically get, however, is sludge riffs mixed with any random genre that’s traditionally softer. One of the popular trends as of late is mixing forms of extreme metal with shoegaze, like the divisive blackgaze. Dawn Fades, on the other hand, takes a more traditional form of post-metal and mixes it with a more traditional form of shoegaze, and produces a surprisingly captivating take on the genre. 

I despise saying “band X is band Y meets band Z,” but in this case it is too apt to resist. Dawn Fades is Isis meets Slowdive. Coincidentally enough, I listened to a Souvlaki for the first time just a week before I heard Ode, yet the resemblance, specifically in the softer sections and clean vocals, is striking. Essentially, you get the “sludgey” riffs of Isis in the heavier section, mixed with blackgaze harshes, and the gaze like softer sections with laid back cleans. Overall, these elements fit well enough together to create a persistent atmosphere.

Opener “Dearth” has its moments, but certainly plods on a bit too extensively, even for the genre. Thankfully, it is followed by “Taste,” which is an extremely well focused track, demonstrating Dawn Fade’s dynamics at their best and coming to a hypnotizing concluding riff without overstaying its welcome. “Ode 1” is an interlude, and “Ode 2” effectively mixes soft verses with aggressive choruses, followed by a combination of the two at its conclusion. “Front” is fairly fluidly structured, focusing largely on atmospheric melancholy. “Chains” is a classic post-metal build, enrapturing the listener in its atmosphere before its dramatic and crushing conclusion. Lastly, closer “Turning” is a soft goodbye with that classic gaze sound. 

Ultimately, the tracks are effective not only in building an internal atmosphere, but also in creating one that persists throughout the album. The persistent melancholy of the chosen gaze stylings meshes well with the post-metal aggression to meet this goal. Especially worth highlighting is the work of the guitarists, who are clearly quite adept at both styles. The vocals shift well as well, although the cleans may sound a bit too empty, even for gaze. 

With the trimming of some excess, both on the metal and gaze fronts, Dawn Fades could easily become an even better band. Additionally, Dawn Fades could do to forge a more unique identity from both its predecessors and contemporaries. Whatever they chose to do going forward, however, Ode is still a worthwhile listen for fans of shoegaze or post-metal. 

Recommended tracks: Taste, Ode 2, Chains
Recommended for fans of: Isis, Slowdive, Alcest
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Metal Assault Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

Dawn Fades is:
– Sam Sherwood (vocals)
– Adam El-Gerbi (guitars)
– Nate Hertweck (guitars)
– Markus Erren Pardiñas (bass)
– Scott Quist (drums)

The post Review: Dawn Fades – Ode appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Blackgaze/Math-Rock (mixed vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: Unites States, Texas
Release date: November 13th, 2020

This month I’ve been trying the NBBMN (“Nothing But Black Metal November”) challenge. So far it’s been going well. I’ve made a single exception for the new Fates Warning album upon its release, but otherwise all has been kvlt in Sam land. This release by The Chemical Mind is the latest installment of that.

Blackgaze, I still don’t have the slightest clue what it entails. Even less so for math rock. Apparently, this is both those genres. Or rather, blackgaze with math rock elements. Whatever. My only association with -gaze genres is washy sounding guitars and a slight emphasis on atmosphere, and with math rock the only association I have is the utter chaos of mathcore which I detest. Not the most positive start to this review, but That Benign Terror is actually pretty fun.

Because indeed, this is loaded with washy guitars, and it’s certainly atmospheric. Not in a melancholic fashion like, say, Skyforest or Agalloch, but rather in a more claustrophobic, anxious manner. It’s much befitting of the album title really. It’s very intrusive music. But didn’t you say it was fun? Yes! Despite coming across as contradictory, the pacing of the music is often very upbeat. Despite a serious black metal filter on everything and frequent blasting, the washy guitars riffs are always at the center of the louder parts. There’s a certain sense of fun oozing from these I find hard to describe. Perhaps it’s a math rock thing, who knows. This band also frequently drops off the tempo for dreamier, softer sections, often paired with synths and gentle clean vocals. They’re executed well and the pristine production really sells me on them. It’s a very distant, but clear mix that keeps all the good aspects of the lo-fi aesthetic while still coming off as professional. It makes the album pleasant to listen to in general.

Now I do have to say that these songs come across as chaotic. They are structurally often very loose. The songs tend to go from one idea onto the next, but barely return to pre-established ideas within the song. I’m personally all in for repeating parts within music since it gives you something to latch onto. The Chemical Mind does too little of that for my liking. The album flows like a giant stream of consciousness rather than a bunch of cohesive songs with a start, middle, and end. It’s often very hard to differentiate whether a new song has started or if it’s another transition within the current one. All the sections by themselves are well-executed and enjoyable, but it fails to deliver on the bigger picture. Maybe it was a conscious choice of the band, but for me this approach killed a lot of the initial excitement I had on subsequent listens.

That Benign Terror is not the best (or even one of the best) NBBMN discovery I had this month, but it surely is a fun album. Their loose songwriting approach turned me off the album over time, and I probably won’t be returning to this much, but I assume that those who have less of a problem with this will adore this record. At 42 minutes it’s a very easily digestible record and it’s good fun, so give it a shot, will ya?

Recommended tracks: Dominion, Ophanim
Recommended for fans of: idk Skyforest? Warforged maybe?
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page

Label: Independent

The Chemical Mind is:
– Nick Krueger (composition, production, guitar, bass, vocals)
– Matt Clepper (guitar)

The post Review: The Chemical Mind – That Benign Terror appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Post/Shoegaze (Clean vocals)
Review by: Callum
Country: United States (Washington, DC)
Release date: October 1, 2020

The timing for the sophomore release of DC’s Bound is surely not accidental. The once brightly coloured leaves of autumn are dead and rotting on the cold, wet ground, Halloween is around the corner, and the season of haunting is underway. What better time of year to gaze at your shoes among the leaves and revisit memories of childhood, friends, illness, grief? Haunts captures this mood from the outset, and to great effect. It’s an unsettling, yet oddly reassuring, twisting collection of vignettes from the band members’ lives brought to life through crushing walls of noise and shimmering guitars, synth, and stirring clean vocals.

Despite the 46 minute runtime, the depressive mood throughout the album makes it seem like hours have passed. This is not to say that the record is monotonous or dull. In fact, the dynamism between soft crooning, tension building, tempo changes, and cathartic peaks give each track a refreshing and unique identity. “The Ward” is a prime example of these dynamics as well executed transitions organically shift the mood, as if in a dream sequence, and turns anthemic by the end. Discordant vocals over glittery guitar chords create an uneasy atmosphere in “The Divide,” which resolves with the encouraging and eerie chant to ‘focus on the end.’ In “The Last Time We Were All Together” the aforementioned elements as well as some ghostly accordion synth build to an almost unbearable pressure.

The record is circular in that the fading chimes of the finale “The Known Elsewhere” bleed back into “The Bellows,” which is thematically fitting but also encourages repeat listens that are rewarding. There are easter eggs hidden within each song as the band used specific percussive objects from the places each song reflects to create personalised sounds carefully tucked in among the other instruments. These are noticeable at the beginning of “The Field of Stones” and the end of “The Small Things Forgotten” for example. While the significance of these objects is unknown to the listener, they ground the recordings in reality while also adding a certain ethereal mystery.

Haunts is extremely well constructed and well paced. The music successfully evokes feelings of nostalgia and time lost, and the layering of instruments and percussion to achieve this is unique, allowing Bound to stand out from other gloomy post-rock contemporaries. The singular element that I find unfortunately distracts from the experience is the ever-present vocal vibrato. Perhaps this is an artistic decision in keeping with the ghostly theme, perhaps this is just how Bryan Buchanan has learned to sing. Regardless, this record is a major achievement to only be the band’s second release, and an essential pick to get lost in for some moody introspection.

Recommended tracks: The Ward, The Last Time We Were All Together, The Small Things Forgotten
Recommended for fans of: Jesu, Caspian, Holy Fawn
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Labels: Jetsam-Flotsam – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
Diehard Skeleton Records – Website | Facebook

Bound is:
Kotu Bajaj (bass)
Bryan Buchanan (guitars, vocals)
Trish Harris (synths, vocals)
Dan Richardson (drums, electronics)

The post Review: Bound – Haunts appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: alternative (clean vocals)
Review by: Josh
Country: France
Release date: 04-08-2020

Often what we see in the progosphere are albums filled with songs that are far too long for their own good. Watertank buck that trend out of the stratosphere.

I can’t say anything about this album without first covering the songwriting. These guys know how to do a lot with a little. No song gets close to overstaying its welcome, with some tracks just being built around a single riff. This allows the album to be concise without losing depth, as each song can present, develop and conclude upon a complete idea in as little as two minutes. At the same time, though, the album remains cohesive as while the band does dip their fingers into a variety of styles of music, they never get too adventurous, putting quality songwriting over getting wacky. This makes for an excellent listening experience, as nothing ever drags.

At the same time, though, while songs tend to be short, they’re never too short. None of them (except “Thing Of The Past,” god dammit why did they cut the track right as it was about to hit its peak) fail to feel complete, as despite their lengths, Watertank manage to pack a lot into each one. While there may not be that many riffs, almost every one is quality. They range in genre from alt rock to grunge to post-hardcore to shoegaze, and many experiment with odd time signatures as well. Nothing too crazy, 6 and 4+4+4+2 are the ones I recall off of the top of my head, but they really add to the sound, a sound that would normally feel dated. The band is great at supporting the riffs, too. I have to single out the bassist in particular here, as they’re very present throughout the entire album, playing a role not often heard within our scene. The drummer’s also excellent at picking the right groove for each moment of the song.

As for the core sound of the album, it’s not anything too crazy. It’s riff-driven, sometimes stonery alt rock with added spiciness for the most part. There are some noisy bits, there are some odd time signatures, but at its core, that’s it. It’s well-played, but many readers of this blog simply won’t be into it because of that. Some of the non-riff-driven sections also have a tendency to fall flat, though given how concise most songs are, these sections never last for that long.

Overall though, Silent Running’s one of the better albums I’ve heard this year. It gets in, does its thing, gets out, and repeats. No bullshit, and everything’s smooth like butter.

Recommended tracks: Spiritless, Building World, Cryptobiosis
Recommended for fans of: Torche, Silversun Pickups, Queens of the Stone Age
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | RateYourMusic

Label: WPW Records

Watertank is:
-Romain Donet (guitars)
-Jocelyn Liorzou (drums)
-Willy Etié (bass)
-Thomas Boutet (vocals, guitars)

The post Review: Watertank – Silent Running appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: post-metal, doomgaze (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Holy Fawn, Latitudes, Alcest, Oceansize
Review by: Jonah
Country: California, United States
Release date: 22 May 2020

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the May 2020 Part 2 issue of The Progressive Subway.]

Even though I think I’ve had some consistently high album ratings in my reviews this year, there have been very few that I’ve listened to and just immediately fell in love with. Most of what I’ve covered thus far has fallen within the “pretty good” and “very good” range, but very little “great” or “exceptional”. Well, that time has finally come, because through some California witchcraft Mountaineer have crafted the single best doomgaze album I’ve ever heard.

Do you want gorgeous, sensual melodic lead guitars? They’re here in abundance. Massive skull-crushing, fuzzy riffs? Those are here too. Intricate and mesmerizing drum patterns that I’m still working on figuring out? You better believe it. Big, bone-shaking bass guitar? Yeah boy they’re here too. To cap it all off you’ve got these gorgeous, soaring clean vocals that wouldn’t feel out of place on the best albums of the grunge era, and some absolutely massive Neurosis style harsh vocals. All of this combined together leads to some of the best music I’ve heard in 2020, and honestly some of the best music I’ve heard in the past couple years, which is no easy feat because some of my all-time favorite albums came out in the past couple years.

Shifting the focus from performance to sound quality for a moment, this is a beautifully produced album. The mix is perfection, I can hear each and every element of the music just clearly enough, without damaging the fuzzy, oppressive sonic aesthetic the band have gone for. This leads to the entire sound coming through as both crushing and beautiful, suffocating and freeing, heavy and soaring all at once.

This is one of the best performed, best sounding and overall best albums I’ve heard so far this year. Usually I would put a little “well if you like this genre check the band out!” blurb here but honestly, you owe it to yourself to listen to this album regardless of whether you’re usually a fan of doom, or shoegaze, or post-metal, or sludge, or any of the other things happening here. This is just an exceptional piece of music that deserves to be listened to.

Recommended tracks: The Weeds I Have Tended, Bloodletting, Shot Through With Sunlight
You may also like: idk about this one will update later
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | BigCartel Merch | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: Lifeforce Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Mountaineer is:
– Miguel Meza (vocals)
– Forrest Harvey (guitars)
– Isaac Rigler (guitars)
– Clayton Bartholomew (bass, guitars)
– Dillon Variz (bass)
– Patrick Spain (drums)

The post Review: Mountaineer – Bloodletting appeared first on The Progressive Subway.