The Drift - Memory Drawings (2008)
Genre: Instrumental Post-Rock

Tracklisting:
1. If Wishes Were Like Horses
2. Uncanny Valley
3. I Had a List and I Lost It
4. Golden Sands
5. Smoke Falls
6. Lands End
7. Floating Truth

Zitat:The follow-up to their debut "Noumena". Though the music on this release is familiar, there's a depth to both the performance and production that feels new. The direct-to-analog tape mix is used as another instrument to help shape each song, channeling the mythos of late 60s jazz and late 70s dub classics. They've also expanded their influences with shades of afro-beat and disco-soul.

Zitat:Rating: 7.0
It's difficult to write a review on a record like Memory Drawings, the second studio full-length from the Drift-- not because the music is especially enigmatic, but because it stubbornly, almost grouchily, avoids exposition. On one hand, the Drift is pretty easy to categorize, residing on the post-rock-heavy label Temporary Residence and creating the same sort of obtuse instrumental compositions as label-mates Explosions in the Sky and Mono, and fellow San Franciscans Continental. But it's not quite so easy to locate their tenor, to get the band's own "drift."

Just about everything about the Drift screams "slippery slope": The vague bebop influence-- jazz brass and double bass both crop up-- runs the risk of turning into Beat café beard stroking; the dub infused post-rock flavor can evoke jam bands; long stretches of little-changing guitar riffs and horn swells can become a chore. This all would seem to damn Memory Drawings as a cliché from the outset. But it's an intriguing contradiction that the band's somber vibe, similar to that of their Temporary Residence contemporaries, rubs up against their jazzy backgrounds to reveal a subtle inner game of impatience tugging at all edges of their compositions.

The Drift have been eager to step out of their affinity for ambient rock ever since the group's first release, the Streets/Nozomi EP. The folky influence of New Weird America seeps through, frosting the light tremolo-affected guitar that leads into "I Had a List and I Lost It", and providing melodic counterpoint to the doleful brass of "Smoke Falls". Then the group can, on a whim, seamlessly transition from electric folk into the space-age resonance of dub on "If Wishes Were Like Horses". But given all the random noise and offhand feedback that could be heard on their debut full-length Noumena, Memory Drawings is a comparatively straightforward take. These compositions, scooting to a start from the first plaintive guitar riff or trumpet line, are exquisitely seen, never dilly-dallying over their eight-odd minutes. From the driving "Uncanny Valley" pour shades of funky soul along with detached guitar and twittering trumpet lines. "Golden Sands" could be mistaken for the Balearic kraut-dub of Sweden's Studio or London's A Mountain of One, especially considering the hypnotic and sometimes fiery battery commanded by drummer Rich Douthit.

Memory Drawings may be the friendliest recording the Drift have released thus far, but it still escapes rational discussion beyond the summation of its influences. Part of the problem is that the group doesn't really profess mastery of any of those influences, preferring instead to shop around for an assortment of textures to suit their needs. Half the time, the band doesn't sound at all like a dub group, and their jazz influence only rears its head when Jeff Jacobs' brass or Safa Shokrai's bass decides to step up the tempo. But the Drift exercise great taste and patience in the contemplative histories they borrow from, and while they tarry in the classic post-rock world of repetitive, abstract grooves, they also keep one foot in some other fantastic land at all times, always one step ahead of our efforts to apprehend them.

VÖ: 2009

Genre: Grindcore / Crust

Label: Morlock Records / D.I.Y. Label

Herkunftsland: Deutschland

Für Fans von: siehe Genre


Tracklist:

01. Savage
02. To Move A Mountain
03. Pathetic And Ugly
04. Uncompromising
05. Freiheit
06. Burn
07. Fucker
08. What Sacrifice?
09. Instinct
10. Cult Of Doom
11. Waiting For A New Day
12. Martyr
13. Stay Asleep
14. Slanderer
15. Demons
16. Ritual
17. Abgesang (Hidden Track)

Spielzeit: 39:40

Zitat:Tacheless ist die Band unseres Forenmitgliedes "Nausea" und kommt aus dem westfälischen Herten. Ich bin wohl quasi um die Ecke aufgewachsen, kenne die Band aber erst, seitdem ich in Bayern lebe.

Zur Musik:
Mit "Freiheit" liefern die Jungs jetzt endlich ihr Full Length Debüt ab. Es wird 17x eine sehr gute Mischung aus Uptempo Crust und Highspeed Grind geboten. Das Vokill Duo Pedda und Mandrax klingt noch eine Ecke angepisster als schon auf der 2007er EP "As Man Among Wolves". Produktionstechnisch wird für dieses Genre auch gehobenes Niveau angeboten, sodass es für Crust/Grindfans nur heißen kann: Zuschlagen!!

Stormrider - Lucifer Rising (2007)
Death Metal / Black Metal

http://www.globaldomination.se/reviews/s...fer-rising schrieb:I”™m always a little dubious when I volunteer to review one of the promo albums sent to the offices of Global Domination. It”™s well known that 90% of everything is crap, but it”™s difficult to truly appreciate that sentiment until you”™ve slogged through something like Audio Autopsy. Still, someone has to do it and it isn”™t always hell.

Enter Stormrider and their second album “Lucifer Rising”, a death/black metal album from Sweden (emphasis on the death). Stormrider basically covers all the Swedish death metal bases and injects some black metal energy to keep things lively. “Jesus Christ Dismemberized” features a nicely crushing riff (though I might be biased here, since ”˜dismemberized”™ is one of my favorite imaginary evil words). There”™s also some nice hooks here and there, such as the Iron Maiden inspired “Return of the Beast”. There is a nice head bobbing groove that gives this album a fairly nice feel from start to finish.

To name drop a little, Stormrider has much in common with mid-to-late period Behemoth, Hypocrisy and, as usual with this sort of thing, Dissection. The band”™s black metal leanings appear mostly in the form of blast beats and some rather nice snarly vocals. That”™s for the best since, generally speaking, Stormrider does death metal a lot better than black metal. “Psychic Vampire” is a slow tempo song based around one of the most generic black metal riffs in the world. Dimmu Borgir has used that riff about 50 times, making Stormrider”™s rendition redundant at best. Too bad this version of “Psychic Vampire” has nothing to do with new wave/punk band The Wipers. What a shame, it could have been cover magic.

One of the album”™s most impressive highlights is the guitar solos. They are simple, short and used mainly as a change of pace. On the other hand, I don”™t like the crummy hissed vocals. They only appear on one or two tracks and are barely audible, but sound like shit. YX, the band”™s vocalist, does well when he”™s snarling and growling. He should stick with that. I”™m also not sold on this album”™s production, because it doesn”™t seem to fit the music properly. The guitars have an over produced sheen to them and would benefit from a little more dirt and lot more bite.

Overall, I think Stormrider has something to offer and is a band that fans of death/black metal should keep one eye on. With a more acidic production, this might have stood proudly next to stuff like In Battle”™s “Kingdom of Fear”. Instead, “Lucifer Rising” is a good place to go for a quick fix, but will almost certainly be forgotten by this time next year.

6 out of 10.

Necroblaspheme - Destination: Nulle Part
VÖ: 05. Dezember 2008
Zeit: 36:14
Label: Agonia Records
Homepage: www.necroblaspheme.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/necroblasphemeband


Aus Frankreich kommt eine Band, die mich ein klein wenig überrascht hat. Necroblaspheme nennt sie sich und existiert seit 2001. Aber entgegen der Ahnung, die einen bei diesem Bandnamen beschleichen könnte, machen die Franzmänner keinen Schwarzmetall, sondern lupenreinen Death Metal. Und entgegen den Erwartungen, die ich beim Ursprungsland der Band hatte, ist der Todesmörtel nicht etwa großartig verfrickelt, abgefahren oder auf sonstige Art und Weise französisch, sondern durchgehend deftig und direkt.
Ohne sich jetzt mit Gewalt das derzeit ach so beliebte Old-School-Banner auf die Brust zu heften, schüttelt der Fünfer mit einem erfrischenden Selbstverständnis krachendes Todesblei sowohl klassischer als auch moderner Prägung aus dem Ärmel und vermittelt dem Hörer absolut den Eindruck, dass die Band genau weiß, was sie tut. Sperenzchen sucht man auf Destination: Nulle Part ebenso vergebens wie zwanghafte Anbiederungen an den Zeitgeist. Gut, die Songs bewegen sich alle im Rahmen des vorher erwähnten Stiles, aber das ist hier auch völlig ausreichend, denn so wirkt der Sound nicht überladen, sondern einfach nur zielgerichtet. Beim Songwriting herrscht durch die vielen Wechsel zwischen Hochgeschwindigkeitstracks und schweren, groovenden Parts genug Abwechslung, um trotz der stilistischen Limitierung keine Langeweile aufkommen zu lassen und umgesetzt werden die Songs von den fünf Musikern in technisch beeindruckender Manier. Besonders das variable Drumming ist eine Erwähnung wert, aber auch die scharfen und gleichzeitig sehr präzisen Riffs wissen das Ohr des Rezensenten durchweg zu erfreuen. Eingebettet in eine moderne Produktion, die sowohl klar genug ist, um alle Facetten des Sounds herauszustellen, als auch wuchtig genug, um der Musik den nötigen Dampf zu geben, finde ich außer dem etwas öden Cover nichts an der produktionstechnischen Umsetzung des Longplayers.
Ich bin recht beeindruckt von dieser Scheibe, hätte ich solch ein Werk von einer unbekannten Band aus Baguettanien doch in dieser Form eher nicht erwartet. Diese Band hat Potential, davon möchte ich mehr hören. Verdiente fünf Punkte!