WREKMEISTER HARMONIES - Flowers In The Spring

No haunting ballads, not even actual songs, and no huge collaborations either. On their new album Esther Shaw and JR Robinson present us a conceptually minimalist version of Wrekmeister Harmonies that solely relies on the exploration of sound and texture.

WREKMEISTER HARMONIES - Flowers In The Spring (Pink Opaque vinyl LP) (2025)

"Flowers In The Spring". "Fuck The Pigs". "Shepherd Stares Into The Sun". The snouts on the cover and the oinking pink vinyl. A winged skull above an hourglass. That's all the information we get to construct a story. Everything else is long waves of droning guitar and oscillating loops of sounds and feedback. Final. Boris. Big|Brave. No vocals. Hardly even real beginnings and endings.

You're blindfolded and your ear is your hand exploring unknown surfaces. "Flowers In The Spring" is the Ambient soundtrack to its own experience. Trying to explain it on an intellectual level is doomed to fail. This is a you either feel it or you won't situation. And I am feeling a lot of vibrant stimulation of my senses. Wrekmeister Harmonies just unlocked their purest Drone mode, pervasive and beautiful.

Given how broad these pieces feel, how deep they seep through every pore, it's pretty impressive - and you need to be told about it to realize it - that each piece has been recorded with the self-imposed limitation of only using four input channels. Maxi-minimalist perfection. This album knows exactly what it wants and nails it flawlessly. A porcine meditation. A spiritual escape from the wallow to the blooming flower field. I cannot find anything not to love about it.

Kudos for Thrill Jockey for being among the commendable labels still attaching a download code to their records (which should be an undisputed standard), because in this case it means you're unlocking ten more minutes of "Flowers Variation" which didn't fit on the physical copy.

digital delirium with BONG-RA, RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON x TWIN SISTER, TDK / ТДК and many many other various artists

Did I freeload new promos again? Am I too poor to buy proper records/CDs/cassettes again? No and no. Or well, yes too actually, but it doesn't apply to this post here. These are actually all recent digital-only releases of... mildly varying length. The first one is a reminder that Christmas Roadburn is only one month away:

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON x TWIN SISTER - Mirrors For Discharge (2025)

The finale of Roadburn Sunday 2022: A spontanous jam of Kanaan and RRRags led me to miss this comissioned cooperation of Dutch Heavy Psych machine Radar Men From The Moon and the trio Twin Sister, which itself includes René and Otto from Dead Neanderthals. Surely one of the toughest clashes of that extremely strong festival edition. I'm glad that at least I finally get the chance to hear what I missed now!

In total there were nine people on stage, including two bass players and three drummers. And they did pretty much what you would expect from knowing the featured bands - and probably even the best version of that. "Mirrors For Discharge" is a stomping work of hypnotic Industrial Sludge Noise with Punk vocals on top. This rumbling beast of five mighty repetitive steamrollers must have been completely obliberating to behold. Since there's no physical release planned at the time this is as must-have as a download can be!

BONG-RA - Cold World (2025)

We're not moving into too different territory with this new single from Bong-Ra, who have recently turned from a Drone Doom Metal trio with Jazz influences to an Industrial Metal trio with electronic drums. As one does. Or as Jason Köhnen's mood wants it. The title sounds very familiar and indeed this is a cover version of one of the greatest Godflesh songs of all time. Can it be as great as the original? Probably impossible. But great still this is. And surely a banger to perform during their shows. Would love to see that!

And yes, I will review the recent new album of Bong-Ra. But not today.

TDK / ТДК - ZHVK (2025)

This new three-track EP from Bulgaria continues right where "Nemesta" left off - with an absolutely bonkers clusterfuck of Post Punk, Mr. Bungle Avantgarde, Disharmonic Extreme Metal, Jazz, Noise and manic spoken words vocal performances. TDK are all over the place - and they are the landlords of this particular, delightfully paranoid place. This quintet plays in the top league of whatthefuckishappeninghere. Wish this was longer than just thirteen minutes!

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Who Is The Dreamer? - A Tribute to David Lynch (2025)

This release is unreviewable. I probably haven't even listened to half of it and sure as hell will never play the whole thing. So does it suck so bad?

No, but let's just say that 383 (three-hundred eighty-three) tracks with individual lengths between one and forty minutes are quite a task, even if the devoted listener burns the complete rest of his/her music collection. There might be record-horrible stinkers on this compilation or the best song of all times - and I haven't even noticed either while shuffling through it. However what I can say for sure is that the overall atmosphere feels very adequate for a tribute for the great late David Lynch.

It's pointless to list even a fragment of all the artists and bands involved in this mammoth collection. Naturally it includes a lot of Experimental music, but you'll also find bits of Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, Jazz, Country, Modern Classical and who knows what else in the depths of this lodge. There are variations on soundtrack pieces like the legendary Angelo Badalamenti themes from "Twin Peaks" or Ambient textures with interview snippets from Lynch over it. Some artists are only featured with one small track, others provide a whole album's worth of material.

This is the water and this is the well. Props to The Church of Noisy Goat for curating this endless surreal odyssey!

 

SEVEN IMPALE and OXOMOCO live at Logo, Hamburg (March 15th 2025)

Just two days after the four band bill at the Headcrash (including Rivers Of Nihil and Cynic) I drove to Hamburg again yesterday for a show I basically had been awaiting for ten years, since I've heard Seven Impale's debut album "City Of The Sun" for the first time. Unfortunately it took the Norwegians two albums and a hiatus longer to finally come to Northern Germany. But better late than never, right?

When you only have a short time between visiting (and afterwards reviewing) shows, there are certain things that can happen. One is that you quickly adjust your previous judgement of the last music night. I'm always trying to be positive and see the good when it comes to music, experiencing shows on a goodwill basis. But when you go to another concert shortly after and see how much better many things can be... well, I don't want to go on about this too long. But yeah - and sorry if that's a spoiler -, but after the Seven Impale show and talking to another fan who had been there last Thursday too I must admit to my huge Cynic fan self that apart from discovering Beyond Creation that other night was actually more disappointing than I let on in my review.

Another annoying thing had happened, whichb only occured to me when I wanted to take a picture of the Logo being not really up to the right date (but stuck ten days into the past) with my Digital Harinezumi toy camera, which is also responsible for most of my live photos.

On my first try I realized that I had forgotten my MicroSD card in the slot of my PC after copying the pictures for my last review. Shit.  Luckily there's a Mediamarkt just a couple of houses away from the Logo. But just when I got there they wre fucking closing the door, so it took me a little while longer to find a phone shop that could help me out. Has been a couple of years since this has happened to me the last time.

OXOMOCO

The night started with a local trio from Hamburg. Oxomoco began their instrumental performance very smooth and relaxed, slowly building up to heavier Post Rock with Stoner Metal vibes here and proggy parts there. I definitely wouldn't want to put their music into one specific box. For sure it was good mix of beauty, coolness and heaviness with some nice hypnotic usage of lead guitar loops.

During the second to last song, the singer and keyboardist of Seven Impale jumped on stage and aided their jam them with organ sounds and vocalizations. Nice!
The show was a great attunement for what was about to happen next and I made sure to grab a copy of the band's first CD afterwards.

SEVEN IMPALE

Seven Impale started their show with the opener of their second album, followed by the opener of their third album and the opener of their debut album. So I guess if they already had a discography of seven or eight albums, this review would be really convenient to write and boring to read.

But if there's one thing the Prog/Jazz Rock/Metal sextet certainly was not guilty of at all, than it was being boring! If you know only ohne of their rollercoaster rides like "God Left Us For A Black-Dressed Woman" or "Sisyphus" then you already know that between soothingly smooth Jazz licks, challenging Fusion grooves, heavy Math Rock chugging, roaring organs, incredibly majestic guitar and saxophone climaxes Seven Impale just never fail to impress and entertain.

That goes for their fantastic studio work and absolutely translates into the live performance. Prog Rock (and adjacent stuff) can barely get any cooler than what these guys are doing. And I didn't even mention trained opera singer Stian Økland's powerful voice - and that before this show I had absolutely forgotten that he also plays guitar. What can I say, the whole show, which was mostly split half-half between longtracks from the 2014 debut and the 2023 album "Summit", just was a wholesome experience.

Of course the band is too obscure to sell out this location, but there were enough people to not make it awkward. The satisfaction of finally hearing long-admired tunes live and the (not perfect but more than sufficient) very good sound helped to make this my favorite show of the year so far. I really hope that there are more touring activities to come, then maybe with a divided focos on "Contrapasso" (got the t-shirt!) and a possible new album? 

Finally, here's the full setlist:

(with my translations into the actual song titles)

And on another added note I maybe should have gotten my poster signed, now that I see it on the door. However I really didn't think I would actually find a place for it, just taking it with me anyway, because it was for free. But in hindsight you're always a smart-arse.

RIVERS OF NIHIL, CYNIC, BEYOND CREATION und DAATH live im Headcrash, Hamburg (13. März 2025)

Beginn (nicht Einlass!) um Viertel vor Sieben, in der Woche - das war schon eine stramme - und fürs Umfeld der Reeperbahn typische) Ansage im Gruenspan. Doch dann wurde das Konzert mit vier Bands nicht nur ins HeadCRASH verlegt, sondern auch noch weiter auf 18:10 Uhr vorgezogen. Aaargh!

Für viele Auswärtige sicherlich gar nicht nicht machbar, für mich reichte es nach Feierabend immerhin noch für einen kleinen Rossmann-Einkauf, das Schreiben einer wichtigen Mail und ein vorgezogenes Abendessen, ehe ich mich nach Hamburg aufmachte und mit komfortablem Zeitpolster am Ort des Geschehens eintraf.

So zumindest ein der Theorie. Ein vierzig Minuten stehlender Unfallstau auf der A23 hat mich dann doch in die ungewohnte Lage gebracht, in einen bereits prall gefüllten Club einzutreten, während die erste Band schon spielte... 

DAATH

Zum Glück war es aber nur das erste Viertel welches ich von den Death Metallern aus Georgia verpasste. Und entgegen der von den Im-Gang-Stehenbleibern erzeugten Illusion war es direkt vor der Bühne um diese Zeit tatsächlich noch gar nicht so furchtbar eng. Amtliche Alte Schule mit Blast-Attacken, melodischen und progressiven Elementen traf auf slammende Moderne. Kein Sound für den ich mir auf Konserve beide Beine ausreißen würde, aber live ein ordentliche, tadellos vor den Latz geklatschte Einstimmung auf den Rest des Abends.

BEYOND CREATION

Da ich mich null vorbereitet hatte, war ich schon überrascht, wie deutlich der Cynic-Einfluss bei den Kanadiern Beyond Creation war. Doch auch neben all den von Paul Masdival und natürlich Deaths Chuck Schuldiner inspirierten Leadgitarren und dem deutlich an Sean Malone angelehnten blubbernden Jazz-Fusion-Bass hatte der stilistisch offene Progressive Death Metal mit reichlich zusätzlichen Gitarrensaiten so einiges an eigener Identität zu bieten. Ganz klar: Mit ihren das Gleichgewicht zwischen Brutalität und überschäumender Kreativität perfekt balancierenden Songs hat das Quartett mich ohne Wimperzucken als Fan gewonnen.

CYNIC

Die Prog Metal-Legende Cynic musste natürlich gar nichts mehr tun um mich anzufixen, selbst wenn sie heute weitgehend unfokussiert, ähm, ich meinte ohne Songs des Jahrhundertalbums "Focus" antraten. Nur das Instrumental "Textures" gab es hiervon diesmal zu hören - kein Wunder, hatte das Album doch gerade erst vor einem Jahr im Mittelpunkt einer Tour gestanden, die auch im hamburger Logo zu Gast gewesen ist.
Während das neueste Album "Ascension Codes" mit zwei Stücken gewürdigt wurde, war überraschenderweise gar nichts von "Kindly Bent To Free Us" zu hören, so dass es vor allem Klassiker von "Traced In Air" waren, die das natürlich zu kurze Set prägten.

Gegen die vom Publikum frenetisch abgefeierte Reinert/Malone-Tributshow vom Vorjahr anzustinken, war eine Hürde, für die es sicherlich einer Headlinerposition und eines würdigeren Sounds bedarft hätte, als der intime Club heute anbieten konnte. Klar, Cynic sind Cynic sind Cynic und es ist immer noch fantastisch zu sehen, wie sehr die einst als Außenseiter gestartete Gruppe nun von der Metalszene umarmt wird und mit von ihnen inspirierten Künstlern zusammen auftritt. Doch unter diesen Umständen gab es hier ehrlich gesagt nur eine sehr gute, aber noch nicht atemberaubende Show zu sehen. Vielleicht war das Auslassen von "Veil of Maya" oder "How Could I" auch einfach ein Schritt zu mutig.

RIVERS OF NIHIL

Mit fettem Doublebass-Drumkit und Posingpodesten an der vorderen Bühnenkante machten Rivers of Nihil optisch sofort deutlich, dass sie den logischen - für vier Bands immer noch erstaunlich frühen - Abschluss des Abends bildeten. Allerdings traten die Death-mit-Extrawurst-Metaller mit einem großen Handicap an, und damit meine ich nicht, dass mich persönlich das nach "Where Owls Know My Name" erschienene Material irgendwie nicht mehr so sehr abgeholt hat.

Nein, leider hatte ihr Frontmann komplett seine Stimme verloren, so dass bis auf die gelegentlichen cleanen Harmonien vom Gitarristen und Drummer alle Stücke instrumental vorgetragen werden mussten. Das überzeugende Gimmick, dass ab und zu ein Saxophonist zum schmachtenden Veredeln der Stücke auf die Bühne kommt, wurde dadurch natürlich noch mehr zum Highlight.

Es ist der Band natürlich hoch anzurechnen, unter diesen Umständen überhaupt aufzutreten. Doch so großartig, interessant (was war denn hier mit all den megakreativen Killer-Bassisten los?) und fett (was für eine Schlagzeugwalze!) die Amis auch ohne Growls klingen, so sehr war das offensichtliche Fehlen nach zwei Dritteln der Show dann doch ermüdend. Als Superfan bin ich natürlich befangen, aber die ideale Lösung wäre meiner Meinung nach ein etwas gekürztes Set zugunsten von Cynic davor gewesen.

Trotzdem wär's natürlich schön Rivers Of Nihil eines Tages noch einmal in kompletter Sollstärke zu erleben!