Yes, you guessed right: I accumulated four reviews over on Veil Of Sound again and I'm too proud to copy-paste, yet too lazy to write a second similarly elaborate text for them - even though each of these great albums would undoubtly deserve it!
THE END - Why Do You Mourn (LP) (2023)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
Let's start with the one I've reviewed most recently! It has also been mentioned in this blog too, in my Midyear TOP 15 of my favorites of the year (so far).
If you know their previous works "Svärmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen", "Nedresa" and "Allt Är Intet" you're probably already positive that Mats Gustafsson's The End have raised a perfect storm of mindblowing experimental Heavy Jazz Fusion again. And yes, the band with two saxes, baritone / bass guitar, drums and the always incredible versatile Jazz singer Sofia Jemberg did it again! As intense as ever, but this time also adding more quiter Folk-inspired parts as breathers between the madness.
Even if this would only be an EP consisting of the thirteen minutes opener "Snow", the epic tour de force "Whose Face" and the slow motion Sudan Archives cover "Black Vivaldi Sonata", it would already be worthwhile. What a fantastic band!
If you know their previous works "Svärmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen", "Nedresa" and "Allt Är Intet" you're probably already positive that Mats Gustafsson's The End have raised a perfect storm of mindblowing experimental Heavy Jazz Fusion again. And yes, the band with two saxes, baritone / bass guitar, drums and the always incredible versatile Jazz singer Sofia Jemberg did it again! As intense as ever, but this time also adding more quiter Folk-inspired parts as breathers between the madness.
Even if this would only be an EP consisting of the thirteen minutes opener "Snow", the epic tour de force "Whose Face" and the slow motion Sudan Archives cover "Black Vivaldi Sonata", it would already be worthwhile. What a fantastic band!
SEVEN IMPALE - Summit (2023)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
On one hand they are quite different beasts. On the other it's not a terribly long jump from the Swedes The End to the Norwegians Seven Impale, who are elegantly commuting between the borders of Metal, Jazz and Prog Rock and also have at least one saxophone player among their ranks.
Seven long years after their sophomore album "Contrapasso", their singer now having started a career in Opera, the band returns with a sublime work that not just continues right where they left off, but actually combines everything already great about them and takes a huge leap forward with it. Cool, bombastic, wild, weird and weirdly catchy... "Summit" is creative Heavy Fusion at its finest.
Yeah, I will definitely need a more "real" version of this one than the promo copy.
Seven long years after their sophomore album "Contrapasso", their singer now having started a career in Opera, the band returns with a sublime work that not just continues right where they left off, but actually combines everything already great about them and takes a huge leap forward with it. Cool, bombastic, wild, weird and weirdly catchy... "Summit" is creative Heavy Fusion at its finest.
Yeah, I will definitely need a more "real" version of this one than the promo copy.
ESBEN AND THE WITCH - Hold Sacred (amethyst vinyl LP) (2023)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
The union of Ambient Post Rock and Rachel Davies' raw yet delicate display of emotions is pure solacing poetry. But even though everything on this album circles around her voice and lyrics, the beauty it makes you feel is beyond words.
Maybe it is in colours. Something at least very close to the transparent amethyst of the vinyl.
JEGONG - The Complex Inbetween (Focus Defocus edition vinyl) (2023)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
Another treasure both regarding the visual presentation (you know Pelagic Records's coloured vinyl game) as well as the musical content is the second album of Jegong, a Post Kraut Rock project by Sum Of R's Reto Mäder and Mono drummer Dahm Majuri.
A vibrant energetic instrumental album full of motorik grooves, industrialish intensity, waving synths, satisfying drones and expressive harsh guitars. Every track has a different flavour, so it's hard to put "The Complex Inbetween" into a specific box. Unless of course the box is just labeled awesome.
But attention: This is unexpectedly addictive! I was hooked from the first time I listened to it.
A vibrant energetic instrumental album full of motorik grooves, industrialish intensity, waving synths, satisfying drones and expressive harsh guitars. Every track has a different flavour, so it's hard to put "The Complex Inbetween" into a specific box. Unless of course the box is just labeled awesome.
But attention: This is unexpectedly addictive! I was hooked from the first time I listened to it.
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