Discover some crazy and unexpected highlights

Avangarde Jazzgrind Metal… Never heard of that genre before? Me neither. But I heard Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist Vittorio Sabelli playing the clarinet back in 2021 for Dawn of a Dark Age, which left me absolutely mesmerized because of his wonderful tone and expression on this in metal rarely used instrument. A.M.E.N. is his newest project, for which he sets to music some of Aleister Crowley’s writings from “The Book of Lies”, and “Liber I” is supposed to be the first in a series of releases. The result is highly experimental, with sometimes weird sounds, and screamed, spoken as well as sung vocals by different singers, which I wouldn’t necessarily describe as easy listening, but are strongly performed and underline the writing’s desecrating character. There are long instrumental parts, where he melts traditional metal with classical instrumentation and song-writing, but also throws in many jazzy and avantgarde snippets. All-together, he takes the listener on a really wild ride, switching between sometimes beautifully melodious and dissonant, furious moments from one second to the other, but again it’s his marvelous clarinet playing that brings in something special for me. Katha

NY based progmetal band Infinite Spectrum are back with a changed line-up (Alex Repetti & Alex Raykin are now joined by singer Will Shaw (Ayreon, Star One, DeadRisen)) and a new concept album, which (according to their website) features 8 guest vocalists, each representing a different character in an epic, mysterious story. Since there is not much further information available about plot or cast, let’s focus on the music. ‘An Unfamiliar Place’ was the first single they released, but it left me a bit underwhelmed after the album announcement tbh, and is now the only skip track for me. Fortunately, “CAGE” comes along with nine other songs, offering a lot of guitar and keyboard wizardry, which gets its climax on the wonderful instrumental piece ‘They Walk Among Us’, and also the drums deliver their varied part to the great whole. Other highlights would be the opener ‘Welcome to CAGE’, ‘If Seeing Is Believing’ and the final ‘Conclude the Investigation’. The different voices and vocal styles keep things interesting as well, so if you’re into progmetal in the veins of rock operas, this might be right up your alley. Katha

I’m still unsure whether Sarmat’s “Determined to Strike” is a stroke of genius or an almost unlistenable cacophony. All I know is that it’s one of the most ridiculously avantgarde free jazz extreme metal debuts of the year, and it’s out now via I, Voidhanger Records. Proceed if dissonant, improvised craziness is what you need! Dario

One of my most anticipated albums by one of my favourite bands, Thy Catafalque is the brainchild of Hungarian multi-instrumentalist Tamás Katai. Whilst the band started as an Avantgarde post-black metal project, Tamás has experimented with many concepts and ideas including folk, electronic, doom, orchestral, and prog. In fact, his previous release “Vadak” (2021) was easily his most progressive album to date, and my personal favourite album of his. So how does the follow up, “Alföld”, compare?

The opening trilogy of tracks kick things off with a more traditional style of post black metal that Tamás has perfected over the years. The riffs here are downright nasty. They’re heavy and dirty, but still incredibly catchy, with seamless transitions between fast paced driving riffs and dark atmospheric slower death doom influenced sections, with a lot of insane dissonant guitar melody. Every passage is just as creative and engaging as the one before it, with Tamás’ harsh vocals arguably at their peak on this album. His vocal performance really compliments the darker tone here. There’s plenty of variance within the post black metal tracks, whether it’s the creative riffs of ‘A Csend Hegyei’, the blast beats and dissonant wall of noise of ‘Testen Túl’, or the saxophones of ‘A Földdel Egyenlo’.

The title track, ‘Alföld’, definitely feels like the center-piece of the album. Not just because it’s the title track, but the longest at just under 10 minutes of run time, and the 4th track on the album really feeling like the peak of the record. This is where the folk elements of the album truly take precedence. What starts as a chuggy instrumental soon gives way to gorgeous ethereal female vocals and harmonies, enveloped by a soothing acoustic passage that rounds out the journey of the track. It’s actually the next track, ‘Folyondár’, that takes the title as my favourite track on the album. This track is pure chaos, and exactly the style I love from Tamás’ work. An instrumental with funky bass riffs, crazy electronics, strings, and even panpipes. The panpipes carry through to ‘Csillagot Görgeto’ too, where they harmonise with the riffs and solos to compliment the use of gospel vocals. I never knew post black metal needed panpipe harmonies but here we are I guess.

Thy Catafalque have absolutely smashed it out the park once again. Delivering yet another set of unique genre bending musical concepts, but this time in a much shorter and more accessible package than their previous full length works. All expectations have been more than met for me, and it’s going to be hard for any black metal  project to top Alföld this year. Who even knows what wacky and wonderful concepts Tamás has in store for us in the future. Sam

New post-rock band to discover is Sidus, created by Spyros Olivotos as a one-man project and later grew into a full band, making instrumental post-rock and drawing inspiration from bands like God Is An Astronaut, Russian Circles and The Ocean Collective. The EP “Seismos” consists of three songs and goes over the experience of an earthquake: the anxious and slightly unsettling ‘Rupture’, exploding speeding up “Seismic Wave” and the aftershocks and the following calmness of ‘Seismos’. This is an emotional journey, peaking halfway and ending with a melodic note. The impressive artwork by Vagelis Petikas adding to the experience, effectively highlighting the trauma associated with the seismic theme. If you are looking for a new instrumental post rock band, exploring the concept of panic attacks, Sidus definitely deserves a listen. Alex

This is not really a highlight to be totally honest. It’s more of a little rant. Do I like the sound(s), performances and songs on “The Approbation”, the debut album by Norwegian newcomers and latest signing to Inside Out Music, Avkrvst? Yes, I actually do. So why am I having a hard time highlighting this release? Well, the first acoustic breakdown being taken directly from Opeth’s ‘Windowpane’ could be forgiven, but frustration quickly sets in when you discover more and more set pieces here and there that feel just a tad too familiar. So while all the tools of the trade are most certainly there, it does feel like listening to a cover band who mashed up all the songs of the band they are covering. I know an approbation to be a license to practice medicine. These guys certainly have my approbation to practice music. I just wished they would do it in a slightly more original way. They’ve got all the armamentarium they need for it. Oh and more Mellotron should be the new more cowbell. And more e-bow! Dario