Twice delicate, once brutal, once in-between: 4 highlights!

Loki and Rôka Skulld, the enigmatic duo that comprises the musical entity known as Nordic Giants, are back with “Symbiosis”, their second full length studio album (if you count 2017’s “Amplify Human Vibrations” as separate documentary/soundtrack project). Their (mostly instrumental) haunting, ethereal piano/drums post-rock soundscapes are as beautiful, gripping and emotionally poignant as ever and even though the single ‘Faceless’ with a captivating guest vocal performance by Alex Hedley surely is a highlight, there’s enough melody and harmony in the rest of the album to convert even the most headstrong of vocal fetishist. And there’s always a second vocal feature by Freyja on the song ‘Spheres’, another highlight in a flawless album without fillers. Well which one is it now, you might ask? An album with peaks/highlights, or an album that stays at the same high level throughout? Well, both I’d say! A wonderful ocean of sounds to lose oneself into! Dario

More piano centered music comes from Silent Skies this week, but here the partner in the duet is not a drum kit, but rather the amazing velvet voice of Evergrey’s Tom S. Englund. On the piano: the ever-prolific and busy maestro Vikram Shankar of course. “Nectar” is the second album of this duo project, just a bit more than a year after their debut. It shows a matured songwriting unity, playing to all their strengths in ways 2020’s “Satellites” could only dream of (or, let’s say hint at). Confident in their stripped down minimalism, the 10 songs are nothing short of masterclasses of slow burning, cinematic, dark melancholy pop. Returning on the Cello to add another layer of beauty is Raphael Weinroth-Browne (Musk Ox, Leprous). “Nectar” is pure, raw emotions wrapped in a silken velvet voice and filled to the brim with delicate piano and strings textures. Mesmerizing! Dario

After much acclaim of their 2018 release “Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It”, UK post-hardcore group Rolo Tomassi are back with their newest full-length titled “Where Myth Becomes Memory”. As opposed to their previous effort having lots of mathcore and blackgaze sprinkled around to give it the uniqueness it provided, this one goes more in the proggy post-metal side of things. While they did explore this sound before, they expanded on it quite a bit further here. Pretty heavy vibes of later-The Contortionist and TesseracT throughout, but still throwing in that groovy, blackened mathcore sound every once in a while. A few parts made me think of Gojira as well with some of the rhythms thrown in by drummer Tom Pitts. Very impressive! Not to mention the wonderful, versatile vocal performance by Eva Korman, who truly brings together the full character of such a sound. This band is really something and are ticking all of the right boxes to become a new favourite! Colin

Cranking up the heaviness significantly over the course of these four highlights this week, welsh death metal quintet Venom Prison definitely stands out as the most brutal of them all. Their fourth full length album “Erebos” is dropping today via Century Media Records and looks to be a total gamechanger for the band, judging by the media feedback leading up to this day. And rightfully so, “Erebos” channels a visceral, raw energy, all the while keeping a tight, almost surgical precision in both instrumental performance and overall sound design. Front and center is Larissa Stupar’s powerful voice, spitting venom over blastbeats, breakdowns, nasty riffs and blistering solos and leads. Why do we feature a band solely advertised as death metal you ask? Well simply listen to “Pain of Oizys” and judge for yourself, one of the best songs of the year so far (even though it was released last December already as a single). Dario