Sedate Illusion: UnGod Me (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
The creation of Vangelis Kakarougkas (keyboards/vocals) Sedate Illusion are a progressive metal band from Corfu, but their music isn't anywhere as sunny as that islands weather. No Sedate Illusion play introspective, melodic, keyboard-driven progressive metal. I reviewed their last record, a conceptual piece called Glass Delusion, quite favourably back in 2016 so after a long wait, I was hoping that their newest album would hold. Well the provocative title of UnGod Me is enough to show that once again Sedate Illusion will be tackling quite dense subject matter. They do this through huge cinematic pieces such as Reach The Sun the closing track to this album (other than the reissued version of Withered Roses) which is an epic to end on as it really shows off the virtuosity of the whole band but mainly that of Kakarougkas, whose keyboard playing and emotive vocal is central to the band. That's not to say the rest of the band don't contribute as Anastasios Kibizis' guitar playing is the perfect counterpoint to Kakarougkas much like how the two Michaels in Symphony X (Sedate Illusion's major influence) gel with each other, equally in the engine room Vagelis Glavinas (bass guitar) and Antreas Alamanos (drums) are the thrusting urgency to numbers such as Perspective and the depth to songs like Forever. UnGod Me is a record that will appeal to fans of progressive metal everywhere, darkly complex but can penetrate through that for a engaging listen. 7/10
Ewigkeit: Land Of Fog - 20/20 Re-Vision (D.T.M Productions) [Rich Oliver]
Ewigkeit continues with the third rejigging and reimagining of the back catalogue with the 2003 album Land Of Fog getting the treatment. Ewigkeit is the solo project of James Fogarty aka Mr. Fog (of In The Woods…, Jaldaboath, Old Forest amongst others) and Land Of Fog was the third album and saw a drifting away from the black metal origins to a far more diverse and experimental sound. Although the sound is very much rooted in black metal Land Of Fog dabbles into more psychedelic territory with influences from doom metal, gothic metal and progressive rock permeating through as well. There is a heavy use of keyboards throughout from electronic synths to piano and they are given equal footing to the guitars. The vocals are a mix of harsh and clean though both styles are fairly restrained which is in keeping with the atmosphere of the album.
In comparison with the original 2003 version of the album everything has been remixed giving the album a more polished, clean and dynamic sound. Whilst some aspects have been re-recorded a lot of the original recording is used on this reimagining albeit spruced up. Land Of Fog (20/20 Re-Vision) is a nice new version of the album which whilst not a million miles away from the original recording Mr. Fog has given these songs a bit of tender loving care. It’s an interesting album which was the start of a road of experimentation for Ewigkeit which would continue on subsequent albums. 7/10
Coogans Bluff: Metronopolis (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
One way to get my attention with a band name is take it from a violent Clint Eastwood movie, Coogan's Bluff is actually one of my faves by the whisper voiced, big gun toting, screen legend. So I was interested already before pressing play on this sixth album by German rock band Coogans Bluff, my interest turned to excitement when this brilliant record kicked off with a mixture of 60's influenced psych rock, German Krautrock but full of modern touches, the brilliantly named Metronopolis is anything but clockwork. The band consists of founding members Willi Paschen (guitar), Charlie Paschen (drums, Farfisa, Mellotron), Clemens Marasus (bass, vocals) along with the additional flavoring from Stefan Meinking (trombone) and Max Thum (sax) you get a record that starts out with Gadfly a repetitive guitar lead is met with rumbling Mellotron as the drums kick up the speed and the brass fleshes it out.
From here things get jazzy moving into those Krautrock Tangerine Dream-like soundscapes, Sincerely Yours has a feel of Americana as Zephyr is a jazz rocker where Clemens' vocals morph into those of Dave Grohl although he's also got a hint of Beefheart too on Creatures Of The Light it even closes with a triumphal instrumental The Turn I which has parping brass that leads into the quirky The Turn II that welcomes you to jazz club...nice. A very pleasing discovery Coogans Bluff will sit on on playlist for a long time now I've discovered them Metronopolis is a rocking record from these retro-loving Germans play it loud and bask in the fuzzy wonder. 8/10
Gravebloom: 1 - Empath (Self Released) [Liam True]
Being a Metalcore kid at heart is was a little excited for this album. But when I heard it I was kind of let down. There’s not much originality in the record and it sounds like it should have been released on MySpace back in 2009. The main issue I have with the album is that the production isn’t all that great and needs to be more polished for me personally. If it’s what they were aiming for then they’ve hit that mark perfectly. But personally I like to hear the album clearly. Another downfall is it’s predictability within the instrumentation, such as when breakdowns are going to be placed and when it goes from aggressive Metalcore to the slow melodic clean vocal sections. I’ve had the argument that Metalcore is stale so many times that the argument itself is becoming stale. Unfortunately Gravebloom fit into the category as well. Predictable, recycled and boring is the only words I'd use to describe this album. Bit of a shame because they do have potential. They just need to experiment with their sound to achieve a better sounding record. 3/10
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