Heartbreaking and filled with regret and lamentation To The Core is the return of Nosound, the project of composer/multi-instrumentalist Giancarlo Erra. He wrote and performed all the music on this album, the first since 2018 but Erra has taken things back to a more natural route than on more recent outings, using real strings, drums, guitars and analogue synths to capture the soul of the music.
Taking it back to where he began after a sojourn into electronic textures on his previous album. This focus on the 'real' gives the album a warmth, even when the music is desolate and introspective, like on Interrupt, there's a heart to it, filling the space between the sorrowful cello and the lingering piano melodies. Compared to Signur Rós or Steven Wilson I'd have to put in Antimatter too as definite sound alike.
The aching emotion of Erra's vocals are as striking as his richly layered music, as he performs the music he wants too, not driven by labels or popularity this is one man's musical mindset committed to disc on five almost perfect tracks. The ode to the passing of time, Worn-Out Parts is spine-tingling, acoustic guitars against swirling psychedelics, Erra's voice in harmony with Louise Pigott creating this evocative centrepiece.
To The Core makes it's way to the core of my listening habits, post-rock, prog and artistic merit, Nosound return to where they're from in fine style. 8/10
Floating – Hesitating Lights (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Spike]
A curious, murky beast, Hesitating Lights fuses dissonant death metal, gothic post-punk, and eerie synth work into something equal parts mesmerising and unsettling. This isn’t genre-blending for the sake of novelty. Sweden’s Floating fully commit to the weirdness, and it pays off with a record that feels like wandering through fog with something ancient breathing just out of sight.
Taking it back to where he began after a sojourn into electronic textures on his previous album. This focus on the 'real' gives the album a warmth, even when the music is desolate and introspective, like on Interrupt, there's a heart to it, filling the space between the sorrowful cello and the lingering piano melodies. Compared to Signur Rós or Steven Wilson I'd have to put in Antimatter too as definite sound alike.
The aching emotion of Erra's vocals are as striking as his richly layered music, as he performs the music he wants too, not driven by labels or popularity this is one man's musical mindset committed to disc on five almost perfect tracks. The ode to the passing of time, Worn-Out Parts is spine-tingling, acoustic guitars against swirling psychedelics, Erra's voice in harmony with Louise Pigott creating this evocative centrepiece.
To The Core makes it's way to the core of my listening habits, post-rock, prog and artistic merit, Nosound return to where they're from in fine style. 8/10
Floating – Hesitating Lights (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Spike]
A curious, murky beast, Hesitating Lights fuses dissonant death metal, gothic post-punk, and eerie synth work into something equal parts mesmerising and unsettling. This isn’t genre-blending for the sake of novelty. Sweden’s Floating fully commit to the weirdness, and it pays off with a record that feels like wandering through fog with something ancient breathing just out of sight.
Opener I Reached The Mew sets the tone: fragile, delay-washed guitars meander in quietly, before the whole thing collapses under snarled vocals and frantic, looping riff work. It’s harsh, but never flat-out brutal. Floating are far more interested in mood than mayhem. Grave Dog lurches with lopsided energy, jagged and twitchy, while Cough Choir marries blackened discordance with warped electronics that make you feel like you’re listening through a broken tape deck.
The album peaks with the two-part title track, Hesitating Lights / Harmless Fires a brooding, slow-build opener giving way to an explosion of noise and dread. It’s an ambitious centrepiece that sums up the whole album’s uneasy charisma: you’re never quite comfortable, but you’re drawn in regardless.
Production is raw but atmospheric, which works in its favour. The drums punch through, but nothing feels over-polished, letting the more ambient textures smear into the mix like oil on water. Vocals stay low in the blend less frontman, more malevolent presence lurking somewhere behind you.
Hesitating Lights isn’t trying to be accessible, and that’s kind of the point. It’s strange, bleak, and proudly off-kilter but if you’ve ever wondered what might happen if Killing Joke wrote a death-doom album after a week on a sleep deprivation study, Floating may be your new favourite band. 8/10
Hiroe - Wield (Pelagic Records) [Matt Bladen]
Triple guitar wielding post rockers compared to bands such as Caspian, Isis and Deftones, they have been signed to Pelagic Records so I'm assuming they have some serious promise. This is the debut full length but they released an EP in 2022 the line having changed since then as Eric Kusanagi (guitar) returned alongside Jill Paslier, who moves from bass to guitars. They are joined by Brian Kong (guitars), Jon Seiler (bass) and Dan Sagherian (drums) to complete this version 2.0 of Hiroe.
Wield is a 48 minutes of instrumental soundscapes that swell from prog to doom encapsulating everything in between, it weaves from melodic peaks to crushingly heavy troughs. The Philadelphia band create their own sense of wonder and majesty as trio of guitars cascade towards each other on Dancing At The End Of The World, using tapping, arpeggios and various other wizardly techniques to make these soundscapes.
The bass playing in particular stands out on this record as a major contributor to the lead instrument, complex while also being captivating it's more than just and anchor for these tracks, on the heavy 7/8 prog of The Crush the use of synths/keys/samples etc and undertow of the dynamic sound of the band. Hiroe excel with Wield, a journey through sound guided by virtuoso performers. 8/10
Disembodiment – Spiral Crypts (Everlasting Spew) [Spike]
From the fetid depths of Quebec’s death-doom underground, Disembodiment lurch forth with Spiral Crypts a dense, rotting half-hour that trades polish for pure, dripping atmosphere. It’s not trying to be clever. It’s not trying to be anything other than what it is: slow-churning, bile-streaked death metal soaked in decay and feedback.
There’s a grotesque grandeur to it, best felt in the crawling menace of Stygian Overture or the title track’s bleak spiral into low-end hell. The guitars grind like tombstones dragged across concrete, while the vocals remain buried under layers of sonic silt, more exhalation than articulation. It’s the kind of sound that begs for a candlelit basement and a slightly malfunctioning cassette deck.
There’s momentum, though. Putrification and Infected To Rot bring just enough up-tempo filth to stop things sinking completely into the mire, giving the record some gnawed-at structure. But make no mistake this is music for listeners who like their death metal in a state of decomposition. Think Spectral Voice on a particularly unpleasant hangover.
There’s nothing revolutionary here, but there doesn’t need to be. Spiral Crypts nails its aesthetic, wallows in it, and doesn’t come up for air. For some of us, that’s more than enough. 7/10
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