Big Brave – Ardor

Big Brave is a three piece band from Canada. Their new album ”Ardor” was released on the 15th of September through Southern Lord Recordings. Three tracks are included in this release. So you might ask ”what music does this band play?”. Well, their unearthly music is definitely heavy and really experimental. It is also seriously dark and cold. The album’s first track is called ”Sound”. I’ll admit it caught me by surprise. I really didn’t know what to expect. In my opinion this song kills. I loved its atmosphere. I’m also down with the band’s vocals. To me her singing sounds like it’s coming straight from the heart and i most definitely like that. Second song is called ”Lull”. In my opinion you need to experience this song. Free your mind from everything that’s been bothering you and just enjoy these beautiful tunes. Last but not least we find ”Borer”, namely the album’s third song. This is probably my favourite song from this album. It wasn’t an easy decision i assure you. I’m nothing but overwhelmed by this song’s heaviness and i would like to urge all of you to give it a listen. Trust me you won’t regret it. These three songs are like a deep dive into one’s psyche. ”Ardor” by Big Brave” is one of the best albums i’ve listened to in months. In my opinion it is an album that can be enjoyed by metalheads, punks, dark wave fans, e.t.c. Here’s a link where you can also listen to ”Ardor”.

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Interview with Dark Habits

Please introduce your band. When was the band formed?

Our band was formed between Matt Adamson our drummer and myself Lewis Glass our guitarist in January of this year (2017). For a brief period Matthew Blanchett performed vocals for us (he is the vocalist on Cave Paintings) but we have since parted ways with him.
The band now consists of Matt Adamson(drums), Ross Livingstone (bass), Lewis Glass (guitar) and Steven Murray (vocals).

Can you tell us about your main influences?

The main premise for our music is anything fast and heavy with some industrial influence although it’s not restricted to this. The bands that probably influence us the most are the likes of Converge, Darkthrone and Nine Inch Nails.

What inspires you the most?

Pretty much anything that is ‘not nice’ in life. I think it’s important to be a nice person in life but not deny the fact that horrible things happen around the world every day. We try to deal with this in our music, be it through the lyrics or through the mood/intensity of the instruments.

How is music produced in Dark Habits?

In terms of writing we are a very democratic band. A member will usually come to practice with an idea on their instrument and we’ll write around that and see where it goes. Lewis records, mixes and masters all of our music. He runs a studio (www.glassworksstudiorecording.com) where we write and rehearse. This, tied in with the fact that Ross is a videographer (www.yearonemusic.com) in his spare time means that we can do absolutely everything ourselves and keep the running costs of our band really low.

This May you released your debut ep ‘’Cave Paintings’’. How has the reception been so far?

We’ve been overwhelmed by the reception to it. We didn’t expect anyone outside of Glasgow to ever hear it but we’ve ended up sending tapes (which are now sold out!) to places all over the world, from Canada to Japan.

What about a full length album?

A full length album will happen although most likely not until next year. We have an EP due out before the end of the year though!

What are you listening to these days?

Between us we’ve been listening to Vein, Street Sects, Lord Mantis, Viva Belgrado. We do listen to non loud music too though. I think a band we all agree we love is Interpol!

Which is your favourite way of enjoying music? What would you choose between digital and physical format?

Whilst we all collect cassettes and vinyl when we can we definitely consume music digitally more often. Right now we all have extremely busy schedules and prefer the convenience of an MP3. That being said, the collectibility and sentimentality of cassettes and vinyl is unbeatable.

Any live shows planned for the rest of this year?

Yeah we have a few:

7th October @ The Flying Duck, Glasgow: Nihility, Underdark, Razorbite and us.
24th October @ The Garage Attic, Glasgow: Svalbard, The Tidal Sleep, Bosporus and us.
5th November @ Audio, Glasgow: Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Leng T’che, Boak, Endless Swarm, Gendo Ikari and us.

What does the future hold for Dark Habits?

We don’t have any goals other than to keep making music and playing shows together.

Snakes/ Crosss – Split

Today we’re gonna do a review of a split album. Snakes contribute with two tracks while Crosss with four. Side A of this split belongs to Snakes, namely Brett Netson’s solo project. Side B includes four songs by Crosss, a band that hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia. So let’s check out side A. First song is called ”Old, Like Hell”. This is not exactly my cup of tea. Nostalgic and esoteric at the same time, at some extend it sounded interesting. I didn’t exactly love it but i didn’t hate it as well. Now ”Hypothermia Pt.2” puzzled me a bit. To me this track is like a bold mixture of 70’s heavy space rock and ambient/ drone. One could say that it works as a big outro for ”Old, Like Hell”. As for myself, i’ll admit that it sounded o.k for me but the truth is that i gradually started to lose interest. Keep in mind though that this is just one man’s opinion. It’s not necessarily the right one. Now Crosss is a different story. This heavy grunge of theirs caught me by surprise. I’m talking about songs like ”The Afterlight” and ”I Got Lo”. In my opinion ”I Got Lo” sounds superheavy and you should all give it a listen. ”Descent” made this side sound a bit more claustrophobic. I’ll admit i dig this one. And now i want to listen to more Crosss songs. This split introduced me to two bands i had never heard of before in the past. I enjoyed both sides but to be perfectly honest with you i mostly enjoyed side B. Thi split album comes out on the 6th of October. Until then check out these two links: Brett Netson & Snakes, Crosss .

 

Interview with Procrastinate

Please introduce your band. When was the band formed?

Procrastinate was formed in 2013 at Karditsa, Greece. At first, it was a project of two people in need to express themselves through extreme music and put out their ideas and beliefs. Later things got more serious and we became a five-piece and highly active group. We place ourselves among the DIY hardcore punk scene and perform only in autonomous spaces and squats which promote an anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, anti-fascist and self-organized way of life.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Our lyrics draw inspiration from everyday life issues, the social & political crisis, personal situations and ethics.

Can you tell us about your main influences?

The only sure thing is that we listen to a LOT of music. I think that some bands that we can all agree on in the band are Tragedy, His Hero Is Gone, Fall of Efrafa, Wolfbrigade etc. for basics, but mostly we enjoy the contemporary DIY Greek scene in which we saw ourselves flourish. However, to diminish influence only to music would be a huge mistake. Art in general is and will be a major part of our lives forever.

The last years we’ve seen many diy bands come out of Greece. Is diy more of a political statement or is it more about freedom of artistic creativity?

Being free and creating on your own terms IS a political statement. People trying to refuse DIY its politicization to easily exploit its rise is something sadly often and really dangerous. We’re glad that the DIY scene in Greece is at its best with many different bands coming out day by day and we look forward it to be the threat to modern culture we dream it to be.

You are about to release your first, full length album. How did the recording sessions go? Will it be a concept album?

The recording sessions were split between Karditsa and Livadeia (both in Greece) where most of the work took place. We easily managed to get done everything the way it was supposed to be and we’re really happy with the end result. We consider the LP to be the best sounding work we’ve ever released. For that, we would like to thank George Stournaras over at Infected Studios in Livadeia for recording, mixing and mastering the record and Achilleas Kaminiotis over at Huge4 Studios in Karditsa for recording the vocals. There was no concept in mind while creating it, but after closely listening to it after its birth and if we had to name one, it would be: “The tale of a modern human’s daily struggle to cope with life’s absurdity and to make all dreams of rebellion reality”.

When will the album be released?

The album is going to be officially released by us and sweetohm recordings at September the 25^th. For all those interested, you can stream the whole LP now exclusively over at IDIOTEQ.com or listen some tracks uploaded at our YouTube channel.

I loved the album’s cover artwork. Can you give us some info on that?

The peacock is something very characteristic of our hometown. If you visit Karditsa, there’s no way to ignore its central park “Pausilypo” where many of them have their stroll. These birds are connected to many childhood memories of this park and all the fun we had and are still having there. The obvious choice because of his love of drawing animals and our respect to him as a musician and artist was Alex CF (Fall of Efrafa, Light Bearer, Carnist, Momentum, Archivist, Morrow, etc.) who translated our vision into art in the best possible way and also took care of the layout.

Any live shows planned for the rest of this year?

We’ll be touring Europe in November for two weeks in support of the LP and have also planned two Greek dates for October in Patras and Athens. More Greek dates after Europe will follow for sure. Stay tuned for more information on the shows.

What are you listening to these days?

I sure can’t talk for everyone, but I (T.-vocals) am really into Brockhampton’s (an L.A. based hip-hop collective) new album “Saturation II”, Wolfbrigade’s latest album “Run with the Hunted” and Converge’s “I Can Tell You about Pain” EP.

What does the future hold for Procrastinate?

We’ll try to get the new album as far as we can, play as many gigs as we can and fight daily for what’s not earned yet. Beware the time of change.

Omotai – A Ruined Oak

Before we begin with this review, we would like to send all our love to Houston. Please, remain strong! Omotai is a four piece band from Houston. The band came into existence back in 2010. Their new album ”A Ruined Oak” will be released on the 6th of October through Tofu Carnage Records. ‘A Ruined Oak’ was recorded by Chris Ryan at Dead City Sound and mastered by James Plotkin. Twelve songs will be included in this release. The band’s music is a blend of sludge, hardcore punk, progressive and doom metal. It starts with ”Welcome to the Adders’ Land”. Hands down, this is a really nice track. This was actually the first song i heard from this band. And then i said to myself ”So this is how this band sounds? Ok guys you now have my full attention”. ”Ruined Oak” is also a nice track. I think that Mastodon fans are gonna love it. There’s so much groove in this song. Same goes for ”Last of the green Vial”. It is considerably heavy and straightforward at the same time. ”Arms that Flood” is a beast of a song. It’s one of my favorites and i urge all of you to give it a listen. If you like Kylesa then you’ll definitely like ”Blackjaw”. Moving on we find ”Back to the drifting satellite”. That’s one really cool title for a song, don’t you think? I loved this track as well. So far i couldn’t find a mediocre moment here. Let’s check out the rest of this album. In my opinion ”A Cruel Weight, Thy Wound” is the album’s best track. It’s an immense, imposing i’d say track and it has been haunting my playlist for some time now. ”Fire is a whore” and ”A maiden nerve” that come next are also heavy as hell. ”Augustina” is also another track that you need to listen to. Certainly a beautiful track. Overall, i have to say that this is a really good album. I think the band delivered. I will admit i enjoyed this album, i’m definitely down with it and i have nothing negative to say about it whatsoever. As it has already been mentioned this album comes out on October 6. Until then check out this link.

Interview with Dead Like Me

Hi there! How are you guys? Congratulations on your first Lp.

Hi there, everything goes well, we received your interview during our rehearsal, prefect timing!
This album is very precious to us, it represents the end of bad lucks.

Please introduce your band. When was the band formed?

The band was formed in 2010. We recorded a demo in 2011, then a split with the amazing Gerda (Italy) and now we’re releasing our first album “A terre, amas de rêves”. As we said above, this album is very important to us cause, after our tour in 2013, we had to overcome hard times with the devastation of our rehearsal local (and Alain’s studio) and gear by a big flood. That was followed by heavy work and two consecutive changes of line-up (Lionel and Laurent joined the band on drums and vocals respectively). After this episode, we were motivated as ever to work on writing new material. But sometimes out of bad comes good and these hard times certainly pushed us to go further in the process of composition of these new songs.

What does the name Dead Like Me represent?

It’s relatively simple, it means that we’re all already dead, dead like me, dead like you, through our failures, disillusionments, etc. and in the literal sense of course because we’re all gonna die (sorry to have to tell you this, man !!).

What inspires you the most?

Everything around us is a part of our influences, music we listen to, books we read, movies we watch, our experiences in lives, people we meet and the ones we spend our time with, etc. We’re not able to tell you details of what gives our music its face because those ones are absorbed without thinking of. What we’re putting inside it is our deep bad feelings, like pessimistic way of thinking, coming from news and everything we said above. By this way, that’s what it allows us to “smile”

Can you tell us about your main influences?

Musically, we are influenced by a lot of things. To sum up, 90’s/early 2000’s metalcore scene with bands like Botch, Rubbish Heap, Converge, Anodyne… Post-hardcore/Post-metal bands such as Breach, Neurosis and others have been very important for us too. And extreme metal bands like Gaza or Plebeian Grandstand… And without forgetting some “non-metal” bands… And the list goes on and on but we’ll stop here this name-dropping !

Your first Lp ‘’À Terre, Amas De Rêves” comes out on October. Is there a concept behind this album you’d like to discuss?

This is not an concept album about the Greek myth of Persephone, although some topics concerned in lyrics can resonate with the myth : self-deception, selfishness, sorrow, disillusionments of life, manipulation, etc. So for us, the artwork is just another way to illustrate these feelings, as well as lyrics of a song.

How long did it take you to record this album?

We recorded at Celestine Records (Alain’s studio), a few days here and there, in several sessions between his other projects, for a total of three weeks for record and mix.

Any live shows planned for this year?

We’ll take the road from October 4^th to 11^th, some gigs in France, Belgium, Germany and Netherlands. And then certainly a few gigs here and there, closer to home…

What are you listening to these days?

Well, go around the table :
Seb : Yob, Deathspell Omega, Pyrrhon, Primitive Man, Chelsea Wolfe, Regina Spektor…
Alain : As we draw, Rubbish Heap, Radiohead…
Lionel : Bagarre Générale, Converge…
Laurent : Moinho, Geraniüm, Ulcerate, Mgla, Lord Esperanza (French rap), Sadistik…

What does the future hold for Dead Like Me?

We’re working on new tracks, maybe for a split, and on another tour in February 2018.

Dead Like Me – À terre, amas de rêves

We’re about to enter autumn and Persephone will once again have to leave her mother Demetra in order to descend into the underworld and reunite with Pluton. This fall, Dead Like Me will drop their new album ”À terre, amas de rêves”. Hailing from Pau, France, the band was formed back in 2010 and since then they have released a demo (2011) and a split album with Gerda (2012). ”À terre, amas de rêves” is the band’s first Lp. It will see release on the 13th of October. Six tracks are included in this album. All lyrics are written in french but you shouldn’t let that discourage you. So let’s press play. Let’s see what we’ve got here. The album’s first track is called ”Seulement des corps entassés”. It’s a really nice track and it kinda reminded me of Coalesce. Yup, this stuff is damn interesting. But let’s have a look at the next tracks. ”À vomir des doutes et des plaintes” is the album’s second track. It’s seriously heavy. I’m definitely down with this song of theirs. ”Les cerbères d’un temple oublié” is a song that you need to experience. I mean you can’t just give it a listen. You need to feel its magnificent colours and emotions. I could describe it as a ”Neurosis meets Converge” thing but i’m not sure how accurate that would be. One thing’s for sure though. It is an excellent track. Same goes for ”Refléter le vide et son contraire”. If you’re a Burnt By The Sun fan then you’re gonna love this track. ”Nos corps s’épuisent et se déchirent” is like a big dose of mathcore madness. I personally loved it. Last but not least we find ”À terre, amas de rêves”. I personally feel that they left one of their best tracks for the end. To me this album is like a big track cut down to six pieces so you must listen to it from the first till the last song. Don’t skip any songs. My two favourite ones were ”Les cerbères d’un temple oublié” and ”À terre, amas de rêves”. I’ll admit i enjoyed this album. Therefore i would like to recommend it. I’d give it an 8.5 out of 10. As it has already been mentioned, this album comes out on October. Here’s a link where you can have a first taste.