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Got
to give it up for young entrepreneurs who in these times
of thin cows are still willing to put their money where
their musical taste is. A few weeks ago I received an
e-mail from these French guys who
were planning on launching the label with a three-disc
compilation that would include some of today’s metal
stalwarts like Kylesa, Pelican and Rosetta along with
the most forward thinking in the European underground.
They were asking me for an address to send a copy to.
That, my friends and hopefully loyal readers, may just
be about the only perk of having an underground music
zine; getting free music. Physical copies especially.
The first
disc comes to an auspicious start with Kylesa’s excellent cover
of Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”.
It’s a perfect balance of gritty power and subtle psychedelics.
Kehlvin come from Switzerland and play some rough sludge
hardcore. The last half of the song sounds like a giant machine
slowly breaking and swallowing everything around it while it’s
on its way out. Next up are Belgium’s Amenra who got some
pretty good press for their recent album III. Their submission in
this comp sounds like an intro more than a song representative
of a band’s sound. That may be the point as Amenra slowly
present a tune that only opens up in the last quarter of the
song.
Knut have
had plenty of exposure in the new world with their releases
being served via Hydra Head. Their cut here is as articulate,
jagged and angular as 45 degrees can get. Chicago’s Pelican give
us some contrast. Their cut “Aurora Borealis” sounds like morning. It also
sounds like an intro, but is a soothing break after the
harshness before. It’s smooth sailing for a while. Ocoai are
straight ahead post rockers and though their sound is
well-executed and blooming is difficult to take them as anything
else than Mogwai knock offs. Tephra hails from Germany and
balance out their post rock sound with excruciating vocals.
More
than a few bands should steal ideas from Impure Wilhelmina. “The
Rope” has the care of post rock, but is also of a very good
straight ahead metal song. Rounding out the first CD are Cortez, Einna, Yog, Year of No Light and others.
Hey, if I was to review
every single song in this compilation we’d be here all week.
The second
disc starts out with a Rosetta song. It sounds just like
anything else they’ve written. Callisto is much more
interesting. They are a six-piece from Turku, Finland that
sublimely balances out post rock passages with harsher tones and
typical raspy vocals. On the contrary Overmars are all atonal
blackness and lengthy passages of thick viscous mucus. On the
downside I stopped having time for bands that sound like Scold
for Wandering about a year and a half ago. Celeste on the
contrary have a black metal side, which is everything to
differentiate themselves from the rest of the bunch included in the comp. Their song
“Mais Va Vendre Ton Dedain” shows promise. Instrumental stoners
Caldera dropped a pretty great album last year via Radar Swarm.
Their song featured here is fucking stellar.
I Pilot
Daemon are the first real break from the second CD. These French
boys have swing and swagger. It’s like rocking hardcore; upbeat
and with a wonderful guitar ring. I need to get me some of this.
Aside From a Day sound better than their name while Zatokrev
offer their impressive rudeness via “Story of a Thousand”, a
song that shows what happens when you put together tribal music
with evil modern sounds. Rorcal hail from Geneva. According to
some, the best place to live. But judging by their song “Descend
From Wherever We Shall Ascend” we never would have guessed.
Geneva might as well be a hellish depressing hell hole where some of
the best doom can be manufactured. Impressive tune. Crowning the
second disc is Dirge, who I covered
here. “The
Coiling” is far from being their best song.
The third
disc starts with Maino and Umealven. It’s obvious the sound
quality is down. The bands sound greener and constantly
reverting back to post rock and metal clichés. Most are still
struggling to find an identity. Eno offer nothing. A few years ago
they would have been OK. Nowadays, unless they make conscious
changes and move away from their influences they’ll have a
difficult road ahead. Still, some of the most talented ones rise
easily. Another Moon sound exciting. It’s difficult to picture a
whole album around the same concept of their song included here
(“Un Message Du Futur”), but these fuckers pack a creative punch
in a sub genre that's almost exhausted itself.
As an anally
retentive music lover I would have liked the insert to be more
informative. Perhaps to include images, along with bios for each
band. But we can’t always get what we want, right? Falling
Down does an excellent job at showcasing this new breed of
extreme musicians. Better yet, unlike most compilations Falling Down packs three
discs with good music and promising bands. ‘Promising’ as
in there really was quality control going on here. Post rock
isn’t metal or hardcore, but this is post rocking metal and post
rocking
hardcore.
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