As it has been silent on the CD review front lately, herewith a return to the format used earlier this year. Four short pointers to great new albums going from soft to heavy.
Starting with the hardest one to describe: Our Oceans. I pre-ordered their album based upon the presence of Tymon Kruidenier and Robin Zielhorst formerly known from Cynic and Exivious. The grunts Tymon used in Cynic are nowhere near to be found here. Their facebook page describes them as Dreamy, Otherworldly, melancholic, post-rock, singer/songwriter. This explains I am stuggling to put my finger on their style, but that shall not stop me from recommending this release. A Beautiful album for the quiet moments.
The Room released their second album Beyond the Gates of Bedlam this month. I knew their voaclist from Grey Lady Down, but this band is moving slightly more to melodic rock, AOR corners. Ther debut was stunning and it seems that this one gets better every time I hear it again. I believe I wrote for their debut that potentially they could please a huge market covering the styles mentioned above. So far this does not seem to be the case, but now with two great releases who knows where they might end up. Otherwise they remain one of many unknown secrets. Great band, how about de Boerderij for once?
Teramaze- Her Halo. Well this one is easily among the best progmetal releases this year. They do tick all the boxes for making a great progmetal album. An epic, an instrumetal, a ballad and five uptempo metal songs. This brought by great players and a remarkable voice of new vocalist Nathan Peachey. For anyone into melodic power prog metal this album is a must have. Hard to mention any preferred song, but maybe the extremely catchy chorus of the title song lifts that one just above the rest. Another proof of the fact that Australia is releasing a never stopping stream of top progmetal releases.
Swallow the Sun - Songs from the North I, II & III. This is a work of Art. Any band releasing a triple CD in today's downloading times already deserves full support. When this triple album contains so many beautiful songs one has to buy the album. Of course grunting is a hurdle to many, but still Part II can please those. pt.I Gloom sounds most like their only other album I own New Moon. Great doom metal with changes in heavyness throughout. pt. II Beauty is for the melancholic rockers. pt.III Despair is desparate and HEAVY. Swallow the Sun created the soundtrack for autumn 2015 when the world is at it's lowest since many years. "From Happiness to Dust", "Before the Summer Dies", "Empires of Loneliness"are just some of the titles showing this is not a happy metal album. But so beautifull in all it's misery.
Hey thanks for your very kind words about The Room. We are getting some fabulous comments about the new album, yours included! We would love to come and play for you at the Boerderij ...we are planning something in 2016 but not sure if we could pull enough people to that fantastic venue!! Either way we hope to come across the channel very soon. Kindest regards and thanks so much for your support. Andy (Bass Guitar The Room)
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