Altar Of Plagues – Mammal

Altar Of Plagues are an Irish ensemble specialised in making an eerie and catatonic combination of black metal and postcore. They’ve been around for quite some time now, resulting in a couple of EP’s and one full length album, entitled White Tomb. These guys make a grand return with their latest effort, called Mammal.

Neurosis – Given To The Rising

Neurosis can be seen as the godfathers of the whole postcore movement. Almost every band within the genre owes something to them. Originally the band started out as a hardcore/punk outfit, but they gradually shifted their style towards doom metal, noise core and avant-garde. In their wake they created a whole new breed of bands, collectively known as the postcore movement. Enemy Of The Sun (1996), Times Of Grace (1999) and A Sun That Never Sets (2001) are seen as landmark albums. In 2007 the band released Given To The Rising, their current record. Let’s take a closer look.

Sólstafir – Köld

Iceland is a rather small rocky and icy country on the northern edge of Europe, surrounded by rough seas. Besides a lot of volcanoes the island has spawned some cutting edge musicians and bands, like Björk, Sigur Rós and The Sugarcubes. When it comes to cutting edge hybrids of metal and postcore, Sólstafir is the band to look out for. After releasing a string of demo’s and EP’s the band released their first full length album under the guise of Masterpiece Of Pain (2005), which got raving reviews. Sólstafir’s current album, entitled Köld, was released in 2009. Let’s take a closer look.

Bloodiest – Descent

Some time ago I did an interview with Bruce Lamont of Yakuza and Circle Of Animals fame. He mentioned that his latest project/band, called Bloodiest, was about to release its debut album. Well, here it is under the guise of Descent. As is the case with many Bruce Lamont projects it’s highly original and thought provoking and you need to give it at least ten spins before the music starts to sink in…

Indian – Guiltless

Indian are a Chicago (USA) based band and they’re specialised in relentless and uncompromising doom metal. After having released several albums and EP’s on the Seventh Seal label they’ve signed with Relapse for their upcoming record, entitled Guiltless. Let’s focus on the crushing power of their latest album.

Squadra Omega – Squadra Omega

Let’s start with the facts: Squadra Omega are a sextet from Italy and this self-titled album has been released in November 2010. Their music is a bit more difficult to describe: the band plays a weird mix of krautrock and post-rock with elements of psychedelic rock, space rock and jazz, resulting in ethereal jams.

Year Of No Light – Ausserwelt

Music from France is already extensively covered on Home Nucleonics and yet here’s another worthy addition. Year Of No Light come from Bordeaux and they’re firmly entrenched in the post rock/core business. They got a couple of releases under their belt, including two studio albums in the disguise of Nord (2006) and Ausserwelt, their current release. Let’s engulve ourselves in the dark world of Ausserwelt.

Alcest – Écailles De Lune

In essence Alcest is a French solo project with a man called Neige being the main composer. He’s also known for his involvement in Lantlôs, Les Discrets and Amesoeurs. Écailles De Lune is Alcest’s second offering and it’s another adventurous journey into the thoughts and dreams of its main composer Neige.