Animal As Leaders – Animal As Leaders

If you haven’t already heard of them, Animals as Leaders is a technical prog-metal project of virtuoso guitarist Tosin Abasi (Reflux, T.R.A.M., Born of Osiris) that made quite a splash with their self-titled debut, released in 2009. However, was it warranted?

Between The Buried And Me – The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues

So what do you do after you have pushed every conceivable musical envelope with your two previous records? In a nutshell that’s what Between The Buried And Me has done on Colors (2006) and The Great Misdirect (2009). The band’s latest effort, entitled The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues sees a slight change of direction…

Between The Buried And Me – The Great Misdirect

On Colors, the Between The Buried And Me lads really managed to come into their own. It’s still an artistic masterpiece and a tough act to follow, to say the least. In 2009 Tommy Giles Rogers and Co returned to the fold with The Great Misdirect, their sixth full-length album. One of the songs the band described as “a noisy Coalesce breakdown, 3/4 Mastodon groove, 9/8 The Mars Volta, Queen chromatic build-up and a Megadeth styled chorus”. It’s basically rocket science to me, until you listen to The Great Misdirect..

Between The Buried And Me – Colors

Between The Buried And Me is a progressive metalcore outfit from Raleigh, North Carolina. Colors (2006) is the band’s third album and the first where they really show what they’re musically capable of. The band described this record as “adult contemporary progressive death metal”. However quirky that may sound, it’s an accurate description of what you can expect on the musical extravaganza that is Colors..

Interview With Orphaned Land

Last year Orphaned Land delivered an instant classic in the form of The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR. It’s also a band with a strong message to look past racial, ethnic and religious differences and accept people they way they are. I had the pleasure of doing an interview with guitarist Matti Svatizky. He had a lot to tell about the Orphaned Land’s recent tours with Katatonia and Amorphis, a very memorable trip to India, working together with Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Kirk Hammett’s (Metallica) appreciation for the band and showing a different side of his native country Israel..

Vintersorg – Jordpuls

After a four year hiatus Andreas Hedlund and his Vintersorg crew return to the fold with a brand new album, entitled Jordpuls. As on its predecessor the album is entirely sung in Swedish with lyrics revolving around mankind and its relationship with nature. Let’s see what Vintersorg’s latest album has to offer.

Vintersorg – Solens Rötter

After the reaching the zenith of progressiveness and avant-garde with The Focussing Blur, Andreas Hedlund opted for a more back to basics approach on Solens Rötter (2007). The services of Steve DiGiorgio (bass) and Asgeir Mickelson (drums) were no longer required. The album was recorded by Hedlund and Marklund with the occasional help of some session musicians. Let’s see what impact that had on the material of Solens Rötter…

Vintersorg – The Focussing Blur

After exploring the progressive metal realm with Visions Of The Spiral Generator, Andreas Hedlund and Vintersorg returned in 2004 with The Focussing Blur, their most ambitious record to date. The grandiose themes about physics and astronomy are back in full swing and once again the collective talents of Steve DiGiorgio (bass) and Asgeir Mickelson (drums) are brought in to provide the necessary musical muscle.

Vintersorg – Visions From The Spiral Generator

Andreas Hedlund, better known as Mr V, is the main composer behind Vintersorg. He’s also active as a vocalist in Borknagar. Furthermore he keeps himself occupied with several other projects, including Waterclime and Cronian. Before the release of Visions From The Spiral Generator (2002) he released several albums under the Vintersorg moniker, like Till Fjälls (1998) and Ödermarkens Son (1999). However, it’s with Visions From The Spiral Generator where he really managed to break new ground.

Wolverine – Communication Lost

Communication Lost is the fourth full length album by the Swedish progsters of Wolverine. It’s the successor to the Still album, which was released back in 2006. It has been a long wait, so let’s see what these lads have been tinkering with for the last five years.