Suche nach: At First, At First
5 Jahre nach dem Ende von Isis steigt deren ehemaliger Vorstand Aaron Turner samt namhafter Begleitung in stockdunkle Katakomben zu den Überresten seiner alten Band hinab, um mit Sumac die dortige Lage auszukundschaften.
Ty Segall empfiehlt sich auf 'Mr. Face' als Innovator der 3D-Szene, tut hier im Grunde aber vor allem vier Songs lang, was er längt besser als alle anderen kann: er wärmt Erinnerungen an 60s und 70s entlang seines unfehlbar wirkenden Songwriter-Laufbandes auf.
With Black Map, Mark Engels rediscoverd his joy in pure rock – as much is clear on every second of '…And We Explode': snappy riffs, a tightly fitting groove, and theoretically always in spitting direction of bombast.
Thou from Baton Rouge are the mightiest doom force on the planet for some time now, as their spotless, overwhelming discography impressivly proves. And still, 2014 will be remembered as a unprecedented peak in the bands history, with one stroke of genious after the other: 'Heathen' and 'The Sacrifice' and 'Released from Love', the first of two epic collaboration with The Body, which will find it's imposing continuation in 2015. And while a visit to Europe seems to remain a pipe dream for now, Thou do the honors and take care of day 24 in the Heavy Pop advent calendar: guitarist Andy Gibbs presents some of his albums of the year.
It is known that there might be up to six years between records by The Notwist; also that each and every second of waiting time between them is probably worth it. 'Close to the Glass' is another demonstration for this, by not only being a prime example for all their strenghts, but also being their most diverse and layered work to date. This isn’t the only thing that is nourishing for the next few years, The Notwist stay present even outside of their album: the so far limited edition only collection '[amazon_link id="B00QG15R6Y" target="_blank" ]The Messier Objects[/amazon_link]' gets a regular release soon, and on top of that there’s another tour pending (including a visit to Graz on March 25th 2015). Meanwhile, Markus Acher tells us his recommendations of the past months for the Heavy Pop advent calendar.
"We once were another band, and now we're a better one". That’s what it reads on Cult Leaders Facebook page. No empty words, as 'Nothing For Us Here' makes clear in merely 18 minutes. While the debut EP of the Salt Lake City four piece could have happened in the shadows of the almighty Gaza all too easily, the six songs effortlessly demonstrate that Cult Leader will have no troubles leaving the precursor band in the rearview mirror. So their first full length can't come soon enough. In the meanwhile Cult Leader told us which records left their peers in said mirror in this past year 2014 for the Heavy Pop advent calendar.
After the impressing EP marathon of the past years and a spontaneus detour into the business of brewing, Gnarwolves – probably the most outstanding hit machine on the gateway from pop to skate punk – let themselves be talked around to releasing their first full lenght. In our interview during their visit to Vienna, the Brighton three piece recommended us some records for the Heavy Pop advent calendar.
Whoever thought Oozing Wound needed to regenerate after last years raging effort 'Retrash' could not have reckoned with the overflowing energy of the Chicago three-piece: not only did the jewel in the crown that is Thrill Jockey shine with an incredible split with Black Pus and a mean Adult Swim single, 2014 also saw an added ounce of heaviness behind the glorious Artwork of their second album 'Earth Suck'. Oozing Wound don’t leave much to be desired, except for maybe the one thing of being able to see them taking apart European stages.
At the end of this thriumphal past year in doom, a two-piece from California stands out from the heap of excellent releases in the genre – with their debut of all things. And the 46 minues served don’t only work as a first demonstration of talent for Keeper, even in this early state the band succeeds in articulating their hate and disgust for the world between perfectly formed crust and noise-innuendos. Jacob Lee and Penny Keats play this nihilistic mixture from close to scratch, and instantly positioned themselves as one of the most unapologetic current genre bands.
First you may think: writing about Black Map of course means to write about Dredg, Far and The Trophy Fire, if only because „…And We Explode“ bears trademarks of the three other bands Mark Engles, Chris Robyn und Ben Flanagan are involved with. But it comes as a bit of a surprise, how effortless the three-headed powerhouse succeeds in combining the straight walk in direction of atmospheric alternative rock, the constant flirt with grounded stadium-sound and the steadfast traction of meaty hits. And yeah, in the end actually it works perfectly without even mentioning their other prominent playgrounds.
