Swedish post-metal heroes Cult Of Luna return, with a little help from Mark Lanegan…
Cult Of Luna don’t do anything by halves. From their breath-taking collaboration with Julie Christmas, Mariner, to the full-on industrial assault of Vertikal, when these Swedes put their mind to something the end result is always monstrously huge. It’s with this in mind that of course the first release from their brand new record label, Red Creek, would be their very own EP - aptly named The Raging River.
For those that remember the ferocious return to their post-hardcore roots that encompassed 2019’s A Dawn to Fear, this latest dispatch won’t feel too unfamiliar…

Germany’s most successful instrumental rock act Long Distance Calling explore the next step in their multi-faceted career with their 7th studio album ‘How Do We Want To Live?’. The band have returned with a sharply defined, artistically deep exploration of the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. In late 2020, Long Distance Calling will continue their hugely successful ‘Seats & Sounds’ tour, and this year also saw them nominated for the German Musikautorenpreis 2020 for compositional & artistic achievement. ‘How Do We Want To Live?’ carries all the bands trademarked sounds whilst at the same time revealing new, surprising and unexpected elements of the Long Distance Calling sonic landscape.

HYPNO5E have forged the term “cinematic metal” with their truly epic- scope compositions, oftentimes exceeding not only the 10- but the 20-minutes mark, merging elements of contemporary metal with latin folk and soundtrack-score like sonic landscapes. After the acoustic special album “Alba - Les Ombres Errantes” (2018), the Southern French quartet are now returning with a more “typical” HYPNO5E record, if there is such a thing: their 5th album, “A Distant (Dark) Source”, is the second part of a diptych album project. Each part will be released separately, starting with the second one.

“As an artist in this time of significant upheaval, society seemingly having reached the end of its current iteration, it’s of critical importance to absorb and interpret this process of dissolution - and of the transformation that hopefully follows it” says Aaron Turner, guitarist and vocalist for the expressionistic metal ensemble SUMAC. “While I don’t believe we’re on the brink of collective destruction precisely now, this is clearly a pivotal stage in the story of humankind - and there is something that feels right about this music at this exact and very uncertain moment.” In this case, the music in discussion is May You Be Held, the latest album for the American-Canadian trio.

In 2018, European progressive extreme music outfit the Ocean Collective released Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic, the first half of a sprawling concept offering based on paleontology. Its companion, Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic, closes the evolutionary cycle that spans all periods during the Phanerozoic Eon. The first album documented the Cambrian explosion that ended with the pre-Triassic extinction event. This chronological sequel begins at the dawn of the dinosaurs, then continues in the present epoch. Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic garnered acclaim for its relentless heaviness and straightforward musical progression. Phanerozoic II is far more experimental and eclectic. Its sounds, words, and atmospheres are pursued in ever-expanding circles, employing varied tempos, abundant electronic textures, melodic compositional frames, and selective orchestration to create something that borders on the exotic, yet remains heavy as hell.

Music will always be inspired by the environment in which it is created. With its incredible array of highly diverse landscapes ranging from white glaciers via volcanic bizarreness, moss-green bubble-fields, deep fjords, and frost-cracked mountains to black beaches, Iceland has shaped a host of astonishingly original in SÓLSTAFIR. More than ever, SÓLSTAFIR’s new opus ‘Endless Twilight of Codependent Love’ highlights the contrasting influences that have inspired the band over the years. Whether you’re listening to the black metal infused “Dionysus”, “Her Fall From Grace”, the gracious song “Til Modar” or a straightforward SÓLSTAFIR masterpiece “Akkeri”, the Icelanders have mastered all these elements and blended it seamlessly into one record.

Music will always be inspired by the environment in which it is created. With its incredible array of highly diverse landscapes ranging from white glaciers via volcanic bizarreness, moss-green bubble-fields, deep fjords, and frost-cracked mountains to black beaches, Iceland has shaped a host of astonishingly original in SÓLSTAFIR. More than ever, SÓLSTAFIR’s new opus ‘Endless Twilight of Codependent Love’ highlights the contrasting influences that have inspired the band over the years. Whether you’re listening to the black metal infused “Dionysus”, “Her Fall From Grace”, the gracious song “Til Modar” or a straightforward SÓLSTAFIR masterpiece “Akkeri”, the Icelanders have mastered all these elements and blended it seamlessly into one record.

Stemming out of an offer from Roadburn Festival organizer Walter Hoeijmakers, mutual acquaintances, and a shared love of each other’s output, May Our Chambers Be Full is the first recorded document of collaboration between Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou. While their solo material seems on its face to be quite disparate, both groups have spent their respective careers lurking at the outer boundaries of the heavy metal scene, the artists having more in common with DIY punk and its spiritual successor, grunge.

Mountaineer was formed in 2015 by guitarist Clayton Bartholomew (ex-Secrets of the Sky, ex-Lycus) and vocalist Miguel Meza (ex-Ashes of American Flags) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mountaineer's debut album, Sirens and Slumber, was recorded in late 2016. Shortly after, the band signed with Lifeforce Records, who released their debut in May of 2017. The band briefly toured the western U.S. in support of the release. In July of 2018, Lifeforce Records released the band's second full length album, titled Passages. This album saw the addition of drummer Patrick Spain. Following the release of Passages, guitarists Isaac Rigler and Forrest Harvey from Oakland doom band DAXMA (Blues Funeral Records) joined Mountaineer, and the band ended a year-long hiatus from playing live, joining Spotlights for a San Francisco show along with several other live performances in 2019.

Exclusive EP comes with the German magazine ROCK HARD Vol. 390 (Nov. 2019).

Portugal's Gaerea challenges the archetype of black metal, coloring outside of the genre's lines with melancholy texture and deep emotion. 'Limbo' devours the listener with misanthropic catharsis and cinematic agony, delivering palpable emotion for 52 uninterrupted minutes. Prepare to lose yourself in the nihilistic abyss with this devastating offering.

Originally formed by Hydrahead Records owner Aaron Turner, Isis began life as a fairly straightforward sludge/stoner metal band. Their first two EPs "The Red Sea" and "Mosquito Control" presented a brutal and loud form of heavy metal which quickly gained them a following, making their debut album "Celestial" a hit in metal circles. The first signs of what they would eventually become emerged on the "SGNL>05" EP, where their intense guitar grooves began to additionally incorporate mellow, spacey segments.
2002's "Oceanic" would prove to be their breakthrough album, perfecting the band's combination of post-rock buildups and explosive, slow metal. Their evolution came into full circle with 2003's "Panopticon", which relied more on atmosphere and gradual progressions than musicianship and technicality…

If the glacial dynamics of previous metal and hardcore abstractions Celestial and Oceanic didn't prove that Isis was a heavy band in every sense, then Panopticon should do the trick. The title comes from 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham's prison design, which was later referenced by Michael Foucault in the 20th century. The idea is that a centrally placed guard or watcher can keep track of a large number of prisoners, and it excited Bentham and concerned Foucault. Heavy stuff for a metal band, huh? Both are quoted in the liner notes, bookended by aerial industrial photos laying out society's open sprawl. It fits perfectly with the epic music on the disc itself, which is as angular as post-rock forefathers Slint and as cosmically expansive as Neurosis, yet closer to the intensity of hardcore than either of them…