Brazil-born damsel IO is one of the most productive / active human beings lately. She is, and I quote, ‘visual artist, scenographer, fashion designer and musician’. When talking about ‘musician’, she’s active under different pseudonyms or throughout serial recordings, such as IO, Dragonflies In The Garden, The Flower Book, Modor, Black Paintings, The Hunt Of The Unicorn, For Children: The Gates Of Paradise, Danse Macabre and who knows what else.
I recently posted a review for the debut of Swiss act Aspaarn, Ancestral Genocides. That album - and the same goes for both demonstrational mini-albums that have been released in the meantime - brings the bare essence of universal Black Metal in its purest form.
Location: Kansas City, Missouri (U.S.A.)
Members: Allen Gingerich (strings [and drum-programming?]) & Skyler Nohrenberg (vocals & lyrics)
Mix & mastering: Allen Gingerich
Artwork: no idea who created it, yet the cover painting is just stunning!!!
Type: digipack-CD
Duration: 32:32
Genre: Brutal Technical Death Metal
Recently I had the honor to be part of a jury within a contest / award organized by Unexplained Sounds Group’s chief Raffaele Pezzella. The most interesting thing was, of course, the ‘Music’ involved. I was trusted with several acts that contributed (for some of them I did write reviews in the past), others I just knew by name, and there were some projects I did not know yet at all.
As (Black) Metal ‘fan’, one might recognize the name Admetos from the Greek projects Elegos (Epic Symphonic Black Metal; all instruments) or Faunus (solo; melancholic Doom-laden Atmospheric Black Metal). Admetos, however, also runs a non-Metal outfit, called Anglachel. It’s a productive project, inspired by Tolkien and this author’s immense imaginative worlds.
I didn’t know what this band – or rather one man project with some special guests - would sound like, the promo mentioned Gothic Metal/Rock. But listening to this album was a very enjoying experience.
Note: once again a sense of charity floats behind this release. All donations will go to charity-programs in Ukraine that focus on orphans out there. Respect!
Another short one…
Country (for what it’s worth): U.S.A.
Members: Neal Rodriguez (vocals + guitars), Lara Daniel (drums), Yair Vero (guitars), Irving Masvidal (bass)
Production & engineering: Nick Nativo
Duration: 19:28
Genre: Thrash Metal
Introduction: Bloodrunner is a Thrash-act from Chicago (Illinois) that started almost two decades ago. After a demo and a first official album, things got silent for almost fifteen years. …until now…
Quite recently I got in touch with George ‘Solaris Lupus’, the guy behind Aspaarn. Aspaarn is a Swiss solo-outfit that released two full length and two mini releases until now. This review will deal with the debut, because, dixit the soul behind it, ‘it is the genesis of the project and by far the most instinctive and spontaneous’. That’s a good reason for focusing on that first recording.
I wouldn’t define this Ukrainian band like just a side-project of Bestial Invasion, yet fact is that the (original) members are (were) involved with that well-known Sumy-based act (relocated to Zhytomyr in the meantime). The trio started under the Cosmic Jaguar moniker in 2022 and released their first full-length The Legacy Of The Aztecs in early 2023 via Thrash / Speed / Heavy / True Metal label Metal Warrior Records (also home to Bestial Invasion).
