Tombs - Monarchy of Shadows

I love Tombs, a mix of black metal, hardcore, and a bit of doom.  Their material always has a lot of energy, very little flab, and varied, quality songwriting.  I think record will be getting a lot of play from me.

Buy/listen here

Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name

Where Owls Know My Name came out in 2018 but I want to post an entry here of posterity, as it's become one of my favourite albums of recent years.  With this record Rivers of Nihil went from being a decent death band to something altogether more special - progressive without being indulgent, bludgeoning without being exhausting, melodic without sounding like the hundreds of bands who just knocked of the Gothenburg sound.

Just an awesome record and a great live band too.

Listen/buy here.

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden

Most of what I put on this blog are recent or new releases that I've enjoyed and don't want to forget, this album is from 1988 but where has it been all my life?   I was under the impression that Talk Talk were just like all the other 80s pop acts that have one or two songs that I really like but probably not worth much further inspection in 2020.

Turns out Spirit of Eden is a huge, sprawling, minimalist, psychedelic, jazzy, pop-rock masterpiece with not a single single in sight.   I fucking loved it.

Wounds of Recollection - You Were a Garden of Empyrean Light

I've been listening to a lot of Dolly Parton recently, and while this record might not sound much like Dolly (unless I missed her black metal period) it is drawing from the same Appalachian region and has a nostaglic, wistful quality that much of Dolly's early work also did.

Aside from that this a solid one-man black metal album.  Varied and intense with enough space in in the compositions to let the music breath, it feels spacious but still knuckles down when it needs to.

Buy/listen here

Wishfield - Wishfield

Wishfield do that post-black metal, shoegaze thing that is all the rage but with remarkably little straight up black metal.  The record brought to mind the washed out punk of early Kyuss or the racket of The Jesus Lizard with the lo-fi black metal rumblings coming as much more of a texture than a driving force of the album.

Melodic, chaotic, uplifting, and at 32 minutes does not outstay it's welcome.  Highly recommended.

Buy/listen here

Josienne Clarke - In All Weather

Poppy, jazzy, melancholic folk.   Does that beautifully wistful, far-away thing that I love the most in folk music (and that Josienne has made a career of) whilst staying uplifting.  Songs that finish with  a sombre moment give way to breezy upbeat pop track the next second, reminding us - me - to not dwell on the past.

This is a confident, assured, and mature album packed with good songs from an artist at the top of her game, I'm looking forward to hearing what comes next lots.

Listen/buy here

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi - There is No Other

As a departure from the mostly metal/rock stuff I've been posting, this is a folk album from an American singer-songwriter and an Italian jazz musician.  I heard this referenced while listening to the excellent Dolly Parton's America podcast and it's great, it's an exploration of the history of folk music on it's journey from the Middle East through Africa and Europe and on to America to end up with what we think of classic country music, what you get as a result is a wonderfully varied and interesting record.

Rhiannon Giddens, among a LOT of other work, also has group called Carolina Chocolate Drops who are great, they play a version of old-time Americana mountain music which is steeped in history and modern sensibilities.

I usually link to the act's bandcamp but this one came out on a major label so it's available wherever you'd expect it to be.