TranscendNoise

Sumac – The Deal Excuse the pun sounding association right away, but the best way to describe Sumac is through poisoning. When thinking post-metal, there is but one name that serves as a marker of quality: Aaron Turner. Like me, many miss Isis, but I can only admire the bands decision to turn a new leaf and let the project rest before becoming generic in its own way. Following the projects of the members involved, there is no doubt that there is still creativity left and every venture so far delivered. Still, Turner holds a somewhat special place, not only as a creative leader of the band, but also as the head of now – more or less – defunct Hydra Head Records. When Sumac was announced, high hopes began to form. And boy, does Turner show that he´s still as hart hitting as ever. So back to the poisoning aspect of The Deal : Poisoning understood as the intake of a foreign substance and the rapid, slow, conscious or unconscious collapse of the bodily functions or the whole card...

Violet Cold – Desperate Dreams  Seeing the title "Desperate Dreams" and the tag "black metal", most minds will be set to the most normative standard of what black metal is supposed to be: A dark convulsion of feelings. Anger, frustration, ill-intent and whatever is considered to be negative. But, there is another side to this musical landscape that, for me, seems to come to fruition in newer bands and the iterations and mingling of different musical elements. Some annotate this kind with the denominator of "hipster", which in more considered and less visually inclined terms still is better said in the prefix of "post-" metal. Deafheaven might be one of the first and biggest name to fall under this newish category and rightfully so. They were the first band who’s piercing shrieking I found fitting and listenable by means of emotional depth and affective appeal.  In Violet Cold we find, what often times can be found in this field of music,...