aintjustmusic

Album(s) Of The Week:

2020 releases only:

Oceans - The Sun and the Cold
listen: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kP8dy3Yx7_b1kMZQLyDnybRMD6iBd9AjU
Not sure how/where to categorize, so let's look at what i found from different sources: "Modern Metal (Death Metal, Nu-Metal)" - "Prog Metal / Post Metal" - "Rock" - "Post-Death-Metal"...
none of it completely wrong, but none hits it completely, either ;-)
but apart from "labels", this is simply a fantastic record (if you can stand "metal" at all, i guess ^^)!

The Wild Haze - Strikes and Gutters
info/source: https://www.awayfromlife.com/the-wild-haze-strikes-and-gutters-review-2020/
listen: https://thewildhaze.bandcamp.com/album/strikes-and-gutters
sweeeet pop-punk, a little lofi. the (female) singer's voice is pretty tender and sweet, could almost say sounds like cotton candy. songwriting is very catchy, definitely worth a listen!

Mammock - Itch
info/source: http://www.deadpulpit.com/2020/01/mammock.html
https://idioteq.com/itch-greek-progressive-math-noise-rockers-mammock-explain-their-adventurous-record/
listen: https://mammock.bandcamp.com/album/itch
"“weird” mixture of post-hardcore with noise rock, eccentric riffage, experimental rhythms, time signatures and dynamics"
i cannot add more words trying to describe. not sure yet if this really already is the Album Of The Year (as described in first link), i guess this needs a few runs to finally decide (or even "understand" this record). definitely worth checking out, if you dare... ;-)

Haest - Anomie
info/source: https://www.awayfromlife.com/haest-mit-neuem-video-und-neuem-album/
listen: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n4OithiYNZNf74QYv_w2rVnqRTjdxvNZg
i read "doom punk" somewhere, this gives a good idea in which direction this is going. mostly short tracks, pretty diverse for this kind of sound! i like it a lot!


Also worth mentioning:

2020 releases:

Wasted Breath - Wasted Breath
info/source: https://idioteq.com/street-punk-rockers-wasted-breath-deliver-raw-tuneful-lp-on-blackhouse-records/
listen: https://wastedbreathofficial.bandcamp.com/album/wasted-breath
diversified "street punk" ("we play on bills with punk bands, hardcore bands, alternative bands, psychobilly bands"), very interesting! pretty straight-forward, just the way i like it!

Big Spin - Big Spin
listen: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQEOi0zFu_jxx8O_9zyPo52fLE1bnVwja
mexican melodic punk, partly with streetpunk influences, very hymnic. sometimes also nearly hardcorepunk, sometimes skapunk, also a dubby part somewhere - so: very diverse, doesn't get boring!

Apocalyptica - Cell-0
listen: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkdhN1PcFQw9QsN82I2hlHc_6t29Prqbf
somehow i didn't listen to them for a long while, but the first preview singles to this album caught my attention again.
so i cannot compare to the releases before, but i'm not surprised about the sound and album at all. just what was to be expected. instrumental (partly compex) post(?)metal, just with cellos ^^. of course it's best if you take time for this to enjoy.


older releases:

Melted Bodies - People Watching
info/source: https://www.visions.de/news/30499/Vormerken-Unsere-aktuellen-Neuentdeckungen
listen: https://meltedbodies.bandcamp.com/album/people-watching
not sure how exactly these three tracks could be classified. "funny, epic math-grind-party-metal" (like Visions says) is at least an appropriate approximation, i guess ^^. ah, and i really like it ;-)

Ryr - Left Fallow
listen: https://ryrpostmetal.bandcamp.com/album/left-fallow
"Instumental atmospheric Post Metal" fits best, i guess. I was interrupted a few times while listening, sadly - better set and setting advised ;-)
Riffing could probably be a bit more diverse after all, but this is still a very good record! If you'd like to go on a journey for 50 minutes this one is highly recommended!


"Disappointments" of the week:

2020 releases:

Smile And Burn - Morgen anders
info/source: https://www.visions.de/platten/28471/smile-and-burn-morgen-anders
listen: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mtAE5BKCGIYp3Ae_BHLoQJaBlBWBx3q8U
first of all: i don't know any of the stuff they did before. poppy german punkrock with quite good lyrics (their first time with german lyrics, as i read). i liked the prereleased songs quite well, but in full length it gets a bit boring. probably because there are also a few (from my pov: too many) slower songs. also, with time the singer's voice is getting more and more annoying...

DeWolff - Tascam Tapes
info/source: https://www.visions.de/platten/29245/dewolff-tascam-tapes
listen: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz8ufS3KEgcY7KeB6nm8ZPJnSh9sxpvTN
very cool and lofi retro rock music! in the beginning of the album i was very thrilled, but although this is only half an hour long it somehow gets more and more boring quickly...