FEN, Epoch

England, 2011.

FEN are a recently created project from Eastern England that blends black metal, post-rock and shoegaze. Their debut, "The Malediction Fields", was an amazing and absolutely overwhelming album for me. Of course expectations were high enough for "Epoch"... Overall, it's a good atmospheric album, definitely worth a listen, even though not as memorable as its predecessor.


Playlist:

1. Epoch
2. Ghosts of the Flood
3. Of Wilderness and Ruin
4. The Gibbet Elms
5. Carrier of Echoes
6. Half-Light Eternal
7. A Warning Solace
8. Ashbringer

Link.

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Gallowbraid, Ashen Eidolon

US, 2010.

Another steal from soundweave, but this stuff is so damn good. This EP is like a mix of Agalloch and Wolves In The Throne Room... or something along those lines. See? This is why I don't write the descriptions myself.

Playlist:

1. Ashen Eidolon
2. Autumn I
3. Oaken And Aspen
4. Autumn II

Link.

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Lunatic Soul, Lunatic Soul II

Poland, 2010.

Lunatic Soul is the solo project of Mariusz Duda, vocalist and bassist of Riverside. In stark contrast to his main outfit, Lunatic Soul contains no electric guitars at all and can be best described as a mix of ambient and progressive elements - Duda himself calls the sound “oriental-alternative”.

This is the second album, released on October 25, 2010, and is a continuation of the sound established on the debut.

Playlist:

1. The In-Between Kingdom
2. Otherwhere
3. Suspended In Whiteness
4. Asoulum
5. Limbo
6. Escape from ParadIce
7. Transition
8. Gravestone Hill
9. Wanderings

Link.

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Grouper, Hold.Sick

US, 2010

Grouper is the solo project of Liz Harris. Throught the years, Liz released 3 full-lenght and a vast number of splits, ep´s, 7" and 12" under the moniker of Grouper.

"Hold.Sick" is her latest 7" and it continues and expands the usual Grouper sound, ambient wrapped within thick layers of gently strummed guitar reverb, hush vocals and a deeply profound and dreamy atmosphere that is constantly on the verge of falling into a nightmare.

OH, the guitar tone on the track "Hold" is simply beautiful *.* .

Playlist:

1. Hold

2. Sick

Link.

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A Forest Of Stars, Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring

UK, 2010

A Forest Of Stars are a British 5 piece (live they metamorphose into a 8 piece!) that play avant-garde black metal. This is their sophomore album, successor of the brilliant 2008 album "The Corpse Of Rebirth". Like their first release, "Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring" is a conceptual album, basically telling the story of the first "attempted communion with incorporeal beings" which ended up in disaster.
With this simple premise A Forest Of Stars crafted one of the most, if not the most, unique black-metal albums I´ve ever heard, tapping into a million different genres (neo-classical, progressive, ambient, thrash, black-metal, folk) and using a vast array of instruments (beside your standard instruments, hurdy-gurdy´s, synths, piano, violin, trumpet, flute and others can be heard on the album) to create a truly cohesive and, as i said before, unique whole that stands out as, in my opinion, the best album of the year. A true masterpiece.


Playlist:
1. Chapter One: Sorrow´s Impetus
2. Chapter Two: Raven´s Eye View
3. Chapter Three: Summertide´s Approach
4. Chapter Four: Thunder´s Cannonade
5. Chapter Five: Stafire´s Memory
6. Chapter Six: Delay´s Progression

Link.

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David Beans, The Loss And Recovery E.P.

US, 2008.

David Beans is a twenty-four year old writer, composer and producer of music. Influenced by various acts including Sigur Rós, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Album Leaf, The Notwist among others, and composers such as Max Richter, Clint Mansell and Philip Glass, his music attempts to combine the emotion of ambience with classical structures allowed with modern technology.

Playlist:

1. Preface
2. Dream
3. Peaks
4. Father
5. Children
6. Remorse, Meet Recovery.

Link.

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Les Discrets, Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées

France, 2010.

Les Discrets is a French metal/shoegaze/post-rock/acoustic project. It is the sole musical creation of Fursy Teyssier, a former member of Amesoeurs and an illustrator for bands such as Alcest, Amesoeurs, Arctic Plateau, Agalloch, Neun Welten and The American Dollar.

Les Discrets is the musical approach of Fursy Teyssier’s artistic research. Originally an animated film director, Fursy tends to evoke the same in both music and animation/illustration: contemplative and esoteric atmospheres, feelings, fears and sensations related to our life and world. His paintings, music or lyrics are mostly about Nature, the feeling of Love and his fear of Death.

This is Les Discrets' debut album and it's absolutely amazing.


Playlist:

1. L'Envol des Corbeaux
2. L'Échappée
3. Les Feuilles de l'Olivier
4. Song for Mountains
5. Sur les Quais
6. Effet de Nuit
7. Septembre et ses Dernières Pensées
8. Chanson d'Automne
9. Svipdagr & Freyja
10. Une Matinée d'Hiver

Link.

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Kwoon, Tales & Dreams

France, 2006.

Kwoon is a small post-rock/ambient/atmospheric/shoegaze band of seven members from France. This album captures their beautiful sound, very reminiscent of Gregor Samsa.

Playlist:

1. Intro
2. I Lived on the Moon
3. Blue Melody
4. The Beast
5. Eternal Jellyfish Ballet
6. Last Sundown
7. Tinklëh
8. Tinklëh Skofa
9. The Door
10. Kwoon

Link.

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Bohren & der Club of Gore, Black Earth

Germany, 2002.

Bohren & der Club of Gore are a noir jazz band founded in 1992 in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. They play a crossover of jazz and ambient, which they self described as an “unholy ambient mixture of slow jazz ballads, Black Sabbath doom and down tuned Autopsy sounds”. Over the years they have continously reduced and compressed their music to extremes.

Playlist:

1. Midnight Black Earth
2. Crimson Ways
3. Maximum Black
4. Vigilante Crusade
5. Destroying Angels
6. Grave Wisdom
7. Constant Fear
8. Skeletal Remains
9. The Art of Coffins

Link.

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Anathema, We're Here Because We're Here

England, 2010.

So Anathema finally found a record label, Kscope, for their much anticipated release. However, other than a couple of decent songs, the album feels generally disappointing.

Playlist:

1. Thin Air
2. Summer Night Horizon
3. Dreaming Light
4. Everything
5. Angels Walk Among Us
6. Presence
7. A Simple Mistake
8. Get Off, Get Out
9. Universal
10. Hindsight

Link.

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Fading Waves, Please Wait

Russia, 2010.

Fading Waves is a one-man post-metal/sludge band from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, formed in 2008 by Lex Maximuk. "Please Wait" combines the intensity of Isis with the atmospheric sound of Cult of Luna.

Playlist:

1. Rush Hour
2. Megapolis Depression
3. Lights On Water
4. Forever Closed
5. No Way Home
6. Flows
7. Waiting For End

Link.

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Hammock, Kenotic

US, 2005.

Hammock is an American two-member ambient/post-rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. With music created in between production and songwriting projects over the course of two years, Hammock combines live instrumentation, electronic beats, and droning guitar into atmospheric music similar in style to the work of Boards of Canada, Explosions in the Sky, and Stars of the Lid.

Playlist:

1. Before the Celebration
2. The Air Between Us
3. Through a Glass Darkly
4. Blankets of Night
5. Winter Light
6. Miles to Go Before Sleep
7. Wish
8. Overcast/Sorrow
9. Glacial
10. Kenotic
11. Stars In the Rearview Mirror
12. You May Emerge From This More Dead Than Alive
13. What Heaven Allows
14. The Silence
15. Dawn Begins to Creep
16. Rising Tide

Link.

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Blueneck, The Fallen Host

England, 2009.

Following Scars Of The Midwest, Blueneck's second full-length album is a true atmospheric post-rock masterpiece, even more intense than its predecessor. Absolutely recommended.

Playlist:

1. (Depart From Me, You Who Are Cursed)
2. Seven
3. Low
4. The Guest
5. Children Of Ammon
6. Weaving Spiders Come Not Here
7. Lilitu
8. Revelations

Link.

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Immanu El, They'll Come, They Come

Sweden, 2007

Immanu El is a young Swedish band with a unique sound - dynamic guitar and keyboard soundscapes, captive singing and with somewhat of a moving Nordic mood. The music is focused at a wide spectrum of harmonic expressions and sounds that can move between presence and ambience in varying dynamics. Originally the band was inspired by early post rock and experimental bands, which combined with pop influences made Immanu El to find and create a sound of their own based on atmospheric soundscapes that became their fundament for their debut album "They'll Come, They Come".

Playlist:

1. Under Your Wings I'll Hide
2. Home
3. White Seraphs Wild
4. Astral Days
5. Panda
6. Kosmonaut
7. I Know You So Well...
8. ...In Valleys

Link.

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Oceansize, Home and Minor EP

England, 2009

Another EP from Oceansize, elaborating the "Music for Nurses" influence, the kind of music to lie down and close your eyes to, let it take you on a journey.
Probably their most atmospheric pieces of all. Check it out!


Playlist:
1. Legal Teens
2. Getting Where Water Cannot
3. Monodrones
4. Home & Minor
5. Didnealand
6. The Strand

Link.

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Eluvium, Copia

United States, 2007.
Matthew Cooper is the mind behind Eluvium. This is his latest work, a beautiful blend of electronic, ambient and post-rock.

Playlist:

1. amreik
2. indoor swimming at the space station
3. seeing you off the edges
4. prelude for time feelers
5. requiem on frankfort ave.
6. radio ballet
7. intermission
8. after nature
9. reciting the airships
10. ostinato
11. hymn #1
12. repose in blue

Link.

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Paatos, Kallocain

Sweden, 2004.
In my opinion, this is the best Paatos album, one of those works that unfortunately has been doomed to remain in obscurity. Kallocain mixes a soft art rock with jazz, trip-hop and electronic elements, creating a dreamy and hypnotic sound.

Playlist:

1. gasoline
2. holding on
3. happiness
4. absinth minded
5. look at us
6. reality
7. stream
8. won't be coming back
9. in time

Link.

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Paatos, Timeloss

Sweden, 2002.
Reine Fiske and Stefan Dimle were both members of Landberk and then Morte Macabre. In 2000 they formed Paatos, a wonderful progressive rock combined with trip-hop, jazz, atmospheric and, finally, Petronella Nettermalm's amazing voice.

Playlist:

1. sensor
2. hypnotique
3. téa
4. they are beautiful
5. quits

Link.

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Anathema, A Natural Disaster

England, 2003.
Anathema are a Liverpool band that started out playing doom metal. This, however, is an amazing atmospheric/experimental/progressive rock album that no one should miss.

Playlist:

1. harmonium
2. balance
3. closer
4. are you there?
5. childhood dream
6. pulled under at 2000 metres a second
7. a natural disaster
8. flying
9. electricity
10. violence

Link.

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Eluvium, An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death

United States, 2004.
This is an instrumental album, piano-based, very experimental, atmospheric and ambient. Eluvium's melodies are full of melancholy and beauty.

Playlist:

1. an accidental memory
2. genius and the thieves
3. perfect neglect in a field of statues
4. nepenthe
5. in a sense
6. the well-meaning professor
7. an accidental memory in the case of death

Link.

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