Issue # 82
Reviews by West
To have your materials reviewed send to ugr.geo@yahoo.com
Above and Beyond the Summits is the latest from French black metal beast Aldaaron. The band has been around over 20 years now and does metal without pretenses which in any genre is more complex than it sounds. At times the music soars like on Chants d’hiver et de solitude cutting hard as the vocals rise above the din. At other times, and often it seems with this band, they hint at solitude, or loss perhaps, but it's a razor sharp focus, as presented on Frozen shadows of the exalted sun. That number has epic qualities and covers all the bases in it's 10 plus minutes of darkness.

Focus on all the songs is on the power of the natural state, which draws me in because that is real. Whether we're talking creative force or the power of death. Another long play is Under the icy sky, memories fade away. A bit more tension here. You can almost feel that cold wind blowing over the expanse. The guys have a disciplined approach, there is not too much technical showing off. If they throw something extra in there at time it can feel different, which is all the more reason to do it. By addressing such dynamics Aldaaron flexes and show off their prowess.

The only number that didn't do it for me was Antediluvian Prophecies. It has a bit more screaming and loose feel than the others. Making the number feel rushed, though between verses it still stands strong. So it's not a deal breaker. I'll put this album on when I want core black metal, or maybe a little more.
Veteran rockers deliver raw gutter delicacy. It's gotta lotta attitude out of the box. Ramming through the sound board, kicking up a storm. The elevator drops n pops then tops quick so you'll need to absorb the ride. From burning the barn to sliding out the door on the floor. There is sneer, beratement, taunt, & objective trigger pulling. It all looks good for a riot. It's loose but the breaks are solid and the music churns n burns from spit out powerchord verses to almost some type of chorus. Like a grade A babe at the frat house kegger. So the song sez, This is Gonna Hurt! GIMME GIMME GIMME YOUR LOVE!

Song wise the entire album it's mostly top notch high grade sizzlers. With a couple numbers easily passing radio muster if we were back in that timeframe. Single still they're good to go today. Empire Vultures talks about it all. Burning down the boardwalk and rebellion in the streets. Sounds good with the state of the place. Or even just out having a few beers & seeing a show. Often the vibe seems to be more having a good time than breaking shit. Fake it till you make it baby! Tension releasing seems to be the way with Touch-a Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me. Still it's like a fist fight could start up at anytime. You just feel it's not far away.

All together you get a head full that do stick around. Final cut Stop lIving in My Brain bears it out! You come back to the table for another, and you wanna do it again. Dancing even more wildly this go 'round! So you jack back in at track one and spin the full set again. Usually when you got that, you got sumptin'. Tasting Blood & Wanting More!
Very enjoyable stuff! It's got plenty of heavier elements, switching out into something more driving from atmospheric on a whim. Each number has separate movements within. Like better composers do when they arrange their pieces. They are OG's of French Pagan Metal. I can remember hearing the band when they first began. Around 25 years now, the types of things they do combining metal genres seem as standards yet it was not always this clean nor smooth on the scene.

While they make it sound easy, their music shows a strong discipline; rarely do things seem even a hair out of proper form. It's the kind of togetherness bands who have played together a long time tend to have. Across any genre. Of course you have your lightenings in a bottle, but decades in you've either made the grade or gone on to something else. Good work can sometimes take a while.

Therein really is the beauty of the band. They are in essence writing classical pieces, which require the time, patience and work throughs to come up with something great. Their presskit says this is part of "a tetralogy based on 4 elements, entitled “Tetramental”. Yeah that is a true statement within itself. It also shows to great temperment that the band doesn't drone on with 12-15 minute numbers full of every break in the book everytime. That too takes attentive craftwork to make your statements while keeping your listener interested.

Nydvind does it everytime throughout this progressive showpiece. Highly recommended.
A barrage of horns lead into a sparse skittle beat Lady London masterfully raps over. She's hittin chuckie cheese, smokin' out and runnin' her dope empire. She don't have time, seriously, for your bullshit.
Exploratory immersive set which teams up with a book about the Florida punk and new wave scenes in the 80's. The entire south was strong with punk and hardcore in the 80's since the music reflected a healthy grass roots pushback to the onslaught of conservatism during the Regan years. In many ways the punk ethos is in direct conflict with snooty snoot celebrities and rich politicans running the national scene. The added, and still around oppressive mindset in the south lent even more fuel to those fires that raged in scenes like Florida's. Which served as the bottom of the pipline that ran from Miami up to Washington DC on both the coast and inland through places like Atlanta and the Carolinas for a bit.

This scene would stay healthy well into the 90's as in many ways grunge was a direct west coast centered ascendant from the punk of the 1980's which flourished back east to begin with. The new wave element had began in the earliest days of the late 1970's and it too lent to expansive creativity for decades in scenes throughout the south. Florida up to Athens Georgia was an important part of the punk new wave pipeline that stayed around a long time. Florida being a large long state full of entertainment venues offered an enriched fertile breeding ground for bands. Many of the artists on the accompanying box set of music I recall well, both on regional college radio and even shared the stage with a few BITD.

Seeman and Potash did a great job on music choices with a clean punctual asthetic for the book as well. More than thirty five recordings display the wide berth of styles offering a nice collection of all kinds of bands from the region. The Front, Psycho Daisies, Critical Mass, Fuckboyz, and of course Rock City Angels are just a few of the jewels that await for the fine ear of the listener. It's great to see and hear this material coming together in one place! Enjoy! punkunderthesun.com
New single from Rubi Ate The Fig extends the progressive feel just a bit more than their previous release I reviewed a while back. I like the direction this goes in. Still retaining the arabic feel of it's ancestry it would not be out of place at any jazz joint. The production is clean with the jam sliding above a straight beat that segues with highhats pushing things along. The strings play melody which shifts along with the vocals. The lead part then drives the guitar a bit harder and straightforward where on the singing parts it cuts up a bit. Nice!
Talkin' about holdin' up a mirror to real. There is no need to run any kind of line of shit. It's just not necessary nor would be appreciated. Word.
Talkin' herbal religion & sparkin' thereof. Got enough of a dancehall feel to make those playlists. There is no mistakin' the song for some mood other than what it is as said first sentence. That's REALLY all you need to know. That and this number will make ya move a bit! So spark up that hydro then hit the dance flo!!
Really nice flow and feel. The repition of the female sample backgrounded fits nicely as a melodic underwriter. There's a couple of strikes that talk a bit, but it comes through whether you do the instrumental or full lyrics for your listen. Policy wise, it's hookin' up & not wastin' time gettin' down with it. Show me yours I show you mine! Couple of verses touch r&b style, yet however it'd done it's about that hood girl. So tales of the street are there if not up front then close in the background. It's not about Love, it's about other things. She busy.
I used to call songs with such templates clitter clatter because it always reminded me of someone hoofing a beat either by hands or claves. Rayvon trademarks his skillz with enough technical aspects to let you know what he's doing, along with enough feel to let you know he's holding back justa bit in the tank. Why he's known and will continue to be so.
Dance hall caller skips & clean breaks on most songs. Every number takes a running theme early then puts feels in over the top that produce the overall vibe of the particular song. There's some light marching, response and transposing of things. Not in all a party record as some serious subject matter does enter the scene via "Glock Whistle (raw)", shouting out to the undertaker. That introspection doesn't last long, because next up sex is back in focus, like with "Tip (raw)". That how it is though, sometimes you smile more than frown, depending on what's going down.
Some skiffle, hop & beat raved up in a baked albondigas fashion sportin' a touch of east side taste diggin' hep kats outta the city that wanna play n party. Some may say London beat but I don't hear no circus organs. Though they do talk about - LA FILLE DE PICCADILLY STREET! So they may know! Garagey and punk'd for sure. To me though it's definitely rockabilly.

At least what Dj Yvan Serrano has going on this time out. He works with different folks through Dustaphonics as a project it seems. I will say betcha surf is up on 'em all! I remember their self titled release from a decade and a half ago and I wanna say it had some jams on it too. I need to dig it out because this new one is really good so I'm glad I hung on to that earlier one. May have to keep em both in rotation a bit!

I will say I think this newest stuff is worlds ahead, maybe the best of the catalog yet! Crank up PASTILLA a top instrumental on the disc and you can hear gat music with lots of fire. Then stuff like the title cut and R.A.M.O.N.E.S. that rip hard too. True beach party jets man! Best thing I like most of the songs can stand on their own individually. Different tastes across the tester - No filler which is killer! A great album to listen to, dance to, whateva you wanna do! SO DO IT!!
Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began over a decade ago (yes it's been that long) but especially since the "main" war began three years ago in February, a great deal of incredible heavy metal has been coming out of Ukraine. The stuff from Khors has been top notch in the black/pagan metal realm even prior to the conflict. They've done around 10 releases all together and each release adds or extends what the band has to offer.

Letters To The Future Self followed a couple of well received studio and one live record in the years prior when released in 2024. Since then, the record has grown in stature and gained some additional recognition by the strengths of referencing the ongoing war as a central part of the album's subject matter. This release, available via Bandcamp has some excellent atmospheric passaging mixed in with at times almost progessive feel of quality black metal. The heavier genres of metal have really come forward in this war ravished nation, at astonishing levels. Khors stands strong in this field. Offering this release as almost a concept album.

In fact this album could almost be a soundtrack for the national war effort as a whole. That's not to say it would not be as popular without the killing fields, with that reality up front it makes a difference from much pagan and black metal which borders on fantasy or is overindulgent in dark themes for the sake of it. No when you listen to this record you can hear and feel the heart of Ukraine, it's people, and lengthy struggle against a much larger adversary. The excellent pieces and musicianship within the individual songs and throughout the whole album makes this one of my favorite pagan black metal albums over time I've been listening to during the past 6 months to a year. Check it out.

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