The new album of the crazy avante-garde djent metal band. Koloss was released March 26th and is now obviously has been blasting through the speakers and headphones of every metal listener in the last couple weeks.

In Koloss the band tried to go in a different direction to mix things up.  ”To move a little sideways and venture into areas we hadn’t yet explored yet…” Haake

The album is a lot more groovy although is still got the technical Meshuggah aspect.

The seventh track “Break those bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion” was originally written for Obzen in 2008. But it wasn’t used because it didn’t come out how they wanted.

(in case you were wondering a sinew is a ligament or tissue i had to look it up)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P68fmKQJ-6g

Be sure to check this album out its one of their best. 7/7

The first song starts out fast, and for the most Vale of Pnath keep up the pace for the duration of the album.  There are brief interludes and choice songs where they slow things down, but for the most part these guys maintain a consistent intensity level.  Because of this, each song must largely be set apart from the others by the uniqueness of the melodies, and Vale of Pnath does a wonderful job of keeping each song unique while staying within their own characteristic sound.

Their overall sound is really quite beautiful, once you get through the heaviness and to the core melody.  And it’s not like these guys are a wave of undifferentiated noise, they’re just very complicated and it can take a few listens to pick through the sound, since all the instruments are off doing their own crazy-complicated things.  The atmosphere created by these guys is unlike the dark, chugging “evilness” of traditional death metal, but that doesn’t mean that these guys sound cheery by comparison.  They’ve created a sound that reminds me of a Lovecraftian underworld (I know, I haven’t read Lovecraft, but I have heard enough references that I get the general atmosphere of his books).  Appropriate, considering their band name.

Fans of Decrepit Birth, The Faceless, and Son of Aurelius will really enjoy this band.  Have yourself a listen:

Unexpect is an avant-garde metal band.  Well, they’re actually about 20 genres mashed up into somewhat-cohesive sound, but there’s a distinct metal-ness to their music.  For people unfamiliar with avant-garde metal, Unexpect might not be a good band to listen to as an introduction to the genre.  I don’t mean this in a bad way, it’s just that Unexpect packs a ton of insanity into their music, so it can end up being overwhelming.  For people with the attention and patience to devote to listening to Unexpect’s music, this newest album will prove to be a very rewarding, very satisfying listen.  There’s so much good stuff going on, it’s hard for me to even know where to start.

I guess I should talk about the general vibe of the music first.  It’s a little creepy, a little manic, and very ADD.  Their music sounds both old and new; there’s something timeless about some of their melodies (when they bother with melodies), yet there are so many experimental moments that remind you of just how damn modern and unusual this band really is.  With this album, you’ll get a beautiful string melody followed by some electronic effects that sound more like noise than music, all of this layered over a deeply metal sensibility.  This is not music that you can simply sit back and headbang to, both because the tempo is always changing up on the listener and because this music truly demands your full attention.

If you’re able to wrap your head around the many layers of sound Unexpect is throwing at you, you’ll notice that the instrumentals and composition are really and truly impressive.  There’s some serious musicianship going on, and any dissonance is obviously artistic choice rather than lack of talent.  The vocals that accompany the insane instrumentals are incredibly varied; one moment you’ll get very pretty female vocals, the next you’ll get a bunch of crazed-sounding growls.  Often the different styles of vocals will be harmonized, which creates a really interesting effect over the already bizarre sound of the instrumentals.  The lyrics are complete nonsense, but I feel that doesn’t detract from the music (this album is one of the few cases where I’ll say that).  Seriously, don’t try to read too far into the lyrics, you’ll just end up with a headache.  The nonsense of it all seems more appropriate for their music than more decipherable lyrics would offer.

Anyways, this is a really fun listen if you’re willing to put in the brain power.  I thoroughly enjoyed this album, but I know that Unexpect’s sound can be off-putting and I am sure many people will disagree with me over how to rate this album.  Eh, it takes all kinds in this world.

Concert happens Monday, September 12th, at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY.

Concert happens Sunday, September 25th at the Gramercy Theater.

Concert happens Thursday, November 3 at the Gramercy Theater, NY.

Go!

Concert happens Tuesday, July 19th at the Crazy Donkey, Long Island, NY.

Concert happens Sunday, August 28th at Europa in Brooklyn, NY.

Qain, LittleViking, and I went to see  ”An Evening with Amon Amarth” at the Best Buy Theater May 5th, 2011. I was confused at first because I couldn’t figure out who the opening acts were.  As it turns out, there were none… Amon Amarth played two sets (plus encore), the first set being their entire album “Surtur Rising”, and the second being  bunch of selections from their older albums.

I think most of the experience is summed up in the images and video. I have no idea how Amon Amarth had enough energy to play over 2 hours of metal. The most insane part is that the band seemed to get more energy as the night went on. At first Hegg sounded a little like he might have a cold but by the end of the first song his voice sounded  full and viking-like. During a break for technical difficulty toward the end of their Sutur Rising set Hegg coughed a bit and said, “I’ve got a little cold… but you know, fuck it.” His voice was as strong as ever.

I’m not going to do a play by play review like some sites, I’m just going to say that I’ve seen Amon Amarth live three times now and they are easily the best live band I have seen. I think this was my second favorite show of all time as well. I liked their show with Ensiferium a little more.

As for the venue, the Best Buy Theater is a bit larger than the Blender Theater at Gramercy (the venue they played at last time they were in NYC) but they still packed the house. The pit was also much larger and more spread out, giving moshers more room to gain momentum. Some of the moshing highlights were the massive wall of death in the song Live For The Kill and the insanity that ensued just after Hegg yelled “Attack!” in the song Cry of the Black Birds.

All in all, this was one of the best shows I have attended. The sound was crisp and at a level where everything could be clearly heard. The live audio was almost as clean as it is on their albums.

Check out the video and photo we took at the show and let us know what you think!

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The setlist-

Surtur Rising

1. War of the Gods
2. Töck’s Taunt – Loke’s Treachery Part II
3. Destroyer of the Universe
4. Slaves of Fear
5. Live Without Regrets
6. The Last Stand of Frej
7. For Victory or Death
8. Wrath of the Norsemen
9. A Beast Am I
10. Doom Over Dead Man
    Second Set
11. Twilight of the Thunder God
12. Masters of War
13. Live for the Kill
14. With Oden On Our Side
15. Guardians of Asgaard
16. Asator
17. Varyags of Miklagaard
18. Thousand Years of Oppression
19. Without Fear
20. Victorious March / Gods of War Arise / Death in Fire
    Encore
21. Cry of the Black Birds
22. Runes to My Memory
23. The Pursuit of Vikings

• Whitechapel
• Fleshgod Apocalypse
• Oceano
• As Blood Runs Black
• Dying Fetus
• Six Feet Under
• Darkest Hour

Concert happens Thursday, August 11, at the Irving Plaza in NYC