Musical Recommendations: Intronaut & Klone

It has been a while since I have recommended albums here. I miss that. I haven't had as much time to do that as I would like to. But here I am. Both albums are from 2010 and I missed both of them last year. It was such a reach year as well for prog. So, at the beginning of the new year I'm going back in time and rescuing some of the albums that were released last year and see what I've missed. I rarely listen to a whole lot of new albums in one year, I focus on the albums my favourite bands release that year. I might find some album here or there that I want to listen to for a particular reason, but generally speaking, I take my time to discover new bands and new albums. These two bands are new to me. I have never heard of Intronaut or Klone until I found out about these two albums I'm suggesting. These are not your typical metal bands, they are underground but luckily some people are still spreading the word about them and it got to me. Oftentimes, the good metal you find is unknown to most metalheads, although that's not always the case. But here, they are definitely worth checking. I hope you enjoy them. Musical recommendations are back!

a) Intronaut - Valley of Smoke

b) Klone - Black Days

Do you wanna live or do you wanna leave?

If you're alive

Show me

Webmagazine The End of The Road: 2nd issue

Here is the link to my beloved magazine The End of the Road:http://issuu.com/endoftheroad/docs/english_issue_2?mode=embed&layout=http://skin.issuu.com/v/light/layout.xml&showFlipBtn=true

Hope you like it, I certainly enjoyed it.

Metal all the way!

Labours of love: End of The Road

http://issuu.com/endoftheroad/docs/english_issue_1?mode=embed&layout=http://skin.issuu.com/v/light/layout.xml&showFlipBtn=true

Here it is, at last and it looks so good :)

I'm so proud to announce one of my new projects and a true labour of love. It's a new metal magazine (End of The Road) I was invited to be a part of by someone I can now can a friend, Ekin. He is the editor and the nicest person you'll ever meet. This is the first article I ever wrote about anything. I had only written poems up til now. It was a good start, I think. It's always a good day when you get to have total creative freedom to write about the music you love and listen to everyday. As you might know, I'm a sort of a metal geek, so to me, this was a kind of dream come true. I get to write about whatever I want? I'm in. Besides, I would never do it if I didn't feel I had a safe environment behind me. I even had my little one (Regina) join our team, so that makes the whole experience even better.

The link is right there, read it, pass it unto your friends and enemies (why not?). If you like metal, you absolutely have to read it, if you want to know more about metal, it's a good way to start. And if you're just curious, don't let fear stop you.

The first issue of End of The Road came to fruition. To its sucess. \m/

Album of the month: Long Distance Calling - Avoid the Light

I usually only discover things after they have already happened. It's just the way it is. And I shouldn't fight it really because there's no point, it will continue happening because I can't keep up with everything all at once. The important thing is that I end up discovering these precious things anyway, sooner or later and here it is again. Thanks to a friend of mine, again, I discovered this new band, they are called Long Distance Calling and possibly very little people know them. Some might have heard of them before, either because Katatonia's own Jonas Renkse lent his voice to one of their songs, or more recently because they were opening for Anathema's European Leg on their new album tour. Unfortunately that didn't happen in Portugal, something that saddens me a lot, but that's life, deal with it. Maybe I will see them eventually, in the future. I reckon opening for Anathema was a big step for them, it certainly opened new roads for them in terms of the diversity of the audience that listens to them.

"Avoid the Light", released in 2009, the album I'm suggesting for this month was my first contact with this band and I must say that the first date went really well :) Seriously, I'm a lover of instrumental albums and bands, I'm sure it has something to do with my musically and the fact that I like to listen to the sounds in detail so that I can later play them on my guitar. But the sound as a whole really interests me as well. So, instrumental bands were always appealing, especially if they were good of course. Here is another instrumental (almost, one of the sounds has vocals in it, Jonas' vocals) - but it's predominantly instrumental of course - album that everyone should listen to. I'm not discriminating, even people who never listened to metal or post-rock can enjoy this one, I'm afraid. I tend to find the heavier parts of the album the best but not because they are heavy but because they are clever and genius in terms of riffs. I value the originality of the riffs bands come up with, but of course originality always depends on the people's background and knowledge of other bands. And there are a lot of instrumental bands, but not all of them are worth my time, I'll assure you. Not that I'm high in my high horse and think that I'm this musical genius, far from the truth, but I think at this point, and after listening to so many albums for so many years, I know what I like and what sounds weak for me. And that's just me, I respect other people's opinions and try my best not to judge, I know my limitations. The bass is very predominant in this release which is also another thing I like to listen to, especially in metal albums. I also like long songs and long pieces of music with clever changes that seem to be fluidly created by the songwriters and a natural fit. We also have that in this album as well as enough variety to keep me interested, I can't speak for anybody else. Apart from all of these qualities already, there's beauty. I often speak about beauty in music and how I like it, so I'm probably gonna repeat myself, but who cares, I think this album provides a lot of beautiful musical moments and that's always a plus. It kinda shows a good taste and a very vivid sensibility to music in general, in my interpretation.

What else can I say? I'm curious about their other work, the earlier work and the new work they will be releasing next year. It's certainly a band to take into account when you are speaking of post-rock/metal and instrumental ability to write good songs. And it's not even a genre I'm an expert at, post-rock/metal or as some people call it "avantgarde". I prefer to call it instrumental because that way I'm not limiting the band's sound as much, it is undeniably instrumental, whatever else it may be, it's up to the listener to decide and conjure up. I just listen to the album and I like it a lot. Highly recommended, really.

Heavy Metal

Dark Tranquillity Corroios

Dark Tranquillity is a band that's very near and dear to my heart. And now, in more or less a week, I will have the opportunity to watch them live for the first time in my life. Dark Tranquillity will play in Corroios on October 4th and I can only rejoice and I'm pretty sure I will cry when the emotion of being in the presence of these genius musicians overwhelms me. God, I cry in their DVDs! And I'm not ashamed or anything, I never hide my emotions when it comes to music. I do it too much when it music is not involved, but for some hidden reason, when music is involved I let it all out. Really Dark Tranquillity is one of the most important bands of my life and certainly one of the most influential bands in the metal scene. This is a fact, Dark Tranquillity helped to shape the sound of old and modern metal. The thing with this band is that they started in the 90s and were influential in the 90s in terms of the melodic death metal sound and today, 20 years later they continue to be influential, they never stopped evolving. I don't care what people say about them, they never repeated themselves, they are always looking into the future of metal, they are adventurous, progressive in their sound, risk-takers, trend-setters, leaders in the sense that others try to copy their originality. And another very important thing, which I say again and again, they are a band who makes beautiful music. It's so brutal at times and yet it is beautiful and emotional and sensitive. Also, Stanne is clearly one of the best lyricist ever to come out of Sweden, one of the best of all time, Dark Tranquillity's discography speaks for itself for anyone who is willing to hear it. They have the mark of legendary bands, their sound always changed while always remaining true to the core of their music. As far as I'm concerned, it's gonna be a historical moment when they land in Portugal and play in front of me. Because I never know what will happen tomorrow, I might never get the chance to see these musical legends, to hear these songs that mean so much to me and make so much sense. Dark Tranquillity always made sense for me, they always touched me, they were always brilliant even when they were a small band from Gothenburg who remained underground for years. How many bands have remained consistently good for over 20 years? Not many. And how many of those continued to innovate while doing so? Even less. Dark Tranquillity's sound is charismatic, it wraps you around it and makes you feel something, whatever it is that you feel, and the hair stand up on the back of your neck, and it also makes you think about yourself, others and everything that surrounds you, it makes you go there, even if is painful. This is why I stick my concert tickets on my bedroom wall, they are all a part of my history, to watch my favourite bands it's always an historical event for me, one that I will never forget and that will change me forever.

Dark Tranquillity - Corroios 4 de Outubro / Porto 3 de Outubro

Metal: headbang for life

When I listen to metal I have a smile on my face, I'm enjoying myself. I'm not mad to the world and hating everybody around me. It actually, truly, makes me feel better, I have fun, I enjoy it, I headbang, it makes me a better person. It makes smile. It makes me want to listen to what else is out there that I haven't explored and it can be anything, metal is just the beginning of my journey. It makes me smile. It makes me smile. It makes me smile. It makes me smile.

Album of the month: Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone

Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone

Akercocke hail from England and their music would be considered pretty terrifying for someone who isn't familiar with extreme metal. I, on the other hand, am and know how to recognize a masterpiece when I see one. Again, they are a progressive metal band but they are much more than that, they throw death metal and black metal in there as well. What intrigued me about them was that they seemed to have built a sound of their own, very individual and standing out in the scene. And then I listened to 'Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone' and it was love. This, I think, is one of the best extreme prog albums I ever heard, without a hint of doubt. It's as diverse as any prog masterpiece and everything seems to fit to perfection, revealing a really inspired group of songwriters. Being so diverse in extreme metal is a rare thing, I find, and that's probably what got me addicted to this album and this band. It's pure headbanging violent madness at times, yes, it's heavy metal, but its tasteful and dare I say delicately put together. I've been inclined for the more extreme metal genres lately, which is something I welcome because that's where I started. The lyrics are a slap in the face of religion and since I can relate, it makes perfect sense for me but there's also this underlying questioning of life and what we are told by society to believe in. It's done in a smart way and it elicits an emotional response. Needless to say that in metal so much is about our emotional responses, about what's beneath the surface, under the skin, about what scares us to death deep inside, about our mental demons, about our alter egos, about our pain. Akercocke makes us go there. And it's never easy, is it?

banda do mês: Dark Tranquillity

Apetece-me homenagear as minhas bandas preferidas. Esta até é uma boa altura porque os Dark Tranquillity estão prestes a lançar um novo álbum, o muito aguardado "We Are The Void".

Artwork for you. Skydancer, Projector, Haven, The Gallery, The Mind's I, Fiction, Character, We are the Void, Damage Done. Os meus preferidos são o Fiction, o Character, o The Gallery e o Projector e o Damage Done, mas recomendo todos porque esta banda sueca é uma marca de qualidade. Em relação ao novo, é esperar pelo original e depois de certeza que vou postar uma mensagem sobre esse álbum, talvez seja o álbum do próximo mês, caso corresponda às minhas expectativas.

Álbum do mês: destaque

In Mourning - Monolith

Álbuns mais aguardados de 2010

Em termos de expectativas criadas, este ano parece ser positivo. Veremos, ao longo dos meses, se essas expectativas se concretizam. No entanto, e até ver, estou optimista em relação ao lançamentos que vão sair este ano. Mal posso esperar por ter os CDs originais a baterem-me à porta, à espera que os vá buscar. Os álbuns mais aguardados para 2010, pela minha parte, são:

a) Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
b) Nevermore - The Obsidian Conspiracy
c) In Mourning - Monolith (já disponível online para ouvir)
d) Rotting Christ - Aealo
e) Dark Tranquillity - We Are The Void
f) novo álbum de Symphony X
g) novo álbum de Darkwater
h) novo álbum de Anathema (a espera já vai longa)
i*) novo DVD dos Porcupine Tree, em Março

Tem tudo para ser um bom ano, com muita variedade e poder, espero eu.