ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2017 — A PHOTO ESSAY BY LEVAN TK (DAY 2)

 Concert Reviews  1 Response »
May 312017
 

 

The latest edition of Roadburn Festival took place at Tilburg, The Netherlands, on April 20-23, 2017, and L.A.-based photographer extraordinaire Levan TK was there to capture the performances on film.

We are fortunate to bring you some of his amazing photos, divided among the days of the festival, with his photos from the second day in this post. To see the photos from Day One, go here. Photos from the remainder of fest will be coming soon.

P.S. Levan was quick to get us these photos. The delay in sharing them is entirely the fault of our half-wit editor. Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN PRESENTS: REVIEWS IN HAIKUS (OATHBREAKER, ALCEST, OUR PLACE OF WORSHIP IS SILENCE)

 Album Reviews, Reviews In Haikus  4 Responses »
Oct 192016
 

Reviews in Haikus

 

(We present another edition of Andy Synn’s three-line reviews.)

Well, it appears that “Reviews in Haikus” has become a regular monthly affair somehow, so I thought to myself… why not use it to quickly touch base with a triptych of albums I probably won’t get chance to review properly any time soon? Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: OATHBREAKER AND CULT LEADER

 Concert Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 132014
 

 

(Guest writer Ben Manzella attended the final show of the Oathbreaker-Cult Leader tour on August 7 in San Francisco and provides this review, with a few photos and some music streams.)

Outside a fairly non-descript art space, about 3 people began to line up. Along with 3 bands from around California, the night at Submission in San Francisco would feature Oathbreaker and Cult Leader. As we waited, suddenly a crew of about five people just walked right into the venue and we realized that we (the group who had already been waiting about 45 minutes or more) could actually go in. As I said, the venue was fairly non-descript, but this no-frills space was well-suited for the no-frills music that was set to be featured this night.

I’ll admit, because I was going in blind with the “local” support, I mainly watched their sets rather than try to get photos. And in all honesty, at least from a photographer’s perspective, that was probably for the best, considering the challenging lighting the venue offered. Continue reading »

PREMIERES: ELITE, OATHBREAKER, ASG, AND NEXILVA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 082013
 

This Monday has turned into a day of premieres (not even counting the one we did ourselves for Razormaze). I’ve collected in this post a handful that I enjoyed, from Elite (Norway), Oathbreaker (Belgium), ASG (US), and Nexilva (UK).

ELITE

I was originally turned on to Norway’s Elite more than two years ago via one of Andy Synn’s SYNN REPORTS about the band. Almost five years have passed since Elite’s last album, We Own the Mountains, but it appears the band are planning to release a new one before this year ends. Today they released a promo version of a new track called “This Is Where All Ends”. It reflects some changes from much of what has come before.

The song is mid-paced and majestic in its atmosphere, with a soaring chorus to match whispers of black metal darkness in its jagged verse. For most of the song’s duration, the vocals are near-clean, though ragged and anguished in their passion. The song has gotten stuck in my head, too. Check it out next. Continue reading »