New Music Report – November 27, 2020
Well, the year is winding down and so is the new music to talk about. Thankfully, we still have a few good weeks left, and those weeks tend to give us some very cool very unexpected albums that are always a nice way to carry us through the barren month around the holidays before new music for 2021 starts showing up, and what a way to do it this year.
Palm Reader – Almost every year, I end up surprised by a really cool last minute, end of year release, and this year is no different. While I’ve been following this chaotic British metalcore/melodic hardcore for years now, they’ve always been mostly lukewarm to me. They’ve been an objectively good, but not quite stellar band. They felt like they had the makings of something really impressive but had a little trouble actually getting there. This is their arrival. This album is spectacular. I know I tend to draw comparisons to other bands with familiar sounds to help define a band or an album, but for this band it’s kind of hard. It’s got so many very familiar sounds and styles that just sound right, but still incredibly unique; flavors of so many of my favorite chaotic and iconic bands, but they all cumulate to become just themselves, just Palm Reader. And man, is it brilliant. There’s an epic blend of dark atmospherics, raw chaos, and wonderful texturized synths giving a soundscape for a diverse mix of ripping screams, airy clean vocals, and a vocal strain to meet every tone in between. Check this out.
Within the Ruins – For well more than a decade now, Within the Ruins have been pushing the limits of progressive metalcore/deathcore, and during the last 5 or 6 years, in particular, they have been having a particularly tumultuous career. From lineup changes, illness, bus accidents, and more, Within the Ruins have really been put to the test and kept on pushing where many other bands would have called it a day. That makes this new album – their first with new vocalist, Steve Tinnon – even more impressive. While this may not be the pinnacle of Within the Ruins in any singular moment, it’s an incredibly strong and comprehensive showcase of what the band is capable of, with many soaring highs and incredible technical moments. This is quite possibly the most consistently impressive Within the Ruins album, at least in quite some time. This is an absolute banger of an album that hits nonstop with a bit of everything, from brutal chugging metal, to djenty leads, to groovy synths. It’s wild, it sounds like a mishmash of things that should probably be a bit too chaotic to work together, but these guys are absolute masterminds of extreme metal, and this album, above all else, perhaps, proves exactly why.
Plini – This is a tricky one. I make a habit of just writing about music that I enjoy personally, I know that really limits me, but this is intended to be an informal thing to allows me to share the things that I like, not to try to fish for likes by trashing anyone’s music. But this one, this is different. Now, I know this is strange, I really love progressive, heavy instrumental music, but when it loses the heavy factor, I really lose all interest. Which I know is super lame, but bands like Polyphia and Chon do absolutely nothing for me, but I LOVE bands like Night Verses. Go figure. Anyway, Plini falls into the category of the latter. He’s an incredibly talented musician and writes quasi-heavy, very progressive, almost jazzy instrumental music. And I’ll be the first to say that it isn’t necessarily for me, it’s just not my thing. But I really have to recognize the sheer talent going on here. And really, the diversity in this album, covering the full spectrum of soundscapes into the heaviness that I am familiar with makes it all the more captivating. This was a big surprise, I knew how good Plini was, but I still wasn’t expecting it to hit the spot, but man, I’m just so in awe at this man’s talent, it’s impossible to not enjoy this.
HORSE the Band – Well, this was unexpected. I never thought I’d be writing about HORSE the Band again, but 2020 is full of surprises, so here we are. And for what it’s worth, it’s a short album, it’s two new songs and a cover, but it’s still really incredible to say that we’ve got some new music from these guys. If you know this band, you know, if you don’t and you enjoy absolutely chaos and nonsense and something called Nintendocore, then check this out.