New Music Report – April 30, 2021
Another week with a lot of really cool new music and honestly, all of these albums were incredibly exciting, and I was looking forward to each of them for quite a while. Weeks like this, with lots of good albums coming out all at once, are always a bit hard cause I never know how to divide my time between them, especially when they’re as diverse as these, it’s sometimes hard to make myself shift gears to go from, say French heavy metal to indie from Georgia, to an instrumental album from an elementary school teacher from Idaho/sludge metal legend (Steve Von Till is an absolutely fascinating man, by the way). But these were all so well done, they all found their place in fairly heavy rotation. Hopefully you’ll find something here you enjoy too.
Gojira – Well, I don’t really need any introduction for this band, do I? Gojira are one of the absolute heavyweights of modern metal, and for the past two plus decades, they have been cranking out masterpiece after masterpiece, raising the bar for incredibly clean, incredibly heavy metal year after year. However, this new album, Fortitude, is actually an interesting twist on the stellar metal we’ve come to expect from Gojira. This album is part of a fundraiser they’re doing to bring attention to climate change and how it’s effecting not only the environment, but indigenous cultures worldwide. So, not only is this an absolute ripper of an album, but it’s actually for a very good cause, as well. And another bonus that we get from this, is that Gojira incorporated some incredibly creative and unique instrumentation borrowed from the cultures that they worked closely with on this spectacular album. I mean, obviously this barely scratches the surface, but in short, it’s the sort of quality you would absolutely expect from Gojira with an added complexity and it’s all for a good cause, so what’s not to love.
Manchester Orchestra – It seems weird to say but Manchester Orchestra have spent the past decade writing the rule book for the indie genre. Forgive me as I age myself, but I recall working for a promo company back in college pushing the initial release of Mean Everything to Nothing, and that is really when it felt like the band clicked on a large scale. From there, it’s been a very diverse but steadily upward trajectory to indie music royalty. They’ve managed to evolve into a diverse, creative, incredible band over the years, and as such, this newest album seems like the most self-assured release yet. They always try to experiment a bit and change up their sound from album to album, but this one still feels so comfortable, like they know exactly what they’re doing and what they want to say. It’s incredibly deep thematically and emotionally, yet also still quite straightforward in a way that is clearly built on the foundation of some well-earned confidence. I’m not quite sure it has the magic that Mean Everything to Nothing had, but that’s all subjective context anyway, this album is just good no matter how you hash it.
Steve Von Till – For those unfamiliar with the name, Steve Von Till is the mastermind behind the legendary post-metal/sludge band (and one of my all-time favorite bands), Neurosis, and over the years has been dabbling with a number of fairly diverse yet unmistakable solo projects. This is along those lines, but not quite what you’d typically expect. Von Till’s voice has been such a signature piece of not only Neurosis, but his solo projects like Harvestman, but it’s completely missing from this project. This is more of an ambient/instrumental album, somewhat akin to what he’s done with Tribes of Neurot, but a bit more accessible. And it’s just teeming with those signature synths and the melodic style that is absolutely unmistakably his. And frankly, it’s amazing. Personal note, I’ve been re-reading through some Tolkien, and I’ve had this album basically on repeat as I have been working my way through The Hobbit, and I can’t imagine a better soundtrack. That sort of tells you all you need to know about this album, and I couldn’t recommend it more for that exact reason.
Singles/Albums – Spiritbox (Metalcore), Attack Attack (Not-Crabcore), SeeYouSpaceCowboy (Screamo), Red Fang (Stoner Metal), Vildhjarta (Progressive Metal), Tetrarch (LP, Numetalcore), Mental Cruelty (Black Metal), Like Moths to Flames (Metalcore), Distant (Deathcore), At the Gates (Metal)