New Music Report – December 4, 2020
The new music is still getting a bit slim as we reach the end of the year but this past week was still pretty cool. I don’t want to cover all these, but in addition to the music I covered, we also got new music from Evanescence (single), Deftones (remix single), Hollywood Undead, Goldfinger, and Rammstein (remastered album). Which, if nothing else, is more proof that time is meaningless cause that shouldn’t all be happening in 2020. Now on to the albums I actually want to talk about.
Sigur Ros – This album is a massive, incredible experience. This is a recording is their first true orchestral work, which they live premiered back in 2002 and finally recorded for listeners everywhere. There’s honestly just so much to say about this record, it’s featuring Icelandic post rock legends, Sigur Ros, who are, of course absolutely, brilliant and need no introduction, plus the Reykjavik choir and the orchestra from the Paris Conservatory, showcasing music composed to tell the Medieval Icelandic legend of an apocalyptic banquet. I mean, how fucking cool is every single detail of that? And honestly, when you lay it all out like that it’s kind of hard to actually appreciate the magnitude of the thing. It’s like trying to imagine what a billion of something looks like; all of the pieces are so large and magnificent it’s almost impossible to comprehend what it would actually look – or in this case, sound – like. But let me tell you, it’s just as grand and amazing as your think it could possibly be, perhaps even better. This is an incredibly captivating and beautiful piece of music, and I definitely encourage everyone to check it out.
Annisokay – Well, technically this album release got pushed back to the end of January, but they fucked this up monumentally so I’m writing about it now as a warning. Understandably, many bands have delayed album releases this year in hopes that later on in the year, they can start playing shows again and actually promote the album and maybe make a little money. In theory, this makes sense. It’s never worked though. PVRIS, New Found Glory, Lamb of God, Bury Tomorrow, etc, all of them pushed back their album releases, ALL of them leaked before the original release date anyway. It never works. Now on to the music itself… Honestly, it’s equally as disappointing as the botched album release itself. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Kingdom of Giants album, and about how it had some solid hooks but had no real substance. That’s exactly what happened here, this album is generic, store brand metalcore to the point where it was just completely bland and unappealing. They tried to follow the textbook a bit too closely and they lost any soul their music would have otherwise had. I had high hopes for this one, but it just didn’t hit right.
Singles – As I’ve said before, I don’t really cover singles often unless they’re very special, but this week we’ve got three of them, and I really feel like I should at least mention them all.
Spiritbox – I really fell in love with Spiritbox this year, they’re really at the top of the game in terms of songwriting, lyrics, technicality, everything, really. This is basically the polar opposite of “Holy Roller”; this song isn’t heavy at all, but it’s absolutely crushing and truly gorgeous.
Captives – This is my absolute favorite unknown band to share with people. They’re a UK band that has perfected what a post hardcore band should be in a way that I haven’t heard since early Hands Like Houses or self-titled era Emarosa. They just signed with Sharptone Records so get ready to hear a lot more from them.
Architects – I know they’ve been making the slow descent into butt rock, but honestly, they deserve it. Architects have been defining metalcore for more than a decade now. And now they’re doing the same thing with heavy mainstream, I respected it but wasn’t a huge fan at first, but this new single is genuinely good.