Opium Warlords - We Meditate Under the Pussy in the Sky (2012)

Though the album title and the band's name here are both fantastic, and the chosen artwork fascinating, it does feel for the first few minutes elusive as to what the Opium Warlords are bringing to the table for their sophomore, since the opening instrumental "Sxi-Meru" is not 100% representative of the contents of the record's remainder. What we've got here is a curious excursion into psychedelic drone/doom, interspersed with long passages of bleak, folksy acoustic guitars, contrasted by the irregular eruptions into distorted chords and tortured howls that are almost lost in places below the volume of the guitar. I was somewhat reminded of the US act Blood of the Black Owl, only We Meditate Under the Pussy in the Sky isn't nearly so grim or ritualistic, promoting more of a wasteful, morose, rustic scenario that breathes cold air into its spacious compositions.

There are only five tracks here, and no two are entirely the same in structure, with various instruments taking the 'lead' in various phrases. All are performed by a single musician, Sami Albert Hynninen, who has also played in Reverend Bizarre and Spiritus Mortis (among others), and you'll definitely hear a measure of correlation with the bleakness of the former, in just how dry and agonizing the simplicity of the guitars can be. Admittedly, though, in the case of this album, that is indeed their chosen function. This is not an intricate, complex or nuanced album by any means, but a sheer outcropping of emotion borne on very authentic, live sounding drums, and minimalistic progressions of notes. Walls of melodies are eschewed for a countryside coldness, and you can really envision yourself sitting by a decayed wall, abandoned farm equipment or a withered tree stump in an overgrown, kudzu-infested garden as you listen through. Apart from this banal, haunting, outdoorsy aesthetic, though, you can't always determine precisely what will happen next. For instance, "Sxi-Meru" is a noisy, guitar intro which morphs from calm atmosphere to spikes of dissonant, metallic noise, while closer "Satan Knew My Secret Heart" is all fuzzed up and uplifting...apart from the fact that both are very loosely, almost spontaneously composed, they've not got a ton in common.

I did feel the disc was more effective when Sami was laying on the 'doom' element full-bore, as in the dour bass ruptures of "This Wind is a Gift from a Distant Friend", or the wide open, 12 and a half minute center piece "Slippy" which gradually develops into these raw, raucous guitars and booming bass curves. I would have liked more vocals throughout; these seem more like a dusting tease than a prominent component of the songs. Also, at least for myself, I found that the music was all but useless when I wasn't mentally positioning myself in the proper shadow it casts, a slightly overcast panorama of rustic sadness, whether naturally or artificially induced through substances. Hynninen's vision is in no rush to get anywhere even though most of the tunes are reasonably brief), so if you're in a hurry or tense environment it's not going to function for you much at all. Won't say I loved this, but it's decent when one can really grasp its 'mood', and if you've an interest in the more ambient side of drone, doom or extreme metal like Khanate, Sunn O))), Fell Voices, or Blood of the Black Owl, with a mildly folkish discourse, give it a listen.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/opiumwarlords

Black Crow King - To Pay the Debt of Nature (2012)

It might look relatively harmless, but trust me when I tell you To Pay the Debt of Nature is one of the most painful experiences I've had in recent memory when reviewing a metal album. Not painful as in 'this sucks' painful, but painful as in it will rip your fucking ears off and then violate the gaping, bloodied virgin orifices newly opened to the world around them. Part of this is in its volatile production, but also the pure tearing black metal rasp of its author, the fuzzed out offensive guitar tone and the eerie implementation of atmospherics which you can so barely make out at times through the canopy of sluggish carnage that you feel as if you just might be hallucinating them. To Pay the Debt of Nature is more torturous than when my girlfriend subjugates me to a road trip marathon of the cheap country pop pageantry she so loves...

Oh, Black Crow King will try to fool us for a few minutes with the distorted, atmospheric inertia that inaugurates "I, Crow". Dissonant, noisy picking rings out over the roiling, distant feedback, but once the charnel evisceration of the vocal arrives, you know things are about to head south quickly. Strangely, this music is not without some measure of inherent beauty, since the droning guitars often configure into shining, melodic patterns, but it's easy to lose this in the ensuing carnage. Percussion is optional. In "I, Crow" or long passages of "Grotesque Existence", the drums are omitted completely to allow the rest of the conflagration to breathe, but in other places the Crowlord will incorporate minimal tribal beats (the opening to "The Shadow Falls") or eruptions of chaotic clamor as found in the depths of "Vengeance" or "Crowbait". With the exception of "Vengeance", the individual slaughterscapes are quite long, from 8-17 minutes, and this contributes to the torment, tallying up the ruptured organs of its audience the longer they are able to hang in the game.

But strangely, even at its most overblown and swollen, the 17 minute closer "Excarnation Ritual", To Pay the Debt of Nature is never monotonous. As grating and irritating as it might prove, the feedback and disheveled structure of the compositions ensures that you're never quite hearing the same thing twice. It seems to be an equal balance of measured malice and improvisation, and thus despite its malevolent thanatopsis, Black Crow King seems curiously transitive and 'alive'. Direct comparisons to other acts are difficult, because you'll perceive everything from Skepticism to Burzum to Merzbow to Electric Wizard beneath its blasphemous eaves. Elements of post-rock, dark ambient, drone, funeral doom and even pure noise are cast about its sweltering bulk, but it never rests its withered laurels upon one particular category...

I can't give this debut the strongest of recommendations, since it's quite likely to erode the sanitary of many who would dare its depths, and I really don't need the lawsuits right now. It also does occasionally come off as cluttered and directionless, due to the sheer lack of structure that defines it. It's not an experience I'm apt to repeat often. That said, if you're a brave soul and seeking a paradigm shift in your perceptions of just how harrowing a musical recording can be...then Black Crow King is pretty much your last stop before entering the realm of pure, undiluted hell-noise. Wear a flak jacket, make out your will and say a prayer to whatever made up deity might comfort you.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.myspace.com/black.crow.king

Amia Venera Landscape - The Long Procession (2010)

On paper, we've heard it all before: Scream/Clean dual vocal tandem, post hardcore, mathcore, metalcore, grind elements, and even post metal. In execution, The Long Procession is anything but an exercise in commonality, and not only draws the best out of its influences but displays an understanding of songwriting that is wholly uncommon for such a young band to debut with.

Dense and epic, Amia Venera Landscape have crafted such a dynamic (hinging on schizophrenic, but it never totally loses its bearings) record it can be a bit overwhelming. Piano gives way to jagged, angular guitar riffs that favor the atonal and thick. Switch-hit song structure fades easily into post-metal drone and then on to lightspeed picking. Vicious roars and screams ebb into triumphant, epic crooning over guitar crunch. Chiming, crystalline leads intertwine in the background of minor-key chugga chug antics. It's a complex, layered record that works on almost every level, even if a few elements tend to overstay their welcome.

Front and center here is the epic ten minute "Nicholas", a song that goes from Between the Buried and Me antics and halfway through switches into a interlude that wouldn't be out of place on a Sigur Ros album. Someone hits a switch, and everything comes back in: Heavy, slow, and evil, segue into another interlude, and the clean vocals bring us back into the thick with a crescendo that may have been ripped straight off an effort from Isis, all with a thread of commonality in their post-hardcore lead lines that gently guide this rabid monster through its inevitable life cycle. It's extended running time and the deftly arranged songwriting allow this monstrosity to breathe and grow on its own, and it all feels completely natural.

This is not a disjointed effort, it all flows remarkably well: For a debut album, the transitions here are admirably well done, and something the previously mentioned BTBAM seriously needs to take a look at.

"Empire" is as nasty as an album opener as someone could hope for, followed closely by two other corkers in "A New Aurora" and "My Hands Will Burn First", both of which showing heavy influence from Underoath, Alexisonfire, Starkweather, and any number of post-metal acts. The two "Glances" songs are probably the most initially pleasing tracks, especially the second since it contains more than ambience, but will be the first that wear a bit thin. It doesn't make them necessarily bad, but in comparison to the power of the rest of the album, they are the weak point.

The fourteen minute instrumental "Marasm" tends to drag in a few of the slower parts as well, but it's tendency to kick copious amounts of ass once it's hitting all its RPM's is a spectacle to behold.

Overall, this was a nice year-end surprise from this small band out of Italy. Powerful, dense, heavy as hell, creative, and executed with the deftness of a veteran band, Amia Venera Landscape deserves your eyes and ears to be on this monster of an album. Highly recommended.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/amiaveneralandscape

Blood of the Black Owl - A Banishing Ritual (2010)

Blood of the Black Owl's previous meditation, A Feral Spirit, was a haze inducing ritual of both beauty and terror, as extreme as it could be tranquil, and really promoted the band to the forefront of our metal scene's peripheral artists, capable of a vision far outside the status quo even in such eclectic genres as black, doom, drone or folk metal. There is simply not much else out there that can capture the repressed spirit of native America in musical form, and place such a tax on the soul of the listener. For A Banishing Ritual, the reins seem to have been tightened a notch, partly due to the fact it consists of a single track in four 'movements', all of which combine for 40 minutes of intense immersion that can drown out your day.

Chet W. Scott (of Ruhr Hunter and many other experimental projects) returns here with collaborators James Woodhead and Daniel Ellis Harrod for a lengthy, disturbing journey. Into the trials of jarring strings, black swelling ambiance and chant-like, ritual vocal we are taken with the first of the tracks motions, 'Intent', which is possibly the most fascinating of the album. "The Statement of Will (Movement II)", which occupies only about 4 minutes of "A Banishing Ritual", opens with an extremely basal, raw doom metal rhythm that is soon bypassed by a montage of eerie woodwinds, ringing strings and carnal vocals, only to return to the guitars for the transition into "Chant of the Captured Spirit (Movement III)", which is the most ominous of the album's stages, 11 minutes of slowly escalating noise, warbled voices and warped synthesizers that tide over into trilling flutes and soothing, daemonic whispers. "The Final Banishing (Movement IV)" grows from this into sparse, further fucked whispers that are cut through with occasional jaunts onto an acoustic guitar, distant shrill synths that emulate the whipping winds of perdition and a climactic finale which feels like being hunted through a cold Northwestern night by regressive cannibal savages.

Like any successful work of its kind, A Banishing Ritual sucks the listener into a vortex of the unfamiliar and then peels away each layer of sanity from his/her stiff mind. I didn't actually appreciate it quite so much as its predecessor A Feral Spirit, but that is partly owed to the single track format...I simply didn't feel compelled by its entirety as I did with many of the songs off the prior release. Regardless, it's highly engrossing and I am very eager to experience this when hiking season begins for me in the summer. A wondrous, though not always pleasant soundtrack to the empty places of the wild (and the soul) untouched, at least temporarily, by Quiznos, Verizon and Lady Gaga.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

http://www.myspace.com/bloodoftheblackowl

Celestiial - Where Life Springs Eternal (2010)

Tanner Reed Anderson, Timothy Glenn, and Jason Walton (of Agalloch fame) return for their 2nd full length outing on Bindrune Recordings, and being partial to the great debut Desolate North, I had extremely high expectations going into this effort. Perhaps the stars are not perfectly aligned, or the value of its charms have simply yet to fully sink into my skull, because where I found a near complete rapture on the split with Blood of the Black Owl or the debut, I occasionally felt tedium during several of the 56 minutes of Where Life Springs Eternal. It's a good listen, and given the chance, it should immerse you almost as hopelessly as its predecessor, but the two often feel like day and night. And it's always a little easier to concentrate in the dark.

Now, Celestiial are not your average band playing doom or 'funeral doom' music, though some might argue that the spacious phrasing over the slowly crashing drums here is just as monotonous. No, this band is very true to their original, natural vision, to explore the vast and beautiful countryside of the United States through sonic improvisations. Desolate North was an excursion into both the minimal and gentle plucking of the guitar and the more dense, cerebral, violent compositions, and Where Life Springs Eternal is not the fruit of an entirely separate tree. The tracks presented here are diverse and improvisational, but more like a brazen, naked man parading about the places in the Land yet uncorrupted by civilization, spreading his arms wide and howling at the waterfalls of the cover image, his voice joining with the loud music of the atmosphere. It's simply not as creepy, even when it tries to be.

"Spell Over Still Water" is loaded with cascades of rushing rapid samples, feedback and noise, kind of like Nadja but with less of an intent to create harmonic abstraction. It attempts nothing. It simply is. "Great Storms Carry My Sadness" is perhaps the most depressing piece on the album, with waves of guitar and reverb that carry themselves across canyons and skies, Tanner's voice completely tortured like the Earth itself where it is marred and razed by the progress of mankind. It's also 30 fucking minutes long...so you'll have plenty of time to think about it. "From Elm Blossoms a Rose" feels a lot more purposefully arranged, as samples of water complement a gently lulling piano, but "Offering in Cedar Smoke" is another lengthy number which returns to the band's gripping emotional turmoil, Tanner's black rasp haunting over the swells of guitar volume knobs, crawling cymbals and flutter of birds. "Songbirds Depart Through the Passing Near the Garden" is a short, somber closure to the album, moodily struck pianos and acoustics that send warmth down your spine as you settle yourself in the Earth.

I've got some mixed feelings about this sophomore effort, though ultimately the positives outweigh the moments of repetitious ennui that arrive through the longer compositions (or 'non-compositions'). Granted, those moments are likely intentional, and a band like Celestiial is not something you listen to if you're expecting riffs, melodies, or anything even bordering on traditional metal. This is the sound of the spaces between the music, as if you could pause time and meditate through each natural high and low. Desolate North was a lot darker than this, with shorter songs, and I believe I still prefer that side of Celestiial, which fucked me up but good. That's not to say Where Life Springs Eternal is all bells and whistles. It's hardly an uplifting experience, but the album title alone dictates that it's heart must center about some faint trace of hope.

At any rate, Celestiial do maintain their rare ability to create a sonic response to their environment, and this is one of the few 'nature' oriented bands that amounts to more than a busload of hippies that are as full of shit as they are full of marijuana and other medications. Where Life Springs Eternal may not be the most essential of listening, but it is still quite intriguing, and the next time you get an urge to listen to one of your soccer mom 'ambient sounds of the ' CDs that you picked up at the Discovery Store, I'd recommend that you try Celestiial instead. You may just not be the same again.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/bindrunerecordings

Archaic Horizon Records (2007-06/2009)

What
From Wikipedia:

"Creative Commons has been described as being at the forefront of the copyleft movement, which seeks to support the building of a richer public domain by providing an alternative to the automatic "all rights reserved" copyright, dubbed "some rights reserved." David Berry and Giles Moss have credited Creative Commons with generating interest in the issue of intellectual property and contributing to the re-thinking of the role of the "commons" in the "information age". Beyond that Creative Commons has provided "institutional, practical and legal support for individuals and groups wishing to experiment and communicate with culture more freely".

Creative Commons works to counter what the organisation considers to be a dominant and increasingly restrictive permission culture. According to Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons, it is "a culture in which creators get to create only with the permission of the powerful, or of creators from the past". Lessig maintains that modern culture is dominated by traditional content distributors in order to maintain and strengthen their monopolies on cultural products such as popular music and popular cinema, and that Creative Commons can provide alternatives to these restrictions."

To put it simply, Creative Commons licensing is a move towards making art and other creations available to all while still acknowledging the role of the original artist. As technology allows musicians to move beyond the traditional record label-dependent industry, Creative Commons gives them the ability to retain legal safety and control while expanding their horizons. Think of it as a digital birth control, perhaps - artists need no longer be tied to and dependent upon one majour label or another for life, meaning that the artist is empowered, not the record industry.

As such, new internet labels have popped up around the idea of Creative Commons, acting as a means for community and discovery without the stale confines of outdated business models. I intend to review these little bastions of art and creativity, both for the overarching focus of the label and the highlights of the albums offered.

Why
Copyright laws have moved far beyond their original scope, having left the realm of protection and entered a monopolistic state of being. The rapid spread of information via the internet has allowed, for the first time, the breakdown of this construct, and I am wholeheartedly for it. Alongside the paradigm shifting of the music industry, I see a lot of hope for the future, and would like to support these efforts.

However, as CC artists are not chosen for their market appeal and profitability, it is solely up to the label runner's tastes what is and is not picked up. Thus, the potentially lax criteria involved with artist adoption by these labels can lead to less-than-stellar releases by artists who just aren't ready. Sure, majour labels have their fair share of duds and soulless cash cows, and this certainly is nowhere near as bad as the base profligacy that Myspace has allowed, yet it is still pertinent.

I get it already
Great, I'll just give a little glimpse into what will go on in these reviews. First of all, I'll provide pros and cons for the labels themselves, which will be fairly self-explanatory and straightforward. After that, I will break down the good releases, offering mini-reviews for each starting from the earliest release that I like, and perhaps full-sized ones for exceptional albums. I will skip any works that do not meet my quick-and-dirty approval - while this may mean that I miss a couple flawed gems on accident, there is far too much material on hand for me to care. If you happen to be bored, by all means look at the other artists that I don't cover, and definitely tell me if you find one that you believe to be deserving of attention. Due to the nature of my analysis, these reviews will have to be updated in the future due to expanding label catalogs, perhaps on a yearly basis if I am so inclined (don't count on this).

All music and art is freely available for streaming and download. Band names are bolded, album names are italicized, and songs are quoted.

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Archaic Horizon Records

Pros: Archaic focuses on a very chill and smooth style of synth-heavy ambient dronescapes and minimalistic electronica. The use of samples and texture is a common motif, although the material is typically very simple and unpretentious, given much more to mood than technicality. Retro synths and styles are also common, although this is a tenuous aspect that is often teetering on the edge of cheesy. Still, some very beautiful works are encapsulated in this collection - the ep's in particular tend to be quite good.

Cons: There is an almost universal use of mediocre drum samples and beats in the Archaic catalog, ranging from baby's-first-Fruityloops-beat to public access drumkit #55. Although they generally keep a low profile, I find it easy to become fixated on them and really hope to see some progression in this area. Also, the simplicity of these releases can work against them - I would like to see a bit more depth worked in with heavier layering to enrich the sound. Electronic ambience can be tricky to make engaging, and the Archaic kids often fall prey to this.

Label Verdict: 7.5/10

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The Albums

First Layer: AH001-AH010

• AH002
  Orange Crush - The Fields
  
  The second Archaic release is a fitting poster boy for the label, chock full of warm, wistful melodies and marred by dim-witted, yet well-meaning beats. The ambience itself is pretty good, evoking a youthful world of sunsets, and the drums are just toeing the line of trite, so I have a generally positive feeling for this album. Highlights include the title track, a sparkly, hopeful affair that flirts with lo-fi spunk and the sample-driven burbling of "Across the Breeze".
  
  Verdict: 6.75/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah002/ah002.html



• AH003
  Corwin Trails - Corwin Trails ep
  
  Here we have another engaging Archaic releases. Corwin Trails hits all the right spots to get me going: use of spoken samples, creative beats, nostalgic synths, and experimental cutting leave this all-too-short ep always ready for an encore. "Icicle" is definitely my favourite track here - just give it a listen.
  
  Verdict: 8.5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah003/ah003.html



• AH005
  Hills West - Glare
  
  Glare opens with the gorgeous "Sonsun", whose wavering clouds of drone bring to mind the headiness of shoegaze, albeit stripped of its noise and grit. Although the rest of the album doesn't necessarily measure up to that, drums are thankfully relegated to only a few songs, which allows the great synth textures to shine through. I would love to see this shoegaze/ambient style expounded upon, please?
  
  Verdict:7.5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah005/ah005.html



• AH006
  Sora Shima - Distancing EP
  
  This is a nice and dense release of dark, purely ambient drones - perfect for those lonely night drives when all the city lights have faded. Simple, yet still moving.
  
  Verdict: 8/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah006/ah006.html



• AH008
  loafeye - drinking rosewater
  
  While the whimsical and carefree sound of loafeye (I can't help but love that name) is overall rather pleasant, it definitely knocks a few rocks over the precipice of cheesiness. Good, but not impressive.
  
  Verdict: 6.5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah008/ah008.html



• AH009
  celer - Ariill
  
  With just two 30-minute tracks to make their point, celer seem pretty confident in their style, and for good reason. Ariill is a relaxed work revolving around deconstructed piano drones that are moreso constant than progressing, taking a firmly ambient stance that suits background accompaniment as much as focused listening. I would prefer to hear some sort of advancement throughout the songs, yet this is still a satisfying listen.
  
  Verdict: 7/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah009/ah009.html

Second Layer: AH011-AH020

• AH011
  GABRIEL - Good old Days
  
  Good old Days has a strong Wisp feel to it, with rich analog synth work alongside slice-of-life samples and IDM-light beats, so it gets a pretty quick thumbs up from me. As the cover art might hint, there's a pervasive beach feel throughout, although it's not heavy; in fact, I think he could have built off of that a bit more. Some tracks feature very self-aware lo-fi elements, showing that GABRIEL definitely knows what he's doing.
  
  Verdict: 8.5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah011/ah011.html
  



• AH013
  Sarin Sunday - The Lonely Hike
  
  Although The Lonely Hike begins with the delightfully retro "Light Fragments", giving the impression that Sarin Sunday is ready to take things off on an energizing romp through old science film-fueled dance territory, things just aren't so. That's not to say that this isn't a nice album, because it certainly is. According to the unwritten Archaic MO, Sarin Sunday plays a soothing, minimalistic form of electronica, riding out its simple beats with more engaging melodies. Pretty par for the label.
  
  Verdict: 7.5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah013/ah013.html
  



• AH018
  Ophibre - REFERENCE
  
  One long track on show here, progressing from a formless mishmash of samples to a more focused shimmering drone. Pleasant, but the beginning half is somewhat aimless, and the second part isn't good enough to make it worth sitting through.
  
  Verdict: 5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah018/ah018.html
  



• AH019
  Saturday Index - Partly Cloudy ep
  
  Another interesting release (something about their ep's, eh?), with four lovely synth tracks by Saturday Index and three remixes of "Partly Cloudy" by other Archaic artists that are actually worth listening to. Nostalgic and calm, true bliss-out music.
  
  Verdict: 8/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah019/ah019.html
  



• AH020
  Celer - Red Seals
  
  Composed by a Californian couple, this musical portrayal of red tides off the coast. One of the few purely ambient releases here, Red Seals is sadly not a very compelling listen. While the textures and brief samples are of good quality, there is little variation or movement to be had, making it a large effort to last all the way through both half-hour-long songs. Similar to their previous work Ariill, yet a step backwards.
  
  Verdict: 5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah020/ah020.html
  

Third Layer: AH021-AH030

• AH023
  Heroines of the U.S.S.R - Spring Snow ep
  
  Another ambient dronescape, and what a scape it is! Thick sleets of soft yet scraggy synths billow on these four songs, building into each other, distorting through their own white cloud of decay. Crackles of static pop beneath the mass, anchoring the sound like tiny footsteps in snow. This release really captures the thick and isolated feel of being in a snow storm and also manages to keep enough momentum and variation to make it a pleasure to stick all the way through. Highly recommended!
  
  Verdict: 8.5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah023/ah023.html
  



• AH024
  Experience. Hold. - March Forth
  
  More akin to the post-rock-fueled manipulations of World's End Girlfriend than minimalistic electronica, the material on March Forth is busy with the skitter of susurrating beats, acoustic lullabies, and plenty of memories. Although it lacks the dynamic impact of World's End Girlfriend, this entry by Experience. Hold. is still very worth your while.
  
  Verdict: 8/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah024/ah024.html
  



• AH029
  Counterspark - Existence EP
  
  Much like the cover art, this release is a simple work of warm, hazy synths. It's definitely soothing on the ears, yet without any real direction or development, the songs never quite pulled me in. Should be great as background music, though.
  
  Verdict: 6/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah029/ah029.html
  



• AH030
  Eluder - Drift
  
  More warm ambience, but this time there are plenty of layers and movements to get you through. Most certainly supports the mood set by the song names and the cover art with weightless ambient currents that your mind will float away with.
  
  Verdict: 7.5/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah030/ah030.html
  

Fourth Layer: AH031-current day

• AH031
  Orange Crush - Autumn Reflections
  
  Ah, the return of Orange Crush. Autumn Reflections is pretty much a direct sequel to The Fields - it's better mixed, with a calmer, more subdued take on his style. I strongly prefer this out of the two albums.
  
  Verdict: 8/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah031/ah031.html
  



• AH032
  Melorman - Expressing Thoughts
  
  I really like the music on these three songs (why is this so short, god), but the first one is slightly ruined by the pointless presence of womanly...bleating, like it was some sort of goddamn club trance song. Maybe e-heads will love it with all five of their remaining brain cells. This is the last of the current releases, so it gets a bit of snark to finish off. Good few songs, but needs a real release to tell if Melorman has enough melor in his diet.
  
  Verdict: 7/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah032/ah032.html
  
  
• AH032
  Electricwest - MOTH3R/R3MIXES
  
  Oops, looks like Melorman already lost the shiny "new" title, as Archaic have put up something since I last visited their site. That something is this something, which is apparently a something that used to cost money to appropriate for one's listening, but now no longer does. Just because. And what do we have here? Surprisingly, an almost dubstep-like concoction of slow-churning bass dub, glitchy beats, and expansive atmospheres. It all blends expertly, a bit like what I imagine Boxcutter would sound like in the hands of Burial's mastermind. Too good, too good. R3MIXES is a new take on the album with covers by other Archaic artists, most of which are decent but not comparable - I say go ahead and skip downloading this portion.
  
  Verdict: 8/10
  http://www.archaichorizon.com/releases/ah033/ah033.html
  

Isis - Not in Rivers, But in Drops EP (2008)

One of the more popular acts to originate in my neck of the woods, I've always had kind of mixed feelings on Isis. I thought their early material was plodding, boring, and extremely overrated metalcore. But I have enjoyed some of their later releases, their shift into a more experimental direction of post-rock and drone has opened up so many elements in their sound.

This new EP is a good example of the latter, and I'm happy to say I really enjoyed the title track. It's hooky, it flows so well together, from its dreamy opening to its rock out riffs and even the desolate growling which pops into the middle. There's also a live version of the track, which sounds okay but you'll be too engaged in the studio track to care. The other track here is a Thomas Dimuzio remix of "Holy Tears", and it too is a delight.

If you love Isis, you're in for a treat here. Both of the studio tracks are well worth hunting down and you'll listen to them repeatedly. Being not the biggest fan in the world, I still really enjoyed this. You also have to love that cover art, one of the most striking cover images I've seen in some time.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.isistheband.com