Hallelujah" is not only the follow-up to "Nostril", but also a definite step forward for Igorrr. An album which was for years in the making, it is the translation into tracks of very old ideas and the combination not only of styles, but also of many guest musician's talent. Together with several new singers and musicians, Igorrr has perfected here the concepts he had touched in his previous albums, improving his production and mixing breakcore, baroque classical music and metal in an even faster, more coherent and crazier way. Both from Igorrr solo and from his high-profile guests "Hallelujah" is the lorrrd's concentrate, the exhilarating, mad result of a perfectionist's tireless work.
Igorrr's previous album, 2010's "Nostril", was the one with which this French artist confirmed for good the high quality of his production and the craziness of his ideas. Not only was he deepening his combination of baroque, classical music with breakcore and metal (as already hinted at with his "Poisson Soluble" and "Moisissure" previous full lengths), but he had reached a point where all these elements were flowing together in a very natural (though highly complex) way, creating a completely new musical whole. On top of this, "Nostril" was also the album with which Igorrr finally received enough recognition to play all over Europe and be seen as the mad genius he is.
First limited edition in digipak, and including the ‘Eisbrecher’ remix of ‘The Last Dance’! „The Great Escape“ is the highly anticipated follow-up of the band’s successful „Passenger“ debut album! It features the current German hit-single ‘The Last Dance’ and was mixed and mastered at the famous Danish Antfarm Studios (Moonspell, Heaven Shall Burn, Dark Tranquillity etc.) & Finnvox Studios (HIM, Nightwish, Amorphis etc.).
As special highlight, the album features a guest appearance on the track “Perfect Day” by Chris Harms of LORD OF THE LOST, one of the most successful German Gothic Rock acts of these days. ‘A Life Divided’ have played the most important gothic festivals (Amphi, M’era Luna etc.) and have been touring with APOCALYPTICA.
The band gets extremely positive feedback from the press, putting the name A LIFE DIVIDED next to the ones of THE RASMUS and NINE INCH NAILS i! n ways of style and quality. A Life Divided will be touring with German superstars MONO INC. in 2013 and a European tour is in preparation!
The Calling is a thematic soundtrack inspired by, and to accompany, the Hunter series of books by international bestselling writer Simon Beckett. The soundtrack is a mixture of new music, binaural field recordings, sound design, foley and includes readings by the author.
“When the Sheffield neoclassical band IN THE NURSERY suggested collaborating on an album of music inspired by my David Hunter novels, I was immediately intrigued. Coming from Sheffield myself, I was familiar with ITN's work. Their music is dramatic, atmospheric and highly cinematic - all attributes I try to bring into my own writing. What we agreed on was to create something new: not an audiobook with background music but an instrumental soundtrack that takes its themes and tone from the David Hunter books.
As such it's a unique project, and something that to the best of my knowledge hasn't been done before. Hopefully it will not only appeal to those familiar with the series, but also resonate with a wider audience. Simon Beckett, April 2012.'
Vertikal", the new studio album from Swedish "art rockers" CULT OF LUNA. "Vertikal" marks a much‐anticipated return for the band after five years spent cultivating the ideas and directing the influences that have helped form a concept for the album. Distilled throughout are themes of machinery, repetition and clear, linear structures honed to the visual imagery of Fritz Lang's classic expressionist science fiction film "Metropolis".
The music broods, builds and boils as you may expect from CULT OF LUNA, but never overcomplicates itself or veers from its intentions; it is arguably their finest and most cohesive piece of work to date. Commented the band: "Before we started writing, we were keen to find a theme that in a very direct way could be shown through the music, and we hope to have achieved this.
We developed clear structures — very linear, refusing to over complicate the writing process "We realize fans have been waiting for what seems like an age for us ! to return to the live arena properly, but we were not keen on playing shows before we had the new material ready.
There have been changes, and we wanted to come back on our own terms with something completely new. It is very important for us to transpose the idea of a new album into the live setting, to not tread water, and to include the fans in what we’ve been working on; you will be hearing this very soon." CULT OF LUNA will return to the live arena for a full European tour, with a new set of dates just announced in April and May in addition to the previously announced period around the album's release in January and February. There are U.S. dates being planned and the band intend to tour further in late 2013.
Montreal's Suuns spent the winter and spring of 2012 writing and recording Images du Futur.
Their sessions were concurrent with the Quebec student protests that started in February of 2012 and continued through September of this year. Set against a backdrop lead singer Ben
Shemie calls "a climate of excitement, hope and frustration," Suuns aimed for an expansion of the musical ideas on their critically accalimed first record, Zeroes, QC.
Images du Futur builds upon the intensity of their debut, but often does so through new textures and subtler dynamic maneuvering. Album standout "Edie's Dream" begins with a single bass
line repeated from which layers build & rise — first drums, then a wash of white noise; echoes of guitar, then chanted vocals. The song's clever shifts are jazz-touched and delicate, almost subliminal. It all makes for a stark, skeletal boogie — more an astral projection than a song.
"Edie's Dream" exemplifies the restraint of which Suuns is capable and works to make the unhinged moments all the more devastating.
Lauded by Pitchfork and NME — the former saying "few bands this young are operating on quite this scale, and fewer still have the brass-- and the patience-- to pull off a big, glitzy,
complex record like Zeroes QC," and the latter declaring them 2011's Best New Band — Suuns have deepened their approach, using minimalist techniques to create maximalist works.
Produced once again by Jace Lasek from Besnard Lakes, Images blasts out of the gate with "Powers of Ten," laying out a sort of manifesto for the record in the very first lines: "Got it
together/I read in the paper/all of theses strangers/stranger and stranger.../No, no, no, no, how you try and remember/how all of these pieces/all fit together." Shemie says of the process, "As a
band we were trying to look at our music from further and further away, seeing more details in the picture as we expanded the landscape."
Suuns is Ben Shemie,Max Henry, Liam O'Neill and Joseph Yarmush.
