Don’t let that douche Chris Brown’s DIY jacket (which was probably bought at hot topic) fool you. The Casualties’ latest album is a fist full of hate in the face of society. If you are into punk acts such as Krum Bums, The Exploited, GBH and Cheap Sex then you probably already know The Casualties. If not, you should take a long, hard look at yourself. Pick this album up, boys and girls of the revolution. It is pretty rad. Berneau van der Merwe
it sounds like they had a toddler sat beside them while recording, pressing random buttons on a children’s keyboard. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, but in some songs it does feel like overkill. Opening track, Handshake, breaks you in gently to the unpredictability of the album in general, being of a more linear structure than the following tracks. I think this is a wise move on the French musicians’ part as it won’t initially scare off unaware listeners. My advice with this record is to keep an open mind. If you are looking for something a bit different, a bit more experimental than everyday metal, then give Polymorphic Code a go. I’m not sure how this album will stand the test of time, but it is definitely worth a listen. Chantelle Marie
The Casualties - Resistance Season of Mist
So, what is there to say about street punk act The Casualties? Absolutely nothing. The music speaks for itself. Their latest release, titled Resistance, is also the band’s ninth studio album. Angry, political and just noisy as can be, with some melody, but not really. Okay, I am lying. The latest release from legendary street punk band The Casualties has a lot of grit, awesome yet simple riffs and the vocal work is superb. That goes for the backup vocal work as well. It is the culmination of 22 years of disgust with pretty much everything to do with socalled “modern society”, which is fantastic. Resistance contains tracks such as “Modern Day Slaves”, “Morality Police” and “Brick Wall Justice”. The lyrical content seems pretty much carved in stone.
count. In some ways music that looks forward, in others a relic from days when people had time for 90-odd minute records, The Alvaret Ensemble stands out from the crowd. For all the right reasons. Gilbert Potts
The Flight of Sleipnir - Saga Eyes Like Snow
The Alvaret Ensemble - S/T Denovali Records
Do you know how hard it can be to find an hour and a half to sit back and listen to one record without interruption? Yes. That hard. Trying to do that five times in a week has been impossible for me so I've been listening to this self-titled album from The Alvaret Ensemble in less than ideal conditions. Yet despite this I've managed to get so much from what, in many ways, is so little. English-born Berlin neo-classical composer Greg Haines has brought together three Dutch musicians Romke Kleefstra, Sytze Pruiksma and Jan Kleefstra to add guitar, percussion and vocals to Haines’ piano. Other musicians join in here and there, providing depth and variety. At times hauntingly beautiful, others terribly sad and yet others enormously creepy, these long improvised works are a lesson in minimalism that you can actually listen to. While much ambient avant-garde music of this type comes across as pretentious because of its inaccessibility, The Alvaret Ensemble is thoroughly listenable. Better still, it's engaging and feels more diverse than it is over its vast length. This is not your cinematic film score for a film that doesn't exist, this is great music for the sake of great music. Whether it's the incredibly slow crescendo in songs like 'Wju' or the lovely short phrase used in 'Eac', these songs having been created with an incredible intuition for sound rather than melody, and timing rather than rhythm. The vocals take the form of softly spoken word, I presume in Dutch although it could well be invented words. It doesn't matter – it's what the words sound like that
Colorado duo The Flight of Sleipnir have returned with their fourth album—and follow up to the 2011 Essence of Nine—with their latest offering entitled Saga. It’s hard to place these guys into a definite category or even suggest comparison bands to them, due to the fact that they really are completely unique. A one-of-a-kind mixture of progressive and doom metal with a hint of Viking, diversified by their combination of melodic and harsh vocals and both electric and acoustic sounds. The album starts off with Prologue, featuring raw black metal vocals with a melodic section placed nicely in the middle of the track. The pace then slows right down for the next couple of songs which are more acoustic and mellow-sounding. The beautiful thing about this album is the feeling of the story it tells and the journey it takes you on. Reaffirmation begins to the sound of howling wind and gives the listener the feeling of trekking across a cold, harsh landscape; whereas the next track Reverence ends to a crackling camp fire, making you feel you’ve found your shelter for the night. The storytelling element is a common theme of the music David Csicsely and Clayton Cushman set out to make, as they give their own musical interpretation of Scandinavian literature. I’d highly recommend this release. It’s not one for background music, though. It’s an album which has to be properly listened to in order to understand and appreciate all of the subtleties in the writing. My advice would be to take advantage of the upcoming holidays, sit back in front of an open fire and just enjoy it. Chantelle Marie
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