Slightly Behind The Times

Harakiri for the Sky Arson (2018, Austria) Melodic Post-Black Metal, Depressive Suicidal Black Metal, Post-Hardcore Harakiri for the Sky is an Austrian black metal band formed in 2011 who combine traditional black metal speed and dark tone with post-rock's atmospheric, semi-experimental tendencies, and post-hardcore's aggression, dynamics, and melody. Comprised of vocalsit Michael "J.J." V. Wahntraum, and multi-instrumentalist Matthias Sollak, the pair has already made a name for themselves in the extreme metal world despite their relatively short career, including fairly heavy touring with a regular lineup. Arson is the pair's fourth effort, and with just over a seventy minute runtime across eight tracks, it's a lot of music to get through, so I'll truncate my rambling here and get on with things. The album opens with what one might call a banger in Fire, Walk With Me. After opening with quiet reverb-drenched, tremolo picking guitars under p...

It's been less than two months this time. Are you proud of me? You shouldn't be. This time, more female-fronted indie rock, and the best thing since things. Everything's melodic again, too. Can't help it, I guess. Skating Polly New Trick (2017) Grunge, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock This band's primary vocalist/bassist, Kelli Mayo, was born on the exact same day as me. She's in a band playing a painfully 90s/early 2000s brand of alternative rock and some riot grrrl influence. My main musical project is a painfully 90s/early 2000s form of metal and punk rock. The lesson here? Generation Z is doomed to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors. Except in this case, it's not a mistake, because Skating Polly is a surprisingly good band, and I am giving this EP the strongest possible recommendation based purely on the second track, Hail Mary, which the YouTube algorithm so kindly threw at my face one day. I then proceeded to listen to this song over 75 t...