Velvet Cacoon - Genevieve
Begins with totally distorted guitars and then is joined by slow drums, giving me a very Xasthur vibe. Vocals are the merest diseased whisper. The main riff repeats slowly, building up a sort of hypnotic atmosphere, then changing to reveal more clean tones over distant, oceanic growls and rasps. Drumming starts to build up into a slow, helicopter-like beat around the two minute mark. More repeating vocals around the three minute mark. The song seems to just move along (or possibly crawl wretchedly) without any real effort, which in my mind distracts from the effect somewhat. I'm more a fan of tremolo'd guitars and anguished screams. Still, a pretty solid depressive BM effort. 7.5/10.
Ion Dissonance - The Bud Dwyer Effect
Begins with very distorted guitar over screaming and out-of-synch drum beats. At around 20 seconds they just start playing scales really fast. Really, all I hear here is pretty standard mathcore stuff. Some guy screams, the drummer plays out-of-synch, out-of-tempo beats which provide no basis for movement or do anything to jab me. The guitarist(s) play really fast shred riffs which don't sound particularly good. No solos. Everyone frequently stops for no apparent reason. I found myself skipping towards the end. The whole song just did nothing whatsover for me, and I wouldn't be able to distinguish it from, well, The Dillinger Escape Plan or w/e in a lineup. Still, decent instrumental skill I suppose. 3/10
My choice takes the tempo down a bit I'm afraid, with some nice neo-folk/folk noir/post-industrial/apocalyptic cabaret/stop renaming your genre every album. Don't listen if you're particularly Christian.
Sol Invictus - God Told Me To[url]
