Brad Armstrong - Heart Like A Sigil

Brad Armstrong was born in Birmingham, Alabama, where he spent the majority of his formative music years with 13ghosts.  Now that 13ghosts has seemingly dissolved, he has re-located to New York, where he has continued his solo career as well as other collaborations like The Glass Hours.

I wanted to show some love for his most recent solo release, his third full-length 'Heart Like A Sigil', from 2022.  He paired up with Maria Taylor's (Azure Ray) LA-based indie label Flower Moon Records, as well as featuring her on 10/12 of the album's tracks with accompanying vocals.  This album basically became my "bummer but bright" go-to album when it released, with certain tracks like "Take Me Down to Carolina" seemingly having even more added weight to them today.  Other favorites include "The Witch (Part 1)", "Fading Out", and "Reels Out", which cast the most evocative shadows to the contrasted lighter moments on the album.  Overall every track feels very cinematic and filled with specific purpose.

Just a great songwriter, and he manages to tow a line of multiple genres with a solid country/rock foundation.  Maria Taylor also deserves a lot of credit too -- her harmonies and voice give this album a lot of added dynamics, punctuated by Armstrong's unique lyricism and delivery.

Bandcamp

Ty Walker and The Humanoids - Home On The Strange

The story goes that Ty Walker was abducted in Roscoe, Montana in 1972, only to mysteriously re-appear with said galactic ghouls ('The Humanoids') to help him create a form of cosmic country.  Their latest offering 'Home On The Strange' is a psychedelic-twanged continuation from their debut 'Where the Hell is Roscoe?'.  My introduction to the group was the live version of "Neon Buffalo" from their debut (below), and ever since have been taken by their unique blend of styles and story-telling that has probed into my brain.  Numerous live videos show that they incorporate this lore into their music and show, and honestly I just respect the dedication to the "bit" as well as how surprisingly well it all works tonally and sonically.

The new album standout tracks for me are "All Hat, No Cattle" and the closer "Cosmic Mystery", with the altogether takeaway that it's exciting to still see groups making experimental (both lyrically and musically) forms of country music.  And also in this case, how effectively and uniquely it can be done.  Also dig the album art (also on vinyl) by Mark Rogers.

Bandcamp

Uulliata Digir - Uulliata Digir

Uulliata Digir is an avant-garde metal band from Poznań, Poland.  Stumbled across this recently and thought the inclusion of trumpet within heavy metal was definitely not something you (I?) hear everyday, and for all their layers pull off a very cohesive sound.  Their debut album (which seems to include a mix of members who were in past projects) of the same name is basically 3 long tracks with 2 short interludes, but they make a promising showing of what could come.  The band has a female/male vocalist that bounce off of one another throughout, often colliding together in what are some of the more frenzied and seemingly hysteria-induced moments of the album.  Lots of people seem to compare them to Imperial Triumphant; the singer Julita Dąbrowska reminds me of Chelsea Wolfe in some ways, especially on the opening track "Myrthrs".  Overall just a pretty solid debut and worth checking out.

Bandcamp

L.S. Dunes - Violet

While it can be a divisive moniker, L.S. Dunes is a recent "supergroup" of guitarist Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), guitarist Travis Stever (Coheed and Cambria), vocalist Anthony Green (Circa Survive), bassist Tim Payne (Thursday), and drummer Tucker Rule (Thursday).

I was a fan of their debut full-length 'Past Lives' in 2022 (especially the opening track "2022" and "Bombsquad"), and am looking forward to / telling anyone not in the know about their soon to release new full-length 'Violet' on January 31st.

Mostly wanted to highlight this release because Anthony Green has been on a prolific output-resurgence the past few years, releasing a myriad of work under multiple projects/solo, including probably my favorite of the bunch with his again-collaboration with The Sound of Animals Fighting's 'Apeshit' in 2022.  All that to say -- he is my main draw to this project; I've sometimes teeter-tottered on albums/bands/solo work Green is associated with, but undeniably his voice and delivery is a unique cornerstone in multiple genres and at the least is always worth checking out.  Plus the entire band seems to have a solid chemistry that hopefully keeps the collab rolling.

Bandcamp

Adrift - Dry Soil

Spain's Adrift (formerly stylized 'adrift') are back on the 31st of January with their first full-length album since 'Pure' in 2019.  "Concrete" is the only track available for preview (below) from the soon-releasing 'Dry Soil', but it & their back catalog alone was enough to get me pre-ordering the vinyl/digital release.  Considering the last thing these guys released was compilation tracks a few years ago, I'm glad to see they're still rocking and putting out new full-length albums.

Bandcamp

GOROD - The Orb

Progressive Death Metal from Bordeaux, France.  GOROD (formerly 'Gorod' & 'Goregasm') released their latest album ('The Orb') in March of 2023, after a brief lapse since 2018.  Just thought I would give a quick shout-out for this album, not much else to say aside they've been one of my favorites in the genre since their inception (late 90's/early 2000's for their first studio release).  GOROD just explores some avenues of DM that many don't, from occasional clean vocals to more experimental songwriting, and a strong yin/yang of technical bombast with brightness to the darkest dungeon.  As far as I can tell this was only released digitally and on CD.

Bandcamp

KASHIWA Daisuke - Ice

 

'KASHIWA Daisuke NEW ALBUM "Ice"

Track listing:

'Ice' 01 algo-Rhythm #02 02 Ice 03 EBV 04 hypocrisy 05 skyliner In the Abyss 06 nemesis 07 Myosotis 08 canaria

Pre-release on Bandcamp: June 29, 2024. Release date: July 20, 2024. KASHIWA Daisuke's 10th original album, "Ice," is set for an early release on Bandcamp on June 29 (general release on July 20). The album is based on the concept of emphasizing clear melodies and is a work that pursues expression through melody. It features songs with beautiful melodies played in various styles.' The first single/title track "Ice" can be heard below as well as a short preview of the album.

* I also found the track "EBV" on Kashiwa's personal YT channel: