#brandon mohlis

[symptom3000]

Brandon Mohlis "Neon Apocalypse" (2017)

[gen2mo]

Some recent smaller and bigger blips that you might have missed...

... if you didn’t check in all of those niches spread out in the big theatre of music.

1. Let’s start with a returning occurrence on this blog. Brandon Mohlis, that solo artist with a strong focus on Progressive Metal concept albums that I’ve mentioned twice before, has released his newest album yesterday. He stays well within his usual framework when it comes to theme and format, as it is again a concept album about a topic in the general area of retro Fantastic Literature. With Superhero comic-books lending the stylistic and lyrical outline to this one. It continues his move away from a more Industrial heaviness towards an overall more Rock-oriented style and away from the obvious Townsend-isms of his first release to a fairly recognizeable musical fingerprint, that already showed on “The City Of Lost Monsters”. Combined with a very straight-to-the-point song-oriented approach that makes it uncharacteristically catchy and easily approachable for a concept album. 

With its overall more Rock-y sound it may fall a bit out of the narrower focus of this blog but I’m pretty sure that if you’ve liked what he did up to this point or generally have an open heart for more light-hearted upbeat and less meandering Progressive Metal you’ll definitely like thsi one. Give it a bash:

Superheroes! The Musical by Brandon Mohlis

2. You probably won’t remember it, let’s be honest. Ages ago I pointed you to a German band called “Prometheus” that strived to do a cinematic blend of Progressive and Industrial Metal. Since then, they have renamed to “Dhark” and progressed further into doomy, dark Progressive Metal territory. The first result of this delve is their new album “Darkness Amplified” (really trying to drive the point home, are we?). Since their Prometheus-times, their sound has definitely developed into a far more coherent combination of slow rolling but not tedious bassy grooves, concise part Industrial, part symphonic highlights in the background to amp up the proportions a bit and a vocal style staying in a shift between harsh and clean. And despite all the slow rolling soundwalls and amplified darkness, they also have a lot of well constructed build-ups, hooks and tempo changes this time around.

Be sure to check it out if dark, harsh Progressive Metal that breathes Extreme and Industrial sounds like something for you:

3. Khonsu have released the first single for their approaching new opus “The Xun Protectorate”. They are a Norwegian project that has been dancing on the lines between the grand cold landscapes of Symphonic Black Metal, the avant-garde-ish noisy Industrial/Black/Progressive Metal experiments of Cyber Metal and straight forward Industrial Metal with their past releases (which I wholeheartedly recommend) and this single probably drives the point home more than ever. If some majestic futuristic music between Mechina and the more Black Metal-minded tracks of Sybreed sounds like something you might want to listen to, put this one on your list:

4. You might remember my mention of the soundtrack for the 2016 Videogame “Doom”, done by Mick Gordon, a couple of posts ago. It is now officially released with a new mix, composition of all the shorter fragments and sequencing adjusted for regular music listening on various platforms. If you liked what you heard last time or are just itching for some Tyrant Of Death-esque 8-9 string Industrial hammering intertwined with electronic ambiance to punch some of your brain cells into fighting shape for two hours, here’s an official stream:

[gen2mo]

Short update, some short thoughts on twitter and some music.

Oh man. It’s been a while. To say that I got distracted would be strange, as in the larger picture of my life, I guess this blog would figure as one of the many distractions I indulge in. But still... I should at least preserve some semblance of regularity here.

But luckily, I’ve not been entirely out of it, as in: I’ve been thinking about stuff. Some extensions to my peripheral phenomena section which I’ll write about soon, some thoughts regarding the first post for said section, as I’m still not entirely certain I’m going about it as methodically sound as I went about some previous sections. But stuff forms in my head, so my post on Nu Metal will probably come together somewhere in the nearer future... I hope.

Additionally what has been crosing my mind is getting onto twitter to extend my reach, to be able to post short recommendations more conveniently, to have an easier place for short feedback and commenting, and to potentially find out how large my reader-base actually is, which certainly would be nice knowledge to have. So, if anyone has an opinion on twitter to offer, don’t hesitate to let me know via comments or email.

Aaaand I try to never leave you without some music to listen to and I’ve got some nifty stuff today. You might remember Brandon Mohlis, whom I wrote about for his quite great concept album “Brand New Earth: A Space Opera“. He has just released his second concept album “The City Of Lost Monsters!“. As the first one, it has a certain Devin Townsend vibe to it but a lot more subtle this time around as there’s a lot more emphasis on more melodic groove and rock-y riffing here. Mixed with the still great feeling for the writing of big songs and huge catchy choruses, this is definitely one to check out:

The City Of Lost Monsters! by Brandon Mohlis

On a scond note, you might find the recently released new album by Coat Of Arms interesting. I have to confess, I didn’t quite find my way into it but I suppose whoever follows this blog could potentially like what they have to offer and I’ve heard people say that they find it really good, so give it a listen:

A Shade of Red by Coat Of Arms

[gen2mo]

#88 - Metal Musicals! Two of'em! Brandon Mohlis and Adrian van den Broëck

You know, thinking about it now, I wonder if I didn't construct a bit of a problem for myself by setting up the possibility of "Off Topic"-posts. because now I have to decide if a band is Modern Metal "enough" to get a numbered post. Which is slightly idiotic because my model of Modern Metal includes a broad periphery that still belongs to Modern Metal in some sense. And implementing binary decisions on the basis gradual differences is a serious hassle. So, what do I do? I guess I'll just say "fuck it" and post anything that has clear ties to the Modern Metal spectrum in a numbered post. In the end, even if the ties are weak, it is still relevant. I'll explain why in my next more theoretic post, by the way.

So, what have we got today? Or rather: What made me think about this? It is a concept album in the general style of Devin Townsends Ziltoid. Sans the wackyness and plus a serious SYL injection, though. It's called "Brand New Earth" and was done by a Brandon Mohlis. It's strong ties to SYL make it very Modern Metal-y in places, while its general scope has really more to do with Progressive Metal. All accentuated with a partly voice acted storyline, so it has a bit of this Metal Musical-vibe you find in Townsends Ziltoid-stories. So it's not quite inside the stylistic triangle but also not really outside it. But when it comes to listening pleasure, what matters is not classification, so have a listen:

Brand New Earth: A Space Opera by Brandon Mohlis

And know what? While we're at it, I have a slightly similar project for you, this time done by a Adrian van den Broëck. His album has a fully voice acted and pretty wacky storyline and the music is heavily leaning towards the instrumental side. But it is definitely no less interesting. Especially the music parts are consistently amazing with huge rolling spacey sound walls. So, if you've still got time, give it a listen, too:

Alchemist Hans Blomberg by Adrian van den Broëck