Let's check out the Beijing band OU, this is some wild stuff! =D
Mountain is their most-played song on Spotify, and it's on their 2022 debut album, one. I think fans of GriffO (鬼否) will also like this. The combination of ethereal vocals over proggy-math-metal music is a winner. I've only heard a few tunes so far, but I'm pretty excited about this band.
Lynn Wu-Voc, Anthony Vanacore-Drums, 张晶 Jing Zhang-Gtr, 崔文正 Chris Cui-Bass
I had never heard of this band until a few days ago, when a single from their upcoming album "蘇醒 II: Frailty" appeared in my YT recs. The album is co-produced by Canadian prog-metal mastermind Devin Townsend, and he adds some background growling vocal on the song 淨化 Purge. This is completely intense and insane:
Song of the Day (16 November 2019): Ayreon - Everybody Dies
There is an element of unfairness in extracting a single chapter of a book, and sharing that section without the context of background and setting, but Everybody Dies is such a strong track from Ayreon’s The Source album, that it holds its own ground musically despite being considered in isolation. Ayreon is renowned for his creation of Melodic Progressive-Metal concept albums that switch between a focus on dystopic post-apocalyptic worlds and tales of mental hardship, with this track telling of the breakdown of global society pre-Apocalypse.
With a sci-fi sound that manages to balance unrelenting heavy sections with pointed lulls in the action where vocal duets and duels have their space to flourish, the track accomplishes its task of painting a futuristic world rife with confusion, panic and uncertainty through the use of beautiful guest vocals, beguiling synths and the familiar guitar chugs of prog-metal.
The ultimate blast will be the last
And when it's passed, so terribly fast
It blinds your eyes, you're paralysed
And everybody dies
Album Review by Bradley Christensen
Moon Tooth – Chromaparagon
Record Label: Self-released
Release Date: February 5 2016
New York prog-metal, blues-rock, stoner-rock, and traditional metal band Moon Tooth released their debut album, Chromaparagon, a little over a year ago exactly. I never heard of this band until recently, having come across them through Bandcamp, but when I listened to a clip of Chromaparagon, I had to listen to the album. Last Friday, the band held a sale for 50% off the album, thanks to Bandcamp donating some of their proceeds to the ALCU (a lot of bands, artists, and record labels did the same thing, too). I definitely wanted to check it out for a smaller price, and to be honest, the album is pretty solid stuff. This band caught my attention because of how diverse, interesting, and unique they are. This band is one of those acts that combines a lot of different styles into their music, whether it’s prog-metal / rock, blues-rock, stoner-rock, or an overall traditional heavy metal approach, and the way they combine these sounds is interesting. When it comes to bands like this, I’m mixed about them. Some bands whose sounds are so diverse and unique can be too exhausting, intense, or overwhelming, but some bands make it perfectly. It just depends on the band, album, as well as the sounds that they blend together. Moon Tooth, as well as Chromaparagon, is right in the middle for me. This album is pretty solid, but it’s not without its problems. I will admit, though, I really like its sound. They combine these genres very well, but that’s different from a flowing album, which I’ll talk about later on; these styles fit well together, and it’s not like they’re a death metal band that tries to have some hip-hop influences. I listened to a band that mixed easycore with prog-rock, and it was such a weird, jarring, and nonsensical mix, although I could appreciate their ambition. This band isn’t like that, but their sound is not for everyone.
Moon Tooth is a pretty intense band, but not because they’re heavy or brutal, but there’s just a going on. They can go from groovy southern metal to trippy, weird, and surreal prog-metal. Honestly, they blend their styles pretty well, and the end result is a very nice album, although it’s very, very lengthy, clocking in at around 55 minutes. Their instrumentation is very top notch, especially the guitarwork. Even then, there are some good hooks, melodies, and songwriting here. It’s not one of those albums that’s trying to be progressive but it has no idea how to write a structured song. This doesn’t feel like that, thankfully, and the songs are definitely sketched out. Unfortunately, though, I do have a couple of issues with this LP. Its sound is great, and they blend these styles well, but this album does not flow well whatsoever. That’s the major downside of albums like these, because it’s got a lot of stuff going on in it. Every song has a different sound, but it’s not completely jarring. The styles that this band has in their sound are pretty close to each other, but the album itself just doesn’t flow well. That’s not a big issue, however, because it doesn’t make the album any worse, per se. It just means that I don’t feel like revisiting this album all that much, because it is pretty lengthy, overwhelming at times, and exhausting, because of how long and diverse it is. The other issue I have with this LP is the vocalist, but it’s not that the vocalist is bad. He’s actually good, but it’s that his voice doesn’t match the level of intensity or power that the instrumentation has. He doesn’t have much of an “epic” sound to his voice, and that does put a slight damper on the album for me. Not too much, because the vocals are fine, just nothing out of this world. They’re not extraordinary, especially compared to the instrumentation.
At the end of the day, I’d recommend this album, because Moon Tooth is a pretty cool band. They’re very weird, surreal, and unique, but their diverse sound doesn’t get too jarring, strange, or experimental. They just combine a lot of different genres together, and while the styles blend well, the album itself doesn’t flow that well. It’s always good to listen to some unique stuff, though, because you never know what you’ll find. The last handful of reviews I’ve written are on bands that aren’t all that unique, but they do what they do well. Sometimes you don’t need to be challenged as a music fan, but it’s good to have something to offset that, though. This band is very unique, interesting, and off the wall, and it’s good to listen to something different to break up the monotony. I couldn’t listen to the same things constantly, even though I might listen to similar stuff in any given week, but I like to move onto other stuff. This album isn’t amazing, or one of my new favorites, but it’s a damn good album. If you’re into prog-metal / rock, blues-rock, stoner-rock, or even just metal itself, you’ll find something here to like. I mainly enjoy the instrumentation, even though the album doesn’t flow that well, but the instrumentation is very good stuff. It’s very well done, and if you don’t care about how well an album flows, or any of that stuff, you’ll be fine with this. This can be overwhelming and intense for people that don’t listen to bands with such a diverse and off the wall sound, but it’s still pretty good stuff. I’m happy I came across this band, especially when I got their new album for 50% off. I had to jump on that, and even though that was a one-day sale, the album is worth checking out. Moon Tooth isn’t the best band I’ve listened to recently, but they’re the most unique band I’ve been listening to, and they deserve some credit for that.
