MOMM (10)

My brand of music features aggression in various degrees. I incline towards aggressive music but not exclusively. Latest score:

• SARKE - Allsighr.  Sarke is the drummer of Tulus & Khold. What kind of band would name itself after its own member? Then again there's Bon Jovi. Sarke, in the mean time, is an exciting band to listen to because they have Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone) & Steinar Gundersen (Spiral Architect) adding to the music chemistry. Allsighr is a little tricky to categorize this time round due to its shifting theme as manifested by the later half of the album. Regardless, the black metal roots & its post-manifestations are plain to hear. Gundersen's guitar influences have obvious prog ascendency but it's a leashed affair. Nothing excessively aggressive in this outing but an enjoyable one.
• Scale the Summit - Subjects. This is an interesting take on the band's musical philosophy. The album comes with two discs; one, an instrumental affair, the other, with vocals. I didn't bother with the latter. I always look up to STS for their instrumental adventures. I attracted to their special blend of heaviness in the midst of instrumental technicality. Technicality here is not akin to that  churned out by Animals as Leaders or Polyphia, among others. It's more groove / riff oriented. Despite the revolving line ups along the way, I thought Kilian Duarte's bass works here are some of the finest; very technical without going astray. 

November's listening pleasure

Here's my late November listening adventure...

1. John Scofield: Past Present. I'm a big Sco fan. He's one of a kind. He fuses jazz stuff with the rock stuff without thinking too much, feel is everything. He's not afraid of using digital implements in his set up so everything Sco puts up becomes my listening essential.
2. Scale the Summit: V. These guys aren't quite as prog-intense as Animals As Leaders but they are accomplished musicians in their own turf. This isn't an opportunity to churn out lame music, though. If you bother  listening to them, they play fine music. If you are into instrumentals without speed obligations, these guys are a must. I always buy their stuff direct (from their website), this one was in the mail not too long ago.
3. Coroner: Punishment for Decadence. This was a chance acquisition. I thought this release wasn't going to be available anywhere, I thought it was done with but you just don't know what Inokii would haul in every now & then. I used to own this in the cassette tape format, I remember buying it at Queensway Shopping Center after school. If memory served me right, I bought a Morbid Angel release with this one. Worth the trouble because Coroner was one of those bands with impeccable musicianship. All those recess pocket money gone to music; it was worth it.

PS: Chan/ Mr. Ho- if you are reading this, I will still BUY CDs, it's not gonna stop anytime soon.

Scale the Summit: The Migration

I've been listening to Scale the Summit almost every day after work, on my way home. I'm totally into the quartet's all-instrumental affair in The Migration; there's this sublime awe when it comes to bands who team up to create vocals-free music. This is definitely a put-off for pop music enthusiasts, very technical musicianship but the music in this release is somehow enveloped by restraint. I only realized this after repeated listenings, in fact, some of the arrangements were subsequently re-used in other numbers, very intelligent & tasteful incorporation, mind you.

 

And the band looks like computer geeks taking up music as a hobby.

However, after listening to guitarist Chris Letchford (seen here doing a clip for EMG pickups) playing one of the tunes off the record, we know these chaps are worthy addition to the future of instrumental music.