Swiss quartet The Erkonauts are back with their third album, I Want It To End, which continues to develop…
On their second full-length, Earthbeat, due via Tenacity Music, Switzerland’s Colossus Fall successfully manage to combine progressive metal’s discordant experimentalism and sludge’s filthy riffs with the infectious, driving urgency of hardcore.
It’s not an easy task to create uplifting hardcore music, but CardiaC undoubtedly achieve just that. Their latest offering, Mañana No Serà Otro Día Igual, via Tenacity Music, is bone-crunchingly heavy throughout, and the driving energy never lets up.
To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Eluveitie’s Slania is being re-released via Nuclear Blast; it’s a welcome opportunity to appreciate a band that are an important part of Switzerland’s musical identity.
With their third full-length release, Promethee have pulled out all the stops. Convalescence (Lifeforce Records) is another great example of Swiss ingenuity and deserves to garner the band plenty of international attention.
It could be the cohesive gel of performing with a band, or the combination of Zebo Adam (Russkaja) and Kurt Ballou (Converge) coming on board, twiddling knobs at the recording desk, but the upshot is a far more cohesive record than Devil is Fine.
Zatokrev frontman Frederyk Rotter discusses his band’s gnarly live show, all things noise, the re-release of their self-titled album, and the music scene in Basel, Switzerland.
This is the tour that everyone has been talking about! Florida metal giants Trivium just hit Geneva, Switzerland’s L’Usine with support from both Power Trip and Venom Prison.
German melodeath heroes Heaven Shall Burn hit Geneva’s L’Usine on March 22nd, just over half way through their “The Final March” European tour, with support from August Burns Red, Whitechapel and In Hearts Wake.
Technical death metal legends Nile hit Switzerland as part of their “What Should Not Be Unearthed Part III” tour, supported by another legendary band, US grindcore veterans Terorrizer.
The extended vinyl re-issue of Elizabeth’s 2012 EP Where Vultures Land is up for pre-order and download. This edition includes the band’s 2010 five tracks demo for the first time on vinyl and with a brand new packaging.
Alone Together is the first full-length effort from the Swiss indie rock/punk/hardcore act Archers and Arrows. Top to bottom, this is a decent disc with lots of well-written, catchy, mid-tempo tunes that flow quite well together. The band straddles the line between indie punk and pop punk on numerous occasions though the production is more characteristic of a pop punk record than the traditional, less than stellar productions of your typical indie act.
Black metal is one of those genres that can be done horribly or brilliantly. Done horribly it can be utterly laughable replete with cheesy corpse paint and a cacophony of noise. Done well however, it can be a musical triumph showcasing both ugliness and beauty in its songs. Borgne’s album falls into the triumph category showing underground black metal at its finest with gorgeous soundscapes in some parts and creepy as hell moments in others.
Punk rock is a loose term, and has been for a long time, so it’s nice to see bands drop all the ideological positioning, hipster-chic, punk-in vogue crap that often plagues such a fine genre. Putting together a solid EP, Archers and Arrows play it straight, and even if basic punk doesn’t blow you away, it’s refreshing to hear it still lives strong.