Fen - "Dustwalker" CD

Progressive black metal with psychedelic and post-rock touches

I'm sure that "tried & true" traditional black metal still has it's audience, but increasingly, bands are looking to move beyond this now-stereotyped, even over-done style. British act Fen are one of those groups who transcend the genre, while remaining rooted in it.

"Dustwalker" begins with the darkly atmospheric black metal of "Consequence". The second track, however, "Hands Of Dust", enters an entirely different arena, with moody, droning guitars alongside the feral black metal vocals. It seems Fen are straddling and blurring the lines dividing traditional black metal and what's been termed "post-rock". "Spectre" is even more tuneful, sounding like an old English folk song ala Syd Barrett. The track branches out into a spacious, post-Pink Floyd cosmic trip, even. "Wolf Sun" brings it back into a more heavy rock-based realm, returning with the blackened vocals and a straightforward guitar-and-drums orientation. The 13-minute closer, "Walking The Crowpath", meanders from Nephilim-style darkness to progressive melodic rock, and tends to get bogged down in it's own miasma. 

Nonetheless,"Dustwalker" is a strong album and definitely a fresh direction. 

Code666

Fenbook

Haken - "Visions" CD

English progressive metal outfit Haken's second album is a huge and dramatic effort, packed with 71 minutes of well-done atmospheric and melodic metal.

The opener, the piano-and-strings-laden instrumental "Premonition", brings a sense of fantasy to the table before erupting into a complex metal behemoth with weird jazz and pop juxtapositions. It's a promising and beguiling opening. "Nocturnal Conspiracy" follows, and showcases vocalist Russ Jennings' rich vocals alongside a strong sonic palette that incorporates, again, classic metal with complex arrangements and an almost jazzy sense of jam and space. The remaining tracks follow in this pattern, taking the listener on a surreal and theatrical journey. With high production values and top-tier musicianship, Haken's "Visions" are clear and engrossing. Fine work. (Sensory/The Laser's Edge)

Haken website

Voivod - "Warriors Of Ice" CD

A well-recorded live album from these Canadian tech-prog-metal futurists, "Warriors" reunites the 3 surviving original Voivod members for a set of classics and favorites, including "Voivod", "Nothingface", and "Nuclear War".

It's good to hear these legends going back to their thrashy roots, with songs like "Overreaction" being blurs of primal metal fueled by visions of a post-Bladerunner cyberpunk world. "Brain Scan" is prog-metal with clarity and guts, and sans pretense or wankiness. It all closes with the band's notorious and wonderfully faithful cover of Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett-era psychedelic masterpiece, "Astronomy Domine". The recordings here are crisp and punchy, with plenty of bottom-end crunch. Superb work from some legends who keep motoring on. (Sonic Unyon Metal)

official Voivod site