Ivy Gardens - Death Of Don Valley (Album Review)

Release Date: August 29th 2025. Record Label: Paper Cut Recordings. Formats: CD/DD

Death Of Don Valley - Tracklisting

01 Burn For Murder - 2:03

02 Eye Witness - 2:51

03 Burden - 3:08

04 Guiding Hand - 6:18

05 Frozen Limbs - 5:15

06 Gearth - 2:29

07 Astray - 4:57

08 Bliss - 8:59

09 Golden - 7:07

Members

Joe Zandwyk: Drums, Vocals, Samples

Sebastian Hogg: Organ, Piano, Synth, Samples

Andrew Blackborow: Guitar, Vocals

Review

Canadian Experimental Doom/Stoner Metallers Ivy Garden sophomore album Death Of Don Valley leans heavily into the Math Rock/Post-Hardcore style of creative movement compared to their 2024 debut album Goon. There are pockets of Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Noise and Punk Rock aggression which they made themselves known on that record here but the band have a fearless creative attitude which sees the band playing music influenced by the likes of BOTCH, CAVE IN and EYEHATEGOD.

Death Of Don Valley is a darker, bleak and less hopeful record than Goon with Ivy Gardens growing into a new style of MISERABLE based Doom/Stoner Metal with intense pockets of Weirdo Gonzo Rock forming with a high amount of intense grooves and instrumental solos appearing. The added use of Organ, Piano and Synths is another peculiar touch with the record having a stunning approach into Sixties and Seventies Psych Rock that is built within the opening tracks of Burn For Murder, Eye Witness and Burden. 

The sludgy atmospherics sees Ivy Garden strip further away from the safety cushion of modern day Stoner Rock they achieved with Goon that’s been replaced by a highly experimental Sludge Rock/Metal style with a stripped back Doom & Gloom atmosphere which takes a “SLEDGEHAMMER” approach with the vocals and different vocal styles that dominate the musical landscape.

There is a mid-noughties Progressive Sludge Metal sound that develops within the standout fourth track of Guiding Hand that does have elements of Mastodon, Pink Floyd, Rush and The Doors at the best of times. Freakishly heavy and clever as hell with Ivy Garden overlapping into different areas of Classic Hard Rock and Heavy Metal with a twisted sense of morality fully brewing within this track and the rest of the album.

There are still moments of straight up Stoner Rock/Metal sounding grooves but it’s mostly delivered with Ivy Garden’s new found vicious creative appetite that becomes even more experimental whilst still keeping a unique style of melodic and riff-fuelled heaviness on tracks such as Frozen Limbs, Gearth, Bliss and Golden. Though, this record may take a few listens to fully understand what Ivy Garden achieved with Death Of Don Valley. 

Throw in a lot of glitchy soundclips, ambient noises and psychedelic rhythms that are wonderfully refreshing and quite disturbing to hear at times. The sudden appearance of Grind/Electronic beats that fans of GENGHIS TRON will no doubt richly appreciate, is a welcome left-field turn which feels like GOON and DEATH OF DON VALLEY have been released by two entirely different bands. The end result is LIGHT & DAY with Death Of Don Valley impressing the most with Ivy Garden demonstrating a new found musical maturity and intelligence that wasn’t shown in Goon. I love GOON as it’s a fantastic Stoner Rock/Metal record. This is a different experience altogether.

The end result is that Death Of Don Valley is a wonderfully eccentric, off-beat and demented slice of Sludge/Stoner Metal that demands your full and undivided attention.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Asher Media PR for the details.

Death Of Don Valley is available to buy now on CD/DD via Paper Cut Recordings.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Astrometer - Outermost (Album Review)

Release Date: July 31st 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD/Cassette

Outermost: Tracklisting

1.Wavelength Synchronizer 04:06

2.Power Vulture 04:58

3.Blood Wedding 07:48

4.Inspiraled 01:26

5.Quantum Divorce 03:16

6.Conglobulations 03:18

7.Do I Know How To Party... 04:26

Members

Carmine Laietta V - Guitar

Jon Ehlers - Keys

Sam Brodsky - Bass

Drew Mack - Guitar

Jeff Stieber - Drums

Review

Instrumental Stoner Metallers Astrometer is a band made up of members from such great acts as HULL, Meek Is Murder and Bangladeafy. Their debut album Outermost is quite an eccentric album with the band focusing upon areas of Math Rock, Psych Rock, Space Rock, Jazz Rock, Ambient Sounds and Stoner Metal with a free thinking Prog Rock/Metal attitude. The album is wonderfully strange and marches to its own original beat and you can see the members other bands heard throughout the record.

There’s a hint of Mastodon and CAVE IN progressive heaviness on the early stages of the record especially on tracks such as Wavelength Synthesizer and Power Vulture which carry an Electronic Rock dynamic that is brilliantly supplemented by Jon Ehlers intense Keys, Synths and direct Ambient sounds. This is all topped off with a subtle Doom/Stoner Metal energy which has a dramatic Science Fiction or Space Rock presence. 

With a melodic Hard Rock score being added along the way, Astrometer fully live upto their Math Rock aspect of their music which embraces a full on Space Metal attitude within the heavier stages of the record. Astrometer are not afraid to switch to areas of Post-Rock and Post-Metal which gives the record an identity crisis along the way but I mean that as a good thing. As you never know what you’re going to experience with this record and when the band decide to change creative tactics and employ a Jazz Rock attitude then Outermost becomes an even stronger and more interesting record because of these creative choices.

Other standout tracks include Blood Wedding, Quantum Divorce and Do I Know How To Party…

Outermask is brilliantly weird and has quite the GONZO attitude within the whole journey of the record. It’s quite short and compact, running under thirty minutes but the album feels longer and makes you want to hear more especially on the later stages on the record where Astrometer go full on EXPERIMENTAL and deliver some of the best sounds on the whole album.

Astrometer has delivered a surreal and action packed record that I’m hoping there are more exciting releases such as this in the near future. 

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

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Vantre - Sanji (Single Review)

Release Date: November 10th 2023. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Sanji - Tracklisting

Sanji - 15:28

Members

BASS • Damiano Signorelli and Yann Le Tallec 

DRUMS • Côme Huveline

Review

Sanji is the new single from French Noise/Doom/Drone/Stoner Rockers Vantre who assign themselves to multiple genres whilst being associated with none at the same time. As they play a challenging style of multiple themes that’s held together by the complexities of Prog Rock and Math Rock. Vantre plays different complex structures where the music is ultimately wild, reckless and quite chaotic. However the band also play intricate progressive and highly melodic strands of Experimental Doom/Stoner Rock which feels inspired by bands such as The Melvins, BORIS and CAVE IN throughout the track.

Vantre perhaps embraces the wilder style of Ambient Metal when the band starts playing a more riff-centric sound which encompasses a more Drone delivery which focuses mostly on Doom/Stoner based melodies with a harsh backdrop of Experimental Noise Rock. The glitchy Post-Rock or Noise Rock elements can be alarming at first to listen to but Vantre adds an eerie Atmospheric sound which soon builds upto a modern Shoegaze feel with the gloomy Drone Metal fully taking command.

Vantre are in a league of their own with Sanji. As this track is perhaps anything unlike you’ve heard before though mostly on the Experimental Drone Metal moments of the song. The later stages goes of Sanji into a more dominant riff driven arena where the grooves are plentiful and have a playful violent aggressive attitude to them.

Vantre are masters of their own creative domain and I would love to see what they guys have planned for their next release which I’m hoping will be a release with one or two more tracks to expand my mind with. Until then, Sanji is quite a forward thinking release which allows Vantre to show the underground scene they have highly original and destructive grooves of their own.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Linktree | BandCamp

Ex Everything - Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart (Album Review)

Release Date: November 10th 2023. Record Label: Neurot Recordings. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart - Tracklisting

The Reduction Of Human LIfe TO An Economic Unit

Exiting The Vampire Castle

Detonation In The Public Sphere

A Sermon In Praise Of Corruption

Slow Cancellation Of The Future

Feral City

The Last Global Slaughter

Plunder, Cultivate, Fabricate

Members

Jon Howell - Guitar

Dan Sneddon - Drums

Ben Thorne - Bass

Andre Sanabria - Vocals

Review

Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart is the debut album from Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock/Math Rock collective Ex Everything who are made up current and former members of bands such as Kowloon Walled City, Early Graves and Mercy Ties to name but a few. However, Ex Everything are very much their own thing by focusing upon a melodic and catchy aggressive sound with Sludge Punk and Doomed Out elements to give their music a more muscujlar flow. There's small traces of Psychedelic Manic energy which I feel is from the Kowloon Walled City side of life but these guys play at a much visceral and faster pace.

The opening track The Reduction Of Human Life To An Economic Unit is the perfect commentary driven track on today's modern world with harsh creative overtones allowing the album to have a true real life feel. There's parts of this album that Ex Everything reminded me of a more primal sounding At The Drive In with razor sharp lyrics and great vocals that move across the boundaries of Hardcore Punk/Noise Rock with some delicate moments of slightly melodic vocals with the maority being quite harsh sounding. The instrumental work is ferocious with an almost metallic Post-Rock/Sludge fused atmosphere working superbly well with the DIY PUNK based production values. 

Second song Exiting The Vampire Castle is powered by a pummelling bass guitar and moments of heavy Noise Rock guitars with the vocals being quite calm at first before exploding into a Hardcore Punk fury. The grimy surroundings of the song is quite uncompromising but Ex Everything still captures a Psych Rock/Metal attitude with glitch based Industrial sounds becoming more pessimistic as the song moves onto its natural conclusion. 

Third song Detonation In The Public Sphere feels like a commentary of the American Political System over the last decade or so which is how I interpreted the song. I could be way off base but the song is played at a breakneck Punk Rock speed with Ex Everything getting everything out in the open with perhaps some of the most uncompromising lyrics on the album. The music is raw, seedy and quite grimy but once that allows Ex Everything to play a more dynamic creative attitude within their ranks which shines through for the rest of the album.

Fourth song A Sermon IN Praise Of Corruption is another Sludge and Dirge Ridden offering with that killer bass line being one of the finest parts of the album. However, the instrumental work overall is absolutely thrilling with Ex Everything being dominant within their Punk/Metal hybrid sound that has flashes of the menacing Doom/Sludge Rock. The Noise Rock aspects offer a more realistic sound with Ex Everything adding much needed social commentary within their lyrics. The overall message of the song allows this to be one of the album's standout tracks with the band showcasing a wonderful style of Math Rock musical patterns that change direction when you least expect it. The mood is wholly chaotic which is where Ex Everything becomes quite a destructive force where there's no stopping them.

Fifth song Slow Cancellation Of The Future continues with the bleak message of how everything is fucked up within the world with jagged guitars, distorted Math Rock rhythms and Sludge Punk driven sounds that allows the vocals to have a thrilling "voice of reason" or "voice of the people" attitude which had me nodding in agreement. The song moves effortlessly from Noise/Punk Rock dynamics to a more violent style of Post-Punk dynamics with a twinge of Kowloon Walled City dirge ridden grooves sweetening the deal.

The final three tracks of the album sees Ex Everything become ever more socially aware pointing out terrible injustice currently happening in the world with their blend of highly destructive grooves that showcases some moments of Progressive energy and that epic sounding Psychedelic energy appearing brilliantly within the tracks  of The Last Global Slaughter and "Plunder, Cultivate, Fabricate". 

Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart is one of the best Noise-Rock/Post-Hardcore/Math Rock albums I've heard in years. This album has the power to shock and impress you at the same time. This is quite an uncompromising album with Ex Everything delivering some highly original instrumental sounds that leave you wanting to hear more. An outstanding debut album from a band that everyone should know about now. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Rarely Unable PR for the promo.

Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Neurot Recordings from November 10th 2023.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Introduce Yourselves: NADSAT And Details About Upcoming New Album TORNS TIMES

What is the name of your band?

Nadsat

What is the genre of music that you play?

We play heavy noise rock music, though we played a mix of instrumental noisecore/mathcore in our older releases.

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

We have been playing together since 2010, but we came up with the idea of a noise duo in 2015. Since then we have released one EP (“Terminus Ep” in 2016) and two albums (“Crudo” in 2017 and “Feral” in 2019). We played all over Italy through the years, plus a short euro tour in 2018 and a Russian tour in 2019.

With our new album “Torn Times” we switched to a more hardcore approach in songwriting, with huge influence from 90’s american noise rock.

What can people expect from your music?

Nothing but heavy and fuzzy riffs, saturated vocals and short hardcore tunes. 

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

Our new album “Torn Times” of course!

Where can people find you on Social Media?

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Bandcamp

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nadsatmusic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadsat_music/

Bandcamp: https://nadsat1.bandcamp.com

More Info

Nadsat is an aggressive noise-rock duo from Bologna, they just signed with Overdrive Records and will release their third full length "Torn Times" under the new sub-label Extreme Gestalt (a new division in our catalogue dedicated to the noisiest sounds).

"Torn Times" will be out on April 7th, and in a month we will release the single
"Make My Day" along with an official video (video+single release date will be announced soon!)

This record marks the evolution of the band, the sound moves towards a noisy and aggressive core.

TRAPS - The Fighter (EP Review)

Release date: January 10^th 2020. Label: Halfmeltedbrain Records. Format: CD/DD

The Fighter - Tracklisting

Cowboy

Cyborg

The Count

Members

Mr Traps - Drums/Vocals/Noise

Mrs Traps - Guitar/Vocals/Noise

Review

TRAPS aka The Red And Purple Songs is the new band featuring Chainy and Max from acclaimed Sludge/Doom Rockers – OHHMS. TRAPS is very different to OHHMS as this band plays a hybrid style Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock/Math-Rock with a Progressive Rock edge.

Their debut EP – The Fighter – is very offbeat and surreal in places with TRAPS playing music that’s influenced by The Fall Of Troy, At The Drive-In and The Mas Volta. The band revel in their progressive and experimental attitude on each of the 3 songs on offer here. It can be quite confusing in places but that’s down to the different styles of music TRAPS have included on each of the individual songs.

Opening song – Cowboy – Quick musical beats are merged with Trippy Electronic Sounds before speeding upto a frantic style of Prog Rock/Metal. The vocals are quite good for the majority of the song but it’s the insane experimental Post-Hardcore grooves that TRAPS impressed me the most. I was expecting to hear something that OHHMS are known for on this release. However, Chainy and Max keep away from their other band and focus on being TRAPS.

Second song – Cyborg – is the standout song. As it has a more dynamic and powerful sound that allows TRAPS to bring more riffs to the party. The music is still experimental but this is more directed and focused that offers an intelligent style of Doom/Sludge Metal weirdness but with a Punk Rock attitude to it all.

The final song – The Count – opens with a gloomy electronic sound that brings a sense of Doom to the EP but settles down to a more settled Post-Hardcore atmosphere. The lyrics and vocals are quite surreal but offer a sense of harsh reality to TRAPS overall sound.

The Fighter is a great sounding EP packed full of intelligent sounds and ideas that deserve multiple repeated listens. I don’t know how TRAPS would transition to a full length album but I’m quite excited to hear that if they have future plans for a full length album.

Overall, The Fighter is one highly original EP that takes no prisoners whilst offering an exciting style of music that leaves you wanting more.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Chris at FRENCHIE PR for the promo. The Fighter will be available to buy on CD/DD via Halfmeltedbrain Records from Jan 10^th 2020.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

BROND - Graveyard Campfire (Album Review) and New Song Premiere Of Ghostfucker

Release date: April 18^th 2018. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Graveyard Campfire – Tracklisting

1.Enter Shamari

2.Harvest The Sun

3.Failure

4.Impossible Downhill

5.Graveyard Campfire

6.Voice Of The Void

7.Backbone Supreme

8.Ghostfucker

Members

Maksim Stoimenov – Drums/Vocals

Oleg Shulev- Bass/Vocals

Vili Popov – Guitars/Vocals

Petar Peikov – Guitars/Vocals

Review

BROND are a band I've heard of before but I never give the band my full attention until their blistering new album - Graveyard Campfire. The album is volatile mix of Punk, Noise Rock, Fuzz, Psych and heavy Stoner Rock/Metal sounds. Opening with the frantically crazy - Enter Shamari. BROND get straight down to business playing a hybrid Punk/Noise/Stoner Rock song with plenty of sludgy attitude to match.

The mood is violently upbeat with noisy guitars making you fall under their dynamic spell. The vocals are mainly influenced by the Hardcore Punk genre but you can still hear elements of old-school Hard Rock roots. The music becomes very psychedelic towards the end with BROND firmly moving into more familiar Desert/Fuzz/Stoner Rock territory. This song tells you how the rest of the album will follow. It's a crazy wild ride with BROND trying their hand at almost every different sound they can possibly lay their hands on.

The album flows from one cool song to the next with songs such as Harvest The Sun, Failure, Graveyard Campfire, Voice Of The Void and the excellent last song - Ghostfucker - showing that BROND never stick to one overall sound.

The vocals are clean and highly confident throughout the album. Maybe the Noise/Punk Rock album may drive some people away from the album and that's a shame. As BROND create some highly energetic Stoner Rock/Metal noise that's quite edgy at times. BROND are quite fearless on the album especially when they merge the albums different musical elements.

Some parts of the album have a Torche-esque feel. As the album can be quite "poppy" at times but BROND then play a Sludgy guitar riff that moves the album into heavier territory. Perhaps more on songs such as Harvest The Sun, Graveyard Campfire and Ghostfucker.

BROND are quite capable at playing epic progressive sounds. It shouldn't really work with the Punk Rock dynamics BROND include on the album. However, it does and BROND pull this off with immense style. Maybe BROND have included too many different musical elements on certain parts of the album. Though it doesn't affect the overall sound of the album.

As Graveyard Campfire is a mighty step forward of BROND. This is an album that should see BROND make a name for themselves within the Sludge/Stoner Rock scene. Graveyard Campfire is a daring, challenging, exciting and action packed album.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to the band for allowing me to premiere the briliantly outrageous song – Ghostfucker – from the new album.

LYRICS:

Regret with teeth like worn out rails and it’s head on the flaming floor of a place where the dead dance away in thunder. By the rhythm of their breaking bones. Remember. Ghostfucker! Every time you look away, you seem to be looking back. Ghostfucker! Every stone unturned is a tombstone in your path. Ghostfucker! Every time you look away you, seem to be looking back. Ghostfucker! And there’s a ghost you’d like to to fuck. Dance! Dance! Dance! Dance away in thunder! Dance! God damn it!

Quote about the song:

“Ghostfucker is the longest & slowest (kinda) song on the record and is one of the first songs we wrote for the record. Today we see more and more people return to their personal past for comfort with the illusion somehow things “were better back then” - movies, music, relationships, experiences. But getting addicted to nostalgia can only lead you to being miserable about the present, so fuck that. I hope the song translates that.

Graveyard Campfire will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from April 18^th 2018.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Carved Up - Matador (Album Review)

Release date: November 13th 2015. Label: Crowquill Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Matador – Tracklisting

1. Death Remains The Same

2. The Arrangement

3. We Built Riff City

4. Riffer Phoenix

5. Hot Pocket

6. The Riffer Wild

7. Helena, Save Me

8. Crevice – Crevasse

9. Mystic Riffer

10. Ωx

Band Members:

TJ Schilling - Guitars, Bass, Vocals

Nick Norvilas - Guitars, Bass, Vocals

Josh Cooper - Drums

Review:

After a series of mini albums and EPS, Matador, which is Carved Up's debut album has arrived and has been well and truly worth the wait. The momentum gained by their past releases (including the fantastic 2013 EP Tiffani Amber Threesome) has left fans of the band waiting in anticipation for this debut and they will not be disappointed, in fact anyone who is into the discordant sounds of the Touch & Go and Amphetamine a Reptile record labels will undoubtedly find something to adore on Matador

The powerful trio have taken this momentum and let rip on Matador which is full of the power and drive the band are known for. Matador kicks off with the Death Remains The Same, a fantastic lesson in riff laden noisy rock and doesn't let up for the entirety of its 10 tracks. Carved Ups knack for full on noise anthems ala Botch hasn't wavered at all and the bands sound on Matador is bolstered by canyon sized jams that let the bands sound soar and the use of cello and violin adds a nice touch.

The highlights on Matador are plentiful with the pick of the bunch being the massive sounding The Arrangement, the expansive and fantastically titled We Built Riff City which certainly lives up to its name with riff after riff of crushing fury and the same can definitely be said for the trio of also brilliantly riff titled tracks Riffer Phoenix, The Riffer Wild and Mystic Riffer while Crevice-Crevasse has all the power and intensity of a reincarnated Unsane with its riffs that just keep on building and building reaching a forceful conclusion.

Matador definitely lives up to expectations and has to be one of, if not the noise rock records of the year and one that should be on many album of the year lists of 2015. A brilliant debut from a band that will undoubtedly get bigger based the quality on show that oozes from this riff laden masterpiece.

Words by Gavin Brown

Thanks to Earsplit PR for the promo. Matador will be available to buy via Crowquill Records from November 13^th 2015 on CD/DD/Vinyl

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp