Artist Of The Day: The Sun Explodes

The Sun Explodes released their second album in two years just a few days ago. The newest release, We Build Mountains, brings all the same ingenuity and creative new sounds that the first release brought us in the same strain. However, the sophomore, released just earlier this week, strays much further towards traditional metal, with influences from instrumental, rather than a sheer post-metal performance as featured in Emergence. This is good in some senses, such as the first single released before the more recent full-length, "SevenThreeOne," which features a prominent mathcore feel in the verses, a quieter post-rock-type bridge, and an outro that screams metalcore, which shows a large variety of genres in the composition. This genre-blending gives them the same degree of originality that was featured on their debut, and will serve them well throughout their musical career.

With the album released and everything going well for the band, there's almost sure to be some tour dates posted soon. Keep up with their website and watch for them!

Interview With Josh Durocher-Jones of Howl (6/4/13)

Howl is a heavy metal band based in Providence, Rhode Island. The group released its sophomore album Bloodlines in April of this year. I contacted guitarist Josh Durocher-Jones, who was brought in shortly after the band released its debut in 2010, to ask some questions about how Bloodlines came together and the group’s creative process.

Album Review: Leprous - Coal

Album Score: A-

Yes, Leprous is still known for being “Ihsahn’s backing band.” But if it keeps this up, that’s going to change in a hurry. With its fourth album, the Norwegian quintet has created something truly its own, perhaps comparable to acts like Opeth and Enslaved, but bursting with fresh intensity throughout. There are moments that challenge you to wrap your head around exactly what’s going on, and equally numerous times that you’ll be swept away by anthemic choruses. Opener “Foe” revolves around a 7/4 time signature as the instruments run circles around each other and refuse to settle into a groove; the second half of “Chronic,” however, does the heavy lifting for you as singer Einar Soldberg intones, “Stars, they lie where we can’t see them...” over and over, sharp guitar lines building behind him, the sound growing in intensity despite an ever-slowing tempo. Many of the songs contain a balance of styles as the band toys with the line between being soothing and stimulating.

Album Review: Red Orchid - Blood Vessels & Marshmallows

Album Rating: C+

Sanmeet Sidhu is the driving force behind Red Orchid - an experimental band, if anything. Red Orchid works on ever expanding their genre base, drawing influences from everything to progressive rock to post-rock, and stopping at quite a few good (and a few not so good) places along the way. The full-length debut fully shows each genre Sidhu borrows ideas from. However, the way he goes about it is both the best and worst part of the album. Although a creative idea to mash each of one's favorite genres into a unique musical sound, there's too much blending of ideas into Blood Vessels & Marshmallows, to the point of muddling the core of the album into too many different strains to follow.

Album Review: Huron - Mary Celeste

Normally, MuzikDizcovery doesn't cover metal releases. However, with the quickly rising, Plymouth-based band Huron, we were asked to take a look, and after listening to Mary Celeste, I was all too excited to write something. A smooth blend between the harsh 90's thrash metal scene and the older, rowdy rock 'n roll style, Huron is the definition of heavy metal, with powerful shout-style vocals and facemelting riffs even the pickiest of metalheads could enjoy.