Hogan’s Albums of the Week – 11/17
So I totally missed Thursday, which means this week my new music Thursday is on a Friday, and this week is actually a pretty special one. Two of these albums are from bands that are actually pretty special to me, they’re both bands that I crossed paths with in one way or another back when I was living in Boston. It’s always really nice to see new material from those guys that I used to hang out and play shows with. And the other albums aren’t ones to sleep on either, there’s actually a lot of good new music coming out this week.
Actor|Observer – I came across these guys as my time with Like Waves was coming to an end, but I was so impressed by them, and basically our entire band became instant fans, and have been ever sense. I remember I reviewed their last album, The Longer Now, after I had moved back to DC, and aside from being a great album, it was a huge nostalgia trip. Everyone knows about that Boston sound; you really don’t hear it anywhere else, and it kinda transcends genres, Vanna has it the same way that A Loss for Words has it. And Actor|Observer captures that hard-edged northern grit better than anyone else. Full disclosure, this is a 7”, not a full length, but this is a really incredible band and they deserve to be heard by as many people as possible.
Que Sera – So these guys broke up awhile ago, but they’re just so fucking good. I got to know these guys back when I was living in Boston, I met them through a friend of mine and ended up playing a few shows with them over the years, and have been a fan ever since. These guys are the perfect embodiment of New England post-hardcore that was popularized by The Receiving End of Sirens. Clean, impossibly technical, emotional, with just immense depth with layers upon layers of sounds, vocals, melodies… It’s just brilliant, all of it, I can’t say enough good things about these guys. So anyway, they broke up a little while ago, but have been sitting on this unreleased EP since then, and they finally shared it with everyone earlier this week, you can get it for free on their SoundCloud, so please check it out.
Ghost Atlas – I’ll try and keep these short since I was a bit more personally invested in the other two and already went overboard. This band is the side project of the clean vocalist from the metalcore band, Erra. This is another technical post-hardcore band, with some hints of Cove Reber-era Saosin, or Secret & Whisper.
Electric Wizard – This is the quintessential doom metal band, they really set the standard with their 2000 album, Dopethrone. We’ve been waiting on this album for a long time now though, it was supposed to come out last Halloween, but here we are. And I’d say it’s well worth the wait. So if you’re into some sludgey stoner metal, this is the album to check out. A few other doom albums have come out this year, but this is by far my favorite so far.
Phinehas – There have been a ton of metalcore releases this year, and this is another one. It’s really good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s very hard to stand out in metalcore right now. They’re up against August Burns Red, Veil of Maya, Oceans Ate Alaska, Like Moths to Flames, etc, all with new albums out recently. This is a very good album, but I think I prefer those.
Emancipator – Of course, most of you know Emancipator, but maybe some of you don’t know about the new album, so here ya go. And if you don’t know, Emancipator makes really excellent trip hop and is some of the only electronic music I actually listen to.