Somnambulant II, tales of sleepwalking by Final Coil!

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RockmusicRaider - Final Coil - Somnambulant II - Album Cover

At first, this sounded like the background music at my local sushi restaurant. It really did, and it made me hungry just listening to that stuff. In other words, Final Coil‘s Somnambulant II took us a moment or two to get into. But we are glad, we took the time.

This band has been lurking in the background of our review pipe for a number of years. Their eclectic and somewhat funky style never quite made it to the forefront, though. Unfortunately, time constraints, seasonal woes, and staff issues1 often prevent us from covering everything. And for such … [...] Click to raid more!

Video: Solar Gift Live, sent by Jupiter Hollow!

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I am fascinated by Jupiter Hollow‘s video clip called Solar Gift that somehow strayed off their 2020 record Bereavement and found its way onto our huge video screen. But we weren’t dazzled by outstanding cinematographic craftsmanship, far from it.

The video itself feels like one of those Covid live sessions, shot in a studio on a ubiquitous band action setting. So, nothing really to write home about from that angle. Not that those videos are bad, we enjoyed a few cool ones over the last year or so. And perhaps too many.

Yet here, Solar Gift comes in a … [...] Click to raid more!

Guilt Machine – On This Perfect Day (2009) – Review

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The album On This Perfect Day from Arjen Lucassen‘s Progressive Metal project Guilt Machine feels vaguely familiar. It constantly plays stuff we may have heard somewhere. Bits of sound that waft over here from the past, ideas that float by like long gone echoes of things that are not quite tangible. Yet, they never really manifest themselves and show their colors.

So, could it be that it is the concept and this retro coloring of technologies long out of fashion that gets us this impression?

Because this record is much more complex than just simple tunes strung together. In fact, … [...] Click to raid more!