Oak Pantheon - In Pieces -- Album Review

Oak Pantheon - In Pieces

If you’re like me, you use music as a soundtrack; an opportunity to express yourself in a poetic way. It’s a means to convey your feelings audibly without ever having to say a word. With the internet, you have the ultimate library of sentiment right in your home allowing you to demonstrate your inner-most passions and reflecting them unto the world.

Oak Pantheon, a post-black metal band from Minneapolis, MN paint a sense of bleak desolation with In Pieces, the band’s second full-length album and first recorded material since Elemental Nightmares - I -- a split with Kess'khtak, Wildernessking & Liber Necris in 2014. An emotionally encumbering album devoid of any sense of delight, In Pieces is the perfect album for a day filled with grey skies and a dreary heart.

“Dawn of a New Day” opens the album with a swift force. A captivating track that encompasses an anguish so fierce, you will contemplate it long after having heard it. Incorporating harsh vocal tones with black metal-esque riffs, this is a song that entrances you, formulating a chemistry inside of you that is inspiring, yet disheartening.

In Pieces is a lyrical masterpiece. It tugs at your emotions as you face an onslaught of melancholic tracks meant to inspire a sense of apathy towards the outer world. A philosophical maelstrom that faces themes of distress, heart-ache and loss, this album emanates an gloomy aura all around. 

Oak Pantheon will bring you on an exciting ride as you ascend the summit of In Pieces. A journey of malevolent dissonance awaits you, causing an everlasting high that ensnares you, inflicting you with an addiction that cannot be emulated. It permits dejection and grief to spiral in conjunction with one another, creating a vicious energy within you that you’ve been lusting for ages to obtain. A formidable contender in my already lengthy  list for year’s best record.

Oak Pantheon is:

Sami Sati (All Instruments)

Tanner Swenson (All instruments)

The album can be streamed below and purchased on the band’s Bandcamp page. In Pieces was released on May 16th, 2016 independently. 

Thräenenkind -- King Apathy -- Album Review

They say perfection is unattainable. But, Thräenenkind , a post-black metal band from Munich, Germany comes pretty fucking close to the threshold. Conceived in 2007, Thräenenkind, which can be translated from German as “child of tears,” quickly got to work recording original material for a demo that was released in 2008. In 2010, the quartet released a split-album with fellow German band, Heretoir, and followed that up with their first full length album on Lifeforce Records entitled The Elk in 2013. Incorporating an atmospheric sound that radiates melancholia, Thräenenkind bring every bit of woe they could garner to bring us King Apathy, also released via Lifeforce Records.

Laden - We Searched For New Worlds Album Review

Laden - We Searched For New Worlds

We have ignition... We have blastoff...


Curious to know what it's like to accelerate into outer space? Laden, the brainchild of Los Angeles musician Chuck Wilson, will take you on such a journey with We Searched for New Worlds. A post-metal band inspired by the likes of ISIS and The Ocean, Laden excels past the standard of what to expect from a band within the genre. Wilson, a game developer by day, musician by night, is the sole proprietor of the band, playing bass, guitar, and even doing all the mixing and production work.

We Searched for New Worlds immediately throws you into the cockpit of your own spacecraft with "Lift Off," a textured instrumental that permits you to visualize yourself shooting through the atmosphere and into the unknown infinite darkness that is the universe above. An ambient, hard-hitting theme, "Lift Off" captivates you with its tonal harmonies and eloquent movements. It is the perfect opening track to prepare you for your expedition.

We Searched for New Worlds is a mixture of passionate, stimulating tracks and atmospheric sounds to consign your imagination to the very deep reaches of our solar system. It is a journey that may enthrall and motivate you. An ingenuous experience which will keep you yearning for more long after the last note rings.

Permit yourself to accept the stimulation your thoughts will incur. Close your eyes and enjoy the excursion Laden will usher upon you.

Recommended tracks are "Lift Off" & "The Weight of the Sun's Rays Crushed the Earth"

Rating: 8/10

Laden is recommended to fans of bands such as Pelican, Rosetta and Alcest. Check the album out below or click the album art above to be sent over to Laden's Bandcamp page!