Natas Loves You – Skip Stones

Natas Loves You is a five-man band residing in Paris. Their musical origins go back to Luxembourg, where four of them met and started what would eventually become their most ambitious project. On the 10th of March, the “pop stellaire” collective released their third EP entitled Skip Stones, which marks an important milestone in their promising career.

The opening and title track leaves no question as to what Natas Loves You’s mission is: the quintet wants to make us dance, or at least encourage toe-wiggling in the reluctant dancers among us. The breezy tune sets the mood for the impending summer days and comes with a fun video clip that is reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited. I would loosely describe their sound as synth-heavy rock with a slight retro flair that they preserved from their early days and that comes out particularly clearly in the remaster of an older song called Scarlett Brown. Zeppelins is another song I remember vividly in its previous version and that I might enjoy even more now that it’s been reshaped into an ocean of groovy psychedelic delight.

Go Or Linger stands out in the small collection as a song with a decidedly pensive streak. It’s still dancehall-worthy, but in an apocalyptic-mood type of way: when played at the right part of the night, it would probably get you in that zone where you pretend to dance your soul out without any inhibitions one last time before the world ends. The highly singalong-friendly lyrics portray a sense of feeling lost that hits home with most millennials. I generally consider the songwriting to be one of the band’s strengths and commend their knack for simple, yet poignant compositions of words.

In conclusion, this release shows that the guys of Natas Loves You have polished their sound to a shiny finish and carved out their own niche along the way. The harmonies, jiggy rhythms and dreamy soundscapes make for good, organic pop music with a distinctive factor that sets the band apart from other indie pop/rock acts currently floating around the musicsphere.

If you enjoy the juicy four-track EP (which is available on iTunes for 2,99 €), you’ll be excited to hear that it’s a teaser for the first full-length Natas release due later this year: The 8th Continent is a concept album produced by Chris Zane, who’s worked with bands like Passion Pit, Holy Ghost!, Friendly Fires and many others. In the meantime, you can keep up with the boys on Facebook and watch the video for Skip Stones below.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsQXnxzD0j8]

Sun Glitters – Scattered Into Light

Victor Ferreira alias Sun Glitters presented his fans with a new LP in November last year, and we finally got around to giving Scattered Into Light, which exceeds its predecessor Everything Could Be Fine in playtime by a little less than 20 minutes, a closer listen. This time around, the Luxembourg-based chillwave artist teamed up with Sara Cappai of Italian dream-pop outfit Diverting Duo, whose soft voice with the slight accent shining through at times really adds to the moony, faraway feel of the record.

As I just hinted at, Sun Glitters’ key vibe has remained the same: Eric wrote in early 2013 that his sound is “very melancholic and plunges the listener into a dreamy mood”, and I fully subscribe to this statement. It’s a solid chillwave album, suited as background music on slow days, but it strikes me as rather monotonous and repetitive without any particularly outstanding moments.

However, the acoustic version of Too Much To Lose — which is my favourite Sun Glitters track in its original form — is a nice surprise to conclude the album. It works very well stripped down and reveals a certain kind of charm that wasn’t as easy to detect with an array of computer-generated effects piled on top.

Out of the remaining songs, Only You and Feeling Young are my personal highlights in terms of atmosphere, but even those seem interchangeable and don’t move me enough to elicit an enthusiastic response. Then again, I’m not the world’s greatest aficionado of the genre, so don’t take my opinion as gospel and give the album a chance anyway. It might just tickle your particular fancy.

Ferreira is fairly active on social media, so you have plenty of opportunities to keep up with what he’s doing. I recommend following him on Facebook and Tumblr, and don’t hesitate to check out the video for Only You by Luxembourgish film collective This Is Radar that I linked below.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MLhthz4IJ8]

Retrace My Fragments – Ethereal Flux


Today I have the pleasure of writing about, without a doubt, one of the most complex albums that I’ve had to deal with it in recent years. This honor is bestowed upon Ethereal Flux by the Luxembourgish band Retrace My Fragments. Their first full length is so loaded with creativity and craziness, of the good kind, that I feel like the next few paragraphs won’t even scratch the surface…but I’ll give it a shot.

The quintet plays progressive death metal, and the guys take both words very seriously: on an instrumental level it’s literally impossible to count the amount of tempo changes, both brutal and melodic riffs and mind-blowing solos…and that’s just the string department. The drums are a never-ending barrage of double bass and blast beats, which are completely unexpectedly broken by groovy parts.

The whole production has a very clean and slightly artificial sound to it; to me that is part of the band’s plan though, since it gives the whole thirteen songs a very spacey-feeling which happens to be the theme of the album, but more about that later. It is also noteworthy that the songs all flow seamlessly into each other and create a complete immersion into the music. However, it also makes it harder to distinguish songs from one another but, again, I think that is part of the idea of making it one entire experience.

The vocals are just as multifaceted as the instrumental parts, with mostly really deep growls, interlaced with screams and occasional clean singing. The latter, I have to admit, could have been a bit more prevalent since I really enjoyed them. As mentioned earlier, the central theme of these sixty minutes is space, which is the setting for a very intricate story that I can only recommend giving a read in the booklet. It is, however, useful if you understand both English and French since the lyrics are in both languages.

One other noteworthy mention is the instrumental interlude Quiescence, which just blew me away…and I’m not even entirely sure why. Something about the melody and interplay of instruments just gives me the chills.

As a closing statement, I’m gonna say that Ethereal Flux is definitely not an album that you will be able to appreciate, or even comprehend, after just one listen-through. It’s so jam-packed with details of every kind that even after ten times, you will still discover new things…and that’s exactly what makes it so special. So, if you are willing to spend time with a record, I can guarantee that you will be rewarded. For more information, be sure to visit the band’s Facebook page and to get an impression of their style be sure to listen to the song below. Last but not least, the band is holding their release party on March 22nd at Rockhal in Esch-Belval, so be sure to move your bum there if you want to be progged.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUyOPgsRlow]

Inhuman Rampage – Pathfinder

In a previous review I said that our country doesn’t have a lot of good deathcore bands, but I’ve been proven wrong in the past and such is the case today! Because Inhuman Rampage are a talented quintet that managed to convince me with their debut EP Pathfinder.

As is custom in the genre, the music is generally-speaking very fast-paced and involves quite a few chugging breakdowns. However, in order to keep the six songs, plus one intro, from being monotonous, these passages are interlaced with some interestingly technical riffing and in some parts groove-laden drumming.

But for the most part it’s a lot of blast-beating and rapid double-bass work in the percussion department and crushing riffs in the string department. One thing I especially liked in the latter is the fact that the bass guitar is clearly audible throughout the twenty-five minutes, which is always a plus in my book.

The vocals are all in all quite solid: the growls are deep and brutal, and the screeches are bone-chillingly evil. I have to say that the high-pitched variation could have been more dominantly used, but that might just be a personal fancy since I found them to be the better of the two.

To sum things up, I could honestly say that Inhuman Rampage managed to record a more than satisfying EP and even though they did not blow me away with innovation, they do the genre a lot of justice. So be sure to listen to the song below and visit the band’s Facebook page for more information. Pathfinder will be out this Friday, March 21st, at the release show at Kulturfabrik in Esch/Alzette!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hySILMmQt-g]

Trash Monday CIX

One of my favourite bands announced on Facebook that they are going to play with Babymetal on their tour around the Asian continent. Full of anticipation I wasn’t able to discern the sarcasm beforehand, but I dare you to make the same mistake as I did and push the play button. Have fun!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIKqgE4BwAY&app=desktop]

Architects – Lost Forever // Lost Together


Less than two years after their last record, Daybreaker, the guys from Architects are back with their sixth full-length Lost Forever // Lost Together! Right off the bat, I can say that despite a relentless touring schedule and them shrinking down to a quartet, they managed to record a true return to form.

While the predecessor already distanced itself from the softer fourth endeavor, The Here And Now, the new record almost completely drops that facet of the Brightonians’ sound and delivers an all-around heavy experience with intricate guitar parts and equally mind-blowing drum patterns throughout the eleven songs.

Connoisseurs know, of course, that the origins of Architects lie in mathcore and therefor they shouldn’t be surprised that these structures can be found again this time around…the tuning however is much deeper and almost submits a djent vibe. The production is, as should be for this type of music, glass clear during these forty-four minutes and pounds on your eardrums right where it feels good.

Logically, the vocals are much more scream-based than in the past three years and clean-sung passages are a rarity on LF//LT. However, they are yet again a beautiful display of the vocal capabilities of the frontman, who, by the way, is equally good on stage as in the studio. Lyrically, it’s still very socio-critical with an emphasis on the man in the sky. Last but not least, there are guest vocals on Youth Is Wasted On The Young by Murray Macleod of The Xcerts.

All in all, I would say that Architects managed to expand their old sound while still maintaining the evolution from previous records and will surely please fans and other music enthusiasts with this output. For more information, be sure to check the band’s Facebook page and give the song below a listen!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MHTy_dcSKE]

Cosmogon – Chaos Magnum


When Cosmogon played their first show in January 2012, I called them the “newcomer” of the year and I was anxiously awaiting the announcement of any recording plans. It took the guys two years and a considerable amount of shows under their belt before they set these plans into motion and this year, on March 14th, they will finally release their debut EP Chaos Magnum!

The Luxembourgish quartet, which consists mostly of members from now-defunct Ex Inferis, has the rather unusual particularity of only having one guitarist…but they marvelously display that one talented guy is all you need when it comes to their ingenious brand of groove-heavy metalcore. The amount of neck-breaking riffs that are jam-packed into these thirty-two minutes will have you pressing replay after every listen-through for want of more cranial trauma, trust me.

The bass and drums on the other hand form a perfect duo of a living and breathing groove machine, whenever the drummer isn’t relentlessly pounding your eardrums further into their sockets. It’s especially worth mentioning that all throughout the eight tracks, the guys managed to capture the feeling you get when you see them perform live: the urge to bang your head, jump around like a maniac and just forget all of your surroundings.

This is in part due to the clean, but not overdone, production and, of course, to the driving vocals that are only slightly fine-tuned on the record but otherwise kept in their raw state. While they might not be everybody’s cup of tea, they hit just the right spot for me since they somewhat remind of the performance on the legendary Slaughter Of The Soul by At The Gates.

All in all, the space dudes have put together a truly tasty compilation of songs and I can only say that if the full-length, whenever it may come, will pack at least half the punch of Chaos Magnum it will be a mental album! The band will be playing a release show at l’Entrepôt in Arlon this Friday and I can strongly recommend attending, since it will be one hell of a party! For more information, visit the band’s Facebook page and to get yourself pumped, listen to the song below!

As It Is – This Mind Of Mine


Get ready for some more punk! This time I have the pleasure of writing about the Brighton-based band As It Is, who are releasing their new, fan-funded, EP This Mind Of Mine on March 17th!

The quintet plays pop punk but with a melancholic note to it, so while it’s not super depressive, it’s not too far on the happy side of things either…which is something I appreciate a lot, since it helps the blokes to stand out among the vast amount of other bands in the genre.

The four songs are all composed in a similar vein, but they all have this almost melodic hardcore feel to them in some parts before jumping back on the pop punk train. Instrumentally this might sometimes lead to a bit of confusion the first time you listen to the EP, but it grows on you quite fast.

All throughout the fifteen minutes, the vocals also switch from clean singing to, not aggressive but rather heart-felt, screams, thus enabling immediate understanding and sympathizing with the lyrics. These are, as mentioned earlier, on the bluer side of life and deal, for example, with fear of growing up and issues of self-identification.

While I don’t believe that the guys will change the whole scene with this release, it’s easily noticeable that it’s music that was written with dedication and conviction, so thumbs up from me! There’s not much more I can tell you, to be honest…except that you should give them a listen below and check them out on Facebook.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnPraSsFHTQ]