These Nights Are Ours

    Prelude by R A N G E S   If you told me a few weeks ago that I would be excited about a post rock release in 2021 I would have said you were crazy.  My appreciation for the genre is still there but my interest waned around 2005.  I will sometime still revisit the albums that got me into the genre, however I have not sought out anything further. I was linked to Prelude a few days ago by a friend.  He insisted that I would like them even though I was lukewarm on the genre at the time and in many respects still am.  I gave the album a listen out of curiosity and not much more.  After my first listen I walked away not knowing if I liked it or not… so I had to listen again.   Over the course of many years this is the best reaction I can possibly have to an album.  It means the album is challenging, yet accessible enough for me to want to dig deeper.  Oftentimes this is the reaction I’ve had to albums that work their way into my top tens for the year.   Ranges undoubtedly play post-roc

Urfe by an axis of perdition It begins and ends with Pylon.  Pylon stands in the doorway… beckoning me in. So embarks the narration of a man named Urfe as he travels to an island that is not exactly of this world, yet not entirely of the next either.  A world between worlds, containing both the natural and supernatural.  A land shrouded in mystery, however it is quickly revealed to be the stuff of nightmares. Axis of Perdition is known for playing black metal heavily influenced by the Silent Hill games.  They have managed to tap into the very essence of what makes those games the pinnacle of horror and have morphed and mutilated it into their own grotesque musical interpretation.   Urfe sees the band deviating significantly from their previous albums.  Instead of guitars and vocals creating a hellish landscape throughout its songs, Axis of Perdition has created what is in effect an ambient and spoken word album. The primary focus of Urfe is the narration provided by Leslie Simpon