Lots of strings and a piano build the carcass of this album. Professionally arranged and very dramatic, it is like Clint Mancell meeting School of Emotional Engineering with a twist of Danny Elfmans vision. The sound is very cinematic and even if you have no imagination the music is building for you great pictures. The whole mood is a dystopian noir movie street with some big steampunk machinery seen between the grey rooftops.

Each song is like a part of this movie. A chase, a mystery, a murder… the sound is a reflection of a lonely soul caught in blank mechanic society. Very similar to a recent noir movie La Antena. The track For Auschwitz is I think the best part of the album. Still the whole work is a very touching piece of music especially in modern music that has mostly lost its soul somewhere between labels and contracts.

Actually this band reminds me of some sad events. On December 8^th 2004 Dimebag Darrell, axeman of the famous metal legends Pantera was shot on stage. This recording was released by his brother Vinnie Paul, after Dime’s death. This album is his tribute, a redneck-whiskey-outlaw tribute!

The music was recorded by three members of Pantera (Dimebag Darrell, his brother Vinnie Paul and Rex Brown) and famous country outlaw singer David Alan Coe. Actually it is an unmixable mix of country and metal united by one thing – outlaw! The songs were composed and recorded in the late 90^th and don’t expect them to be educating or good for kids. One of the main slogans of the album is “A man with nothing ain’t got nothing to loose”, it’s about gambling, about drinking, one night stands, Indians, highways and chix. Musically it mixes simple Dimebag-style groovy metal riffs with country elements and of course traditional country singing style. The album gives you a feeling of a Deep South cowboy saloon. So keep your confederate money.

My Own Private Alaska’s debut album of the same name is experimental screamo. These French guys replaced guitars and bass with a piano. So it is basically a combination of mathematical drums, harsh screamo vocals and beautiful piano melodies. It is really awesome. It gives you a real autumn mood like beautiful depression or a sad holiday. The music is very hard to describe, long six to eight minute songs are like beautifull pictures of snowy landscapes.

They caught my attention when they were scheduled for the Wacken Open Air 2008. A very interesting band. If simple they play power metal/heavy metal but aside from the fact that they have only vocals and drums.

Yes they don’t have guitars, bass and keys. The vocalists are singing three to four melodic lines instead. Sounds… really weird. On one side this is a unique metal band, somehow similar to Apocalyptica’s experiments. On the other it is still way more experimental and I’m really missing the shredding guitars and heavy bass lines. But still these dudes are focusing mostly on vocals and the vocal lines are awesome and catchy. Also the arrangements are very professional, it reminds me of the good old vintage days when people had to get the best results with bad equipment and focused on the music.

Their debut album “A Storm To Come” is making real noise in the underground metal scene and that is definitely a success. Another success is their cover of Metallicas “Battery”. A bit funny but very interesting.

Still hope to catch them live this summer!

They exploded about a year ago. Within few months these English boys became an underground sensation.

A rarely successful experiment of combining some post-hardcore stuff with dance music. Early demos were a sensation and these guys quickly became Kerrang! favorites. They got the idea after an evening when they visited a Dillinger Escape Plan gig and went to a dance party as a result – songs combining complicated hardcore parts with trance keys and breakdowns. Their shows have an immense energy and rapidly change from moshing to dancing in seconds, somehow this is similar to some of the modern breakcore DJs.

Releasing their debut work “Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour” in 2007 they really broke into charts and tours. The album is very solid and is like a sci-fi opera with lots of keyboards and kind of a retro futuristic feel. It is raging from drum-and-bass interludes to some almost mathcore parts. Lot of people, including me, hope that 2008 will bring a new awesome album by this guys.

The Advantage was formed in 1998 under the name Generic. The band consists of Robby Moncrieff (guitar), Ben Milner (guitar), Carson McWhirter (bass) and Spencer Seim (drums) of experimental rock band Hella. These dudes are playing something like progressive rock with complex instrument parts based on… melodies from old NES video games.

Both of their albums present old NES soundtracks from games like Mario, Contra, Castlevania and so on. Played with live instruments they sound spectacular and still remind of the original 8-bit sounds. With these two works “The Advantage” (2004) and “Elf Titled” (2006) they presented a new standard for the video games music subculture. Of course there are mre bands that play these old tunes like The Minibosses or The OneUps.

But The Advantage most definitely has the advantage!

Most of the people on this planet consider cabaret to be forgotten and possibly too retro to be interesting. But not this duo from the US.

Amanda Palmer (piano/vocals) and Brian Viglione(guitar/drums/bass/vocals) are the Dresden Dolls or one of the unique band that are still keeping up the flag of the cabarets. Their music is like Vertinsky meeting The White Stripes, music of the 20^th and 30^th clashing into modern indie. The result is awesome! Amandas voice and piano provide the old and gloomy part, while Brian is making the rest of the music with his very interesting drumming and arrangements.

Combine that with almost theatrical performance on the live shows and you’ll get a really unique band. Their two albums “The Dresden Dolls” (2003) and “Yes, Virginia” (2006) can be surely considered gems of modern music.

He is awesome at creating amazing soundscapes but this work is like watching a small slow-motion movie. The music is very gentle with mostly a piano leading the melody, sometimes supported by violin guitar, bass and drums. But mostly it is melted with Frost’s trade mark gentle electronic ambient. Two songs have vocal lines but as for me it was not necessary.

In one of the interviews Frost said that the instrumental part was recorded in few days but he spent a year with his notebook deepening the sound and giving this plate more feeling.

Well the only thing that I can say, this year was worth it!