Jonny B is pretty sure there’s now an automatic filter at ÜRHQ that takes any album submissions that are vaguely outlandish and assigns them to him… but you know what? He’s totally here for it. It means he gets to check out bands that might otherwise be completely overlooked, and today’s submission from Canadian act Alpha Boötis is a perfect example of that…
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There are a few times in life when you hear or see something and know it is immediately timeless. When the ‘Lord Of The Rings’ movies started to come out, everyone knew they were going to be a landmark in the industry and become a fundamental part of entertainment that will be pointed to for generations as a landmark for how to make an outstanding movie. John B thinks that ‘Glare of Deliverance’ has that potential. This is a truly outstanding album with real-time and dedication put into it. It will be hard for this one to be topped and that is just talking about what is on the album itself. Combined with the fact that there is a music video for every track (or will be as not all are released at the time of writing) telling the story of the album this is one of the most complete experiences I have heard in a long time. It is an experience that can totally dominate your attention.
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Let’s face it, if you have somehow never heard the name Paradise Lost then there’s a good chance that you’ve been living under a rock or have just been very unlucky not to have heard of, arguably, the pioneers of death/doom metal. These metallers from the Yorkshire town of Halifax have been churning out their melancholic gothic (melan-gothic?) since 1988 and are cited as being major influences on some of the biggest players in the scene today, like Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and My Dying Bride for example. So, if you haven’t taken the time to listen to Paradise Lost, there’s clearly an argument that you really should if you’re a fan of any of the bands they have influenced, or just doom or gothic metal in general!
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It’s hard to believe that it’s been seven whole days since we last awarded our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ title, and, despite the ongoing, and some cases renewed, lockdowns in many parts of the Überverse, we are still receiving a healthy bundle of submissions for our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ title. Many of them are produced against the background of continuing quarantine conditions in some countries, while others reflect artists being able to return and flex their creative muscles once again.
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The EP format has one which has been long favoured, especially by many emerging bands – and, unlike a lot of other websites, championed here on ÜR – due to the many benefits it brings: an EP is much easier, much cheaper to record and release, can give listeners a quick and easy snapshot of what the band are all about, and also serve as a worthy stopgap between full-length releases, which is something that has made the format also increasingly popular with many more established acts, especially in the current COVID era. Sometimes, bands deliberately plan a series of interlinked EPs, deliberately formatted so that, when the finished “series” has been released, they basically formulate what could be seen to be a full album, without the hassle and strains of having to do it all in one go… Of course, that approach can be fraught with difficulties, such as the development and progression of the band’s sound meaning that the second/third/whatever EP is the series sounds totally different from the first – or a change in band members brings a new dynamic, which results in a similar end game.
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