Monday, new week and it's time to present "Record Of The Week"
THY CATAFALQUE has visited Tune Of The Day several times, both as today's tune and "Record Of The Week", now it's time again to ascend the throne and receive the fine award. THY CATAFALQUE do not pretend to produce easy-listening music that comes as easy as it quickly fades out of the mind again. "Vadak", is the Hungarian act’s tenth full-length album, demands to be listened to with full attention, but with every new spin this masterpiece reveals more of its secrets and rewards the listener with a rich treasure of fascinating details.
I can only marvel at the creative vein that "Tamás Kátai" possesses as his project is extremely consistent when it comes to album releases.
"Vadak" is just marvelous, a fantastic mix of all different styles that are composed with both style and finesse. From the groovy electronic opening of "Szarvas" with some blackended spices to the folkish following "Köszöntsd A Hajnalt" to the blackended metal in "Gömböc" to the more furious industrial metal "Az Energiamegmaradás Törvénye" and the ten minutes "Móló" gives this record a marvelous start. The second half starts with the jazzy "A Kupolaváros Titka" followed by gypsy folksih piece "Kiscsikó (Irénke Dala)" with marching drums and a lovly guitar playing. "Piros-sárga" a synth feel good tune until it's time for the next monster "Vadak (Az Átváltozás Rítusai)" a twelve minute blistering thing, with glorious guitar, hard hitting drums, marvelous keys, that includes both metal, folk and beautiful passages between the furious technicality and the guest vocals by Martina Veronika Horváth’s that you can hear throughout the album are just stunning and she sings lovly in the album closer "Zúzmara" where a piano shares the musical present. "Vadak" is marvelous journey where you can expect the unexpected and still, you’ll be surprised by his compsions. The album is not for everyone, but those who has a open musical mind will get themselves greatly rewarded by the experience "Vadak" can give you as a listner.
Sum: A marvelous musical labryinth to enjoy in the hammock.
"Vadak" was recorded in Budapest, Hungary | Edinburgh, Scotland | Újvidék / Novi Sad, Serbia | Kolozsvár / Cluj-Napoca, Romania | Kharkov, Ukraine | Tuapse, Russia | Alicante, Spain | Quarten, Switzerland | Haifa, Israel | Austin, Texas, U.S.A. | São Paulo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2020 / 2021. Mixed by Tamás Kátai in Budapest, Hungary, January, 2021. Mastered by Colin Davis at Imperial Mastering, Texas, U.S.A., February 2021. Cover artwork by Tamás Kátai. The album was released June 25th, 2021 via Season of Mist.
Today's tune "A Kupolaváros Titka", taken from "Vadak"
"Metal, Meat & Bone – The Songs Of Dyin’ Dog" is the latest album by the American art collective THE RESIDENTS, best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, "Meet the Residents" (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects, and ten DVDs. They have undertaken seven major world tours and scored multiple films. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, the Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects. They founded Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, in 1972.
Throughout the group's existence, the individual members have ostensibly attempted to work anonymously, preferring to have attention focused on their art. Much speculation and rumor has focused on this aspect of the group. In public, they appear silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tails—a costume now recognized as their signature iconography. In 2017, Hardy Fox, long known to be associated with THE RESIDENTS, identified himself as the band's co-founder and primary composer; he died in 2018.
THE RESIDENTS' albums generally fall into two categories: deconstructions of Western popular music, and complex conceptual pieces composed around a theme, theory or plot. The group is noted for surrealistic lyrics and sound, with a disregard for conventional music composition.
The lineup of collaborators as featured on THE RESIDENTS' latest album, "Metal, Meat & Bone – The Songs Of Dyin’ Dog", released July 10, 2020, is as follows: Eric Drew Feldman, Carla Fabrizio, Nolan Cook, Peter Whitehead & Sivan Lioncub.
Today's tune and the first single "Die!, Die!, Die!" out of "Metal, Meat & Bone – The Songs Of Dyin’ Dog", featuring Black Francis from the PIXIES.
After years of total silence, Norwegian prog/avantgarde metal act GREEN CARNATION returned to the international metal scene in 2016 for the 15th anniversary of their cult classic "Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness". After a successful comeback year with festival appearances and special shows both in Europe and North America, the Norwegians have released their first record in 14 years. We had their tune "Sweet Leaf" here on Tune Of The Day four years ago, read about it here: https://tuneoftheday.blogspot.com/2016/10/green-carnation-sweet-leaf.html
The new album "Leaves Of Yesteryear" is as much a retrospect on the band’s career as it is a nod to the future. The progressive metal act pays homage to their own past and to their heroes with the re-recording of their classic song "My Dark Reflections Of Life And Death" and an excellent cover of BLACK SABBATH’s "Solitude". With new songs like "Leaves Of Yesteryear", "Hounds" and "Sentinel", the future looks bright, check out the title tune below. The album is produced by Endre Kirkesola (ABBATH, IN VAIN, and SOLEFALD). Mastered in Maor Appelbaum studio (FAITH NO MORE, SABATON, YES, MAYHEM).
The Black 12" double vinyl (33rpm) with etching on D-side in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with matt lamination. First pressing 400 copies worldwide, get it before it's sold out.
Kjetil Nordhus (vocals)
Tchort (guitars)
Stein Roger Sordal (bass)
Bjørn Harstad (guitars)
Kenneth Silden (keys)
Jonathan Alejandro Perez (drums)
Today's tune is the title track out of the new album "Leaves Of Yesteryear". Released May 8th, 2020, enjoy!
"Naiv" is another spectacular musical album release by the Hungarian eccentrics THY CATAFALQUE, the brainchild of Hungarian Tamás Kátai. "Naiv" is inspired by the “Naïve Art” movement.
One thing I love about Tamás Kátai, it's his ability to create innovative, interesting and very irresistible music. From his newly gained bag of lego, where the blocks contain diversion of genres like gothic rock, ambient, electronica, folklore, jazz, and funk amongst others, where all the pieces have wisely assembled together to create the musical landscape of well-working crossovers.
"Naiv" is just as unpredictable as his earlier works and demands to be listened to with full attention. That it can then be a sprawling story for someone who is unfamiliar with wilder textures, I can buy that, but I can almost promise that one can easily be sucked into the magical madness of the flow of rhythms with unknown and quite tricky instruments. It's a playful and very easily accessible record and still delivers on some good, old fashioned heavy riffs.
That album is a real adventure with many guests on various positions, like the vocalist Zoltán Kónya (GIRE) the progressive death metal band who appears on the album opener murderous blasting "A Bolyongás Ideje" spiced up with some psychedelia, like the unpredictable "Tsitsushka", that have many shifts from gothic metal to funk but still keep the focus also contains some fretless bass by Badó Réti (GIRE). The electronic intro in "A Valóság Kazamatái" takes one of the radar, until the heavy riffages take place in the middle eastern theme that this tune takes its path. The chamber rock piece "Számtalan Színek" where the guest musicians take the center with cello and creates a classical atmosphere. "Embersólyom" has a folkish touch with proggy flutes and some beautiful vocals from Martina Veronika Horváth (ex-NIBURTA, SALLYANNE, NULAH). She can also be heard on rocker "Napút" where she does an excellent job. "Vető" is eight minutes of old school avant-death metal, a heavy piece with some odd but pretty well-executed shifts. The extra bonus on the album is that all the lyrics are in the native Hungarian language. The album can feel complex and confusing but with some time and patience it will grow and the enjoyment will be much richer.
"Naiv" was released January 24 through Season Of Mist. Recorded, mixed and mastered in 2018-2019 in Edinburgh (United Kingdom) Makó, Budapest, Debrecen, Szentendre, Szombathely (Hungary) and Athens (Greece). Cover art: Irene Saíz Guerrero
Sum: "Naiv" is a magical album, requires some time with full attention, but with a little patience comes the rewarded.
Today's tune "Embersólyom" is taken from the ninth full-length album "Naiv", enjoy!
"Stranger Fruit" with the avant-garde, experimental black rockers ZEAL & ARDOR reaches the 9 place on the Tune of The Day's TOP 50 album list of the Best Albums 2018.
With a powerful mix of musical styles from prison choir to black ended metal make this band quite brilliant and a very fun band to listen to.
Today's tune "Gravedigger's Chant" taken from "Stranger Fruit", "The gravedigger's chant is the song sung by the people who lay your body to rest". The tune is written and recorded by Manuel Gagneux, Drums recorded by Marco von Allmen. Produced by Zebo Adam and Manuel Gagneux. Mixed by Kurt Ballou. Mastered by Alan Douches. Enjoy!
On 8 June 2017 LAIBACH announced new album "Also Sprach Zarathustra" to be released 14 July 2017 along with the lead single "Das Nachtlied I" and an accompanying tour. The songs on the album were originally composed for a theatrical production of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s novel of the same name.
LAIBACH (Slovene pronunciation: [ˈlájbax]) is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with the industrial, martial, and neo-classical genres. Formed in Trbovlje (at the time in Yugoslavia) in 1980, LAIBACH represents the musical wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) collective, a group which LAIBACH helped found in 1984. The name "Laibach" is the German name for the Slovenian capital Ljubljana (which was unwelcome in Tito's Yugoslavia).
Richard Wolfson wrote of the group:
LAIBACH method is extremely simple, effective and horribly open to misinterpretation. First of all, they absorb the mannerisms of the enemy, adopting all the seductive trappings and symbols of state power, and then they exaggerate everything to the edge of parody... Next they turn their focus to highly charged issues — the West's fear of immigrants from Eastern Europe, the power games of the EU, the analogies between Western democracy and totalitarianism.
Today’s tune "Vor Sonnen-Aufgang” is taken from new album "Also Sprach Zarathustra”, enjoy! The Video was directed by MICHAEL SAUP and Produced by ANDREAS ERHART
LAIBACH Live 2017:
AUGUST
16th Sarajevo, Sarajevo Film Festival
SEPTEMBER
21st Stavanger, Folken, Kapittelfestivalen
NOVEMBER
4th Budapest, A 38
5th Prague, Palace Akropolis
6th Vienna, Arena
9th Malmo, Moriska Paviljongen
10th Oslo, Vulcan Arena 11th Stockholm, Kraken
13th Helsinki, Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo
15th Tallin EE, T.R.Theatre of Estonia
16th Riga LV, Palladium Riga
17th Vilnius LT, Loftas Club
19th Wroclaw, Stary Klasztor
20th Berlin, Kesselhaus
21st Dresden, Reithalle
22nd Bochum, Christuskirche
23rd London, Islington Academy
24th Paris, Trabendo
"Sgùrr" is the 6th album release by THY CATAFALQUE. Was released October 16, 2015.
For those new to THY CATAFALQUE, it is the solo endeavour of Hungarian multi-instrumentalist Tamás Kátai, who moved to Scotland several years ago. He plays a version of black electronic folkish avant-garde metal world music.
"Sgùrr" (the title of which is Scottish Gaelic for “The Top of a Mountain”).
"Sgùrr" is an violent poetic and atmospheric dark journey true the Scottish Highlands all the way to the Hungarian Lowlands, the songs are about water, mountains, their interrelationship, and the symbols attached to them. The album is very playful with a joyful ambient harmony and gritty, pummelling black metal and monumental doom-inspired riffs.
The album starts and ends “Zúgó” (Pt.1 and Pt.2) with a narrates words by Viktória Varga, in Hungarian about the passage of rapids, the sounds of water carving through mountains over eons of time. "Alföldi Kozmosz" is an electronic folkish tune, beautiful melody with almost a dancing beat. "Oldódó Formák a Halál Titokzatos Birodalmában" is a more than 15 minutes, were hard-driving drum rhythms coupled with hard and lightly aggressive guitars with a blackness feeling. "A Hajnal Kék Kapuja" is an instrumental piece, here he shows the beauty of his travels. "Élo Lény" is a more intense piece, heavy and hard with folkish approach. "Jura" is black-ended all the way, fast and heavy, dark and ugly. "Sgùrr Eilde Mòr" continues where "Jura" ends, but with a much bigger spectrum and length. "Keringo" is the last proper tune, a half pace until the drums and guitar enters half the way to give the tune some contrast until is almost fades out in a beautiful violin solo.
Vinyl of "Sgùrr"
Sum: "Sgùrr" is something totally different, if you do not listen with blinders so you should definitely try this.
Today's tune "Oldódó Formák a Halál Titokzatos Birodalmában" is taken from "Sgùrr", enjoy!
The avant-garde metal band TOMBS from Brooklyn, New York, is up for a brand new track ”Cold" and an upcoming album "The Grand Annihilation”
The band's sound has been described as a combination of multiple metal styles, styles which include black metal, hardcore, doom metal, and sludge metal. Band front man Mike Hill does not regard their sound to be sludge metal. Rather, he has likened the group's sound to being more black metal inspired. Citing influences, Hill has named bands such as NEUROSIS, SWANS, JOY DIVISION, DARKTHRONE, BLACK FLAG, DEATHSPELL OMEGA, LEVIATHAN and BAUHAUS among others, as being influential to the group's sound.
TOMBS front-man Mike Hill is not a man interested in appeasing his existing audience or modifying the music he makes in the hope of luring in a broader one. Letting the songs come as and when inspiration hits him is integral to Hill's process, and this accounts in part for "The Grand Annihilation’s" diversity. The blasting, scathing yet melodic black metal savagery of opener "Black Sun Horizon" and "Way Of The Storm" are very much built to destroy, while wielding a poignancy that is undeniable - both of which stand in strong contrast to the uncomfortable post-punk squall of "Underneath" that showcases Hill's Nick Cave/Ian Curtis-esque singing voice, while the likes of the throbbing "Saturnalian" and unnerving tribal thunder of "Walk With Me In Nightmares" stand in categories all of their own. While every track on "The Grand Annihilation" stands separate from those around it, it is still a cohesive collection, and at no point do the stylistic twists and turns undermine its coherence. "If you've been following Tombs, you probably know to expect the unexpected, and I always strive to present a full range of emotion on everything with the band's name on it," Hill explains. "That said, this is a very dark and introspective record that digs deep into the common ideas of mortality, infinity and cosmic mysteries. The lyrics on the new record are a celebration of freedom through embracing the dark side. Once you realize that you follow the dark path - the path of the individual - there is a certain feeling of liberation that accompanies it.”
Today’s tune "Cold” is taken from the album "The Grand Annihilation”, set to be released June 16, 2017.
GREEN CARNATION is new a new acquaintance, a band that was formed as early as in 1990, but after Terje "Tchort" Schei joined EMEPEROR for the "Darkside Eclipse" album shortly after, the band was put on hold until the debut album, "A Journey To The End Of The Night" was released in 2000. "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" followed in 2001, before the band took a change in direction, with "A Blessing In Disguise" (2003) and "The Quiet Offspring" (2005) before the band went all-acoustic with "Acoustic Verses" (2006). GREEN CARNATION established their cult status among progrock and avantgarde metal fans all over the world in the early 2000s with their 60-minute masterpiece Light of Day, Day of Darkness and have been critically acclaimed throughout their career for their artistic creativity and astonishing musical concepts.
That's about it, no more records, but the future looks bright.
On August 12, 2016, it was announced that EMEPEROR would be reunite again in 2017 for a special set of performances to celebrate their 20th anniversary second studio album "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk". So I guess more will come (:
On the bands homepage you can read following lines:
GREEN CARNATION will be available for festivals and special shows in the foreseeing future.
The band line up.
Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Tomas "Samoth" Haugen – guitars, drums, vocals
Kai Johnny "Trym Torson" Mosaker – drums
Light of Day, Day of Darkness - Live 2016
Kjetil Nordhus,
Tchort,
Stein Roger Sordal,
Michael Smith Krumins,
Bjørn Harstad,
Endre Kirkesola,
Jonathan Alejandro Perez.
Today's tune "Sweet Leaf" is taken form the bands last album "Acoustic Verses" (2006), enjoy!
The Norwegian progressive/avant garde metal band LEPROUS form Notodden, Norway, takes the 7th position on Tune Of The Days "Best Albums 2015" with the fourth studio album "The Congregation".
"The Congregation" is a very well made album, tight song writing, technical hooks and melancholic riffs. It's a controlled record and highly varied with a good mood.
Today's tune "The Price" is taken from the album "The Congregation". Inside Out Music 2015.
Today it's time to present tune seven (Free Card) from the annual hard rock evening that is always on eve of Twelfth Night. Through these three "free cards", we will leave the theme and the red thread and looking outside the box. Of course, influences remain partially but that's not what was focus when these songs were selected. It just happened to be so :)
The second (Free Card) is the Portland progressive avant-garde metal band "Agalloch" with the tune "The Astral Dialogue" taken from the fifth full-length record "The Serpent & The Sphere"
"The Serpent & the Sphere" represents the most glorious sounding Agalloch album to date. It's a great addition to the band's legacy and a brilliant set of work, where you will get a great mix of progressive avant-garde style of folk metal that encompasses an eclectic range of tendencies including neofolk, post-rock, black metal and doom metal. This is one of those albums that is able to gain the perfect balance between the extreme and the quietly beautiful.
Agalloch's imagery and subject matter are natural beauty, melancholy and allusions to ancestral Heathenry. "The Serpent and the Sphere" is something you need to have.
This years line up of categories was:
1. Best 70's - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
2. Best 80's - Candlemass - Solitude
3. Best 90's - Sleep - Dragonaut
4. Best 00's - Grand Magus - Kingslayer
5. Best 10's - Windhand - Orchard
6. Free Card - The Well - Refuge
7. Free Card - Agalloch - The Astral Dialogue
8. Free Card
Todays tune "The Astral Dialogue" is something to dream off. Enjoy!
Number 3 on Tune Of The Days best album list of year is the Portland progressive avant-garde metal band "Agalloch" with the latest effort "The Serpent & The Sphere"
"The Serpent & the Sphere" represents the most glorious sounding Agalloch album to date. It's a great addition to the band's legacy and a brilliant set of work, where you will get a great mix of progressive avant-garde style of folk metal that encompasses an eclectic range of tendencies including neofolk, post-rock, black metal and doom metal. This is one of those albums that is able to gain the perfect balance between the extreme and the quietly beautiful.
Agalloch's imagery and subject matter are natural beauty, melancholy and allusions to ancestral Heathenry.
"The Serpent and the Sphere" is something you need to have.
Todays tune "The Astral Dialogue" is taken from the the fifth full-length record "The Serpent & The Sphere" and will get you something to dream off. Enjoy!
Listen to "Agalloch- The Astral Dialogue" on Spotify 
