What are you Listening to Right Now? Febus XV

Not only the only of their albums so far to really impress me, but also in my book a better glowing pink sacred cow of indie/postpunk music than Loveless. The use of tribalistic drumming and futuristic keyboards at the same time remind me of Killing Joke, but the aesthetic concept and resulting atmosphere is very different from KJ's brand of post-apocalypticism.

The atmosphere reminds me of the photos I've seen of the seedier neon-lit parts of Tokyo and other Asian metropolises, or at least how they're commonly depicted in the media.

This Italian psychedelic doom metal group seems to have languished in "cult status" land, despite friends in higher places like Monster Magnet and Orange Goblin. Mind you, they are a level spacier than even usual for this kind of music, building their compositions up around long stretched-out effects-laden soundscapes that follow "slow burn" tension-and-release structures involving many layers of texture more than any kind of catchy riffing or hooks. Perhaps fans of Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru and Hawkwind would take easier to this band than most metalheads do, proceed they can handle all the guitar distortion.

It's not often I'm in the mood for this "post-metal" business, and I get the impression that it's nowhere as popular as back in the late 2000s, but I've become more curious about rediscovering after finding out that it's a major source of the more modern inspirations on YOB's take on psychedelic doom metal. (which is one of my favourites) This group has also been inactive for many years, to return with this quite ambitious record featuring long multi-part songs full of tempo shifts, acoustic/electric dynamics, clean/harsh vocal shifts as well as contrast between different riffing styles and lots of use of guitar effects as well as the occasional electronics. The members have in the meantime networked with several black metal groups, whose influence you can hear in some of the vocals and the faster riffs. The unusually cold harsh wintry atmosphere as well as the visuals and lyrics point in that direction too, which makes for an interesting contrast with the YOB-style spaciness.

There's a lot of material to digest here, and I think I need a couple listens more before I know exactly what to make, but I can already tell they're at least attempting something more interesting than usual for the post-metal scene.