in The Woods 1999

As hinted at on Omnio, Norway's In The Woods has taken yet another step away from metal. First, they have broken with black metal entirely, and secondly, they have perhaps left the genre altogether in order to create a dark, swirling, heavy rock music all their own. Utilizing many of the same tactics they pioneered on Omnio, such as the use of a full string quartet alongside the band, In the Woods have taken further liberties in their instrumentation: sitars, gongs, drum loops, and keyboard programming, as well as a pedal steel guitar have been incorporated into their sound. On paper it sounds dreadful, in the grooves it is positively seductive and powerful…

The surplus of excellent albums being released right now continues with a candidate for the best Blues Rock artist to ever hail from Germany. Henrik Freischlader returns with another superb effort. After his last two powerhouse albums and a stint supporting Layla Zoe and Tommy Schneller you might expect a letdown in quality, but House in the Woods delivers once again…

Norway has always been the most fertile of lands for experimental and avant-garde Metal. During the last three decades fabulous visionaries have pushed beyond boundaries time and time again, propagating the ever-healthy Metal underground and its myriad sub-genres. The most prestigious and mythical of all are the legendary In The Woods… the originators of truly progressive Dark Metal. Now, 21 years after their singular, beyond-classic debut "Heart Of The Ages" and 17 protracted years after last full-length "Strange In Stereo", a reimagined and revitalised In The Woods… deliver "Pure" - a stunningly focussed new record - a distillation of everything that makes them one of the greats…

After the long hiatus of almost 15 years and then the strepitous return in 2016 with the magnificient album Pure, now the Norwegian legends In The Woods…, one of the first bands who used the name "pagan metal" to describe their music, is back with their fifth full-lenght named Cease The Day. Even though that it's difficult to talk about the same band anymore, because now, after the departure of Botteri brothers, the only member from the original line-up is the drummer Anders Kobro. Together with James Fogarty aka Mr. Fog (vocals, guitars, bass and keys), who is now beside Kobro the only regular member since the Pure album, the two with the help of guitarists Bernt Sørensen and Kåre Sletteberg, created an album that, huh, has it's memorable moments…

Mychael Danna and Tim Clément, both wonderful composers in their own right, are one of the greatest duos that the ambient/space music style has ever had the pleasure of hearing. This best-of recording is an organic, ambient masterpiece that showcases their most brilliant work in a cohesive, long-running sonic excursion. This is actually a collection of older pieces, remixed, remastered, and produced by Stephen Bacchus. The beautifully sonorous timbres and reflective atmospheres of Danna & Clément are mesmerizing. The story behind this recording is significant because it illustrates both how these works came about and the fact that the duo were pioneers of environmental sound recording long before nature sounds became a staple of the new age genre…

In the summer of 1956, the famed Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell arranged for Dizzy Gillespie to embark on a worldwide goodwill-ambassador tour sponsored by the State Department. Gillespie and an all-star big band featuring trumpeter Quincy Jones, the late trombonist Melba Liston, alto saxophonist Phil Woods, and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson performed in Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil to frenzied, beret-wearing fans. Recordings were made but they weren't commercially available and were played only for a select group of musicians before Gillespie's death in 1993. Now the sides have been released, showcasing Dizzy at his bebopping best.