Persona

Thrash metal pioneers and masters of the craft Exodus take time off from their 7-year studio break to deliver a politically charged, adrenaline steeped, hour long sonic boot to the face of the competition to shake up the 2020s…

The Japan and Porcupine Tree keyboardist Richard Barbieri releases his most sonically expansive work to date, with a brand new album entitled Planets + Persona. It is the third Barbieri solo album, but the first to feature such a wide pallet of instrumentation. Vintage analogue synthesisers combine with acoustic performances and jazz elements. Twisted voices are always present, though not in a language we can recognise. Barbieri skilfully utilises the talents of a pan-European core of musicians to produce an album that marries synthesised sounds with organic instrumentation to conjure up vivid, colourful and allusive soundscapes. It’s a skilful commingling of texture and tone, mood and musicality.

Rival Consoles' album Persona, inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film of the same name, aims to explore the difference between personal perceptions of the self and how one is viewed by others. Significantly less danceable than some of the artist's other albums, the album simultaneously feels more introverted and more expansive. Ryan Lee West's tracks blend acoustic and electronic instrumentation as well as a plethora of effects, with crisp snare drums galloping alongside wavy synth chords which vividly ebb and flow, and melodies which sound live rather than programmed. West particularly loves to start a song quietly and build up from there, maintaining a sense of progression and suspense…