2014

Now That's What I Call Music! 89 [2 CD]

30 Stars / Pop [2 CD]

Text & musik: Anna Stadling (Förlag: Manus) förutom 1, 5 Anna Stadling/Per Hammarstedt/Thomas Tjärnkvist (Manus), 2, 6 Stadling/Staffan Hellstrand (Manus/Animal farm songs), 9 Hellstrand/Tjärnkvist (Animal farm songs/Manus) samt 11 Stadling/Karin Boye (Manus).

Art is a cyclical beast. The same can easily be said of Grammy Award nominated hard rock juggernaut Mastodon. The group's four members recognize the importance of life's omnipresent cycles on their sixth full-length album, Once More 'Round the Sun. The band orbits around themes of loss and rebirth, twirling a sonic spiral of its signature robust riffing, hypnotically haunting soundscapes, triage of dynamic voices, and thundering seismic grooves.<br/><br/>In order to uphold a modus operandi of experimentation and evolution, the boys enlisted the talents of super producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains, Deftones, etc.) for the very first time. They holed up in his Falcon Rock studio in Nashville throughout the fall of 2013, cutting what would become Once More 'Round the Sun. Given his passion for the band, Raskulinecz immediately clicked with the musicians.<br/><br/>As the fans would wish for, Once More 'Round the Sun, upholds that tradition of progression. They built a band that's been able to morph, evolve, and their fan base expects greatness, but they also expect things to be weird and different. With Once More 'Round the Sun they can feel confident that they've risen to that challenge."

Andrew Sisters: Wake up and live [4 CD]

An unstoppable force for uniqueness amid a sea of generic swill, Opeth have been setting the rulebook ablaze and ploughing a uniquely progressive and exploratory furrow for nearly 25 years now. And that glorious creative rejuvenation continues on the band's long-awaited eleventh studio album, Pale Communion. <br/><br/>Yet another compelling evolutionary step and a consolidation of the foundations laid down on the bands previous album Heritage, Pale Communion is simply another sublime piece of sonic artistry from one of the greatest bands on the planet. From the skewed grooves and dazzling atmospherics of the opening Eternal Rains Will Come to the devastating orchestral sweep and melodic precision of the closing Faith In Others, it is an album that expands Opeth's sonic palette beyond all measure while still retaining that mercurial essence that first made them such a unique proposition. As Mikael explains, Pale Communion is a record that came together intuitively and without compromise, driven forward by the magical chemistry between all five members of the band.<br/><br/>In keeping with Opeth's oft-professed love of the classic rock, hard rock and progressive records of the early 70s, Pale Communion was recorded at the legendary Rockfield studios in Wales. Soaking up the atmosphere of the place where such immortal albums as Judas Priest's Sad Wings Of Destiny and Queen's Sheer Heart Attack were recorded 40 years ago, Mikael could hardly have found a more suitable location for the recording of his band's new material. <br/><br/>Pale Communion is an altogether sharper and more vivid representation of Opeth's ongoing development. Overwhelmingly melodic and yet remorselessly diverse and unpredictable, these eight songs are as potent and mesmerising as anything in the band's illustrious canon. From the exquisite ebb and flow of Cusp Of Eternity - the first new song to be released into the wider world - and the epic, menacing sprawl of the ten-minute Moon Above, Sun Below through to the throbbing instrumental perversity of Goblin (which, of course, was inspired by the Italian prog band of the same name), the lush, country-tinged harmonies and rhythmic rumble of River and the gorgeous strings and pin-sharp melodic thrust of Faith In Others ("the best song Mikael has ever written." according to Steven Wilson), Pale Communion is another flawless triumph from a band that seem to still be gathering strength and gaining momentum. Who knows what the future will bring.

ABBA: Gracias por la musica 1979-80 (Deluxe) [CD + DVD]