Under the name Martyr Art, multi-instrumentalist Joe Gagliardi III has been making industrial and gothic tinged music since 2004. Recording prolifically since then, his work has mixed original compositions and cover tunes, often in a style that leans heavily towards a darker sound. In 2019, he released ‘Through Soundwaves, Vol. 1’, the first in a planned series of four EPs bringing together most aspects of the Martyr Art universe. A mini treat for goth and darkwave fans, a moody stomping piece ‘Halloween (The Desire of Michael Myers’ showed off Martyr’s darkest side, while a brilliant cover of the Cure classic ‘A Forest’ teased with cinematic gothic moodiness before breaking into a brilliant industrial metal crossover sound that gave the source material a severe kick up the arse. With a little bit of a dark ambient sound creeping in during ‘In The Shadows of Philadelphia’ and a particularly mechanical re-imagining of an old Type O Negative classic thrown into the bargain, the EP had plenty to entertainment value for fans of the style.
Tag Archives: metal
PYRE FYRE – Rinky Dink Town / Slow Cookin’
Formed over a love of lo-fi noise and trash aesthetics, New Jersey’s Pyre Fyre began making their own brand of stoner/sludge music in 2019. A pair of digital singles emerged in 2021, with each cementing the band’s commitment to a DIY brand of riffs and distortion. Despite not having the most original sound, there was plenty about the unavoidable influence from ‘Houdini’ era Melvins cutting through the heart of ‘Lobotomy’, especially, that suggested this project came with a great potential.
Eight.Fold.Path shares new track ‘Fear’
Eight.Fold.Path is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Shannon Kerr. The one man band’s heavy sound combines elements of classic thrash, sludgy hardcore, electronic loops and a pinch of trad metal, creating an uncompromising sound that defies being tied to a specific era.
SAXON – Carpe Diem
In terms of tenacity, there are few bands to rival Saxon. During the 80s, the band found themselves among the top tier of British metal acts and, for a time, they seemed unstoppable. Changing fashions meant they fell hugely out of favour throughout the nineties – especially with the press, and especially in the UK – but due to the grit and determination of frontman Biff Byford and guitarist Paul Quinn, the Barnsley boys ploughed on through some pretty lean times, and eventually rode high again in the twenty first century. Off the back of a run of strong albums beginning with 2011’s ‘Call To Arms’, Saxon became popular fixtures on festival bills once again and gradually reclaimed their place as one of British metal’s most important acts.
A global pandemic forced the band off the road in 2020. Robbed of their most natural environment, Biff and company resorted to that time honoured stop gap, the quickly completed covers album. ‘Inspirations’ featured a couple of interesting choices, but was one of those projects that was better in theory. It wasn’t a great release, but it did an important job in keeping everyone’s spirits up until some form of semi-normality returned. It was but a temporary blip, though, since heir twenty third studio album ‘Carpe Diem’ – released in February 2022 – truly reignites the twin engines of Barnsley’s finest denim and leather sons, and features at least a half dozen potential classics among its ten high octane cuts.
WHITE TUNDRA – Honningfella EP
After spending a couple of years perfecting their riffs and honing a heavy, retro sound, Norwegian stoner rockers White Tundra unveiled their debut EP ‘Graveyard Blues’ in the middle of the 2020 global pandemic. Their weighty Monster Magnet/COC influenced sounds were a perfect compliment to a troubled time, and proved yet again that a tried and tested heavy psych/stoner sound could still impress when delivered with a lot of confidence and a few massive hooks. The title cut, in particular, with its chugging riff, gravelly vocals and rattling bassline – at times sounding as if a direct descendant of ‘Children of The Grave’ – set White Tundra on the road to stoner greatness, but ‘Freedom Fighter’ with its heavy and lurching anger suggested they’d have more to give than your bog standard stoner copyists.