Fostermother – The Ocean (Vinyl, LP, Color) Label: Ripple Music – RIPLP160 Format: Vinyl, LP, color in color red inside electric blue Country: US Released: Feb 18, 2022 Style: Doom Metal, Stoner Rock
FOSTERMOTHER made an impression within the stoner doom scene with their self-titled debut album, which Everything Is Noise described as, «hitting both soft and hard in all the right places, leaving oddly-comforting destruction in its wake.» Now a three-headed hydra with the addition of drummer Jason Motamedi alongside guitarist/singer Travis Weatherred and bassist Stephen Griffin, the band signed to Californian heavy rock powerhouse Ripple Music for the release of follow-up LP «The Ocean». This massive7-tracker cranks it up on all levels: it’s darker, harsher, slower, fuzzier, more rumbling, and uncompromising in its ability to drag listeners into the darkest alleys of the human soul.
Bethlehem – Mein Weg (2 x Vinyl) Label: Prophecy Productions – PRO 107LP Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue Country: Germany Released: Jul 8, 2022 Style: Doom Metal, Goth Rock
Experimental Black/Doom Metal band from Grevenbroich, Germany, active since 1991. They call their style «Dark metal», which is the term they coined in the debut album title.
Until Dictius Te Necare, Bethlehem faced censorship and was even banned from playing in some German cities. It started when Matton gave one copy of their first demo to a 14-year-old boy. After a while his mother started to call the band, saying that because of their music, her son became aggressive and built a «Satanic altar» in his room. In cooperation with other parents, they started a crusade against Bethlehem and their «satanic» music (ironically, Bethlehem were never satanic).
Antimatter – Leaving Eden (Vinyl, LP) Label: Prophecy Productions – PRO 088 LP-1 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition Country: Germany Released: 2022 Style: Alternative Rock
The first album of Antimatter as solo project
Unconstrained and with tremendous force – that’s a good way to characterize Mick Moss’ performance on Antimatter’s fourth album, “Leaving Eden.” The Englishman has undoubtedly found a way to gather his own power after his composing partner of many years, Duncan Patterson, has left the band – and this power has flown into a kind of music that has quite a rocking edge at times. “I wanted to create power and wide spaces in the studio,” Mick says. He was envisioning a “dark and laid-back rock album”, combining the hardest with the most light-hearted songs from ANTIMATTER’s history. It seems fitting, then, that Mick invited a more than competent session musician, Anathema’s guitarist Danny Cavanagh, into the studio for the dynamic recordings. The sensitive riffs and melodies do open vast spaces for Mick’s vocals – sounding self-confident and melancholic at the same time – and his personal lyrics with their introspective focus. “The album stands on its own two feet,” Mick acknowledges the changes in sound, which he however doesn’t think are that huge: “There are so many familiar elements; there’s one song with a violin lead like on ‘Planetary Confinement’, there are atmospheric parts, but now there are also the rockier tracks.” To the listeners, all of the above means that once again they are invited to sit back and join ANTIMATTER on their journey – a lively one at first, then growing ever more pensive to finally end in contemplation. Like in that line in the album’s last song, “Fighting For A Lost Cause”: “Some things never change” – this is also true of ANTIMATTER’s haunting atmospheres… The sensitive riffs and melodies do open vast spaces for Mick’s vocals – sounding self-confident and melancholic at the same time – and his personal lyrics with their introspective focus.
