[Column] "Giving three great 2013 releases justice," by Guðný Lára

I have been meaning to do this for too long, now it’s even harder than when I first got this idea. It’s harder because of all the bands, all the great bands!
I pitched the idea to my dear friend Birkir about doing a little thing here (Yes, the OP column is all yours darl! -The Ed), a playlist of what I am listening to, a list of new interesting bands and releases also just a list of good music worth listening to. So here goes, what the hell am I listening to these days. Let’s start with the great releases of 2013 just to give t hem justice and get them out of the way.

I have to start off with The Old Wind, this band fell in to my lap by accident, I got assigned a new label at work and I decided to go through their roster and found The Old Wind. Since the last century I have been a fan of Breach, so this find was a total SCORE. The Old Wind started out as the solo project of Thomas Liljedahl former vocalist of the legendary band Breach, this project started growing in his mind when he was in need of therapy, he was going through dark years and the album reflects that. It’s vile, ugly, cold and heavy. These songs had to be performed live and so a band was needed. Two former Breach member’s joined Thomas, Niklas Quintana and Kristian Anderson on guitar and bass, then came drummer Karl Daniel Liden and at last Robin Staps (The man behind The Ocean) joined on third guitar.
The album Feast On Your Gone was recorded solely by Thomas and released by Pelagic Records, first pressing of the vinyl is currently sold out and being repressed.
The band is confirmed to play the mighty Roadburn, support Cult Of Luna on a few dates in Sweden and Beyond the Redshift ( all day festival spreading over three venues in Camden, London curated by Cult of Luna).

Coilguns, another great band on Pelagic Records. These guys are from Switzerland, like their surrounding habitants they did not spend their lives handcrafting mechanisms for luxury watches, they rather spent their time making music. The band has three member’s, who are all also members of The Ocean.
The album Commuters was released in 2013 and is highly recommended for all you folks that like noisy music maybe some mathcore a dash of atmospheric sludge? A little Botch, Every Time I Die, Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Cult of Luna? This sounds like a good blend right?

What’s happening in Switzerland? My next band is Bölzer a two piece who blackend death metal and guess what, they‘re from Switzerland! With this impressive and strong three song EP titled Aura they got a great slot at Maryland Deathfest this summer. This EP has everything, frontman KzR does the deep growls and the cries of desperation + it‘s evil and filthy. I want more and I‘m in luck, the band are releasing their second EP titled Soma in March via Invictus Productions.

- Guðný Lára

*** Guðný (twitter) co-directs the world best music festival Eistnaflug (site) and is a label manager  at Plastic Head (site).