QRO Magazine

The Savants of Soul are an up-and-coming group clearly attached to the energetic roots rather than pain of soul and Southern jazz, and all the better for it. From singles “Son Be Strong” and “Old Ways” in their brand new first self-titled LP, to previous EP or live release numbers, “Breezy Sunday” and “Second Chance Lover” on, they explode with energetic hope reminiscent of Sam and Dave, and bass lines that guide a brand of music that could get away with being purely R&B or jazz in this day & age of bleeding styles and available streaming.

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Goliathan is a decently named metal extravaganza and what better way than with a Latin name and a mythic history narrative for doom metal. After all, most sludge bands pay homage to the darkness of politics rather than suffering for suffering only. Either that, or they cross deftly into stoner rock as instrumental bands, and Goliathan is an instrumental group for now.

What can really be said of a sludge instrumental band beyond being “trippy”? Well, for starters, Goliathan is still dark, and sounds like a band for vocals. Whether they are or not, the Albion EP is filled with emotional dark and drum fills worthy of any stadium, metal or otherwise. READ MORE…

How to describe Chandeen, the solo female voice of Julia Beyer, is both somewhat lighthearted and brooding. Though not an overly well known name, Beyer has a sound is familiar to many American indie bands. READ MORE…

New York alt-folk act Mail the Horse have had a lot of songs released already with only one LP, Planet Gates. For a large band which is such a live oriented one, this is less surprising than the fact they vary so much from clean and sweet numbers, “Oh, Jamie”, “In Our Time” or “Dorothy” to the folky Magnolia EP, and now, on the new self titled release, chalk full of rock ‘n’ roll. READ MORE…

Coming from the background of playing with a variety of well known political and indie musicians, all while fronting the hardcore group Endpoint, the Duncan Barlow release Colony Collapse is a project, and being a project first and foremost is complicated. READ MORE…

Minor Stars are a sludge band in the truest sense, so where Through Pinholes to the Sky marks an obvious up and comers sophomore effort, it also must bring into question how much a sludge band can actually change. To be fair, the first record, The Death of The Sun in The Silver Sea, was fairly diverse, but still metal paced through and through. READ MORE…