Juan S. Garces reflects upon his Personal Warfare

Musicians are taking many challenges and risks in order to make the dream come true. One of them is the guitarist and producer Juan S. Garces based in Quinto, Equador. He started his journey in a home where music was a essential part of the day to day. Over the years he developed his skills with academic as well as autodidactic studies. 

After some time of performing with renowned bands of the rock / metal scene as well as with other genres he is now ready to publish his cover letter to the world by releasing his first solo album that talks about personal experiences, intimate thoughts, feelings and reflections that have set a deep mark on him.

The cover of Juan S. Garces debut album invites to think about the meaning of the elements that can be seen.

The music quickly jumped into my ears with it's mixture of compact guitar riffing, direct drums and highly melodic vocals. While the overall tone focuses on heavy progressive notes it's fine to hear that some easier and lighter melodies always remain wandering through the music. The duration of the seven tracks of the album varies but with it's many changes time starts to fly once you hit the play button. 

Amongst my favorites are the softer tracks "In my mind" and "Human". Both show how deeply emotional music can be and that Garces as a composer knows how to take the listener on a journey with his music.

Just try the first song "My bid" here in the player. The full album can be heard on the website of Juan S. Garces. There's a possibility to purchase the music for download or on a Compact Disc. 

Album Review: Witnesses - Doom II (Progressive Doom, 2020)

Hardly any Doom Metal release touches me much these days. It's not that I dislike it. It's simply as if it feels like anything has been said and performed already.

Until one day this release of Witnesses reached me. It opened up my ears back again. How? Besides the traditional doom trademarks like the powerful guitars and the well known compact rhythm package that accompanies the music it has more to offer.

The album tells the story of a cursed plague-bearing ship that finds landfall at one unfortunate village. 

It's a good batch of feelings that shines at the right moments. The music becomes more sensible. Finetuned melodies find their way into the sound giving it a broken touch. It feels like the own sensible emotional world of a human comes in to bring a own color to the picture.

All tracks are total longplayers. You can easily loose yourselves a bit in them.
Happily they are not too long to become boring or make you skip easily.

There's a need for concentration but at the same time it's also headbang-compatible material so there's still enough fun and heavyness inside. Much dedication and detail-work can be heard. Sometimes you can find your own feelings in works of musicians. That's what happened at least to me with this release.

My faves are the opener "On this Black Ocean" for the epic feelings and "Worse with time" for the heavier side.

It's a independent release. Please consider a purchase of this directly through
the band's Bandcamp page. It's available as a download for just one dollar or more.

Keep in touch with Witnesses through Facebook or the growing popular platform Instagram.

CD Review: Drop Oblivion - The War Within EP (Death 'n' Thrash, 2019)

The second part of the dual EP will be out February 2019. Is it better than the first one or just a collection of fillers?

The cover of "The War Within" EP of Drop Oblivion, Artwork done by Barnaby Oakley at Crossfade Productions

Introduction
Having two releases out in a short period of time was something that found it's way into the record market in the 90s. Just think of Guns 'N' Roses "Use your Illusions I & II" albums. Or Iron Maidens two part live release with "A Real Live" and "A Real Dead One".

Now these days the Death 'n' Thrash project Drop Oblivion gives us two EPs in a two months release frame. The first cut was a rough and loud fest of dirty riffs and growling monsterous vocals mixed up with a lot of fun.

Atmospheric midtempo Thrash
These days "The War Within" reminds us of how fine Thrash can be in midtempo mode. The EP starts with a mysterious and darkened intro just to shot us in with "Monster". This particular one is the fastest and heaviest one of the package. It's rude and with a raw note. Most of the other songs on this one happily follow a more midtempo shakin' pattern. I love that. It leaves more room for atmosphere and a brighter display of feelings. The pressed situation of going in fast and loud is left behind.

It's replaced with the fun of going deeper into the riffs itself. They can breathe far more. Happily it's never monotone and also has enough agression under it's surface. You'll be satisfied if you already liked the other offer Narcistic Counsilour. The EP expresses and widdens deeper the inner fight of good and bad in all of us that has been started out with the first EP just a month ago.

"The Last Goodbye" is the best example for that. With it's different voices/vocals in it you'll feel the twisted emotions. The refrain is a wave of redemption. The title track "The War Within" is kept compact. Line by line it's going on with a closing pattern at the end. It explodes in a quick and direct ending giving a good feeling being through after all. 

It's hard to pick favorites but the track "Inner Empire" always pushed the fun factor to the highest point in me. It's this constant riffing along with the drum pattern going step by step through the whole duration.

The last one "Dark Passenger" fades the EP properly. It's the most atmospheric and haunting one. It shows that it's possible to have dark vocals in a clear surrounding and midtempo drums going hand in hand.

Purchase-Link & Prelistening
You'll get the full riffing attack possible. That's why I can recommend to pick up a copy from Bandcamp (registered users on Bandcamp can re-download all purchased music. Make sure to be logged in when buying your copy). This one is one you'll want to keep safe from any possible loss. It'll be online 1st of February 2019 on Bandcamp.

So far one track "Dark Passenger" is online for listening. Listen to it below.

Mark the Facebook page of Drop Oblivion to keep a eye on how this project will move further.

Reveries End takes a journey through a ocean of emotions

The vocals on this one speak so much about the contrast between good and bad. The feelings first keep you in a melancholic feel with thoughts spinning through time. Some darkness comes rushing in with blacked styled vocals.

The songs structure changes to a more moving feeling that seems to be feed from the dark voice. Finally the softer tonality comes back before a final dark parts let's the song come to a end. A haunting musical experience, a journey through emotions and feelings as they come and go through the human mind...


Reveries End is a female fronted melancholic metal band founded in the spring of 2011 in Tampere, Finland.
The song "A Thousand Facets" is taken of the current album "Edge Of Dark Waters" which is going to be released on 28th February 2016 via Sliptrick Records.

Sadly female vocalist Sariina who was a vital part of Reveries End has decided to leave the band. The band is currently looking for a new voice so if you feel you have what it takes please don't hesitate and contact them through the band's website or use Facebook to get in touch.

The band "Reveries End", (c) by Reveries End - used with kind permission