Dirty Shirt is a metal band from Romania. They have recently come to my attention thanks to their album Get Your Dose Now!, thanks to the radio emission Noise Pollution.

This album blends Nu Metal with Folk Metal. I have to say this works quite well. I do not know much about Romanian folk music, but it definitely appears on Get Your Dose Now!. The folk aspect is well integrated with the metal part. Folk Metal is not new, but it still amazes me how well folk and metal can blend together.

This is a very lively album. I haven't paid that much attention to the lyrics. However, I understand it's full of humour. From the cover art to the album title, it's clear that they're talking about a burning topic : the Covid-19 pandemic. While I may have missed some subtelty, I think it's quite clear that they incite people to get vaccinated, which is a positive message. The way it's done is still light and fun and I'm happy with it !

One of the best-known thing about Code Lyoko is its opening. It's a very catchy song, especially well-known in France. Something less known is that there is a music band appearing in some episodes of the show. The students of Kadic appear to be fans of this group, first called Subsonics, then Subdigitals.

I haven't listened to the French version. I didn't know it existed, so I'll probably try it later. To be honest, despite the fact that french is my mother tongue, I've watched Code Lyoko mostly in English.

The songs from this album have a definite 2000s feel. It's a rock album, but also includes a lot of electronic instruments and effects. According to an interview (in French) with the fictitious band members, their influences are Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, as well as Green Day, Gorillaz and Linkin Park. This is quite a diverse selection, but it fits this album quite well.

I won't introduce each and every song, but there are some that I really love. Indeed, while all are pretty solid, some stand out to me. Angel of Mine is quite beautiful and sad. Its emotion is very far from A World without Danger, the title song that everybody know. However they both are full of passion.

Virtual World captures the 2000s beliefs about computers, where they were seen in a more positive light than currently. They were deemed more as an empowering tool for mankind and the individuals than the alienating tools of huge corporations and authoritarian states of now. People could dream of booting a computer, building and playing things with their imagination the only limit. I think the lyrics capture this hopefulness well :

We have found a way to play

We are way up high

Flying out

In this virtual world

There are more sad and calm songs, like Time to Cry. The pace is slower, and the voice of Camille Souvorof gives the song an ethereal atmosphere. From this, we get onto Secret Life. This is about avatars in the cyberspace, a theme definitely fitting Code Lyoko. So far, the song can be divided into either calm and sad ones, or more energetic and positive others. Yet World With My Eyes is on the calm side, but has a hopeful tone.

The end credits song Break Away is the angriest song of the lot. Unsurprisingly, its lyrics fit the rage, as it's about rejection. As this is the english version, A World Without Danger is in English as well. The singer is not Julien Lamassonne, who performs on the french one, but Noam Kaniel, who's sang and composed a lot of TV songs.

I feel like this is a great album

This album by Marcus D is the instrumental version of Melancholy Hopeful, which I haven't listened to. Marcus D is a US musician currently based in Tokyo, influenced by Nujabes. Thus it's no wonder this album is chillhop/lofi.

This is one of my first experience with lofi and I find it quite nice. The tracks feature different instruments, and are quite diverse in this regard. However they all fit the same aesthetic. This is quite unsurprising, given the influences. They feature cozy melodies, played on the piano, saxophone, trumpet or oboe, on which is layered some other parts, most notably a rythm track which sometimes feel like some drum'n'bass.

We begin the album by a fusion of a bit of jazz and drum'n'bass. It helps getting in the mood quite efficiently.

My favourite track, the one with which I've discovered the album, is Third Person. It features piano and some cracking sounds, to give it a more "nostalgic" vibe. I don't know what makes it feel so special to me compared to the others, but I really enjoy listening to it.

The track giving its name to the album features both a soothing melody, with some parts played on the guitar, and a hypnotizing rhythmics. The rest of the album, while being entirely chillhop, is still diverse. There is some trumpet in Fly, which gives this one a more dynamic feeling. In Deep Breeze Interlude, we've got some flute. And what about Inasense and it's expressive saxophone ? As for Pain and Possibility, there is some oboe which gives it a real sense of depth, alongside an orchestral touch. And juste like the title, Melancholy Hopeful, these words evoke the balance between negative feelings and the positive one. And this balance can be found in the rest of the musics, and I think it's achieved nicely.

Marcus D also has a Patreon, Spotify page, Twitter account and Twitch account.

I've discovered recently Екклесиаст (Ecclesiastes in english) by pure chance, with their album Холод (Cold in English). They're a russian death/doom band from Nizhny Novgorod. As it is a small band, there aren't many information available on the web about them. The band was founded in 1994, released their last album in 2008 and is (according to Metal Archives still active though. It seems they are a christian metal band, as their name suggest. However, I haven't tried translating the lyrics and I do not know how much it is part of their music.

Talking to the music, this album features both some accoustic and clean vocals (from the main singer, Alexandr Senin and a guest, Luba Medvedeva), and some raw distorted electric guitar with growls. I find it always interesting to have both on one album, as it helps change the pace and the sound. Микрокосм is teh fastest song here, which surprised me after a very doomy beginning. The whole album is interesting, and the influences are diverse. However, this isn't enough to make this band stand out much. They are not helped by the fact that although the production is correct, it is not exceptionnal.

Overall, even though you may prefer more established doom bands, this album is enjoyable, and I'm happy to have stumbled on it.

The album was reedited in December 2020 and is available at the label's online shop : Solitude Prod.. Both the old version that I listened to and the new mix are available on the group's Bandcamp page.

Brimid has released a new album. It's a darksynth set of instrumental tunes. While this is one of their most electronic albums, with very few of the guitars featured in previous one, it still retains the artist's character. This is also a concept-album, with the tracks forming a story about a people standing up against a powerful company ruling their world. You can find more about the story in Brimid's album thread and on Bandcamp.

From the start, ＩＧＯＪＩＮ is dark. The prologue sets the tone immediately. Yet some are a bit lighter and softer, such as Erinyes: I. Whispers Of The Righteous or Epilogue: ＩＧＯＪＩＮ. But overall, the dystopian mood of a cyberpunk universe is well present. Despite those moment of respite, it's clear that the Igojini don't live very happy lives.

Overall, this album is well crafted. This is some quality synthwave here. I'll be listening to it for a long time.

This album is available as "Pay What You Want" on Bandcamp.

Brimid also has a Mastodon account and a Twitter account.

Soulside Eclipse is a dungeon synth project by Xisuma. Back in 2010, just before he began publishing on Youtube Minecraft videos, he's produced some interesting music. Forgotten Conquest is his only dungeon synth LP but is very cool to listen to nonetheless.

A Journey Begins features a heavy atmospheres. You can well imagine an army preparing for a long and perilous journey, and setting sail to the unknown. They are full of pride and courage, but it's still full of an apprehensive tension. The second tune is a bit lighter and a bit more mysterious, as the boats sail in the fog, not knowing what fate has prepared for them. And then, the expedition is attacked. In Drowning Tombs, the prince is the only survivor and we follow his adventures in the next songs. Unfortunately for him, his future does not look great. He is traumatized by the attack, and his conscience fades away while still being on a silent ship full of corpses. This track does real wonders in showing the state of mind the prince is, from being traumatized and lonely, to having his consciousness fade in a coma. Surprisingly, he wakes up in a cave. This part has a nice kind of warm and sparkly atmosphere which contrast with the rest of the album. He wanders in a cold world, in the Snow which absorb all sounds and give a cozy atmosphere, until he finally escape the cold lands. In the lush forest he is, he finally find his father's body. The king had succesfully survived the wreck, but died before he could see his son again. This discovery mark a turning point in Heroes End, as the melody becomes chilling again. The grieving prince finally decides to go back to the Ice as he has no wish to live anymore. The album ends on his last moments.

I haven't heard many dungeon synth album, but Soulside Eclipse was a nice and varied experience. The album is well crafted and delivers the story promised. If you want to see Xisuma's comment on his album five years after the release, you can find his review here. You may also want to see what he thinks ten years after the release in the first video of his music channel. I really enjoy following his musical discoveries. I do not share his taste on everything, but I've discovered some albums I would've unfortunately missed on his blog (and now on his music channel).

You can download the album (for free) here.

I like atmospheric music, but it's rarely as ethereal as Dark Ocean by Arctica. This whole album is very aerial and you're never sure if the music is real or if you're just dreaming. The vocals have an echoey tone. It comes and fades just like some waves. The piano uses both bass and high-pitched parts which goes well with the singer. Overall, the tone of this album is cold and quite dark, but it can also be a source of appeasement. It develops several layers of interpretation which is very promising.

Unfortunately, this is the only realease of Arctica and seeing how it was made in 2017, it may be that the project was put aside.

And to top it all, if you watch it on Youtube, the video of Years Of Silence with a cold sea in the background is perfect.