February 2025: Matt Recommends

Most of the February releases I wanted to check out droppped on February 28 so I had to take some time to digest them before throwing some recommendations out into the void. Speaking of the void...

Naxatras - V

It's hard to assign a particular sound to Naxatras. The Greek artists expertly blend prog and psychedelic rock with space rock and a bit of stoner. But V feels like a journey through space. Not emptiness but all the wonderful and awe-inspiring planets and places and processes we may never see. Their use of groove and rhythm on tracks like "Numenia" feel firmyl rooted in humanity and its earthly heart. Best of both scenarios. Anyone who has been reading lately should know how much "escapist" albums pull me in. V does just that. An expansive album able to push away the day to day. Naxatras binges are always a heavy trip.



Year of the Cobra - Year of the Cobra

We kick things up a notch with the newest from Year of the Cobra. Their third album just happens to be self-titled. It does feel like a step up but not a redefinitition that some bands do when releasing a self-titled that isn't their first album. You know what I mean. Again, it's not different from their first two albums just...more. The duo of drummer Jon Barrysmith and bassist-vocalist Amy Tung-Barrysmith (yes, they're married.) have added more emotion, more dynamics, more expression to their already doom-laden stoner heaviness. Amy gets more out of her bass than most guitarists with way more strings and you can really feel how much Jon is locked in. I've been a fan from the start. I feel like i've listened to Year of the Cobra more than Ash and Dust and ...In the Shadows Below combined though. And it's probably not even close. It's a banger.



Uncle Woe - Folded in Smoke, Soaked and Bound

You may also know I'm a dedicated fan of Uncle Woe. Obviously I'm going to include Folded in Smoke, Soaked and Bound. Now, Spotify says it was released February 28 and Bandcamp says March 1 so I'm putting it in February because I already have my three recommendations for March and I HAVE to include this one somewhere. Folded in Smoke is not an album but rather a 10" consisting of two 8+ minutes tracks. The 10" is pretty special and not for the casual collector but it's worth it for a big fan like me. I just love how Rain Fice and Mark Whitworth can move me with melancholy and despair. There's so much emotion and grace. And power. The band really put it best themselves, Folded in Smoke "ponders and sprawls and creeps and whispers and slithers, but still ends up as dead as everything else". Honestly, I'm envious of Rain's ability to make real the intangle feelings we have inside.



Honourable mentions to III by Yawning Balch (so good), and Dark Green by Tumbleweed Dealer (pretty cool). III by Red Eye and The Wolfe by Dope Smoker are pretty good too.

February Playlist -> RIGHT HERE Only Naxatras on this one.

Here's March too. it's pretty much done. MARCH PLAYLIST Year of the Cobra, Uncle Woe and others are here.

#38: Vreid - V

Not that I would consider myself a Black Metal rookie, but I will admit my fluency with the nomenclature of the genre is somewhat lacking. Hopefully I know enough that I can describe the fifth album from Norway's Vreid, simply titled V (Indie Recordings). I can't recall exactly how I stumbled upon V but since its February release it has been a near constant on my playlist. I think what keeps drawing me back to it is the feeling of motion it evokes. That feeling of soaring over desolate snow covered mountains appeals to me. The album is dominated by blasting rhythms and thunderous double-bass drumming that gallops along under some sweet tremolo picking. But it's not all full-on fury. The maelstrom is broken up in places by airy and sometimes almost folk-like passages. It brings to mind a vision of a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds to illuminate a bare spot untouched by the battle that rages all around it. The same contrast is heard in the vocals. The malicious, scathing yet decipherable screams take leave where appropriate for a talented clean voice. It's the clean singing that contributes to that folk feeling at times.  High quality, balanced production, tasteful and not overbearing atmospheric keyboards, and even some occasional acoustic guitar rounds out a sound that has inspired me to look deeper in to the history of Norwegian Black Metal.

www.twitter.com/MetalMatt_KofN