Unknown Pleasures

Unknown Pleasures · 23.04.2026

Yes, I have a weakness for that kind of female voice that sounds like witches' spells, both seductive and menacing, in a song made incredibly catchy by its poppy instrumentation. A.A. Williams' voice practically begs for a collaboration with the Sisters of Mercy or Fields of the Nephilim, if those bands were seriously interested in new music. The song "Poison" is far from being mere background music, and far from being just pop; its lightness propels it into a realm where there are no...

Unknown Pleasures · 30.01.2026

Every now and then, musical projects land in my inbox that I, as a rock 'n' roller, should really delete because they're simply not rock 'n' roll. But what they are—and this is where they share the similarity with rock 'n' roll—is emotional. It clicks like the first time I heard "Ace of Spades" in November 1980, even though it isn't "Ace of Spades." Actually, for me, "Ace of Spades" is synonymous with the perfect song that every band has. Really good bands have several "Ace of Spades" in...

Unknown Pleasures · 18.01.2026

This album unites all my favorite bands from between 1987 and 1993. During that time, I spent a year in the Middle East and increasingly discovered Arabic music, both classical and pop. Around 1987, my interest in alternative rock, new wave, noise, gothic, and Americana began. And 30 years later, this Portuguese band appears and blends these seemingly contradictory styles into a song-oriented, harmonically organic work of art. Everything about this music seems authentic, from the murmured...

Unknown Pleasures · 15.11.2025

The album opens like a wide-screen epic, and "The Throat Ancestors’" sets the first scene. Deep throat-singing rises like smoke over endless grasslands, and suddenly we ride through the Mongolian plains with the heirs of Genghis Khan. The track feels like a fast horse pushing into the unknown, tribal and raw, with a strong nomad-rock pulse that shakes the horizon. When the dust settles, "The Verdant One" appears like a slow camera pan over green Balkan mountains. A soft shadow of Goran...

Unknown Pleasures · 05.11.2025

Sometimes I receive emails that turn into more than just a quick click-and-delete because I don't like the music. That's what happened when Sergio, one of the employees at Aloud Music in Barcelona, sent me an E-Mail. I've had this label on my radar ever since the AM Festival in 2018 (https://www.heavystoned.eu/live-report/amfestival-2018/. Aloud Music releases music far removed from the mainstream and has a real knack for discovering new acts. For example, Emma Ruth Rundle first played at the...

Unknown Pleasures · 19.10.2025

After receiving the promotion for this album, I had to promise Luca I wouldn't write a review until around October 17th. It took me several times to place this band; somehow, I'd heard this sound and the extremely understated male vocals before. Anathema came to mind, around the "The Optimist," time. But Karma Voyage clearly have a grander plan, both in their composition and in the order of the songs. Everything the band presented in the preceding tracks—post-rock, ambient, experimental, with...

Unknown Pleasures · 17.09.2025

You don´t need Rammstein´s fireworks or Trent Reznor´s depression to create an intense and danceable music with dark and heavy vibes and rhythms. The French duo Joachim Blanchet on keys, programming and voice and my friend Job Trunel (Tagada Jones, Le Bal des Enragés) on drums manage to create a scary and obscure soundtrack for your upcoming Halloween-party, on which you don´t have to disguise yourself, just put the upcoming album of FauxX and everybody get scared and get on the dance...

Unknown Pleasures · 10.03.2025

When I read in the promo email that Mika Häkki of Monolord, a band I don't really like, had released an album, it was reason enough to almost delete the email. Then I clicked on the link to the promo jukebox and heard the complete opposite of Monolord: fragile, acoustic songs that make the endless expanse of Sweden audible. There's nothing more to say about it. This record is at the intersection of bluegrass, Americana, and the epic expanse of Earth, performed on an acoustic guitar with...

Unknown Pleasures · 07.03.2025

The Italian sound and drone monsters Ufomammuth aren't my cup of tea at all. But what bassist Urlo delivers with his solo project The Mon in the form of the Gesamtkunstwerk "Major Arcana" is quite simply a masterpiece of visual and acoustic aesthetics. The diverse layers of frequencies and sounds, in their contradictions, form a tightly interwoven web of simultaneous lightness, transparency, and density, similar to the tent construction of Munich's Olympic Stadium. Whether this, according to...

Unknown Pleasures · 06.02.2025

We Germans now have a relatively large and diverse underground scene encompassing numerous musical genres. And I'm always amazed at who starts extremely interesting projects somewhere in the German provinces. This is what's happening with the duo "Sounds of New Soma" from Krefeld, which one would normally associate with the soccer club KFC Bayer Uerdingen. The two sound wizards Alexander Djelassi and Dirk Raupach have released numerous albums since 2013, and I discovered their project through a...