Coritani - Death And Rebirth

CORITANI'S new CD is heavy going - but that's what you'd expect from a band who are, to quote Vivian from the Young Ones' jacket, very metal.
Each track is an epic patchwork of chugging riffs, throat-ruining growls and thumping drums, with only one of the five tracks shy of five minutes.
Stylistically, the band's sound is a brave take on traditional heavy metal, groove metal and sludge - with no relent and no concession throughout, although the band clearly don't take themselves so seriously, with tracks like Electric Donkey Zombie Sheep and stand-out Trevor The Ice Turtle.
Death And Rebirth - a reference to the group's rising from the ashes of the outstanding Evangelion - is a snarling beast of an EP, and if you don't run scared it really gets its teeth in.

Ben Matravers - Step One

LONG Whatton's Ben Matravers Step One starts out on the right foot with Say.
The opening number is an emotional effort which communicates through a Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly-style guitar and vocal laced draped with fleeting ornaments like guitar harmonics, warm hums and tinkling keys.
Pianos take over with Blood On My Hands, with the singer-songwriter stripped bare of Say's production bar a desolate echoing effect, before title track Step One steps up proceedings with a full band, a less introvert approach and, I imagine, a dark twinkle in his eye.
My Place Is Here rounds off the four-track EP with a guitar picking exercise which teeters between being melancholy and upbeat throughout.
A dark, folk-tinged, atmospheric effort, I can't wait to see how Mr Matravers steps things up from here.

So long and thanks for all the discs....

REGULAR readers of Sound Advice may have noticed that, of late, the blog has been pretty irregular.
After nearly three years of reviewing, a combination of ridiculous DMCA complaints downing posts, a lull in readers and my laptop dying losing me a huge wad of albums yet to be reviewed and my schedule of when they needed to be reviewed, the posts have stopped.
So for now, Sound Advice is on a hiatus, and is unlikely to return in its current form.
I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who's read, commented on, linked to or otherwise engaged with the site - it's been a real pleasure and has introduced me to some amazing music.
In the meantime, check out my football blog Goaltastic at http://blogs.loughboroughecho.net/goaltastic/ and feel free to have a vote on my hideously early Albums of the Year vote, which runs until December 31.