Featured in our book Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music along with member and über-collagist / visual artist Are Mokkelbost (who also records as Single Unit), KILLL is/was a live-only art-metal project from Oslo that must be experienced in person. Now, chances are that you haven’t been to Oslo, so you’ll have to make due with this, an excerpt recorded at the band’s final show on September 13, 2012.
Scott Morrow
Frozen in time: Cult of Luna’s eerie lament for “Passing Through” video
Cult of Luna: Vertikal (Density, 1/29/13)
Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna has made epic, sludgy soundscapes since 1998, and its brand-new album, Vertikal, is the genre at its peak.
The closing track, “Passing Through,” is a gentle, pensive finale, pondering the passage of time; its video, seen below, reflects the theme by visiting Sweden’s Säter hospital in sub-zero temperatures, presenting a snapshot of patients long since departed from what used to be the country’s largest mental hospital.
Torn “Asunder”: Fang Island owns your ass with in-studio performance
Fang Island: Major (Sargent House, 7/24/12)
If you’ve never seen high-fiving feel-good five-piece Fang Island in concert, you’re missing ear-to-ear grins and über-melodic riff bonanzas. Here’s the band performing “Asunder,” from last year’s Major, in the studio. You won’t see a crowd basking in the musical euphoria, but you’ll see the band rocking it all the same.