Reviews of Music, Movies, Anime & More

Imagine a sci-fi/fantasy amalgam featuring feather-haired space knights soaring through the cosmos on metallic steeds, wielding blades of cyber-mithril and saving maidens from evil nebula dragons.

This is the sound of musical equipment being tortured and pushed to its limits until the envelope isn’t just breached, but rather, punctured, shredded, and burnt to a crisp by the exit velocity.

Mise en Abyme is a fascinating, disturbing, enthralling, unsettling listen, and one of the most accomplished Raison d’être releases to date.

Ceremony doesn’t bring anything new to the shoegaze formula; rather, they take the genre’s hallmarks and just turn them up way past 11.

This may be neo-folk, but don’t expect an album full of nothing but blissed out psych-folk or martial industrial numbers.

Darren Aronofsky’s Biblical adaptation serves as a bracing restorative for a story that has lost much of its bite over the centuries.

A collection of poignant solo piano pieces that’s perfect for looking at faded photographs and thumbing through dusty old books.

The brevity of Amir Abbey’s haunting ambient pieces belies their emotional effect.

At its best, Attack on Titan is a gripping series… though not necessarily one I’d want to watch right after eating dinner.

If you’re expecting subtlety and restraint from a band calling themselves Infinity Shred, then you’ve got another thing coming.

Pure Bathing Culture’s music does contain that ’80s vibe that’s all the rage thanks to chillwave, etc., but these songs are more than exercises in musical nostalgia.

Kveikur makes me feel like I’m listening to Sigur Rós for the first thrilling time, and after nearly fifteen years, that’s a true pleasure.

A rollicking retro-futuristic tale of alien invaders, boy geniuses, and cool gizmos that revels in its vintage style and flair.

The Low Drone of Earth may be Tholen’s darkest album to date, but it’s also one of his most successful and well-realized.

Sword Art Online starts out with a lot of promise, but a poor narrative decision takes its second half in a much less interesting direction.

With 7.25.2148, Makeup and Vanity Set have crafted a darkly beautiful synthesizer journey.

An impressive and haunting debut thanks to its remarkably mature degree of restraint and control.

I was never not entertained. And I mean that in both a positive and negative way.

The trio’s debut album is lovely ambient folk-pop perfect for the coming winter.