Powder! Go Away- Laika Still Wants Go Home (2011)

I just had an interesting experience with this album. Here I am listening to "Laika" for probably the third time since I obtained it last month. I'm loving it even more this time, and I'm starting to really get into the feel of the album. I go to Powder!'s artist page on last.fm, and see that they have under 800 listeners. Yet, there are at least three other people on the site listening to these guys at the same time I am. That was a weird experience. Hopefully, this is a sign of good things to come for the Russian quartet. This is modern post-rock at its finest, with a melancholy, almost spacey atmosphere. This mood fits with the albums title and overarching storyline- the story of Laika, the first dog to be shot into space, and sadly the first dog to die in space. It certainly deserves the small hype it has gained in the past month or so.

GET IT HERE: http://www.mediafire.com/?z65d0lse2wpdejj

The Devin Townsend Project- Ki (2009)

It's weird to think that I didn't really like this album at first. I thought it had some really cool parts, but nothing stood out to me. Lately, that opinion has been rapidly changing each time I listen to the album. It has a richness that is unmatched by anything else Devin has released prior, and will hence be tough to beat. The lush atmosphere of the album that began with "Coast" is really brought to the forefront with the dreamy "Terminal". While the album is mostly a laid-back ambient ride, at some parts it changes direction and brings out some of the first bluesy-work that Devin has ever released (see "Trainfire"). And despite the album being primarily acoustic, you still get Devin's powerful voice going as wild as ever on tracks like "Heaven Send". "Ki" is a beautiful starting point for the Devin Townsend Project tetralogy.

Last Word: If you're a fan of Devin and at first you don't like it, wait a few days and try again. It's hard to remember what it was I didn't like about this album at first- it probably just wasn't what I expected.

Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?td2zdfzmnjw

Aspid- Extravasation (1992)

Let's go back in time. A new era has begun as the newly formed Russian Federation springs forth from the ashes of the former Soviet Union. For almost five decades, the USSR and the USofA have been locked in a neck-and-neck arms race as the two dominant superpowers on planet Earth. Two years on after the Soviet Union's dissolution, it appears that the United States has emerged victorious. Apparently, the Russians weren't satisfied with the story ending on this note. That's where four young Russian metal musicians come into the picture.
This band essentially formed, recorded an album, and faded into obscurity as quickly as they had arrived. But this album on its own achieves more than some metal bands entire discographies. It's raw. It's unadulterated. It's angry. It's fierce. It's fast. It has the speed of the most brutal Western thrash metal bands of the prior decade, and the technical precision easily rivaling that of the American technical death metal bands of the same era. And all the while it maintains an atmosphere and anger that encapsulates the chaos of their former nation's existence

Last Word: Russia won the cold war.

Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?nm5dsim7ck9x7kc

Musica Cthulhiana- "The Fourth"

This beautifully dark-ambient album truly lives up to its Lovecraftian name. This massive album sounds as though it was conjured in the murky catacombs of R'lyeh, lost for centuries in the depths of the southern sea. This is the music you would hear the morning immediately following the apocalypse. The crushing realization of the frightening loneliness with which you are doomed to live forever, and the scale of the death surrounding you- that's what this album is all about. You can't fucking handle it.

Last word: You will fall to your knees and shit your soul until you are nothing but a shell. Or, you'll think it's boring noise that doesn't live up to my hype. Who knows, maybe I'm just high.

GET IT HERE: http://www.mediafire.com/?68wokin22owd9bb

Devin Townsend- "Terria" (2001)

Let me begin by saying that this album is tied for my favorite of all time. Every second of this record holds layer upon layer of aural beauty for the listener to discover, each detail meticulously and deliberately put into place by Mr. Townsend with his famous obsessive-compulsive track mastering. The countless hours he spent putting this album together really show, and truly pay off. When I hear this record, I hear nothing short of the soundtrack to both humankind, and the very planet we inhabit. "Mountain" is as mammoth as its namesake, "Nobody's Here" is longing and lonesome, and "Earth Day" shows off Devin's classic humor, alongside fantastic music and an amusing message about recycling. And, not to get too specific, but "The Fluke" to me is the perfect sonic companion to the album art. I'm starting to rant now, but that happens when I start to talk about this masterwork of the medium.

Last word: This album is as unassumingly tranquil as it is unequivocally massive.

Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?2o4jwgdycyj

DeWollf- "Orchards/Lupine" (2011)

When I first heard this album, before I even saw the album art, I thought it sounded like music from the devil in a three-piece suit. The music is a refreshing take on 60s and 70s psychedelic rock, but with a little more of a blues sensibility. The guitars are gritty and muddy, and sound as though they were from the backwoods of the American south... but it all came to fruition in the Netherlands. Despite the dirty blues feel, there's a noticeable class to the music. So classy in fact, that I can picture this music being played in either a gritty southern blues club, or even a slick Vegas cocktail lounge. There's even an almost sinister feel to the music, like the Devil himself were fronting the band, wailing away the soulful (or soulless?) vocals, and grinning all the while. The album really shines with the tracks "The Pistol" and the menacing "Pick Your Bones Out of the Water". Pick this one up.

 Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?7n19jxbyne11wid

Jizue- "Bookshelf" (2010)

Lately, this is the album I have been recommending to people most. It's a stunning masterpiece of the Japanese jazz/post-rock/math rock tradition that has formed within the past decade, with bands such as Toe and Lite. The songs on this gorgeous album hit on many different atmospheres- some songs bring me to visualize a warm, summer sunset, while still others sound like the music of a snowy December night. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?3m7kaomb91rr9i6