In Our Headphones: June 2023 🎧🎶

Heya folks!

It’s the end of June, the true summer is just getting started and it’s also finally time for another IOH blog 😎

In June’s edition, we shall directly begin with something hot & heavy!
Here are the tracks @Joan has carefully selected for us! Enjoy 😄

“As usual, my tastes this month have been heavily influenced by what shows I went to see and one of them was the American metal icons W.A.S.P. These guys are underrated in my opinion, they should be in every discussion about the best and most iconic classic metal bands yet they seem to fly under the radar for a lot of people. They aren’t pioneers of the genre as they came slightly after the first trailblazers, but they took the old-school traditional heavy metal sound and distilled it to perfection. Amazing riffage, bombastic lyrics with wonderful singalong choruses and a typically aggressive and in-your-face American attitude – this band just ages like a fine whiskey.

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Another show I went to was Watain, one of the titans of the black metal genre. Man, you haven’t experienced the essence of black metal until you see Watain in concert. However, I actually want to talk about one of the supporting bands – a wild Swiss duo called Bölzer. They play an eclectic and chaotic blend of black and death metal and I instantly became a fan. The heavy and dark sound with the esoteric lyrics is really my kind of music and I’m amazed at how full and rich their sound is given that it’s just two guys playing.

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Related to my latest blog post, I’ve been delving back into the discography of future pop project Icon of Coil. These guys never cease to amaze me with their combination of catchy electro rhythms and meaningful lyrics. Their songs just make you wanna dance.

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And finally, I spoke about the obscure genre of maidcore in a Question of the Week not too long ago and I’ve been exploring that rabbit hole too. The tracks from the latest album by Chikoi the Maid are especially awesome, with the melancholic and yet uplifting guitar riffs mixed with somber electronic soundscapes making for a wonderful vibe that’s really hard to put into words. You gotta feel it for yourself. Makes for surprisingly good gym music too.”

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Thank you, Yoan! And moving forward with the strong picks, here’s a few from @Yordan:

“A timeless classic from the pioneers of brutal death metal that offers unmatched ferocity. I’ve listened to this album countless times and I can honestly say it gets better with every listen. The song structures here are extremely well-written, fueling each and every track with so much infectious energy that makes them impossible to headbang/grow along to. Seeds of the Suffering, the longest song in the album, captures this perfectly and manages to stay fresh and varied with lots of riff and rhythm changes during its 6-minute duration. Killer stuff.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0mUPCLUjXi0p69Ipepe98p?si=b164080b493f4ae3

It seems that the “weird”, “uneasy” and “disturbing” are qualities that apply not only to Australia’s fauna, but also to their music. These gentlemen offer a more psychedelic, labyrinthic approach to their black metal that’s rather peculiar and interesting. Dizzying swirling guitars engulf the listener while shamanic occult chants put them in a shadow trance.”

https://open.spotify.com/track/0vqmdmAAIMomWQafK5qlaQ?si=566d8060fb6c47d8 

Thanks Dancho! Incredible stuff as usual 😀
It’s now time to shift things a little with some tunes our dear @OscarDC has prepped for us:

“This month has been full of new genres for me. The first song sticks to my classic metal taste with one of the best covers I’ve heard of this Iron Maiden song. It’s so cool that I just can’t stop repeating it. I’m, of course, talking about Phantom of the Opera by Ghost: 

https://open.spotify.com/track/4KNuTxGlUSb9hFm8asqWuZ?si=6e751ff8903a4139

And, turning things upside down, there’s a rising artist called Peso Pluma that is currently playing throughout Latin America in a genre called “Corrido”. It’s originally a Mexican genre (mainly used when getting drunk), but since he made a collab with a giant producer (BZRP), it starts sounding everywhere, even in my own headphones! 🙂 

The song is called Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol 55 by Bizarrap & Peso Pluma!”

https://open.spotify.com/track/5AqiaZwhmC6dIbgWrD5SzV?si=f1020c0fa3854b16

Thanks Oscar! These are definitely worth listening to!
And, speaking of things that are worth listening to (everything on here, duh), check out what our beloved @Nikola has had in store for us: