Tuesday, November 22, 2011
My devotion to writing about heavy metal is a hobby, and is my way of giving back to the art form. Hence, my reviews are solely my opinion and are written from the standpoint of a long time fan.
Although clean sounding to some extent, To No Avail has a much bleaker vibe and a certain sense of nihilism that’s been lacking with other bands in this sub genre.
The two songs on To No Avail steer post/black metal back in the right direction; if bands in this niche subgenre can still be labeled as black metal. You decide. Read the entire review below.
– Dave’s Underground Laboratory Reviews To No Avail
Friday, November 18, 2011
We eat grilled meats, drink fine spirits, and listen to the wonders of metal. Just like your mom planned it.
I’ve listened to this release a lot since receiving the download a few weeks back, and it never fails to keep my brain working and me guessing. It’s one of those efforts that reveals itself more each time you come back for another bout. It’s bound to confuse and put off your less-daring listeners, which is to be expected, but for those who like things unpredictable – the comparisons to Deathspell Omega and Krallice are accurate, and I’d toss in sudden trip-hop lovers Blut Aus Nord as well – you’d be doing yourself a giant disservice by not seeking out this jackhammer… Read the entire review below
– MEATMEADMETAL Reviews To No Avail
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Scumfeast Metal 666 concerns itself with the Extreme side of the following genres: Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom, Thrash, Grindcore, real Hardcore/Crust, classic NWOBHM, Folk/Pagan/Viking Metal, Drone/Noise and various Dark Sounds. Do not consider the opinions read here to be the same as you would read on other music sites. Being objectionable is not our mission. Giving you an honest no holds bar extreme opinion is.
For all of you people who are black metal challenged (and there are many of you) then I’d say this is twenty some minutes missing in your life. Get the vinyl copy that way you’ll also achieve some sort of exercise routine going by flipping the thing over every ten minutes. Love the album cover, hopefully that’s the room where this was recorded… Read the entire review below.
– Scumfeast Metal 666 Reviews To No Avail
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Metal. We are about promoting good metal, great metal, amazing metal and anything that relates to metal. We are just a couple of metalheads who are here to try and show our love for all thing metal. Horns!
For the price of some hard drive space, you could have the perfect soundtrack to a long night-time drive on an unlit dark road, or the sounds to accompany some not so pleasant reflection. Or, simply some great metal that pushes numerous boundaries. The most refreshing thing is that neither song is laborious or boring, but they shoot by with relative ease; a strong testament to Surachai’s writing abilities. One of the best releases this year.
– DC Metal Review Takes on To No Avail
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Because of the positive response the artwork for TO NO AVAIL has been receiving, I invited Sarah Sitkin to an interview. Unfortunately WordPress is horrible for formatting pictures in a appropriate way to showcase artwork and I had to use Tumblr. Click below for the link.
– Sarah Sitkin Interview
The Chicago Reader is Chicago’s largest free weekly newspaper, nationally recognized as a leader in the alternative press. Since 1971, the Reader has served as Chicago’s political conscience, cultural guide, and music authority.
Surachai’s To No Avail is hands down one of the best-looking albums to come out of Chicago this year, and with its two ten-minute-plus sides of noise-worshipping, electronics-heavy avant-black-metal it’s easily one of the most epically heavy albums as well.
– Chicago Reader Reviews To No Avail
Gapers Block is a Chicago-centric web publication providing information on news, events and other interesting stuff around town. Gapers Block wants you to slow down and check out your city!
It’s a rare feat that a heavy metal album can balance melody and bludgeoning brutality as well as To No Avail. Surachai hits a hidden balance of dark metal brutality and fragile moments of beauty… Read the entire review below.
– Gapers Block Reviews To No Avail
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Punk, hardcore, metal, noise: Music shouldn’t always be easy on the ears. Each month, Loud unearths some of the loudest, crudest, weirdest, and/or heaviest sounds writhing beneath the surface. The world’s not getting any quieter. Neither should we.
Earlier this year, Lake Of Blood delivered As Time And Tide Erode Stone, its two-very-long-songs saga. Structurally, Surachai’s To No Avail seems similar. Comprising a pair of 10-minute-plus tracks, the Chicago band’s new disc also traffics in sustained, Deathspell Omega-style blasts of bleakness and atonality. But unlike Lake Of Blood, Surachai rarely comes up for air, coasting instead on an acidic pall of negativity and noise. That’s a thumbs up, by the way.
– A.V. Club’s Loud Reviews To No Avail
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/26999628″]
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The regular LoM readers – especially those who are with us from the start – will probably know that this e-zine is the result of a deceased radio show, but I guess most of you will never have heard one single note of it.
Biggest letdown is that it all only lasts 22 minutes. Even though the band (or label) claims it to be a full-length I will regard it as an EP or maybe the promo is just a 22-minute outtake of it all? But that doesn’t matter because all in all it is a more than solid release which will appeal to people who like their black metal more challenging... Read the full article below.
– Lords of Metal Review To No Avail
Specializing in information about and links to material residing a little below the radar, you can find everything from hip hop to noise to jungle/drum’n’bass to death metal to classical to ambient to breakcore to black metal to dubstep and more.
I’ve listened to this release more times in the last 24 hours than I have any other new release I can think of from the last five years. Maybe more. This is fucking spectacular in every way, period... Read the full article below
– Grindthieves reviews To No Avail