From a recommendation of a friend based on a recommendation to them....

Phosphorescent are a one man band and Muchacho is the sound of a man going to Mexico to recover from a bad experience with a woman.

There's a prevailing americana vibe with a downbeat view on love. The occasional splash of mariachi brass echoes the Mexican location and thoughts of Neil Young came to mind while listening.

It's a pleasant album but lacks that something that makes you want to immediately repeat the listening experience. The one stand out track is The Quotidian Beasts and no I don't know what it means either. This is a 7 minute epic featuring some great guitar work (both acoustic, electric and slide), horns and a chorus that goes 'Whooooooooo' and nothing much else. This is the track that does make me reach for the replay button

Worth a listen but can't really pass on the recommendation

Now this album won't be for everyone..... Sweden's Cult of Luna have created a black metal album based on Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

Vertikal is bleak and uncompromising piece of music. This is not a collection of song but a living breathing concept album. The sort of album that has to be done in one sitting. Songs titles aren't important but the 18 minute Vicarious Redemption sits of the heart of it, full of brutal vocals and pummelling guitars but with time change aplenty and short melodic bursts. In Awe Of shifts rhythmically through its 9 minutes but the feeling is this is more than the sums of it's part.

If you can live with the complex and unrelenting assault it give the senses then this could be The Wall for the black metal generation

Two quick singles to review.....

Firstly the new offering from The Eden House. A two track taster for the forthcoming full album. The first track, Bad Men (on there way to do bad things) is a bit different to their usual fare. The song has the feel of early Berlin, before Top Gun and ends with a female spoken sections which echoes Madonna's Erotica ! It's a grower but takes time

The second track, Survival Instinct is much more in the style you expect. Building slowly before soaring vocals and guitar take you headlong towards the climatic finish. If this is only a B side then the album will be stunning.....

The second single also suggests interesting times ahead. Amorphis has released Hopeless Days as the first single from the album of the same name. The first thing to strike you is the music is MUCH heavier than on The Beginning Of Time album. The second thing is that the death metal growls have been ditched completely.

So the vocals have become more mainstream but the music is going the other way.... The album should be fun