Music I Liked – Zeal and Ardor, Tomb Mold, Raum Kingdom, Sunflower Bean, Death Cab

Digging into the music blogs the last couple weeks reminded me that I like doing that. So I found Zeal and Ardor, Tomb Mold, and Raum Kingdom last week. Then I missed a KEXP in-studio for Sunflower Bean, but I did see Death Cab for Cutie at the Paramount.

Zeal and Ardor

What a fun name. So life-affirming, especially coming from a metal band. I mean, I guess they’re a metal band. The tags on the bandcamp page for Zeal and Ardor include eclectic, black metal, soul, and spirituals. Say what? Yes, these guys actually try to merge the cold soulless technicality of Northern black metal with the warm, passionate Southern blood of blues. Like metal and rap, there a lot more ways that marriage can go wrong than right. But I love me some avant garde black metal and I love my blues. I’m not sure the graft took completely on Stranger Fruit, but Zeal and Ardor clearly love both styles and do each well.

Tomb Mold

Speaking of great names, Manor of Infinite Forms by Tomb Mold. Is it doom? Is it death metal? It doesn’t matter. I like it.

Raum Kingdom

Another great blog find. On Angry Metal Guy, Everything and Nothing by Raum Kingdom was compared to Deftones, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, and Fleet Foxes. Shut up and take my money!

Sunflower Bean

A while back I went to a KEXP in-studio performance by Car Seat Headrest and it was really fun. Especially since I don’t have money for concert tickets right now, in-studios are a great way to get your live music fix. This week I planned to go to the Sunflower Bean in-studio, but life got in the way and I missed it. I felt bad about it though and listened to their album a lot because I like it.

Death Cab for Cutie

In contrast to the life-affirming metal band name, we have the morbid indie-rockers, Death Cab for Cutie. I was gifted tickets to their performance at the Paramount on Saturday. Transatlanticism is one of those forever records like Led Zeppelin’s IV or Pearl Jam’s Ten. But I’ve given their latest (2015) album Kintsugi quite a few spins, too. I hope the one that come out in August will be as good.