Unsigned and Unholy: Sight of Emptiness, Plastic Gods, Avalerion

I’ve been meaning to write about Sight of Emptiness for a while. For one, I’ve got nothing but love for their home country of Costa Rica, an absolutely gorgeous slice of the world inhabited by some of the kindest, most environmentally responsible, appreciative people I’ve ever met. And it can’t be easy being a metal band there; I didn’t even encounter so much as one Metallica t-shirt during my travels there a few years back. So give Sight of Emptiness credit, then, for not just existing against all odds but for being a really darned good melodic death metal band and for gaining attention abroad to boot. Stream the song “Passion” over at Lambgoat or watch the playthrough video below:

I had the pleasure (displeasure?) of hanging out and sharing way too many drinks (and a delicious leg of lamb) with Plastic Gods‘ frontman during my recent visit to Iceland. They’re one of the country’s finest metal bands (out of many very good ones, as it turns out) and you should watch to their new video for “Burning of the Midnight Bowl” below:

Bands that call to mind melancholic death-doom like Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum and Swallow the Sun aren’t exactly hard to come by these days, yet I’m never one to turn away from a newcomer that’s doing it right. Avalerion are such a band; their musical concept isn’t novel, but the execution is fantastic and everything about “Into the Wild” is enjoyable.