The latest essential post-rock releases - album review

Alex Lynham guides us through the peaks and valleys of essential post-rock, including Gug, Crystal Fairy, SPC ECO, Enemies, LITE and Protest The Hero

Gug - Life Aquatic album artwork

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

The king is dead, long live the king. So it goes with the passing of Cleft last year, the best-loved of the underground math rock bands, and de-facto ArcTanGent Festival house band. When you’re a regular fixture at the biggest post-rock and experimental festival in the world and you call it quits, there’s bound to be interest in what comes next. It’s appropriate then that ArcTanGent’s first line-up announcement for 2017 contains a newcomer – Gug, a supergroup of sorts comprising Dan Wild-Beesley of Cleft on baritone guitar, Tom Peters of Alpha Male Tea Party on drums and Ben Forrester on vocals. They’ve released just one track, the raucous Life; Aquatic (self-released), but it’s probably fair to expect great things from the trio.

Another essential upcoming experimental record is the self-titled debut LP from supergroup Crystal Fairy. Formed of Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover from the Melvins, with Teri Gender-Blender of Le Butcherettes and Bosnian Rainbows on vocals, the group is completed by Teri’s collaborator from Bosnian Rainbows, prog wunderkind Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, of The Mars Volta and At The Drive-In. It’s a sludgy, uncompromising record, but there’s scarcely a bad riff on it. For their most Soundgarden, late 80s riffage, try Moth Tongue; for a relentless psychedelic churn, Secret Agent Rat (Ipecac).

Veteran shoegazers SPC ECO – the current project of cult hero Dean Garcia from Curve – are back with an atmospheric release in the form of the Under My Skin EP (self-released), a gorgeously seductive entry in their dark ambient catalogue, and a worthy distillation of 2015’s Dark Matter LP with some extra cuts. Check out the title track, or, for something more up-tempo, the faintly industrial Silent, Maybe from last year’s excellent Anomalies album.

Another band that called it quits in recent months was Enemies, though the eclectic experimentalists left a parting shot in the form of Valuables (Topshelf), their final record. The standout track is gauzy Glow, featuring a wonderful guest vocal from Louise Gaffney, but math freaks will enjoy the Minus The Bear-like Leaves equally. For an album so complex, it’s melodically catchy yet instrumentally cerebral, and it vindicates the legacy of the band that their strongest album should be their last.

Finally, a brief diversion into some records that might have dropped off the radar in late 2016. Japan’s cult heroes LITE dropped a stellar album in the form of Cubic (topshelf), an angular, jazzier development of their sound and well worth a listen. Check out highlight Square for a taste of their crossover electronic chops, or Angled and Prism for more guitar-centric tracks. Also worth checking out is the latest release by Canadian math metallers Protest The Hero. Drip-feeding a mini-album out to fans using a subscription model, the resulting tracks were collected and remastered into Pacific Myth. While not as strong as last LP Volition, the band remain potent despite line-up changes and this whets the appetite for their next album.

Latest in
Queen posing for a photograph in 1978
"Freddie’s ideas were off the wall and cheeky and different, and we tended to encourage them, but sometimes they were not brilliant.” Queen's Brian May reveals one of Freddie Mercury's grand ideas that got vetoed by the rest of the band
Mogwai
“The concept of cool and uncool is completely gone, which is good and bad… people are unashamedly listening to Rick Astley. You’ve got to draw a line somewhere!” Mogwai and the making of prog-curious album The Bad Fire
Adrian Smith performing with Iron Maiden in 2024
Adrian Smith names his favourite Iron Maiden song, even though it’s “awkward” to play
Robert Smith, Lauren Mayberry, Bono
How your purchase of albums by The Cure, U2, Chvrches and more on Record Store Day can help benefit children living in war zones worldwide
Cradle Of Filth performing in 2021 and Ed Sheeran in 2024
Cradle Of Filth’s singer claims Ed Sheeran tried to turn a Toys R Us into a live music venue
The Beatles in 1962
"The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have?" Record shop owner finds 1962 Beatles' audition tape that a British label famously decided wasn't good enough to earn Lennon and McCartney's band a record deal
Latest in Review
/news/the-darkness-i-hate-myself
"When the storm clouds clear, the band’s innate pop sensibilities shine as brightly as ever": In a world of bread-and-butter rock bands, The Darkness remain the toast of the town
Sex Pistols at the RAH
"Open the dance floor, you’ll never get to do it again." Forget John Lydon's bitter and boring "karaoke" jibes, with Frank Carter up front, the Sex Pistols sound like the world's greatest punk band once more
Arch Enemy posing in an alleyway
Arch Enemy promised they'd throw out the rule book for Blood Dynasty. They didn't go quite that far, but this is the boldest album of the Alissa White-Gluz era - and it kicks ass
The Darkness press shot
"Not just one of the best British rock albums of all time, but one of the best debut albums ever made": That time The Darkness added a riot of colour to a grey musical landscape
Roger Waters - The Dark Side of the Moon Redux Deluxe Box Set
“The live recording sees the piece come to life… amid the sepulchral gloom there are moments of real beauty”: Roger Waters' Super Deluxe Box Set of his Dark Side Of The Moon Redux
Cradle Of Filth Press Shot 2025
Twiddly Iron Maiden harmonies, thrash riffs, horror, rapping (kind of) and sexy goth allure: The Screaming Of The Valkyries is peak Cradle Of Filth