‘Everybody to Kenmure Street’ Review: A Timely Document of Scottish Neighbors Standing Up to Immigration Raids
#Variety #News #Reviews #EverybodytoKenmureStreet #FelipeBustosSierra #SundanceFilmFestival
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/everybody-to-kenmure-street-review-1236648252/
Like a sailor’s call to the sea, I am routinely compelled to the sub-genre of symphonic metal in all of its be-corset-ed miscellany. Why? Maybe I need a break from dudes singing ugly for ladies singing pretty. Maybe falling for Seven Spires justified my continued curiosity in the style.1 Maybe I’ve never been as happy as I was discovering Imaginaerum in high school. Regardless, the call brought me now to the German symphonic group Coronatus and their new record, Dreadful Waters. Led by songwriter/drummer Mats Kurth, Coronatus features three singers in mezzo sopranos Leni Eitrich and Sabine Prechtel, and “rock vocals” by Nemesis, who also contributes to songwriting along with guitarist Harry Zeidler. Rounded out with bassist Simon Gutbrod and violinist Tine Jülich, Coronatus wrote Dreadful Waters with a focus on “merging mysticism, danger and the elemental force of water.” All good words, but does Dreadful Waters bring the strings to live up to them and, more importantly, can Coronatus meet my fix for symphonic metal?
Whatever Coronatus is doing, Dreadful Waters sounds nice doing it. Oscillating between varying degrees of symphonic (“The Siren” and “Die Hexe und der Teufel”) and nautically inclined folk metals (“Southern Cross” and “A Seaman’s Yarn”), Dreadful Waters’ production and mix bring out the best in Coronatus’ instrumentation and give everything a rich openness. Guitars sound chunky and bold while taking on an auxiliary role to the violin and vocals, which are always warm and upfront. Coronatus’ mezzo sopranos bring your typical Tarja-era Nightwish operatics to “The Maelstrom” and “To the Reef!” while Nemesis’ “rock voice” means she brings a Jørn-like grizzled theatricality to her performances on “Dark Ice” and “The Ship’s Cook.” But what really stands out to me is Kurth’s drumming, which is more nuanced than the average symphonic drumming performance. The kick patterns on “Through the Brightest Blue”‘s chorus sound more like a Lamb of God drum track than Nightwish, and “To the Reef!” boasts a palpable jauntiness thanks to the percussion groove. Dreadful Waters is composed of many different pieces, so it’s nice that Coronatus got them all to sound good together.
But symphonic metal lives and dies on its vocalists, and while Coronatus’ singers are skilled musicians, their performances can feel awkward. Each vocalist often brings an almost comical level of warble to their voices, swinging tracks like “Southern Cross” and “A Seaman’s Yarn” towards the ridiculous. Nemesis in particular can overdo it, as her heavy, gravelly vibrato can at times chew the scenery. The mezzo soprano and “rock voice” stylings also sometimes stand at odds with each other, as on songs like “The Siren” and “Dark Ice,” they blend poorly and give off the impression that they weren’t in the studio at the same time. When Coroantus coalesce, like on the album highlight “The Ship’s Cook,” the result is a riveting blend of sophistication and grit that I could listen to all day, but moments like this are unfortunately rare on Dreadful Waters.
The slight vocal issues I see on Dreadful Waters may be a symptom of a larger issue on the album: the lukewarm songcraft. Coronatus’ songs mostly stick to either a slowburn or mid-paced stomp, featuring pretty folk melodies and pleasant orchestrations but little in the way of gripping hooks or powerful performances. Further, vocal melodies are usually played overly straight, throwing few unexpected turns or interesting intervals in favor of a fairly standard symphonic metal play sheet. This makes the more metal-friendly tracks like “The Maelstrom” and “The Siren” come off a bit tepid and, at Dreadful Waters’ worst, its ballads in “Southern Cross” and “Die Hexe und der Teufel” real slogs to get through. Only “The Ship’s Cook” excited me, and that’s because its power metal-adjacent vocal heroics and bouncy chorus melody embody what is woefully missing on much of Dreadful Waters: character.
Dreadful Waters neither sinks nor swims. Far from awful, this record’s shortcomings stem from not doing enough to stand out from the symphonic crowd or playing exceptionally well into its tropes. Less fairweather fans of symphonic metal than I may get more out of Coronatus’ style, but detractors of the style won’t be swayed from their haterdom by it either. Coronatus snagged a real winner with “The Ship’s Cook,” though, so I don’t foresee terrible sailing for the band in their future. But for meeting the need for big strings over my metal, Dreadful Waters doesn’t do it for me.
Rating: Disappointing
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps MP3
Label: Massacre Records
Websites: facebook.com/coronatusofficial | coronatus.de
Releases Worldwide: January 23rd, 2026
Fusion HAT+ Review – Adding AI voice and servo/motor control to Raspberry Pi for robotics, Smart Home, or education
‘How to Divorce During the War’ Review: A Droll, Perceptive Look at Handling Personal Crises Amid Political Ones
‘How to Divorce During the War’ Review: A Droll, Perceptive Look at Handling Personal Crises Amid Political Ones
#Variety #Reviews #AndriusBlaževičius #HowtoDivorceDuringtheWar #SundanceFilmFestival
https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/how-to-divorce-during-the-war-review-1236647126/
‘To Hold a Mountain’ Review: A Mother Tries to Preserve a Simple World for Her Daughter in a Sweet Portrait of Pastoral Life in Montenegro
We ditched date night for the cutest £39 home activity and it beats any Valentine's
#Watching SEND HELP
And that's how Regina George died...
Dennis Haysbert has a small part as a character named Franklin. I wonder why Sam Raimi decided to cut the scenes with Linus and Peppermint Patty.
https://letterboxd.com/noeljpenaflor/film/send-help/
#horrorMovies #horrorfam #horrorFamily #movies #movie
#letterboxd #letterboxdfriday #cinema #cinemastodon #Film #films #filmmastodon #horrorCommunity #horrorMovie #horrorMovies #horrorFilm #horrorFilms #horrormastodon #reviews #filmreviews #moviereviews
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
https://justincox.com/reviews/2026/02/shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings-2021/ #Reviews #movies
Hands-On With the TRIMUI Brick Hammer; Metal Perfection
The first few days with TRIMUI's Brick Hammer were mostly about how quickly it stopped feeling like something 'new', in the best...
#Emulation #handheldgaming #LinuxGaming #DeveloperInterview #Reviews
gardinerbryant.com/hands-on-wit...
Hands-On With the TRIMUI Brick...
Wonder Man (2026-2026)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
https://justincox.com/reviews/2026/01/wonder-man-2026-2026/ #Reviews #tv
13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook Reviewed
#Marvel’s #WonderMan is a niche #MCU entry that prioritizes character, performance, and Hollywood satire over superhero spectacle.
#series #review #reviews #NowStreaming #drama #comedy #DisneyPlus #MarvelStudios #MarvelTelevision
‘Hold Onto Me’ Review: Heartfelt Drama From Cyprus Follows a Plucky Young Girl Smitten With Her Long-Absent, Scoundrel Father
#Variety #Reviews #HoldOntoMe #MyrsiniAristidou #SundanceFilmFestival
https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/hold-onto-me-review-kpata-me-1236647078/
‘If I Go Will They Miss Me’ Review: Talent-to-Watch Walter Thompson-Hernández Weaves a Lyrical Portrait of a Boy on the Brink of Flight
#Variety #Reviews #IfIGoWillTheyMissMe #SundanceFilmFestival #WalterThompsonHernández
https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/if-i-go-will-they-miss-me-review-1236645226/
‘Shame and Money’ Review: A Keenly Observed, Sharp-Edged Portrait of a Kosovo Family Divided by Class
#Variety #News #Reviews #ShameandMoney #SundanceFilmFestival #VisarMorina
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/shame-and-money-review-1236646948/
Pixii Max Review: Admirable Yet Awful https://petapixel.com/2026/01/31/pixii-max-review-admirable-yet-awful/ #blackandwhitestreetphotography #analogphotography #streetphotography #boutiquecamera #Miscellaneous #leicammount #newyorkcity #rangefinder #Equipment #manhattan #LeicaM11 #pixiimax #Reviews #pixii #A725
‘To Hold a Mountain’ Review: A Mother Tries to Preserve a Simple World for Her Daughter in a Sweet Portrait of Pastoral Life in Montenegro
#IndieWire #Criticism #Movies #Film #Montenegro #Reviews #Sundance
https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/to-hold-a-mountain-review-sundance-1235176922/
In the metalverse, there are plenty of unique personas, and now we can count Valira Pietrangelo among them. She has been very open in interviews about suffering from identity dysphoria. As a result, she dove into making music and eventually discovered herself as a demon.1 What better way to express your newfound demonhood than through black metal? Everything about Vesseles (pronounced veh-sel-is) revolves around Pietrangelo’s identity. The band’s name is a Latinized version of the word vessel, as in her body being a vessel containing an identity that doesn’t quite fit. In 2024, Vesseles released their debut EP, not-so-subtly titled I Am a Demon, about her inner struggles and coming out as a demon. Now with Home, Vesseles takes a more ambitious approach as Pietrangelo expands her songwriting repertoire.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise with a demon at the helm, but Home sounds sinister as hell. With a cinematic flair, Vesseles shares some similarities with the darker symphonic metal of Dimmu Borgir and SepticFlesh, yet they play with a dissonance and malevolence that draws closer comparisons to Hasard. Like with Hasard, guitars play second fiddle to the haunting strings and off-key piano notes. Joel Ferry’s demonic rasps, harsh and high, ooze hatred and venom, while the constant tempo shifts serve to keep listeners off-balance. Home is a concept album about a demon cast from one world she didn’t belong to and into another she’s not wanted. Pietrangelo entangles us in her character’s emotional state, making us feel her rage and malice through the challenging music. She may have succeeded in her approach a little too well—while I appreciate her vision, it can be difficult to enjoy at times.
Home contains some impressive musical passages, and yet the overall style becomes taxing over time. As a result, the front half is much more effective than the back half. Opener “Flesh Throne” establishes a menacing atmosphere with its string compositions, but it’s the piano that steals the show. The dissonant piano and icy riffs on “The Beneath” create an appropriately malevolent atmosphere that’s sure to send shivers down your spine. “Home” opens with a classical-sounding, off-key piano segment that’s moving in its evil intent. “Home” is also where the record’s approach begins to falter and grate—the noisiness and constant tonal shifts take their toll over the span of a too-long six minutes. This comes to a head on the final two tracks, the weakest on Home. “Perpetual Chasm of Black Mirrors” in particular lacks the bits of brilliance of the rest of Home, and the finale, “This Is Not Home,” drags on for too long. The constant shifts—in tempo, volume, and noise levels—grow challenging to tolerate for long periods.
Ultimately, what holds Home back is the production. Vesseles suffers the same issue as Hasard’s debut—their record is just too loud. My poor ears could only take so much, and headphones only compounded the issue. There’s a moment on “Scriptures Etched Into the Mind’s Pillars” where the guitars and rasps become muted in favor of a nice string and drum segment, and I found myself breathing a sigh of relief as my ears were given a brief reprieve from the aural assault. The crushed compression also hurts the instrumentally busier passages; I found it difficult in these moments to appreciate individual performances or make out what’s going on. On one hand, this contributes to the chaotic, unsettling tone that Vesseles appears to be aiming for, but it ultimately mars some impressive songwriting.
Home is simultaneously a remarkable debut and an intolerable one. Pietrangelo successfully carries out her unsettling vision in crafting a sinister tone through complex compositions. Yet the bogeyman of poor mastering hampers her vision. Despite this, the first half of Home is quite strong and took me fondly back to my time reviewing Hasard’s Abgnose. One can only hope that she learns the same lessons Hasard did, as Abgnose’s production was a huge improvement over the debut. I have faith that this demon can wow us with her unique vision yet again, and I look forward to hearing it.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Websites: vesseles.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/vesseles
Releases Worldwide: January 16th, 2026
Cordless Stick Vacuum Throw Down: Bosch, Shark, Dyson (2026)
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/cordless-stick-vacuum-comparison/
