The first ambient side projects that I came across featured Jacob Bannon of Converge. I found this a little hard to believe at first since not only is Converge one of the most intense bands I can think of, but Bannon is also one of the most unforgiving vocalists I've ever heard. So when I discovered he was actually in THREE ambient side projects, I had to do a double-take. I guess when it comes to heavy music, it's almost exclusively hardcore dudes that listen to hardcore music and play in nothing but hardcore bands. Seeing someone divert from this formula is alienating at first, but ultimately it's refreshing.
Iron's "Letting Go" from a TBA release,
and to my knowledge is their only released song.
Bannon's first ambient group was Supermachiner, which formed in the 90s and has since only released one album. Bannon has also been promising new music from his solo venture and Irons (featuring Dwid Hellion of Integrity) for many years now. I've noticed that he's one of those artist types were "soon" to him means eventually, while for the rest of us soon typically means in the immediate future. There's also been a Converge DVD that's been in a nebulous state of "Bannon Soon" for a while now too. But he's a busy guy. After spending half of the year touring with Converge, he also runs a record label and designs cover art for every hardcore band under the sun. I guess the only reason I'm complaining is because I'm absolutely dying to hear more of his solo stuff. The last two Deathwish Inc. sampler albums have featured his "Heavy Blood (Empty Version)" song, which to my knowledge is the only song he's released thus far. And as the title suggests, it may not even be the version that will be included on his upcoming album.
Ryan Parish, drummer for melodic death metal band Darkest Hour and screamo band The City of Caterpillar, released an over two hour album of ambient music under the moniker Years. It was limited to 500 copies and released in October 2010, so it might be gone for good. But the one song I did hear was pretty good, and just like Bannon's ventures, it totally shocked me that the same person creating these beautiful soundscapes also shatters my eardrums with his other work.
The official teaser video for Thomas Gile's song
"Hypoxia" from his second album Pulse.
Not quite ambient, but still a lot softer than his main band, is Between the Buried and Me's Tommy Rogers and his solo venture which has produced two soft electronic rock albums under the names Giles and Thomas Giles. His most recent album Pulse was released in January 2011. It was an okay album. It seemed more like a compilation of songs Rogers' wrote over the years that didn't quite fit the BTBAM vibe because it wasn't a very cohesive effort. Each song was doing it's own little thing, and some of the lyrics felt really repetitive.
Thrice drummer Riley Breckenridge has posted a few demos to his Bandcamp profile. It's nothing huge yet, but he suggests it may turn into something down the road. The song "I Wish You Way More Than Luck" feels like some of the softer parts Thrice, only much better. I think I may actually be more interested in hearing these demos finished than a new Thrice album, and I happen to really love Thrice.
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