Escumergamënt – Apparebat Eidolon Senex Review
When we write about music, we often proceed from a premise that is useful but essentially false: namely, that music has a fixed, objective reality. Don’t we all know, at some level, that music is …
Deafkids – Cicatrizes Do Futuro Review
[Cover artwork by Douglas Leal] Listening to the new album from Brazil’s Deafkids, Cicatrizes Do Futuro, I’ve been thinking about rivers. [indignant voice from the back]: WHAT? Mea culpa, friend. I’m here today to preach …
Ignobleth – Manor Of Primitive Anticreation Review
To start, let’s acknowledge that you and I don’t really know each other. This means, among other things, that I can’t say what “war metal” means to you. To some extent, maybe you just throw …
Egregore – It Echoes In The Wild Review
To tell you about Egregore’s second album, I’d like to first talk about wildness. If you traipse back to heavy metal’s origins, it was about wildness, right? “Helter Skelter,” Blue Cheer’s take on “Summertime Blues,” …
Desert Collider – Generation Ship: Endless Drift Through Infinity Review
Did you know that the English words “trope” and “tropical” share the same etymology? Hello, and I’m sorry to welcome you to this heavy metal album review. It’s true, though! Both words come from the …
Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne! – Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne! Review
Friend, I wonder if you would agree with me when I say that authenticity in black metal is a dead letter. I don’t mean that black metal is always played inauthentically, but rather that the …
Ligation – After Gods Review
Have you ever stubbed your toe and then cursed so violently that you accidentally opened a portal to an alternate universe where it’s always raining and everyone scowls at you like you owe their grandmother …
Best Of 2025: Dan Obstkrieg – Have A Wonderful Day
Ranking junk: we love it. And yes, folks, usually I’d love to whip up some fanciful theory for you about how the human propensity to rank things is evolutionarily adaptive instead of decadent, but there …