All posts by Dan Obstkrieg

Happily committed to the foolish pursuit of words about sounds. Not actually a dinosaur.

Atomic Aggressor – The Occult Forces Review

Here’s one for the “two things can be true” files: Death metal, in its purest, most feral, regular-assed form, can be the most thrilling, primally satisfying music out there, AND Death metal, in its purest, …

Miscreance – Reminiscence Review

In an effort to spare the impatientest of you fine people, let’s proclaim right at the start that Reminiscence, the second album from Italy’s Miscreance, is a frankly incredible album of technical death/thrash that should …

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 …