All posts by Dan Obstkrieg

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

Dimmu Borgir – Eonian Review

Listen, I don’t feel like spending a lot of time apologizing or contextualizing or tiptoeing around my point, so I’ll get right to it: I am of the opinion that A) Dimmu Borgir is a

Ghastly – Death Velour Review

In this business of writing words about sounds, some things are just easier to convey than others. If a band is slow and sounds like Black Sabbath, I can call it doom and there’s a

Wild Hunt – Afterdream Of The Reveller Review

Michael Pollan’s best-selling book The Omnivore’s Dilemma posed a fairly simple question: Because of various environmental and evolutionary reasons, humans have developed the capacity to eat more or less everything. That being so, what should

Messa – Feast For Water Review

Sometimes it’s good to begin with where you intend to end up: Messa’s Feast for Water is an unhurriedly brilliant album that overflows with truly remarkable songcraft and a consistently enthralling atmosphere. If you’d like

Monolithe – Nebula Septem Review

For reasons both unknown and likely unknowable, I am a complete mark for the sort of mathematical and musical formalism with which Monolithe has constructed Nebula Septem. For this seventh album, the seven musicians of

Primordial – Exile Amongst The Ruins Review

Two facts are indisputable: Primordial is a Very Good Band, and Exile Amongst the Ruins is a Very Bad Album. Maybe those facts seem difficult or painful to reconcile, but let’s face it: great bands

Summoning – With Doom We Come Review

As someone who loves Summoning unabashedly, here’s a bit of a strange angle to lead with: Summoning is… boring. Or maybe a little more to the point, Summoning’s music is at its best when nothing

Nortt – Endeligt Review

Most art forms have their own genres, stereotypes, and conventions. A fairly time-worn convention in literature is the idea of the “beach read.” This is typically the sort of book – often lightweight, sometimes trashy,