Dan Obstkrieg’s Best Of 2013 – Heavy Metal Matters
As the divide between internet culture and the rest of culture yawns ever wider into a nearly unbridgeable chasm, it becomes easier and all the more tempting to speak only in ironic phrases, and to …
Immortal Bird – Akrasia Review
Let’s get the massive, whopping, unavoidable disclaimer out of the way first: Immortal Bird is a new band featuring none other than former Last Rites staffer Rae Amitay. I also know Rae personally and consider …
Lake Of Blood – Omnipotens Tyrannus Review
There’s a chance you’ve heard this one before. That is, if you’ve been even half-attentive to the prevailing currents in contemporary black metal over the past decade or so, the general sounds that emerge from …
Nocturnal Graves – …From The Bloodline Of Cain Review
The (surely) bullet-belted noisemakers in Nocturnal Graves play such a heavily blackened thrash that one could wager a life’s savings on a bet that they hail from Australia. And, lo and behold, Nocturnal Graves do …
Satan’s Wrath – Aeons Of Satan’s Reign Review
Well, here’s a sentence one doesn’t imagine has been written before: Aeons of Satan’s Reign is a love letter. Lower that skeptical eyebrow back to resting position, friends, because in all honesty, that’s exactly what …
Monster Magnet – Last Patrol Review
To get the uninitiated up to speed: New Jersey’s favorite drug-riddled space-cavemen Monster Magnet released two jaw-dropping, ear-exploding, mind-expanding, cosmos-rending classics in 1992’s Spine of God and 1993’s Superjudge. Main magnet Dave Wyndorf and crew …
Germ – Grief Review
Do vocals alone make an album metal? If Martin van Drunen fronted an album featuring a classic three-piece jazz combo playing standards from the great American songbook, would you be required to call it metal? …
Craven Idol – Towards Eschaton Review
First things first: Look at that cover art. Hang on, hang on, let’s make sure we’re looking at it properly. Click on this, and then LOOK. AT. THAT. If that’s not precisely the sort of …