Venus Star – Nigredo Expulsion Review
Artistic minimalism can be a tough act to pull off convincingly. When it’s done well, the end result can be courageously focused and direct, clearly unwilling to allow anything extraneous to blur the edges of …
Autopsy – The Headless Ritual Review
By my count, The Headless Ritual took exactly twenty-five seconds to make its argument for being a supremely ass-kicking album. The remaining forty-four minutes or so? Just a victory lap. Autopsy has never seen nearly …
Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn Review
Why is fantasy such a hard pill to swallow? Lord knows reality’s a rotten enough morass to make any sane person long for escapism, right? After all, it’s only mercenaries, cutthroats, and lunatics that thrive …
Aborym – Dirty Review
Let’s get the main thing out of the way right up front: Dirty is not a good album. In fact, it’s a pretty lousy album. But, okay, let’s give them that. Win some, lose some, …
Botanist – IV: Mandragora Review
The children’s story of Goldilocks and the three bears has had a poisonous effect on the rhetorical skills of too many. *Crickets.* Yes, sure, it’s just a story about some thrill-seeking lady who likes her …
Control Human Delete – The Prime Mover Review
An unfortunate side-effect of the otherwise glorious surfeit of excellent heavy metal currently churning around in the fetid underground is that “pretty good” is rarely good enough anymore. Pair that general observation with the fact …
Progenie Terrestre Pura – U.M.A. Review
If I’m being completely honest, I should probably admit that Progenie Terrestre Pura had me hooked before I ever heard a note of its debut album U.M.A. Not only am I a certified sucker for …
Victor Griffin’s In-Graved – In-Graved Review
There’s been something happening lately. You’ve probably felt it, too, most any place on this verdant sphere that you choose to call home. A shift in the smell on the wind. A faint rippling warmth …