Deadborn – Mayhem Maniac Machine Review
For better or worse, Mayhem Maniac Machine sounds almost exactly like its cover art, which features a human skeleton fused with a vaguely steampunk-looking killing machine: syringes and bolted joints, a finger gear-locked on the …
Panopticon – Kentucky Review
People are not rootless. Even economic migrants, or a generation born in exile, or the war-displaced, or an endless diaspora, or the homeless – all retain a sense of place that shapes their identity, even …
Ihsahn – Eremita Review
Art moves, or it dies. While never fully escaping the shadow of history, while always subject to what Harold Bloom called the withering ‘anxiety of influence’, art is an ellipsis, not a period. Art cannot …
Marduk – Serpent Sermon Review
Whether rightly or wrongly, Marduk had become something of an extreme metal punch line by the late 1990s and early 2000s. (Example: Q: How many Marduks does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: …
Dawnbringer – Into The Lair Of The Sun God Review
Back in 2010, Dawnbringer’s fourth album Nucleus arrived on Profound Lore with a groundswell of acclaim. Given Profound Lore’s reputation for unnervingly consistent quality, and Dawnbringer mainman Chris Black’s impeccable pedigree in High Spirits, Superchrist, …
Six Feet Under – Undead Review
Listening to Six Feet Under, particularly during a year in which Cannibal Corpse has also released a new album, is a bit like making a political statement: It comes down to an intensely personal calculus, …
Royal Thunder – CVI Review
Royal Thunder’s self-titled EP, released late in 2010, was an unassumingly excellent first statement from a young band bristling with potential. The Atlanta, Georgia band’s earnest, soulful take on Southern-inflected rock with a rippling undercurrent …
Ides Of Gemini – Constantinople Review
Los Angeles trio Ides of Gemini is nothing if not evocative. For this particular listener, Constantinople conjures images of a caravan trudging into some unknowable wilderness, wrapped in the gauzy patina of memory. The music …