Graveyard – The Altar Of Sculpted Skulls Review
Death metal’s basically the same thing as poetry, right? Different schools, geographic origins, minor stylistic innovations over time, and a handful of strict compositional rules — artful words on a page, angry notes in the …
Hellsaw – Trist Review
Austria’s Hellsaw is the highly melodic black metal project of Horned Almighty guitarist Aries, and with its fourth album Trist, the band has perfected a pleasant but wholly inoffensive type of Goldilocks black metal: everything …
Sigh – In Somniphobia Review
At the risk of making the most colossal understatement of the century, it’s important to point out from the start that Sigh is a rather odd band. No, scratch that: Sigh is a head-spinning, reason-defying, …
Nothnegal – Decadence Review
As much as metal strives for universality, the parochial rears its head in many ugly ways. Presently, it does so by making it virtually impossible to discuss this worryingly bland debut album by Nothnegal without …
Pallbearer – Sorrow & Extinction Review
On the strength of a three-song demo from 2010, Little Rock, Arkansas’s Pallbearer quickly became one of the most talked-about names in metal’s catty, cantankerous underground. Fast-forward a year and a half or so, and …
Christian Mistress – Possession Review
This review has been kicking my ass for weeks now. Not entirely unheard of, to be sure, but this time around it’s proved a pretty damnable little dilemma because I know exactly how I feel …
Reverse Polarity – Lady In Decline
Welcome back, friends, to Reverse Polarity, the overarching goal of which is to highlight albums outside the realm of heavy metal that might nonetheless appeal to the discerning metalhead. These choices may not always be …
Nightwish – Imaginaerum Review
[Fade in on a small, modern office space with a number of desk stations scattered throughout. Several individuals are answering telephones in what appears to be some type of crisis counseling center. One of the …