Category: Diamonds & Rust
Diamonds & Rust: Crimson Glory – Crimson Glory
Heavy metal and gimmickry have had a complicated relationship since the very day the genre first crawled from the primordial soup. When the strategy has worked, the results have been remarkable: KISS, Mercyful Fate / …
Diamonds & Rust: Pig Destroyer – 20 Years of Prowling in Yards
[Cover art by Paul Booth] Before Jennifer Wrestled Her Friend Playfully to the Ground By the mid-90s, bands like Discordance Axis, Brutal Truth, Assück, Extreme Noise Terror and many others were adding new structures to …
Diamonds & Rust: Moonspell ‒ Wolfheart
[Original cover art by Axel Hermann] Of all the bands that began their careers in more extreme terrain only to shift into sounds that were in some ways experimental, more commercial, or just downright different, …
Diamonds & Rust: Celtic Frost – Into The Pandemonium
[Cover artwork: The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymous Bosch] Side A: 1. Mexican Radio [3:29] (Wall of Voodoo) 2. Mesmerized [3:25] (Martin Ain, Thomas Warrior) 3. Inner Sanctum [5:16] (Ain, Warrior) 4. Tristesses de …
Diamonds & Rust: Sentenced ‒ North From Here
An album title like North From Here is fairly direct in its message: start somewhere and then head north, but first you need that starting point. In the case of Sentenced, that place of origin …
Diamonds & Rust: Bathory – Blood On Ice
[Artwork by Jan Kristian Wåhlin / Necrolord] Let’s kick things off by chewing on the following statement: « Blood On Ice is Bathory’s best album » How do you enjoy them apples, Hyborians? Whoa! Put …
Metallica’s “Orion”: A Love Letter To An Immaculate Song, And An Ode To An Impossible Album
Dear “Orion”, I have put off writing this letter for too long. But I feel compelled now to speak my heart to you, to express my love for you, and to praise you as the …
Happy Anneke-Versary: Mandylion Turns 25
Even during the humblest of beginnings, there are signs of emerging greatness. The Gathering’s beginnings were indeed quite humble. Founded by brothers Hans (drums) and René (guitars) Rutten along with vocalist buddy Bart Smits in …