Category: Reviews
Blast Rites #10: Berated / Barren – Chainsaw Deth Grind Review
Ten entries into this Blast Rites barrage and we have our first repeat offender… Belgium’s chainsaw grinders Barren got the compilation treatment earlier this year from Esagoya Records in Japan, rounding up the two demos …
Blue Heron – Ephemeral Review
I ride a commuter train into downtown Chicago to get to my office. (Yes, I am going somewhere with this.) Several years ago – likely late 2019 or very early 2020 – there was a …
SkullShitter – Goat Claw Review
SkullShitter’s press materials declares that “Goat Claw is a fully realized Satanic grindcore experience.” Well, now… That certainly sounds like fun… Apparently fueled by various hallucinogens, SkullShitter – and by extension, Goat Claw – is …
Cave In – Heavy Pendulum Review
Replacing a band member is rarely a simple task, and it becomes an essentially impossible one when a replacement is needed because the original member’s life was tragically cut short by a terrible accident. Caleb …
Blast Rites #9: Sick Sinus Syndrome / Vomi Noir – Rancid Fermenting Disgust / Submersion Emeto-Asphyxique Review
Sick Sinus Syndrome’s debut Rotten To The Core wormed its way into my earholes on a regular basis right around this time last year, a blistering blast of classic Carcass-cloning gurglegrind that absolute smokes from …
Rigorous Institution – Cainsmarsh Review
Portland’s Rigorous Institution first hit my radar via the ever impressive efforts of Last Rites’ alum Craig Hayes and his dauntless study of all things crust, grind, punk, D-beat, et cetera In Crust We Trust, …
A Sound Of Thunder – The Krimson Kult Review
The great thing about heavy metal (apart from, well, most of the things about it) is how many different moods it can summon. From the most decrepit, wizened metal crone (hi, hello, how are you) …
Luminous Vault ‒ Animate The Emptiness Review
[Cover art by fivetimesno] Animate the Emptiness, the first full length from New York’s Luminous Vault, is by definition a heavy metal album, and yet, it is also not a heavy metal album. To frame …