Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover artwork by Timbul Cahyono] In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I’ve always found the concept of the split to be flawed. It works best when there’s a shared theme or the band’s involved cover each …
[Cover art by Mars Triumph] Petrichor, the sixth full length album from Greece’s epic metal stalwarts Battlelore, commences with the sound of rain and an invitation to reflect. That word, “petrichor,” is a relatively new one (coined by scientists in …
To start, let’s acknowledge that you and I don’t really know each other. This means, among other things, that I can’t say what “war metal” means to you. To some extent, maybe you just throw your hands in the air …
Kia ora, compadres. Welcome to the latest edition of In Crust We Trust. Below you’ll find a bunch of ear-wrecking noise to help you process and/or drown out the 24/7 horror show currently occupying our screens. Wherever you are, and …
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 / …
New York’s Tombstoner delivers crushing death metal and pummeling breakdowns in near equal measure. It’s not an unfamiliar combination, but one that requires careful execution. And execute it Tombstoner does with Victims of Vile Torture, …
Have you ever been glad that a release was only 15 minutes long? Not because it was bad, but simply because it was so damn heavy that to experience even a minute more was to …
Even in a year as loaded with great goregrind as 2020, the debut demo from Copenhagen’s Septage really stood out. Septic Decadence was four tunes in just under 12 minutes, loaded with blasts and tremolo …
The EP is the definitive introductory format for a reason. Australia’s Fate’s Hand waste little time making use of it here. And while its four tracks vary more in pace than sound, the self-titled EP …
[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 …
[Artwork by the incomparable Eliran Kantor] The most convenient way to describe Desolate, the sophomore effort from Icelandic tech-deathers Ophidian I, is to call it a serious guitar nerd’s death metal album. This is far …
Experience matters. Between the four of them, the members of Stockholm’s Exil have a lifetime’s worth of experience in hardcore and metal, from the raging Umeå punk of DS-13 and UX Vileheads to the grinding …
