Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover art by Fleshflies] Artificial Brain remains a bit of an enigma within the wider death metal realm, especially when trying to find accurate sub-sub-genre descriptors. They’re technical but not really tech/death; brutal but nowhere near slam; melodic but definitely …
[Cover artwork by Old Hag] When I initially realized that Arckanum’s first album after a long hiatus—and, technically, its breakup—would be released on All Hallows’ Eve, I devised this rather cutesy and far-fetched idea to compare the entire album to …
[Album artwork / art direction by Joseph Niet / The Creative Corporation] Offering up a textbook definition of “holy crap, time flies,” Black Sabbath’s swan song, 13, was released 13 years ago, on June 7th, 2013. In a curious move, …
If you’re just now catching up, well, we’re just now catching up. Seth Buttnam and I (plus one uninvited guest) are rounding up some of our favoritest grindcore (or grind-adjacent) releases of the past however many months, since we (read: …
Oh, it feels like a million years ago now, but way back in January, I wrote this one up as one of our (meaning, in this instance: “my”) most anticipated releases of 2026, and here …
1. “Stilllllllllaaaaaaaamennnnnntum.” If you love it when a band sings the album title, you’ve hit the jackpot with “Nimbus,” the opening song of Gorrch’s second album, Stillamentum. At the very top of that first track …
To this day, because of the Murderer’s Row of ’80s Bay Area thrash masterpieces, someone, somewhere, is plugging a cheap guitar into an old amplifier for the first time. And someone, somewhere, is cutting the …
[Cover art by STRX Art] If you listen to metal for long enough, you will inevitably encounter at least one of a plethora of solo projects. The modern state of recording tools has only made …
[Cover artwork by Trash Bandicoot] Aotearoa New Zealand is often trumpeted as a clean, green utopia. However, the truth is, plenty of New Zealand is a rotting dungheap. In fact, here’s a recent story from …
Alright, ladies and gents, maybe the empire is falling, maybe we’re on the verge of World War III, maybe the end-times are upon us. But through whatever may come, by the grace of Lord Anthony …
[Cover art by Vince Locke – Duh] KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!! My apologies if that triggered your PTSD for that time you started your day with a cup of coffee and a pressing of the play button on Kill, …
To tell you about Egregore’s second album, I’d like to first talk about wildness. If you traipse back to heavy metal’s origins, it was about wildness, right? “Helter Skelter,” Blue Cheer’s take on “Summertime Blues,” …
