Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover artwork by Michael Cloutier] Prog, of course, is known for technical musicianship and songwriting complexity above all else, a reputation well-earned by the early giants of the genre and happily maintained by their progeny ever since. It’s also true …
[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 …
[Cover art by Ars Moriendee] Like all metalheads worth their weight in god’s tears, the Last Rites crew is a big fan of Doug Moore. Is it because he used to contribute his eloquent sentences …
A dark sun rises in the west. The midday heat recedes. Cold billows forth from the caverns below. Your body is sucked into the blackhole on the horizon. You and thousands of dead corpses are …
It’s hard to tell by looking at me, but I used to be a runner. Back then, the building that I worked in had an unoccupied office area that was repurposed into a “gym,” and …
Hello, dear readers. It’s November—mid-November by the time you read this—which would ordinarily mean this awful year is almost over, but I would not be surprised if 2020 somehow manage to last thirteen or fourteen …
[Artwork by Ken Kelly] The struggle of the sophomore album is drastically increased when the debut created such a fantastical impact. This occurs outside of heavy metal, of course, but there does seem to be …
[Cover artwork by Tamara Comas] Toronto, Ontario’s Possessed Steel spends precisely zero minutes and zip seconds attempting any sort of subterfuge regarding what’s on tap with their debut full-length, Aedris. And just in case you’re …
[Artwork by Ian Miller] It’s a little difficult gleaning much information about black metal newcomers Stormkeep, as their online presence is fairly anonymous (is it too much to ask for a M-A page?), but some …
I’m a sucker for a good grindcore discography comp. Considering how much of that world is built upon a steady stream of split sevens and shorter-form releases, and with so many of those being on …
