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 Battleroar, 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 …
In the deep corners of the dark internet (not the “dark web,” because who even understands what in the hell that is) sit angry, middle-aged men and maligned teenagers championing the cause of trve kvlt …
For the most part, melodic death metal and I do not mix. It’s not that I dislike it, per se, but mostly, I just don’t care about it — it so rarely interests me that …
Imagine waking up in the morning and looking in the mirror only to see the face of Vegard Sverre Tveitan looking back at you. Imagine the pressure of knowing that you were responsible for Emperor’s …
[Album artwork: Andreas Marschall] Gelsenkirchen, Germany, early 1980s: A young Thomas Such finds himself not particularly taken with the notion of spending a perfectly good life buried in the depths of the local coal mines. …
Sweden’s Dead Kosmonaut is pretty clearly still feeling out their place in the heavy metal pantheon. On debut full length Expect Nothing and last year’s standout Rekviem EP, they’ve played a mix of smooth trad, …
From the cabinets of Caligari Records comes Skumstrike’s Execution Void EP, released only on cassette and limited to a mere 150 copies. The band’s third overall release, Execution Void is a significant improvement over 2018’s …
[::] is more interested in exploration than accessibility. Then again, accessibility in metal is often skewed by our place at the extreme end of the spectrum. Not having a singer, writing long songs, and having …
Discovery can be such an important part of finding new music. The ever-elusive hunt for new music that strikes a heartstring – whether it be old or new, just finding something that resonates is one …
