Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover art by David Preissel] The sounds of Neurosis’ “Locust Star” emanate from a desktop speaker wired to an iPod Nano via ⅛-inch cable “Hey maaaan … is that Ponderous Post Metal?” “Yeah maaan …” “Well turn it up MAAAN!!” …
[Artwork by Vicky “Liddo” Morales] In a soak-your-underwear sweaty, tetanus-to-the-touch warehouse in the middle of Skid Row, Raw Addict played its first show. Weeks earlier, drummer Isaac made the irresistible sales pitch, stating that the multinational band connecting grind lifers …
Picture this, brah brah: You’re out enjoying a nice meal with the in-laws. It’s a pleasant setting—a beach vacation, let’s say. The sun gently peeks above the horizon, illuminating the tides as they roll in and wash away the footprints …
[Artwork by Pierre de Palmas] When revealing Melting Rot as the first band booked to play at Revenge of the Corpse 3, festival organizer Isaac Horne wrote on Instagram that the Aurora, Illinois, trio was “the closest you’ll ever get …
For plenty of metalpunk fans, the top news this November is the release of the latest LP from stadium crust bad boys Wolfbrigade. The band’s big and beefy The Enemy LP will definitely feature in …
Leprous’ sixth studio album, Pitfalls, gives it all away in its first song’s opening lines: All of my stories are below Beneath the surface you cannot grow Curled and naked, I defer to shaky thoughts …
[Artwork by Adam Burke] The lifespan of great NWOBHM band was by no means uniform. Some had relatively short initial careers – they can’t all be Saxon, let alone Iron Maiden – only to reunite …
Whoever you are out there, I don’t know what thrills you. I don’t know what desperate yearnings fill your sleep-starved restlessnesses, or what calamitous hunger claws at the belly of your mind. However, if, out …
The 80s were tough on Riot, even as the band was creating classic metal albums. There were endless line-up changes, contentious dealings with labels, managers, and producers, and mostly, there was a massive disparity between …
For those of us who don’t believe in predestination, the past is an endless series of could-have-beens. Every adventure left unchosen branches out in infinite directions, all the possible pasts and futures winding around one …
[Artwork by Timo Ketola] As anyone with a pulse can confirm, evil lurks around many a corner. It has to be there, really, because the universe demands balance, both in everyday life and stretched across …
In music, true economy is rare. There are, of course, essentially an infinite number of ways to make a musical point. Variations in instrumentation, melody, rhythm, harmony, tone, and so on enable musicians to paint …
