Generally Impressed With Riffs
[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: …
[Album artwork by Truls Espedal] It’s 17 albums for Enslaved now, comprising a discography I find exceptionally challenging to wrap my arms around. What’s going on here? Does anyone else forget that the relatively rote and by-the-numbers Frost is actually …
I wasn’t familiar with Greece’s Rapture until Paroxysm Of Hatred landed on my proverbial desk. Formed in 2012, Rapture has to its name three EPs, a split with Brazilian thrashers Toxic Carnage, and one previous …
Refusing to confine themselves to one genre, Wichita’s Bestialord tightly walks the line between thrash, death, and doom metal. The songwriting approach on their debut, Law of the Burning, feels like a more mid-tempo approach …
Music is communicated via two means: recorded media and live. We undoubtedly hear it more coming from the former, but the latter — the gig, the show, the concert — is the heart of heavy …
Welcome, friends, to the first Staff Infections of 2018. This marks the first edition in a couple months because, for various reasons, I couldn’t get it together. Let’s just say I’m happy to see the …
Most art forms have their own genres, stereotypes, and conventions. A fairly time-worn convention in literature is the idea of the “beach read.” This is typically the sort of book – often lightweight, sometimes trashy, …
For nearly a decade now, Elliott’s Keep has been making solid doom with a side of death metal and carrying the torch for fallen bandmate Glenn Riley Elliott, from whom the band is named. With …
The desire to associate winter with black metal is a natural one. The traditional black and white cover art is a very close reflection of the visual de-saturation of the outside world via snow and …
Since the release of their debut LP in 2012, Sinistro have rolled along the bloody waters of the Lake of Fire. Their sanguine tunes and morbid aura lapping at the fiery shores. From simple opening …
