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 …
Nahtrunar comes to us from Austria, conceiving full length debut Symbolismus as a tribute to the nights at the turn of the year (a European thing known as “Rauhnächte”). I can offer no insight into …
Congratulations, of a sort, are in order for Washington State’s Alda. Whereas nearly all of their peers in the loamy, atmospheric black metal game focus on using delicate intros and gradually rising tension to explode …
Paradise Lost’s career trajectory is an interesting one, sometimes derided but yet always worthy of respect. They’ve followed their muse through the darkness, wherever it led them, and in doing so, through some serious ups …
Savage Land, the debut from Gruesome — Matt Harvey and company’s early-Death tribute band — has received quite a bit of hype. I even gave it some myself, and deservedly so, because the album is great. False …
If you have at least one working eye and even a general knowledge of what’s going on in metal, you can probably guess what’s on tap here based purely on the cover artwork alone. And …
Originally written by Chris Redar After a few key lineup changes and a hiatus, New York’s Skinless have returned with what is considered their “classic” (read: the dudes that did Foreshadowing Our Demise) lineup, plus …
Let us now praise famous formats: Friends, the EP is a beautiful thing. Whereas splits and 7″s are usually home for orphaned b-sides, and LPs often feel like an obligation, the necessary economy and visceral …
Leprous asserts that Life is a circus of freaks. Just who is a Freak is a matter of perspective (You, not Me), and the appeal of the Freak Show relies on the invisible barrier between …
