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 …
There’s a fine line between being a tourist and an accomplished jack-of-all-trades. Take the latest from Germany’s long-running blackened act Dark Fortress, Venereal Dawn. (That title, by the way, refers to the goddess Venus, not …
Crossover may well be the most fun of extreme metal subsets. There’s just something in the tried-and-true combination of thrash and hardcore that, even when lyrically serious, feels irresistibly spirited, perfectly energized and yet possessing …
I won’t pretend I’ve kept up with the wave of female-fronted doom bands over the past few years. I won’t pretend I’ve even cared enough to try. But what brought me to Death Penalty is …
“We must use time as a tool, not a couch.” – John “What the” F. Kennedy The above quote is relevant to Ótta for a couple reasons. First, as some of you are likely already …
With the recent release of Blind Rage, Accept finds itself three albums deep into a third act that sees the band enjoying creative and commercial success to rival its Eighties heyday, and putting on live …
This is old school old school. More than any album I can recall this year this record sounds like a band doing one or two take shots and living with what they get. All the …
So this is the part wherein I open with a disclaimer: Device drummer Kyle Harcott is a fellow Last Rite-r, as well as an all-around stand-up dude, except in Device where he probably plays sitting …
It’s funny how directly imitating a unique, legendary band can lead to wide variety of reactions among both critics and fans. There aren’t a lot of Meshuggah clones out there that have gotten more than …
