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 …
Originally written by Chris Redar London’s Twitch of the Death Nerve commit so many sins of sound on their debut full-length A New Code of Morality that it boggles the mind. Of the more egregious examples: – That thing …
Originally written by Chris Redar Ghoul has an EP of surf rock/metal hybrid songs. It’s fun for about a minute, and then it pretty much sucks. Behold, a conversation I had with Jordan Campbell… JORDAN: Uhhh… …
originally written by Erik Highter It’s an oversimplification to say that “unclassifiable” bands always slip through the cracks, but it’s too often the sad truth. Even in this day when nearly everything is available to …
originally written by Jim Brandon Decadence and irreverence have never been in short commodity among metalheads, and I tend to think our beloved scene filters its audience at a fairly respectable pace. The hangers-on drop …
I hope to sweet merciful bananas that I’m proven wrong, but I’ve got a sneaky feeling that Blood of Legends, the absolutely masterful fourth album from Greece’s Battleroar, is going to be a convenient case …
In his excellent encapsulation of the progressive metal phenomenon, 2010’s Mean Deviation, author and former Metal Maniacs editor Jeff Wagner outlines a definite division between bands that are “Progressive” and those that are “progressive.” To …
I suppose the years have turned me into quite the Anubis Gate ambassador. 2007’s Andromeda Unchained first grabbed me on a whim purchase based simply on its enticing cover artwork, the toppling one-two punch of “Yiri” …
Originally written by Chris Redar Those familiar with the old Resound catalog or Century Media’s mail-order rag will remember a time before metalcore was a term. Instead, artists were described as “metallic hardcore.” That is, metal infused …
