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 Erik Highter It’s reached a point where there are more ’70s-styled retro-doom bands then there were in the actual ’70s. Everyone with some vintage denim and an Orange amp is in a …
Originally written by Ian Chainey Activator, a Brooklyn-based hardcore slash thrash crossover killer, doesn’t recycle the past. Despite an album cover depicting the pre-Rudy horrors of subway Hell-trains, burly breakdowns built in the image of …
Originally written by Chris Redar Ephel Duath have made a name for themselves by not being able to have a name made for themselves. After a brief stint in the standard black metal valley, the band …
It’s very hard to find someone who doesn’t like The Beatles. Rather, it’s very hard to find someone who doesn’t like The Beatles and isn’t just stating their dislike out of some sort of forced …
I am occasionally hyper-critical of bands that fiddle with the primeval black metal formula, particularly when the fiddling is rooted in an over-sentimentalization that clouds the genre’s core nihilism. This awareness is to blame for …
Originally written by Ian Chainey and Jordan Campbell With their second record, Beaten To Death has emerged as one of the most inspired acts in not only modern grindcore, but the entire spectrum of musical …
Originally written by Ian Chainey A pet peeve as an introduction: Artists don’t always create art to make all-caps ART. Artists aren’t required to saddle ART and ride it towards immortality. Occasionally, they decide against …
Heavy metal’s highway is stacked ten miles deep with bumper-to-bumper short-player traffic in 2013, and we’re doing our best to pick through the releases most likely to land on our readers’ collective radar. Here’s round …
