Generally Impressed With Riffs
Lamp of Murmuur remains, in many ways, a mystery. A songwriter simply dubbing the name “M.” writes and records everything. To this day, even in the Metal Archives, a single letter sits beneath the “Members” tab. Basically, unless you’re well-connected …
Kia ora, crüe. It’s always the way, innit!?! You spend weeks writing a War and Peace-length round-up of recent punk releases, and then 30 seconds after you submit the damn thing, out of nowhere, a reliably great label drops several …
Mankind has a great history of discovering how two great tastes taste great together. From the Reese’s Cup to putting some really good slaw on a pulled pork sandwich, we know the value of adding a little depth to flavor …
The concept of a grindcore guitar god is a little bit silly to me, considering the rawness and punk ethos involved in the style overall… but then again, this is a sub-genre built on the works of Bill Steer, Jesse …
It might be hard to believe, but Paradise Lost’s return to their doom/death roots on The Plague Within is now a full decade old. This makes them almost double veterans of their own sound, now …
[Artwork by Ryan Lesser] It starts softly. “Obey Capricorn,” the opener of Slomatics’ eighth album, Atomicult, begins with drummer/vocalist Martin Harvey all by his lonesome. “Behold: the moon, the sun, the stars, the sky,” Harvey …
[Cover art by Grellach] One of the great joys of heavy metal is how often it forces you to learn random things. A little peek behind the Last Rites curtain for you: we have a …
[Album artwork by Aleksandra Pawłowska] Earlier this year, I finally grabbed the limited edition CD reissues of the early works from Montréal, Canada’s very excellent Obliveon—one of those oft-overlooked projects that arrived somewhat late for …
In 2023, Texas metal quartet Krigsgrav released an album that resonated with me more than any that year, clinching the top spot on my AOTY list. A beautifully sinister cacophony of melodic black and doom …
For as long as I’ve been a fan of this wild, wonderful world of heavy metal, I can remember two discussions (that inevitably become two arguments), ones that never seem to get resolved. The first …
I bet you were expecting Albert Pecans or Old Man Socks, or whatever those idiots’ names are, but they’re not the only ones who listen to grind around here. Ten tracks in less than seven …
No need for prologue: the simplest way to describe Medieval Demon’s new album, All Powers of Darkness, is to say that it is “Greek black metal.” If that sounds like an insult, though… buddy, have …
