Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Artwork by Vicky “Liddo” Morales] In a soak-your-underwear sweaty, tetanus-to-the-touch warehouse in the middle of Skid Row, Raw Addict played its first show. Weeks earlier, drummer Isaac made the irresistible sales pitch, stating that the multinational band connecting grind lifers …
Picture this, brah brah: You’re out enjoying a nice meal with the in-laws. It’s a pleasant setting—a beach vacation, let’s say. The sun gently peeks above the horizon, illuminating the tides as they roll in and wash away the footprints …
[Artwork by Pierre de Palmas] When revealing Melting Rot as the first band booked to play at Revenge of the Corpse 3, festival organizer Isaac Horne wrote on Instagram that the Aurora, Illinois, trio was “the closest you’ll ever get …
[Album artwork by Staffan Lindroth] The last time we gathered together under the Dimhav banner, I was busy losing my grip over the Swede’s very excellent and very sudden debut, 2019’s The Boreal Flame. I say ‘very sudden’ in that …
Originally written by Rae Amitay Dark Tranquillity are melodeath legends and juggernauts of the original Gothenburg scene, but they’d grown weak and predictable after consuming too much of their own watered-down formula. Damage Done, Character, …
As recently as 2009’s Endgame, Megadeth was a very good band. Perhaps not a great one, but it appeared as if fans were primed to enjoy a late career surge from Dave Mustaine that included …
Originally written by Matt Longo For better or worse, Las Vegas stands as testament to the indomitability of the human drive to create, even in the face of impossible odds — and this remains today, …
I can be a real dick. No doubt about it, I can be one serious dick sometimes, especially when one of my pet peeves causes me to immediately write off bands. First there is the …
Stickum: a sports adhesive intended to improve the grips of athletes on such devices as footballs, baseball bats, and vaulting poles. Noisem: a Baltimore-produced sound adhesive intended to affix itself to your mortal form before …
Originally written by Chris Redar Every once in a great while, an album comes along that changes the way you think. It changes the way you think not just about music, but how you view …
Don’t be fooled by Iron Bonehead’s sexy moniker and state-of-the-art website; there’s plenty of tasty gristle beyond their flash n’ sizzle. This German label specializes in “UNDERGROUND METAL SUPREMACY,” and, judging by the slate of rawer-than-thou death, …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Shamaatae is an established madman. And though this black metal isolationist has his quirks—he spent a large portion of the 1990s romping through the forest in a troll mask and retired …
