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 …
Artistic minimalism can be a tough act to pull off convincingly. When it’s done well, the end result can be courageously focused and direct, clearly unwilling to allow anything extraneous to blur the edges of …
By my count, The Headless Ritual took exactly twenty-five seconds to make its argument for being a supremely ass-kicking album. The remaining forty-four minutes or so? Just a victory lap. Autopsy has never seen nearly …
Originally written by Chris Redar “I am Russian. I am soldier. I am ready.” This, the final line of “First Narration,” which opens the new album from Athens road warriors Jucifer, sets the stage for what …
Originally written by Matt Longo “Get lost every day / Surviving our way / Get drunk every night / Got nothing to hide” proclaims vocalist Erik Olson on “Dreams of Mercy” — one of the …
Better late than never, as they say. Despite Profane being released a few months ago, I couldn’t in good conscience let the third album by the kings of French blackened death metal Svart Crown go …
Originally written by Chris Redar Let’s get this out of the way: I’m not a folk metal guy. It’s not that it’s poison to my ears or anything, but I was weaned on the more …
It’s no grand revelation that an established band changing singers is a daunting task. For every Bon-to-Brian smooth transition, there’s a Dave-to-Sammy changeover that alienates fans, or worse, a Sammy-to-Gary trainwreck that alienates everyone. A …
Originally written by Matt Longo The classic masters Black Sabbath released a good comeback album a few weeks ago, and it’s proven to be quite a grower. But when you’re a band who heavily invoke …
