Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover art by Quinn Henderson] You’re familiar with the term, “unc,” right? If not, it generally refers to a washed up older feller whose personality in large part revolves around extravagantly performing confusion and/or displeasure at the mere notion of …
[Artwork by Caroline Harrison] “Nonsense” opens with a slow fade-in of distorted guitars and seismic drums — the chaos before the swarm. It’s a trick of the trade, the extreme metal equivalent of a camera operator calling out “speed” before …
[Cover artwork by Luca “Zeero” Zironi] There was always something uniquely charming about Konquest’s brand of traditional heavy metal—an almost whimsical breeziness that still felt like a near perfect balance of playful and substantive. A long-lost Italian cousin to Sweden’s …
[Cover art by Beyond Art] There are bad musical moods, and then there’s Mylingar. Over the course of the last decade this group of anonymous Swedes has concocted the type of ill-meaning black/death that makes Diocletian seem like a Care …
I struggled with this review for months because this Crypt Of Kerberos disc presents something of an interesting quandary. As a reviewer, from time to time, I’m confronted with an album that I know is …
Originally written by Ramar Pittance Bosse-de-Nage’s III — nominally a black metal album, but truly and thankfully so much more — is 2012’s best album distinctly about being alive in 2012. Here’s a question I think is worth …
In the past six months or so, Queensryche has made more headlines than in the previous fifteen years combined. Their anything-but-amicable split with thirty-year vocalist Geoff Tate resulted in a seemingly endless litany of “he …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell It’s a strange phenomenon in heavy metal: Rarity begets esteem, and exclusivity breeds desire. Whereas, say, the world of professional sports tends to reward consistency, dominance, and longevity, metal legends …
One of the fun things about being a metal reviewer is that I get to say, with something not unlike a straight face, things like “Chilean death trio.” Except around these parts, that phrase is …
Everyday usage does great violence to language’s origins. Case in point: the term ‘avant-garde’ originally developed in the context of battlefield strategy, and later became influential in the theorizing of revolutionary political movements. Loosely translated …
Like numerous acts that thrive in the second tier, Nidingr sounds a little like a lot of bands, but exactly like none of them. There isn’t much that is wholly original about their overall sound, …
The eleventh album from the Oakland-based shamans in Neurosis is an hour-long answer to the question, “When is ‘tired’ not tired?” You see, on Honor Found In Decay, Neurosis sounds weary. Now wait, hear me …
