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 …
Originally written by Matt Longo What set apart the Dragged into Sunlight debut Hatred for Mankind was its sense of purpose — a singular, grimy probing finger reaching across the pond from Liverpool as a …
originally written by Chris McDonald After eight years, countless delays, and a tremendous amount of both eager and aggravated anticipation, Wintersun‘s second opus is finally upon us. We’ll just go ahead and bypass discussion of …
Following the glorious rise and tumultuous split of Negura Bunget, many were left wondering what was to be. Negru’s continuation of the band — call them Negura Bunget 2.0 — was quick to report back with …
Few young metal bands have had more success in recent years than The Sword. The band’s debut, Age of Winters, while critically acclaimed, met with more than its fair share of detractors claiming the band …
It was always going to be a hell of a thing to listen objectively to the first Early Graves album since the tragic death of the band’s vocalist Makh Daniels in a bus accident in …
One of the drawbacks of being a venerated institution in extreme music is that you can never just quite write a damn album and leave it at that, y’know? Find some riffs hanging around, kick …
Originally written by Matt Longo We in metal circles sure dig Old Scratch. He’s clawed his way into our imagery, themes, and often, band names. His own moniker mutates, and everything from Mephistopheles to Satan …
Jordanian death / doom outfit Bilocate describes their sound as “Oriental dark metal,” though that may confuse some Western readers. It’s important to note that therein these guys are utilizing an older usage of the …
