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 Matt Longo First things first: I will not abbreviate Year of the Goat as YOG, as appears on their Facebook page and elsewhere, because YOG is some badass grinding Swiss chaos who …
Relapse’s exhaustive re-issues of the Death catalog continues with this three-disc version of 1990’s Spiritual Healing. So far, these sets have been textbook examples of how to properly re-issue iconic records, with each new version …
It should be relatively uncontroversial to suggest that Cradle of Filth’s finest days are almost certainly in the past. That’s not intended as a withering indictment of the band’s recent output, but one imagines the …
Originally written by Rae Amitay Witchcraft has been on a break for the past five years, and it’s often a gamble as to whether or not a ‘triumphant return’ album actually ends up yielding those …
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 …
