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 …
OSI was born when Jim Matheos (Fates Warning, Arch/Matheos) sent Kevin Moore (ex-Dream Theater) some rough tracks he’d laid down as part of some idea-making for a prog-metal side project between Fates Warning albums. Matheos …
Structures in Chaos is the debut album from Dutch death metal trio Temple. The members of Temple have each served in a host of Dutch death metal bands, including Sinister, Severe Torture and Prostitute Disfigurement. …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell For those residing in the bitter climes of Minnesota, instrumental doom dealers Zebulon Pike are minor legends, a charming oddity that opens nearly every show worth seeing while simultaneously cultivating …
originally written by Chris McDonald Some death metal bands are brutal. Funeral Whore are brutes. Step into Damnation is so one-dimensional and formulaic in its barbarity that it becomes slightly humorous and strangely ominous at …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Last week, while hovering over an overpriced stout and an over-rocked single malt, a conversation between friends turned to the subject of film; more specifically, high-grade action flicks. Inevitably, we …
After humbler hard rock beginnings, Finland’s Oz metalled up and dropped an overlooked gem in 1983’s Fire In The Brain, a Scandinavian stab at NWOBHM guitar-driven OTT glory that tipped the hat to the likes of …
In this bimonthly column, staff writer Doug Moore takes a very close look at extreme metal lyrics. Some will be serious, some will be silly, but they’ll all go under the microscope. Simplicity is powerful. …
San Francisco’s Worm Ouroboros plays a unique style of modern dark wave music that appeals to a wide spectrum of listeners intent on favoring the bleaker side of emotional expression. And much like their self-titled …
