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 …
Without a doubt, the most rewarding thing about reviewing music has been the occasional opportunity to turn people on to bands they might have missed out on otherwise, and in turn give attention and support …
Titular Homogeneity is all about tracing themes through Heavy Metal via their simplest index: song titles. So far epithetical anger, The Devil’s Holiday, and Prince Prospero’s folly have been examined. This time the focus is on one of …
originally written by Juho Mikkonen Ironic or not, after four decades of uphill struggle against almost every single established belief system, nominative determinism is probably the only dogma that’s been completely disenfranchised by metal music’s …
At the risk of making the most colossal understatement of the century, it’s important to point out from the start that Sigh is a rather odd band. No, scratch that: Sigh is a head-spinning, reason-defying, …
As much as metal strives for universality, the parochial rears its head in many ugly ways. Presently, it does so by making it virtually impossible to discuss this worryingly bland debut album by Nothnegal without …
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been sittin’ ‘round the old turntable with some scraggly buds of yours and someone said something to this effect: “Fuck I wish I’d have been around when <INSERT DEFUNCT BAND …
originally written by Chris McDonald I have generally respected Cannibal Corpse more as an institution than as a musical entity. I have given most of their releases a chance over the years and have yet …
I like to think that I’m pretty well in-touch with the music scene in my native Bay Area, having followed it closely for the better part of 14 years as both a radio personality and …
