Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover artwork by Old Hag] When I initially realized that Arckanum’s first album after a long hiatus—and, technically, its breakup—would be released on All Hallows’ Eve, I devised this rather cutesy and far-fetched idea to compare the entire album to …
[Album artwork / art direction by Joseph Niet / The Creative Corporation] Offering up a textbook definition of “holy crap, time flies,” Black Sabbath’s swan song, 13, was released 13 years ago, on June 7th, 2013. In a curious move, …
If you’re just now catching up, well, we’re just now catching up. Seth Buttnam and I (plus one uninvited guest) are rounding up some of our favoritest grindcore (or grind-adjacent) releases of the past however many months, since we (read: …
[Album artwork by Truls Espedal] It’s 17 albums for Enslaved now, comprising a discography I find exceptionally challenging to wrap my arms around. What’s going on here? Does anyone else forget that the relatively rote and by-the-numbers Frost is actually …
If there is one thing to be said about Fungus Inc.’s Gettin’ Drunk & Spreadin’ Spunk, it’s that these Belgian boys know what they’re doing. However, if there are two things to be said about …
All Tomorrow’s Funerals compiles the EPs released by long-running Californian death metal troupe Autopsy, spanning both periods of their career from their early-1990s heyday to their resurrection in the new millennium. Starting with 2010’s The …
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. David Ben-Gurion, the …
The riff for today’s lesson comes courtesy of Finnish death metal group Adramelech. Adramelech was perhaps most famous (to use the term loosely) for having several former members of Demigod at various points in its line-up. …
One does not simply listen to Pact… Some albums aren’t adventures, escapades, journeys, pathways, portals, passages or promenades. They don’t introduce a storyline, they don’t meander, peak or plateau. No… some albums don’t do any …
This month’s installment of Reverse Polarity takes a look at true electronic music pioneers – the British duo of Sean Booth and Rob Brown, otherwise known as Autechre. Unlike fellow electronic music inductees Venetian Snares, there is nothing particularly …
Originally written by Rae Amitay Heidevolk, contrary to popular belief, is not a German band. They hail from the Netherlands, a country replete with ‘beauty and the beast’ symphonic metal (Epica, Within Temptation, Stream of …
originally written by Chris McDonald The way trends change and reverse over time is best highlighted when an old heavyweight returns to the spotlight amidst the wave of newcomers. Has it really been almost six …
