Generally Impressed With Riffs
[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 …
[Cover artwork by Subhuman at Desert Dungeon] Let’s talk about our love for quirky metal. Okay, sure, any definable level of ‘quirk’ is obviously subjective, but I’m guessing you know we’re not talking about the guy who loves The Black …
Originally written by Rae Amitay It baffles me that purist types beg for vinyl this and analog that, but when a reputable and well-loved band releases a throwback album, many of those aforementioned people pitch …
In October of 2009, a mysterious outfit from Kristiinankaupunki, Finland, released a vinyl-only LP of its only full length to date, Wisdom through Agony into Illumination and Lunacy. Fans of Finnish doom and black metal …
One of the things I’m very thankful for is the fact that I was lucky enough to be alive and directly on the front-lines of heavy metal throughout the 80s as an angry/pimply/hormonally-challenged teenager. I’ll …
Tunisia’s principal metal export Myrath is back with another album that wallows in a bland lather of Orphaned Land’s Middle Eastern progressive metal and fairly standard if muscular power metal. The ripping neoclassical/medieval power metal …
Originally written by Rae Amitay Vader has combined blistering speed and technicality with memorable songwriting for almost thirty years. Their ninth studio album, Welcome To The Morbid Reich, shows the band in fine form with …
[Welcome to the seventh installment of the our 90s Essentials interview series. This week, we speak with Napalm Death‘s Mitch Harris about their 1990 turning point, Harmony Corruption.] MR: Hello and a thank you so much …
Jordan Campbell’s take: The Devin Townsend Project’s first two excursions, by most accounts, were resounding successes. Ki stands as one of the most adventurous and unique albums of Townsend’s career, and Addicted’s boisterousness is still …
Swedish death metal band Mordbrand sounds a lot like a death metal band from Sweden, but as we’ve learned over the decades, things are never quite so simple. A more accurate statement would be to …
