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 …
Let’s start things off with a quick confession: yours truly was pretty severely bummed out when long-running Dutch death metal merchants God Dethroned announced that they were calling it quits. God Dethroned had always been …
First-rate Japanese miscreants Coffins have racked up quite the reputation for a consistently excellent output of utterly filthy and punishing death metal that flirts with the same smattering of skullcrushing doom that launched early greats …
You know that Fleetwood Mac song, Man Of The World? Shall I tell you about my life They say I’m a man of the world I’ve flown across every tide And I’ve seen lots of …
Tombs’ second album stares the notion of a ‘sophomore slump’ straight in the face, politely clears its throat, and then sets said notion on fire using nothing but its will and an unlit match. But …
Let me begin by saying that Kairos is the first full album under the Sepultura name that I have heard since Against all the way back in 1998. I’ve caught snippets here and there, enough …
originally written by Jim Brandon There is no denying the importance and influence that the body of work from the late Chuck Schuldiner has contributed to the lexicon of American death metal like no other …
Originally written by Rae Amitay When I first heard about the Boston-based crust sludge group Morne, I was hesitant to give them a chance. Having attended Berklee College of Music for the past few years, I’m …
originally written by Chris McDonald What a strange little release this is for Enslaved, a band that hasn’t officially released anything other than full-lengths or DVDs since their founding efforts in the early 90’s. Coming …
