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 …
Well, there goes the fucking neighborhood… Despond delivers a brand of music that’s entirely capable of lowering a gargantuan boot-heel directly to the throat of the fresh summer months. SNAP!! Gone are the lively bbq’s, the lazy afternoons …
Originally written by Rae Amitay Unexpect is a six-piece Canadian crew that plays a hybrid of pretty much every genre of metal, combined with electro, jazz, funk, ambient, noise, neo-classical, and about a dozen more …
Originally written by Rae Amitay One might think that after two albums chock full of seafaring themes, Alestorm would be running low on inspiration the third time around. Such is not the case on Back Through …
The article was originally written by Rae Amitay. Since the 2006 release of their first album, Captain Morgan’s Revenge, Alestorm has been simultaneously delighting, confusing, and impressing audiences around the world. Their third collection of …
A childhood spent over-indulging in the royal bombast of the King (Diamond) and Queen has left me with a long-lasting love of the theatrical; years of love for prog-rock have given me a liking for …
Originally written by Sasha Horn “We’re filming tonight… They’re not gonna film you guys so much. They’re not gonna film the guys in the band so much. They’re gonna film me a lot.” I happen …
Worthless is the Relapse debut for Chicago-area power-violence outfit Weekend Nachos, and worthless it is not. With appropriately thick-toned guitars and ever-shifting tempos, the band lurches through fourteen tracks as indebted to tar-coated sludge as …
Innovation and a forward-thinking philosophy are admirable and all that, but there is something to be said for paying glorious homage to one’s forebearers. Something along the lines of “let’s get piss drunk and dance …
