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 Jordan Campbell Oddly, many metalheads have been slow to accept the notion that black metal and punk have more similarities than differences. Maybe it’s the perception that metal musicianship bears a heightened …
Why is this band still unsigned? A few years back, Virginian quartet Corsair garnered some well-deserved praise from my esteemed colleague Mr. John Ray for their debut EP Alpha Centauri, which was a stellar five-song …
It’s really too bad the “post” tag gets tossed around so indiscriminately in heavy music. The term seems to attach itself to anything and everything with low, fuzzy notes stretched over any sort of atmosphere, …
I was quite taken with Assaulter’s debut, Salvation Like Destruction. The band’s gritty black/thrash provided a more-than-adequate stop-gap while I anxiously awaited the next release by Assaulter’s countrymen Destroyer 666. Thus, when Metal Blade made …
2011 is shaping up to be a banner year for organ in heavy metal, what with Negative Plane, Acid Witch, Blood Ceremony, and even the typically accordion-and-ennui-ensconced French getting in on the action via Moonreich. …
It’s a good time to be a Manilla Road fan. The undisputed kings of epic metal will unleash Playground of the Damned, their fifteenth album, later this summer. Out of print albums have been reissued on CD at …
originally written by Chris McDonald Instrumental progressive metal will likely never become a truly “hot” item in the metal and rock scenes, but Scale the Summit has certainly had a large part in bringing this …
Owl is the latest project to emerge from the ever productive and continually brilliant German label (and family of bands) Zeitgeister. This particular project is the brainchild of Christian Kolf (Island, Valborg, Woburn House), who …
