Generally Impressed With Riffs
[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 …
[Cover art by Per Spjøtvold] Want a fun way to acknowledge your own mortality? Think about how many years you’ve been listening to certain bands or albums. Of course, you, a distinguished devotee of this publication, surely engage in this practice, …
Maruta’s In Narcosis was a fairly highly-touted effort that – even as it garnered serious love in certain circles – never quite resonated with me. There was nothing wrong with the band’s performance (though the …
In a recent review I talked about underrated bands, focusing on the ones that aren’t that underrated, but just hold onto a small but devout (and usually vocal) cult following. There is, however, another state …
Disclaimer #1: I feel it’s vitally important to get something out in the open right off the bat: A long-time member of our staff right here at Metal Review happens to be Pyrrhon‘s vocalist; and …
It’s really no secret that the current faction of Metal Review mostly ignores what stems from the “power” realm of heavy metal today. I suppose these sorts of things can be expected as genres fall …
originally written by Jim Brandon Thirty-eight minutes and thirty-two seconds of thrashing black chaos is par for the course for the likes of Impiety, but they’ve taken an adventurous route this time around, at least …
Portland’s Rabbits inhabits (zing!) a scuzzy middle ground between sludge metal and noise rock. Lower Forms is never quite distorted enough nor packed with actual riffs to claim the sludge tag, but it’s quite a …
originally written by Chris McDonald This right here, folks – this is where it all began. If you’re one of the people who shudders at the notion of words like “delicate,” “nostalgia,” and “childhood” being …
originally written by Chris McDonald Turkey’s Raven Woods is yet another modern, technically inclined death metal band with a solid grasp of dynamics and a lot of different ideas to offer. The last few years …
