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 Sasha Horn. “No slouches.” Straight from the keystrokes of fellow staffer, Erik Thomas, when he not so long ago took on the task of reviewing Massive Slavery’s latest offering, Global Enslavement. This, above all …
originally written by Chris McDonald Considering how flooded the black metal scene is with new projects these days, its becoming harder and harder as a reviewer to come up with ways to describe bands as …
Originally written by Dimitris Chrys. Clagg’s Lord of the Deep, their third excursion in sludgy doom, is one hell of a listenable record. Of course, one has to be ready to endure songs whose lengths range …
The amount of time and effort required to release a record can often be quite staggering. In the case of Sweden’s Quicksand Dream, remaining members Göran Jacobson (vocals) and Patrick Backlund (bass) have weathered 17 …
Now just where the hell did this come from? That was my thought as the grandiose, semi-overture-styled intro of “Towards Pandemonium” crashed out of my speakers. After all, Sweden’s Ghamorean isn’t exactly new on the …
Originally written by Erik Thomas It’s going to be hard to top 2010’s balls-deep array of awesome old school Swedish death metal from the likes of Entrails (my album of the year), Brutally Deceased, Interment, …
This pack of Norwegian heathens hit my radar in a big way with their recent split with Audiopain. The frenetic, fists flyin’ “Annihilation Spree” was every bit a match for the mighty (and sadly underrated) Audiopain. That …
The biggest difficulty for bands who take musical avenues that are extremely easy to access is that they tend to exhaust their songwriting resources too quickly. There’s nothing more suitable than good ol’ fashioned hardcore …
