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 …
It has taken literally all my strength to avoid making the obvious Hamlet joke in regards to this re-release of the 2007 debut album from Denmark’s Woebegone Obscured. The band seems to be making an …
Originally written by Erik Thomas I’ve been on a traditional black metal kick recently, ingesting the likes of Nidingr, Sacreligious Impalement, Sargeist, Helrunar, and numerous “Svart” bands — including the sixth album from long running …
Question of Madness is the brainchild of former The Chasm bassist Alfonso Polo. The band’s ties to The Chasm run deep: Question of Madness’s debut The Dark Corners of the Mind was released on Chasm mainman …
Originally self-released in limited quantity in 2009, this second Complete Failure record found itself picked up by Relapse for a Fall 2010 re-release. Entirely self-recorded, Heal No Evil was a conscious effort by the band to distance …
Jay: “Olaf, metal!” Jay: “That’s his fucking metal face.” Hipsters and “yeah bro, metal is cool”-types the world over love that scene. Why? Because fake Russian dudes are funny; because the movie is in black …
Originally written by Justin Bean. I want to begin by doing a quick dissection of the 6.1 I’ve given to Erebos, Hate’s seventh full-length. In musicianship and production, Erebos received high marks. Hate does their interpretation of blackened death metal quite …
Sweden’s Astral Doors was founded with the stated purpose of revisiting and reviving the trad-metal sounds of Dio, Rainbow, post-Ozzy Black Sabbath, et al. And that sums up their sound in more succinct fashion than …
originally written by Chris McDonald A young new death metal project hailing from New York, Fever Kingdoms is Pyrrhon’s first official release aside from a demo distributed at shows in 2009. And you’d be hard …
