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 Erik Thomas Reviewing an album featuring a Last Rites team member is always a little awkward, and while I felt a little bad about my review of These Are They’s debut, Who Linger, drummer Sasha Horn …
Slavemason’s debut LP seems to have all the elements necessary to a successful progressive heavy metal record. It’s formed from a prog-metal mold mostly akin to early Queensrÿche and Helloween, with maybe a bit of …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell In the context of Fear Factory, Burton C. Bell’s vocals are borderline legendary. Regardless of the band’s spotty catalog, it’s hard to argue against the chemistry his vocals generate; his trade-offs …
Zuul is denim and leather, white high-tops and thigh-tied bandanas. This nostalgic quintet calls Carbondale home, but their debut LP, Out of Time makes the more accurate reference to where they live: on the waning …
Get a load of that album art, will ya? There’s a robot knight waving a flaming horned helmet and holding a creepy-looking sword, standing at the edge of a menacing spiked bridge that leads across …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Nearly a year ago, I took the plunge into adulthood and cut my hair. (The reasons for this were myriad, with the fact that my hairline could no longer handle …
KK’s take: Drudkh. In the past, the band’s very name has been one of mysterious enchantment, one of isolation, one of solitude. Drudkh has always stood out in the world of black metal as a band whose …
Nearly fifteen years have elapsed since the last Accept record. That one, 1996’s Predator, was weak, unfocused and easily among the band’s worst. In the period after Predator, Accept split up, then reformed and released …
