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 Chris McDonald Ragnarok has been churning out quality traditional black metal albums from Norway for the better part of fifteen years, yet elevation into the greater pantheon of Norwegian projects has eluded …
You really have to love the one-man metal project. Sure, plenty of this type offer exercises in hot-mess masturbation, but to answer every Zarach ‘Baal’ Tharagh that tries to bury us in a suffocating pile …
originally written by Erik Thomas I’ve been struggling with this review for a few weeks now. Why? Well because I love Grave; their debut ranks close to Entombed’s Left Hand Path and Dismember’s Like An Ever Flowing Stream as far as Swedish …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell For many longtime fans, the prospect of a new Soilwork album no longer conjures emotions of anticipation, excitement, or even disdain. Many of us have been stifled into a state of indifference, …
New release promo material is famous for its hyperbole, too often cavalierly throwing up descriptors like “unparalleled indomitable ruthlessly brutal planet-smashing heaviness,” so when Hell’s Headbangers announced that The Royal Arch Blaspheme’s debut had been …
San Francisco’s Early Graves blends into their crusty, sludgy hybrid-metal some noticeable dashes of grindcore, death metal and metalcore—the good kind, not the Hot Topic kind. Goner is as equally rooted in crust punk as …
Ikuinen Kaamos was poised to blow the living shit out of the dreaded sophomore slump with Epilogue when purported shenanigans on the part of their label brought the proceedings to a screeching halt. Rather than …
Jordan Campbell’s take: Decrepit Birth is a band of surprises. After a four-year period of dormancy following the release of their debut, …And Time Begins, they unleashed Diminishing Between Worlds, an album that defied all expecations. In those …
