Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Album artwork by James Koehnline] As much as I love and appreciate the fact that my metal foundation was fortified by growing up alongside the genre in the ‘80s as a youth, I owe a great deal of my undying …
[Cover art by Fenomeno Design] Did you know that Chile is pretty darn good at death metal? If not, you must be new around these parts, in which case, I say, welcome friend! We’re glad to have you here and …
It’s a magical corner of the musical world where a band can combine an infectious nature with extreme oddness, and it’s in that corner that Idaho’s Seven Chains makes their home. Make no mistake about it, third album Swollen, In …
[Cover art by Claudio Elias Scialabba] Italy’s Into Darkness has been a band for approximately 15 years but is just now releasing its first full length album, Route to the Other Side, but all that time has been greatly beneficial …
Holy doom metal, Batman!!! No, seriously, holy doom metal. Religious themes and pious imagery have long been a common subject for metal’s slower species, especially that of the epic subset (“The Samarithan” anyone?), and Sweden’s …
So here we are again. Heaven Shall Burn is back, with their wonderfully intense vocals, explosive breakdowns, melodic guitar riffs, politically charged lyrics, nostalgic interludes…and the same damn sound we have been listening to since …
originally written by Jim Brandon Originally intended to cap off a short mini-series of reviews that spotlighted the ever blooming French black metal scene, Aldaaron’s Nous Reviendrons Immortels has thrown me for a bit of …
Out of the shadowy forests of Norway comes Nàttsòl, a band that has secretly been in the works since the cold, dreary winter of 2006. Stemning, the band’s freshman effort, pays homage to many of …
originally written by Chris McDonald Although the cover art seems strangly reminiscent of a Nevermore album, The Morningside actually deals in airy, melodic death/doom strongly influenced by Agalloch and Katatonia, as well as Finland’s lucrative …
You’ve been here before. Here, among these waves. Waves that pretend to be glaciers, but at their heart are warm and cradling, not cold and isolating. It is the terrain of ebb and flow, slowly …
Just in case you missed the hype the first time around, Kingdom of Sorrow is the collaboration between Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta and the originator of “fat guy metal,” Crowbar vocalist/guitarist Kirk Windstein. Many wondered how …
originally written by Erik Thomas After a quick, devastating start to the year (Chelsea Grin, Carnifex, Annotations of an Autopsy), deathcore hit a bit of a dry spell for a few months. Things look to …
