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 …
Originally written by Ian Chainey What part does nostalgia play in our enjoyment of music? My dad has been raiding the shit-stained Rhapsodic vaults for Glenn Miller, not because he likes the bland cat, but …
What I loved about The Vision Bleak’s last offering, 2007’s The Wolves Go Hunt Their Prey, was its capture and conveyance of the Gothic spirit at no cost to the essence of Heavy Metal. What …
originally written by Jim Brandon It’s not so much the meat, it’s the motion, isn’t it? What you do with what you’ve got, whether you prefer to swing it around all willy-nilly, or focus it …
It’s a pretty safe jaunt just a little ways off the mercilessly beaten path, the Gothenburg melo- meets nameless brootal-death on the second coming of Sight of Emptiness. This is a style I rarely give …
Originally written by Chris Chellis. That Forest Silence’s The Eternal Winter demo sees the light of day after eight years, with two new tracks tacked on for good measure, somehow seems fitting given the current climate in black metal. …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell A confession: When the acrimonious Gorgoroth split occurred, I was solidly cheerleading the King / Gaahl camp. Blasphemy, you say? Well, my reasoning was pretty simple. Ad Majoram Sathanas Gloriam was an absolute beast …
Mouth of the Architect enjoys flip-flopping their approach a bit. Their understated debut led them to be lumped in with the lighter faction of the post-metal movement, but The Ties That Blind revealed a penchant …
I’m all for the hybridization of black metal. Hell, the metal world is already heavily populated with bands artfully fusing black metal with various other sub-genres from psychedelic prog (Enslaved) to death and doom (Withered) …
