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 Sasha Horn I’ve sounded the siren at least a dozen times in honor of classic American Speed/Thrash while listening to Burn, and that’s at least one time per tune, at least. So …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Seven albums in, and Slough Feg are still fighting. Not merely surviving, but thriving. Even as an entity ignored by many, they remain revered by a strong and vocal few–which is cool for …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Hot off the heels of their stellar reissue of Once Sent From The Golden Hall, Metal Blade gives Amon Amarth‘s sophomore outing the same treatment. On the surface, it seems that this rapid-fire relaunching …
Originally written by Michael Roberts. It’s only been a year since Warbringer were earning accolades for War Without End and already these young thrashlings have knocked out the follow-up. With their debut, the band were lauded for being one of, …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Hell Symphony and The Book are two pillars of the vast Root catalog. Originally released in 1991 and 1999, respectively, the albums are as stylistically disparate as they are unique. This makes it a bit …
Krautrock inspired by the Palm Desert scene and refined in the halls of the Chicago School of Atmospheric Post-Metal, by way of Madrid, Spain. Unless you’re already familiar with El Paramo, or studied in these …
The bio info for Poland’s Mothra namechecks the likes of Burnt By The Sun, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Converge, and rightly so. The band’s mathematical metalcore certainly evokes those bands, as well as Meshuggah and …
It seems like most every Jungle Rot review of the last ten years or so starts something like this: “Ever heard a Jungle Rot record? Then you know what you’re getting here.” Kenosha, Wisconsin’s most …
