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 …
Solitude Aeturnus will always be the first name in Texas doom metal, but in Elliott’s Keep, I believe I have found the second. The story of Elliott’s Keep begins with another Texas doom metal band …
Originally written by Ross Main. There is a difference between a resurrection and a reunion. Both have their time and place in life and metal, and can either be done tastefully or not. Imagine for …
Originally written by Michael Roberts. While we spend the coming weeks (or months) taking in Wavering Radiant and deciding where it ranks in the Isis discography, the newer batch of slow-and-heavy post-metallers are releasing some exciting stuff of their own. …
Originally written by Kris Yancey “Yes, sweet is the fruit that grows from the tree of bitterness.” In no small way should the term “sleeper hit” be associated with Maranatha. After all, Arioch released it …
Today’s bands are doing a lot more than simply challenging the boundaries of black metal, they’re tormenting and beating the living hell out of it. Psychedelics, dulcimers, tin whistles, ambiance, mouth harps, didgeridoo’s and even …
originally written by Chris McDonald As modern death metal continues to push the envelope of demanding musicianship, overbearingly complex song-structures, and pristine production, one eventually has to ask, “Where do we go from here?” What …
I called to the other men that the sky was clearing, and then a moment later I realized that what I had seen was not a rift in the clouds but the white crest of …
Think about the Haunted House attraction at the local county fair. The one where you ride herky-jerky in a little cart that clicks incessantly along a tiny train track. Every ten feet or so, some …
