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 …
So what’s on Ministry’s swan song live album? Those songs where he rails against Bush! Doesn’t narrow it down, does it. Okay, the ones aimed at George W. Bush. Wait, that’s not specific enough either. Fine then, we’ll …
So here I sit listening to the new Mastodon album, Crack the Skye. This is a pretty significant thing for me, as it is one of the few times that I have actually sat down …
Arch Enemy in 2009 is a band simultaneously just past their peak and well into their decline. Their commercial fortunes have arguably never been better—the last few albums have garnered them more exposure and more …
Originally written by Erik Thomas Though Samael had a nice sorta comeback with Solar Soul after the pure techno metal of Eternal and Reign of Light, nothing really prepared me forAbove and its almost return to blackened form. Apparently this album was started …
Ramar Pittance’s take: “Black metal, by definition, creates a deep psychedelic wash by layering guitar and submerging melody in the chaos. This is one part of black metal that we will always stay true to.” …
One of the great frustrations of many progressive metal fans is that the progenitors of the genre have, over the course of their long careers, more or less steered away from metal in favor of …
Occam’s Razor is a scientific principle that all things equal, the most simple explanation (theory) for something is likely to be the correct one. Razor of Occam is a black thrash act from London by way of …
originally written by Chris McDonald Imagine, if you will, a band that epitomizes everything sleek, modern, and forward-thinking about underground metal music. A band akin to Decrepit Birth, Angra, or Wintersun perhaps. An outfit whose …
