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 Erik Thomas Quick story – there was a Minnesota metalcore band called Nehemiah, they released a killer album called The Asphyxiation Process and a swansong EP called Lenore. They split up. Members went on to help …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell It seems a bit odd to wrangle words over a piece of music that flows so effortlessly. The eloquent tome in question is Samothrace’s Life’s Trade, a monumental upheaveal of crushing doom. …
Originally written by Kris Yancey I’ll give it to Naer Mataron: they’ve got fire in their bellies, if only dinky embers capable of creating an ulcer at worst. But I almost feel like the Darkthrone …
Originally written by Kris Yancey The use of “random” feels a little out of place, having just heard Phobia’s newest, 22 Random Acts of Violence for the umpteenth time. Maybe each of the tracks chronicle …
Helms Alee’s MySpace site sports the following biographical information, quoted here in its entirety: “We are a loud rock band.” Fair enough. I can’t—and I won’t—disagree with that, but I will say it could use …
originally written by Chris McDonald In a turn of events almost identical to the circumstances that led to the release of Arsis’ A Diamond For Disease EP, Finnish melodoom stalwarts Swallow The Sun have released …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Light This City – the young, Californian wielders of what’s left of the melodeath torch – lived quickly and flickered out abruptly. Stormchaser, their posthumous work of Bay Area-bred Euroshred, is easily …
originally written by Chris McDonald Epic black metal has gotten its fair share of underground attention recently, particularly since the 2006 release of Drudkh’s masterful Blood In Our Wells, which utilized huge, hypnotic drumbeats and …
