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 Chris McDonald Before I begin, I should warn you: If you are looking for something catchy and intense to bang your head to in the car on the way to work, don’t …
Following up a 2-disc best-of collection with a covers collection? I’m not quite sure what is up with HammerFall these days. Less than a year after releasing Steel Meets Steel – Ten Years of Glory, they bring us …
Originally written by Michael Roberts. Poland’s Exit Wounds return with thirty rounds of brutal grindcore done the old way. Forget the song-oriented approach of latter-day Nasum or the horror movie atmospherics of Pig Destroyer, Exit Wounds is simply speed and spit all …
Originally written by Brady Humbert. I’ll preface this review by explaining that this album, in fact, is primed for album of the year for me. The best piece of atmospheric metal I’ve yet to hear this …
England’s Porkfarm unleash their Deepsend debut EP. Blood Harvest is a blistering blast of gory death/grind that blends dashes of early Gorerotted with a host of classic death metal acts and some grindcore dirtiness to boot. What …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Vader is no longer simply a band. The name has become an institution, a stalwart symbol of determination and destruction among death metal’s pantheon. As the title of this tome suggests, …
Originally written by Michael Roberts. The best way I can describe Gigan’s sound is a confrontation between Floridian-styled death metal and Dillinger-esque mathcore somewhere deep in outer space. That third point is crucial, as there’s a definite …
Many metal fans have issues gobbling down funeral doom. In that regard, I suppose it could be considered the creamed corn of our beloved genre. Actually, that seems a bit harsh, as some of us …
