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 …
Edguy’s Tobias Sammet is at it again. Avantasia had pretty much been left for dead in the years following the release of The Metal Opera and The Metal Opera Part II, so I was surprised …
Progressive rock/metal has traditionally enjoyed a love-hate relationship with me. While I grew up listening to vintage prog (Crimson, Yes, Genesis) before I discovered punk and subsequently went through a lengthy period of distaste for …
Not that there’s much competition in my recent listens, but Chile’s Mar de Grises (“Ocean Of Grief”) is the best prog/doom/post-metal hybrid I’ve heard lately. Seriously. I know that’s simultaneously big words and a laughably …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Synopsis: I’ve been a fan of Lithuania folk/pagan act Obtest since 1997’s Tukstanmentis, and while the band has dropped their black metal sound in favor of a more straight forward power metal/thrash with …
One of the few metalcore bands that I can truly appreciate (even if I only first checked them out because I’m a science fiction geek), Florida/New York’s Shai Hulud reformed after a several-year hiatus with …
Originally written by Keith Fox. Moscow’s Arkona are named after the last pagan Slavic city-castle, an ancient religious center on the island of Rügen dedicated to the god Swietowit (according to part of my extensive research on …
Originally written by Tyler Wagnon. At one time or another for various publications I’ve reviewed Dead to Fall’s previous three full-lengths so I figured I’d go ahead and finish the discography. The first full-length Everything I Touch Falls …
Originally written by Doug Moore. Well goddamn, if this isn’t satisfying. One of the reasons I enjoy writing reviews is because I love to watch bands progress; it doesn’t happen often, but once in a …
