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 …
After 20 years, 68 band members, 17 albums, and appearances on Judge Judy, Larry King Live, Jerry Springer, Howard Stern, Talk Soup, MTV, Ripley’s Believe it Or Not, and CNN, you’d think Skitzo would have …
originally written by Thomas Creager Originally released in 2006, A Consequence of Design is finding rejuvenated life in remastered and augmented form that only a newly struck record deal can bring. This re-release features, aside …
Originally written by Michael Roberts. While fans await the band’s upcoming full-length Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1 on Century Media, Blake Judd and Co. have kindly given us this tasty little morsel in the Worldfall EP. Comprised of two new …
Epic metal in the classic tradition, Greece’s Battleroar evokes the heyday of Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Manilla Road, Omen, pre-prog Fates Warning and others. What little I’ve heard of earlier Battleroar efforts didn’t particularly wow me—like …
Originally written by Keith Fox. Wow. I was not expecting something with such generic artwork to be so good. It looks like an old school black metal release, and that’s exactly what it is – straightforward, …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Though arriving with less fanfare and anticipation than the still fresh break up of Emperor release, The Adversary, Ihsahn’ssecond self monikered album sees a continuation of experimentation with familiar themes. The Adversary, to me …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell “What the hell…everybody ends up dead. It’s just a matter of when.” Sorry for the spoiler, but that’s the sampled quote that opens the newKataklysm record. As far as spoilers go, …
originally written by Chris McDonald This is the first review I’ve written that required absolutely zero listening on my part of the source material. Impossible, you say? Not quite, as it just so happens that …
