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 Jordan Campbell The eyeliner-clad, New York based duo known as Velonnic Sin specializes in guitar-centric, warlike black metal. Armed with a serious mid-periodMarduk influence, as well as a knack for acute melody injection, the band …
Three has always been a significant number: Three distinct species of the human genus; three basic planes of Geology; Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics; three ingredients to an Atom; Freud’s three parts to the human …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell Let’s cut through the crap straight away: Absolute Design is an absolutely atrocius album, and is quite possibly one of the worst semi-major albums released thus far this year. This is simultaneously …
Originally written by Jordan Campbell The majority of what has been hailed as upper-echelon black metal over the past few years has been extremely challenging in nature. Not only for the listener, but for the …
Originally written by Michael Roberts. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve felt caught out like this, but I’m both grateful yet slightly ashamed for not picking up on Midnattsol prior to this album. Put simply, Nordlys is a …
From the metal as hell I Hate comes the, uh, so not metal as hell second album from Salt Lake City’s SubRosa. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a distinctly arid, desert-doom quality to this album, but if I …
Originally written by Keith Fox. Alchemical doom. That’s the tag I read the lead vocalist use to describe California-based Jex Thoth’s sound in a Decibel Magazine piece on the band. Sounds about right. I don’t love genre tags, but this band …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Synopsis: Austria’s Belphegor have slowly become the Amon Amarth/Dismember/Bolt Thrower of their chosen goat obsessed black/death metal with seven albums of blistering if similar fury to their name and album number seven does not disappoint. Review: …
