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 Erik Thomas. Synopsis: Why can’t the ubiquitous Lord K (God Among Insects) and Jorgen Sandstrom (ex-Grave/Entombed, Death Breath) and their cohorts get a steady, consistent, multi album, respectable record/distribution deal? Massacre/Pavement Records, then Threeman, then Candlelight and now …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Synopsis: Hungary’s Sear Bliss is one of those critically acclaimed bands I had heard mentioned around the periphery of black metal’s elite, particularly Glory and Perdition, but never got around to hearing, so …
Opeth make it hard on the elitists, cynics and complainers with their first live album, the two-disc The Roundhouse Tapes. As Opeth’s commercial appeal has grown, so has the disenchanted segment of the underground that resents the band’s …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Synopsis: Listen up douchebags, instead of arguing in endless lashes in one of my deathcore reviews about what’s heavy, what’s metal, what’s trendy, and telling me my taste in music …
originally written by Chris McDonald Fondlecorpse’s Blood and Popcorn EP was originally intended to be a split with the now-unstable Frightmare, but due to delays from that end the band decided to release this material by itself. In …
Originally written by Jason Jordan. Italy’s Novembre have a strong discography, so it’s not surprising that The Blue is yet another great record from the brothers Orlando and company. In fact, though not up to par with the devastating Classica or …
Originally written by Michael Roberts. If you’ve never acquainted yourself with Impaled’s brand of gore-inspired, thrashy death metal, then The Last Gasp is as good an album to start with as any. Considering that this is their fourth …
Originally written by Chris Chellis. Listening to a live recording can be an extremely intimate experience. If you can hear the crowd, listen to some of the between-song banter and sense a greater energy coming …
