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 Michael Roberts. What we have here is technical death/grind falling somewhere between early Suffocation, Barnes-era Cannibal Corpse and Cryptopsy. Defeated Sanity are high on the speed and brutality but low on subtlety and dynamics, so if you can’t …
New to the pagan/Viking-inspired scene but certainly no greenhorns to metal, Portland, Oregon’s Oakhelm features two guitarists and a drummer from black/death metal troupe, Fall of the Bastards, and one-time Assück (Anticapital), current Wormwood champ, …
To say that a lot has happened since we last heard from Down doesn’t even begin to cover it. The years of drug addiction and recovery, debilitating health conditions, and the twin horrors of Hurricane Katrina and …
To say that I have a pretty fucking big music collection would almost be an understatement. Yet for all the artists contained within, there is only a small fraction of those which I genuinely get …
Originally written by Ian Chainey This just in: Obscure, no-name critic champions band’s ability to make listening fun instead of harping on their lack of variation or other musical downfalls. The rest of the day’s headlines …
Originally written by Chris Chellis. First things first, the Baroness captured here is not comprised of exactly the same elements that came to fruition later on the Red Album. The Baroness here is less rock oriented and more firmly rooted …
What’s lighter than a freshly fallen feather that’s quietly resting on the tip of a kitten’s nose? The vocals on this record, that’s what’s lighter than a freshly fallen feather that’s quietly resting on the …
Originally written by Chris Chellis. Though Savannah gave birth to this very band four years ago, the Baroness name is still a relatively new one to most, including myself. There’s the First EP, the Second EP and the split with Unpersons, but …
