Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Album artwork by James Koehnline] As much as I love and appreciate the fact that my metal foundation was fortified by growing up alongside the genre in the ‘80s as a youth, I owe a great deal of my undying …
[Cover art by Fenomeno Design] Did you know that Chile is pretty darn good at death metal? If not, you must be new around these parts, in which case, I say, welcome friend! We’re glad to have you here and …
It’s a magical corner of the musical world where a band can combine an infectious nature with extreme oddness, and it’s in that corner that Idaho’s Seven Chains makes their home. Make no mistake about it, third album Swollen, In …
[Cover art by Claudio Elias Scialabba] Italy’s Into Darkness has been a band for approximately 15 years but is just now releasing its first full length album, Route to the Other Side, but all that time has been greatly beneficial …
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 …
Originally written by Michael Roberts. Following on quickly from last year’s Pitch Black Brigade, Vreid’s latest full-length, I Krig, sees the Norwegian band continuing to refine their unique fusion of black metal and classic rock. On this album Vreid combine …
Jim Brandon’s take: The onslaught of metal I’ve withstood in the past 16 months as a member of this staff has taken its toll, and as a result, there are very few albums released over …
The goal of Desiderii Marginis — fronted by sole brainchild, Johan Levin — has always been firmly rooted within the drifty, dark-ambient realm, but Levin has always added loads of strummed acoustics, crescendoing strings, and …
Originally written by Jason Jordan. If anything, Eclipse was a jarring, triumphant return for Finland’s Amorphis that easily surpassed previous efforts Am Universum and Far from the Sun, and raised the bar for what would become Silent Waters, which happens to be the …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Synopsis: More depressive elegance from the Netherlands’ masters of beautifully somber doom. Review: Much like Draconian, Shape of Despair, Pantheist, Slumber and many of the Finnish doom acts (Swallow the Sun, Ablaze My Sorrow, My Shameful), Officium …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Synopsis: In the words of the mighty Neo…. “Whoa”. Review: While the debut album from Florida’s The Absence, From Your Grave, was a solid Dark Tranquility inspired and core free slab of US melodic …
Originally written by Doug Moore. Everyone knows that metal has something of a—shall we say, limited palette when it comes to lyrical content. Not a lot of metal bands are known for their lyrical clout, but on …
