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 Jason Jordan. Fuck the Facts are the best band with the word “fuck” in their moniker, which is both a blessing and a curse. Aside from that, anyone familiar with these grindeath Canadians …
Originally written by Dan Staige. There’s a top secret room about the size of a walk-in closet in an animal testing lab. You won’t see it by taking an employee-guided tour. It’s buried behind a …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Synopsis: For those that don’t know, Darkest Hour were releasing At The Gates melodic styled death metal as far back as 1996, while in their teens when most current metalcore bands were in Hot …
Originally written by Jason Jordan. Red Harvest have been releasing material since the early ‘90s, and from my understanding, they periodically undergo stylistic changes that result in each album sounding different than its predecessors. Still, though …
The best way I can think to summarize my feelings about King Of The Grey Islands is to compare its release with the Christmas I experienced back around 1981. It was a year when all …
Originally written by Harley Carlson. In the perpetual quest to become a mainstream mainstay, Century Media‘s continued signing of sub-standard acts like Agents Of Man, Blessed By A Broken Heart, and Manntis has significantly marred their underground credibility. As they’ve …
Originally written by Erik Thomas. Synopsis: How this band remained unsigned after releasing (and giving away) their superb debut EP, Nouveau, truly baffles me. And now with an equally stunning, challenging and artistic, self released and …
Originally written by Ian Chainey There are those drug albums that glorify the experience of the high; experimental recordings that are meant to add something to the process of self-exploration through mind-altering substances. And then, …
