Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover art by Quinn Henderson] You’re familiar with the term, “unc,” right? If not, it generally refers to a washed up older feller whose personality in large part revolves around extravagantly performing confusion and/or displeasure at the mere notion of …
[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 …
The good thing about reissues is that you get a chance to pick up a copy of a disc you probably heard but never found when it was new. But, if you are a reviewer, …
Originally written by Harley Carlson. As one of Norway’s most notable talents, Ihsahn’s hell-fueled contributions to metal, or otherwise, are evidence of nothing less than his incontestable genius. From raw epic black metal of early Emperor to the …
The Ruins of Beverast is the brainchild of Alexander von Meilenwald, one time drummer of the now defunct German black metal act, Nagelfar (not to be confused with Sweden’s Naglfar), who were responsible for releasing …
Originally written by Jeremy Garner With the much publicized rebirth of Dissection there has been a prodigious amount of debate and speculation about the resulting effort, and here I sit listening to the disastrous result. …
Originally written by Jeremy Garner From what I understand this was already released abroad through Spinefarm records, but Candlelight USA has taken it upon themselves to release their new album for its US distribution. Wound …
The enormously influential and criminally underappreciated Killing Joke returns with their second offering since their 2003 comeback effort. While the band’s original self titled debut is universally revered by fans, there seems to be two schools of …
Originally written by Ian Duncan-Brown. If you are a fan of technical death metal, skip the review and pick up the disc right now; the level of musicianship on display here is practically unparalleled in …
Originally written by Harley Carlson. Successfully employing (for the most part) a safe and simple formula that blurs the lines between mainstream radio rock and bona fide underground metal, little strategic musical change has been …
