Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover artwork by Douglas Leal] Listening to the new album from Brazil’s Deafkids, Cicatrizes Do Futuro, I’ve been thinking about rivers. [indignant voice from the back]: WHAT? Mea culpa, friend. I’m here today to preach the gospel of Under the …
[Album artwork by Harshanand Singh] The third album is in some ways a litmus test for a band’s longevity. Three albums is a sufficient sample size—you can generally tell where a band is headed, whether they’ll last, whether they speak …
[Pre]-historically speaking, the boys, Nocturno Culto and Fenriz, have always been influenced by the likes of Celtic Frost, Bathory, and all things ‘80s. In fact, they don’t shy away from the fact that it’s always been about that era. After …
[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 …
A new moon has passed once again, and yet again I find myself on a bit of a fools errand, seeking to read truth in something as erroneous as the black arts. Contradiction is its …
[Cover art by Juanjo Castellano] The short version: If you’re a melodeath fan, don’t buy the supposed return-to-form new record from In Flames, which is really a Korny-chorus-heavy Sounds of a Playground Fading wolf in …
Fuck me, there is a LOT of music out in the world. Here at Hi, Hello, How Are You and We’re Sorry We Said ‘Fuck You’ So Much Fridays, we are pleased to report that …
Aotearoa New Zealand trio Exterminator! aren’t a punk band, per se. However, the Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) band’s tar-thick sludge was born in the squalid depths of their hometown’s DIY punk scene. In the same way …
Perhaps you would agree that there are many ways for a band to be good. (If you do not agree, that is okay. But why start off on such a disagreeable footing?) There are two …
[Cover art by Samuel Nelson] If you’re some sort of masochist, perhaps you relished the searing agony of reading through the inane scattered ramblings of my 2022 best-of list. It wouldn’t take you long to …
[Artwork by Sami Makkonen] Not sure if you’ve noticed, but melodeath is enjoying a heck of a resurgence of late. To be clear, the offshoot never fully left the arena, but it’s probably been about …
With all due respect to the late Mariusz Lewandowski and the art chosen to adorn the cover of Frozen Dawn’s fourth record, The Decline of the Enlightened Gods, it’s a mite off for this sound. …
