“Some metal bands progress through their career; their origins marked by unbridled energy and the rawest material of their lives, they develop to assimilate more influences and sand their edges into a smoother product. Some metal bands do not. They bluntly hammer the same music into listeners’ brains, relentlessly seeking the Riff of Power. Italy’s Barbarian put the fist in knuckle-dragging metal, battering the world with heavy music.” Red meat for meatheads.
Mark Z. and L. Saunders have their moment in the blackened sun to proclaim their Top Ten(ish) preferences for 2019. Fear the words.
“‘Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.’ It’s odd that a metal album calls to mind Genesis, but in this case it feels strangely appropriate. Even within genres, different bands occupy different niches. Some bands make music that’s tight, slick, and professional, some bands make music that sounds like a bunch of cavemen somehow acquired and learned to play modern instruments. True to their name, Italian trio Barbarian tend toward the latter. But lest you think that’s a slight against them, think again.” Honey, I think someone is at the gates.
“As I write this, Halloween is fast approaching. For me, it’s a time of binging on bad horror movies, gorging myself on Starbursts, and watching girls make things slutty that I didn’t even know could be slutty. Yet those long shadows and that eerie October chill also make a great time to enjoy some good old-fashioned metal, even if by ‘old fashioned’ I really mean a style which just emerged a few years ago. I’m talking about ‘blackened heavy metal’…” Starburst, slutty nurses, B-horror movies, and… blackened heavy metal?
“With debut Collected Bones, Exoskelett produced a record that sounds like what would happen if some kids heard Morbid Tales coming from their older brother’s bedroom and then spent the next three weeks trying to recreate that feeling by jamming on busted pawn shop instruments and guzzling Mountain Dew in their parent’s basement.” Bones, Dew and disharmony.
