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The River – A Hollow Full of Hope Review

The River – A Hollow Full of Hope Review

“The United Kingdom’s The River call their style of music “pastoral post-doom.” Pastoral; synonymous with idyllic. In landscape painting it means a pleasing mix of open vistas, farmland, rolling hills, maybe some lazily grazing livestock. There’s a point when “doom” becomes a misnomer. The River indeed inhabits this tenuous space.” Doom in quiet places.

Oceanlord – Kingdom Cold Review

Oceanlord – Kingdom Cold Review

“For someone who holds all forms of doom metal in high esteem, I must admit I’ve struggled to connect with anything of the stoner/psych variety ever since Italy’s Ufomammut put their amp fuzz out to pasture a few years back. As the oldest of all metal forms, predictability is baked into its very DNA. No matter how full of piss and vinegar a young band may be, if they play stoner doom, they fight the perceptions of a tired genre.” Tides aturning.

90s Metal Weirdness: Testament – Low

90s Metal Weirdness: Testament – Low

Cast your minds back to a time when metal music was not cool. Nay, indeed, a time when metal was anathema to all that was considered to be “chic” and “in.” A time when your favorite bands were actually encouraged by the music industry to play slower, cut their hair, and write sensitive lyrics about their childhoods. Yes, this unfortunately really happened.

Our new semi-irregular feature “90s Metal Weirdness” focuses on albums released between 1992 and 2001 and which we all probably would rather forget. But in the service of publicly shaming the musicians involved, we have pushed forward.