“I know what you’re thinking. That cover, those outfits, the absolutely killer orange-tinted glasses—they must be Italian. And it’s-a true, the members of Sinheresy hail from Trieste, which technically, in its annexed sliver, flies il Tricolore all the same. Also technically, Sinheresy plays metal, albeit in a variety that resembles the anthemic sympho-ish bounce of Olzon-era Nightwish smattered about with Björiffs to provide a kind of glossy crust.” Sinners bleed orange.
“Pastoral pleasures include quaint life activities like chewing on wheat straw, planning the tractor route, taking count of your animal inhabitants, and… well, shoot I don’t know, ask Cherd. Or ask Milking the Goatmachine, whose agrarian ideals include fat riffs, skanky drum beats, and squealing breakdowns.” Vote Goat 2023.
“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.” Death in July.
“REZN made a minor splash in Casa Dolph back in… March?! Wow, time flies! Psychedelic doom itself isn’t particularly known for getting anywhere fast, but these Chicago practitioners have an admirable hustle to earn yet another release to their name. This go around, though, they’ve partnered with the like-minded, Hawkwind synth-heavy doomsters from way down South in Mexico City, Vinnum Sabbathi.” Double doom.
“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.” Now featuring more ManoRodeö!
“The niche within a niche label I, Voidhanger often scrapes the fringes of underground styles for acts embracing the weird, the strange, the vaguely musical—curious but rarely captivating for me. Par for the course, I’d never heard of Denmark’s Tongues before snagging up Formløse Stjerner, but something about the tumultuous landscape of the nihilistically nautical cover called to me like a Danish white whale, a hvidhval, if you will. Feel the Willies!
“Grindcore, powerviolence, noise, all modes of expression which, unless your name is Beaten to Death, toss aside any resolution or melody in favor of speed, loudness, and sonic expulsion. But guess what? Constant Hell does all three.” The power and the fury.
“The Zenith Passage’s debut effort Solipsist crackled with a flame stoked by the identity that The Faceless set ablaze with dry and percussive pick spittings, alien-warble soloing, and sneakily grooving rhythm, but it wasn’t all so cut from the same cloth. Main mind McKinney even then seemed to have thoughts a touch more mechanical firing in his brain chamber.” Man vs. machine.
“I’m not a particularly skilled musician myself, and I won’t pretend for a second that I could play anything that Widow’s Peak does on this technical extravaganza of groovy and deathy leanings. Fitting for fret-melting of this caliber, this Canadian outfit has enlisted the engineering talents of Colin Marston (Krallice, Dysrhythmia, many technical credits).” Peak tech-freakouts.
“An existence spanning over twenty years in the Japanese underground brings an unsurprisingly bleak atmosphere to Kokyou De Shinu Otoko. From the grim blackness of the cover art to the translation of the title—roughly A Man Dies in His Hometown—Seek doesn’t bring even the smallest shred of happiness to the table.” Hometowns kill.
