Huck N Roll

Off you fuck, chief.

Siinai – Sykli Review

By Huck N Roll on October 31, 2017 in 2017, Ambient Metal, Finnish Metal, Instrumental Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Reviews, Svart Records, Ambient Metal, Instrumental Metal, Non-metal Metal Things, 37 comments

“One of the best quotes of the year comes from the promo blurb for Siinai’s new album, Sykli: “…this album burst out of us, like when a ketchup bottle loses its cap when you are violently shaking it.” This from a band that in the past has also released an instrumental concept album about supermarkets.Yes, Siinai are a strange Finnish act that do odd things. This album’s concept isn’t as weird as “music to shop to.” Instead, Skyli professes to be about the cyclical nature of life. Considering that this is an instrumental album, figuring out how well it conveys a concept can be tough, but that’s why we get the big bucks, right?” Clean up in aisle Life.

Wobbler – From Silence to Somewhere Review

By Huck N Roll on October 30, 2017 in 2017, Karisma Records, Norwegian Metal, Progressive Rock, Reviews, Progressive Rock, 57 comments

“I have a confession: I’ve always wanted to listen to progressive rockers Wobbler, but haven’t. Their 2011 album Rites at Dawn has been sitting in my iTunes wish list folder for six years now, but life/time/priorities kept me from ever clicking on “Buy.” So naturally when I saw them pop up on our feed as having a new album coming out, I grabbed it. And then I had to go back and listen to their older stuff as well. All of which is a good thing if you’re into 70s prog rock done right.” Wobbler at the gates of dawn.

I Klatus – Nagual Sun Review

By Huck N Roll on October 28, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Reviews, Self-released, Sludge, Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Sludge, 23 comments

“Never judge a book by its cover – unless that book is Nagual Sun, by outre Chicago band I Klatus. Because this album cover perfectly matches the oddities within. The brainchild of visual artist/guitarist/growler Tom Denney, at its best the music on Nagual Sun borders on sludgy, hard-charging post-metal like Neurosis on acid: at worst, it’s a cacophonous mess of fragmented ideas (just like that artwork, which honestly looks like Denney spent about two minutes in Photoshop. Some of our loyal readers do better copy/paste work than that, and I certainly hope to see some variations on the cover in the comments below).” Photoshop-core.

Yer Metal Is Olde: Helloween – Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I

By Huck N Roll on October 23, 2017 in 2017, German Metal, Power Metal, Yer Metal Is Olde, Power Metal, 107 comments

“Back in May, my Twitter feed burped this out at me: “30 years ago today, Helloween released Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I.” The memories flooded back. For most of you, our loyal thralls readers, 1987 isn’t even a glint in your papa’s eye.” Still a keeper after all these years.

Iris Divine – The Static and the Noise Review

By Huck N Roll on October 10, 2017 in 2017, Alt-Metal, American Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Alternative Metal, Progressive Metal, 79 comments

“It’s prog time, baby. Having only dipped my metal-shod toes in my favorite genre a handful of times this year, I made a concerted effort to get ahead of my coworkers in October and indulge me of some progressive metal.” The early bird gets the noodle.

Monolord – Rust Review

By Huck N Roll on October 2, 2017 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Occult Rock, Stoner Metal, 40 comments

“While we didn’t review their slightly overhyped debut, Empress Rising, our beloved Roquentin took a look at 2015’s follow-up, Vænir, and liked what he heard. Monolord, as a name, suits these guys perfectly, as they are beholden to only one lord, and that is the Lord of the Riff. Since they hit the scene they’ve been bringing massive, fuzzy variations of Black Sabbath/Electric Wizard worship to the table.” That table can’t hold such massive riffs.

Biblical – The City That Always Sleeps Review

By Huck N Roll on September 29, 2017 in 2017, Canadian Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Not Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Reviews, Tee Pee Records, Non-metal Metal Things, Not Metal, 24 comments

“I spent the summer searching and searching for the next great retro album. I never found it. In fact, all year I’ve only found a half-dozen albums I’ve really liked (as in a 3.5 or higher), and none of those since June. That’s piss-poor and depressing. It’s like owning a black and white television. Well, I’m hoping to upgrade to a color TV eventually this year, so what better time to start looking than right now?” Baby bible steps.

Dead Is Dead – Constraints of Time Review

By Huck N Roll on September 27, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Doom Metal, Post-metal, Reviews, Sludge, Triple Eye Industries, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, Sludge, 26 comments

“A quick search of Neurosis on our wonderful website is quite revealing: of the first twenty reviews or mentions of those elder statesmen, Yours Truly is responsible for five of the links – more than any other reviewer. That means either I love that band more than other AMG thralls, or I dislike them the least. Which is interesting to me, as I’m certainly not the one here that’s into the heaviest music, for I am olde, and my ears are tender (when they aren’t ringing). So here I go again, getting suckered into a review where Neurosis, Helmet, and Isis are listed as similar acts.” Dead is as Neurosis does.

Travelin Jack – Commencing Countdown Review

By Huck N Roll on September 13, 2017 in 2017, German Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Reviews, SPV, Steamhammer, Hard Rock, 26 comments

“We’ve been seeing it since the dawn of time: when one band finds success, record company execs stumble over themselves trying to sign the next great version of that band. Rarely is the next great version actually found: instead, what we usually end up with are tepid versions of the original, competent yet missing that certain intangible (and more often than not also missing decent songwriting). Case in point: the critical success bands like Royal Thunder and Blues Pills have enjoyed in recent years. Record labels are wading through quagmires looking for the next great female-fronted retro blues/metal acts, and tossing half-baked ideas at us in the hopes that something sticks.” Sticky or icky?

Tony Mills – Streets of Chance Review

By Huck N Roll on September 5, 2017 in 2017, Battlegod Productions, British Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Hard Rock, 16 comments

“Back in the ’80s, before a little thing called the World Wide Web came along, we got our metal news from magazines like Circus and Hit Parader. In a pathetic attempt to be hip and now amongst my fellow teenage metalhead pals, I was always on the lookout for any obscure band that got a decent review in those rags. One such band in 1985 was a British act called Shy. I’ll be honest: Brave the Storm was probably the worst album I bought based on these old reviews. The songs were bad, it was dated and sounded old a week after I bought it, and the vocals — by one Tony Mills — were screechingly awful.” 32 years will change a man.