Rating

Corrosion Of Conformity – IX Review

By Dr. Fisting on June 7, 2014 in 2.5, 2014, American Metal, Candlelight, Heavy Metal, Reviews, 9 comments

“Considering that the band was left for dead after 2005’s In The Arms Of God, North Carolina’s Corrosion of Conformity has been on a fucking roll these last few years. The band’s original trio reconvened in 2010 and embarked on heavy-duty touring, followed by 2012’s excellent self-titled LP and the hastily-assembled Megalodon EP for Scion A/V. Just two short years later, COC is back again with their 9th album, creatively titled IX.” Old stoner/hardcore bands never die, they just get more garage-y.

Trap Them – Blissfucker Review

By Kronos on June 4, 2014 in 2.0, 2014, Crust Punk, Death Metal, Grind, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Crust Punk, Death Metal, Grind, 1 comment

“Trap Them has for years been in that beautiful sweet spot of great hardcore with a monstrous buzzsaw guitar sound. 2011’s Darker Handcraft pushed out excellent songs at high speed and sounded really good thanks to Kurt Ballou’s revered production chops, turning many a head and securing an already growing reputation for excellence. Three years later, Blissfucker readies for release, but with an entirely new rhythm section and a long silence from the band, what could have been cooking?” Let’s look in the pot, shall we?

Exorcism – I Am God Review

By Madam X on April 14, 2014 in 2014, 3.5, American Metal, Doom Metal, French Metal, GoldenCore Records, Italian Metal, Reviews, Sludge, ZYX Music, Doom Metal, Sludge, 3 comments

“Super-groups are an odd breed of duck. They either end up a bunch of egos, ball-busting for attention (a fight nobody wins) or they end up something along the lines of Down’s NOLA – chilled out, soaked in beer, raw and dirty and probably totally fucking stoned. This little collective I happened upon most recently via Rock n Growl Promotion, hail from a range of countries including, unsurprisingly, the USA and more surprisingly Spain, Italy and France.” An international doom rock supergroup starring the likes of Joe Stump? Intriguing!

Slough Feg – Digital Resistance Review

By Dr. Fisting on January 28, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Heavy Metal, Metal Blade, Rating, Reviews, Heavy Metal, 3 comments

“For the uninitiated, San Francisco’s Slough Feg has been producing high quality old-school rock since the dark ages known as the mid-1990’s. Their signature sound combines elements of early metal and Celtic-inspired hard rock topped off by the bizarre lyrics and unique vocals of Mike Scalzi. Think Thin Lizzy with Professor X on vocals, and you’re in the ballpark. Digital Resistance is the band’s 9th album, and according to their bio, it’s a semi-concept record about “the digital age not only in terms of music, but how technology affects life itself.” Old school metal bands doing concept albums about the horrors of technology? That makes me feel cranky and old.

Warfather – Orchestrating the Apocalypse Review

By Kronos on January 15, 2014 in 2.0, 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Greyhaze Records, Reviews, 1 comment

“Other than being a young blood on the review team here, I’m a young blood in general, meaning that I popped onto this rock just around the time death metal was in its youthful heyday, and was introduced to it late, more or less in its modern form, without any experience with its gritty adolescent years. For the most part, the 90s sound is a relic for me, fossil evidence of the gradual evolution of death metal. Warfather seems determined to re-educate me. The throwback quartet, headed by ex-Morbid Angel bassist/vocalist Steve Tucker, has crept onto my radar with a name too ridiculous to pass by and a sound 90s enough to warrant a presidential apology to the American people.” Kronos is young and in need of guidance. Can Warfather provide the parental authority he needs or are they just a bad influence?

Sheol – Sepulchral Ruins Below The Temple Review

By Grymm on December 2, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Death Metal, English Metal, Iron Bonehead Productions, Reviews, Death Metal, 3 comments

“What’s old is new again. Many new bands are ravaging old graveyards to exhume rotting corpses of bands and styles long since past their sell-by date. 70’s proto-doom, 80’s retro-thrash, and now, 90’s fuzzy Swedeath are the templates that bands are utilizing to create their own legacies. UK’s Sheol are the newest duo to bring out the rotting, zombified corpses of early Dismember and Darkthrone into the sunlight (studios) with their debut EP, Sepulchral Ruins Below The Temple.” 2013 winds down as it cranked up – with loads of old school Swedish death. Do you have room for just a little more?

Poison Idea – Kings Of Punk Review

By Dr. Fisting on November 14, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Hardcore, Non-Metal Metal Things, Not Metal, Rating, Releases, Southern Lord, Hardcore, 3 comments

The phrase “underrated” gets thrown around a lot, but it’s a pretty apt description for legendary Oregon punks Poison Idea. These guys somehow never got the respect or notoriety that their contemporaries did, despite having their songs covered by everyone from Turbonegro to Machine Head to Pantera (yes, that fucking song from The Crow). Led by larger-than-life frontman Jerry A. and equally huge guitarist Pig Champion, PI were a force to be reckoned with, both musically and physically (legend has it that the band weighed over 1,300 lbs. at the height of their substance abuse days). Here’s a weighty slice of classic hardcore for you, re-released with many bells unt whistles. Mr. Fisting rubs the belly and tells us what kind of sounds to expect from this seminal punk crew.

Sepultura – The Mediator Between The Head And The Hands Must Be The Heart Review

By Dr. Fisting on October 28, 2013 in 2013, Brazilian Metal, Groove Metal, Nuclear Blast, Rating, Reviews, Uncategorized, 13 comments

“The name Sepultura carries a lot of baggage these days. A decade and a half after the band’s split with frontman Max Cavalera, the word is synonymous with wasted potential, increasingly questionable legitimacy, and diminishing musical returns. Every album is touted as a “comeback” or return-to-form of some kind, but never quite lives up to the hype, leading to renewed calls for the band’s end — or even worse, total indifference.” After a long-term case study, Mr. Fisting has determined that the mediator between Sepultura and good music must not be Ross Robinson.

Monster Magnet – Last Patrol Review

By Steel Druhm on October 5, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, American Metal, Heavy Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Stoner Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Stoner Metal, 4 comments

“That sketchy van is back in town. You know, the one with New Jersey plates, mushrooms and wizards painted on the side and the “Free Candy” bumper sticker. And as usual, there’s more smoke pouring from the tinted windows than from the tailpipe. That can only mean Monster Magnet is back to drop more of their spaced-out, stoner-themed hard rock to conjures the era of bongos, free love and lava lamps. Coming off 2010s masterful Mastermind release, Dave Wyndorf and company had some big sandals to fill.” So how do you fill a sandal exactly? Monster Magnet fills it with rowdy, stripper club friendly rock and that can’t be a bad thing, can it?

Cult of Luna – Vertikal II Review

By Alex Franquelli on September 29, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Avante Garde, Indie Recordings, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Shoegaze, Sludge, Swedish Metal, Drone, Progressive Metal, 2 comments

“Now, where were we? I seem to remember this this great album from an act simply incapable of disappointing. In was the middle of winter and North Korea appeared as a threat to the dumb half of the world’s population. Today, while that same fraction struggles to locate the hemisphere Syria is in, the summer light convulses in his death throes this side of the planet and we take shelter from the impending cold. OK, but what about the music?” The ever mercurial Alex is here to cover the equally mercurial Cult of Luna’s new release, Vertikal II. If you aren’t careful, you may get mercurial poisoning!