Record reviews
“‘…the universe is a flaw in the purity of non-being.’ It’s this thought by French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry that sprung into my mind while listening and re-listening to the latest record by Dutch ambient black metal duo Urfaust. Their style was always born out of a sense of desolation and isolation, a tribute to emptiness, owing equally to dark ambient and metal.” Of being and ambience.
“I still remember the first time I really sat down with a Tom Waits album. When that day came, the album was The Black Rider. And, as one would expect, I thought it was the most-metal, non-metal album I’d ever heard. After that, and still to this day, ole Tom gets more than a few spins per month in the Grier household. Waits gets so much love here that he even has a portrait in the living room and a neat stack of vinyl in the corner. I mean, how can you hate Tom Waits?” Tom Waits for no man.
“Mithras is finally back with fourth full-length On Strange Loops – an album reportedly six years in the making and probably the last with longtime vocalist/bassist Rayner Coss, who left the group earlier this year. Strap in, sit tight, and set phasers to ‘fuck yeah’ as we explore what’s likely to be the best death metal record of 2016.” Let’s get loopy!
“Formed in 2000, this quartet mulled about in obscurity for years, releasing only a demo and an EP before their self-titled debut in 2013. Sophomore LP Black Pyres shows these thrashers continuing to cook up Destruction riffs filtered through the blackened savagery of fellow Swedes Nifelheim.” File under: The Revenge of Black Phillip.
“Whenever a new Dark Tranquillity album drops, it causes me to reflect on the state of the Gothenburg sound. Despite lesser albums like We Are the Void and Construct, it’s abundantly clear Dark Tranquillity reaped the most benefit from the stylistic tontine they established with In Flames and At the Gates back in 1992. Their particular take on melo-death has aged like a fine vintage while others have become little more than hobo wine. That great gulf is even more stark when Dark Tranquillity crafts a masterful release like Atoma.” Enter the Atoma Age.
“The Halloween period is here. Carve your pumpkins, bob your apples, egg your neighbors’ houses and listen to some horror-themed brutality. Hailing from Jobbstown, New Jersey, Cognitive play tech-death straight from the grave.” Boo-urns!
Copycatting is behavior generally reserved for little twerps on a mulch-surfaced playground at recess (and only slightly less annoying than asking “Why?” non-stop). Imitation naturally extends to metal as well, though it typically has to transcend influence and homage into rank apery before bands get a strike against them. Even blatant mimicry can earn a […]
“If there are any bands out there that I can safely claim to have a major allegiance to, it would certainly be England’s Anaal Nathrakh. Maybe it’s because their magic blend of black metal, industrialized noise, grindcore, and even some power metal elements strike a nerve like few other bands do. Or perhaps it’s because, whenever you hear people talk ill about really any type of metal (kill your mother, rape your dog, etc.), chances are the music that Anaal Nathrakh spawns are the exact sounds these people actively imagine in their heads.” Lock up your mothers, lock up your dogs.
“For reasons I can’t quite pinpoint, the band’s solid debut didn’t wow me like it did others, leaving me a touch underwhelmed after diving headlong into the thick as a brick stew of churning riffs and unsettling atmosphere. Repeat listens after an extended break have been kind and my opinion of the album is a little more positive. So being a persistent trooper I jumped on Krypts follow-up platter, Remnants of Expansion, hopeful they could capitalize on their considerable potential.” Talk to the monster hand.
“Anyone who’s made this blog a regular haunt knows there are several “don’ts” many of us consider when we review albums: don’t bloat your album length, don’t brickwall the damn thing in production, and so on. Far be it from me as a probational scribe to suggest a new entry for our Tome ov Rules, but after listening to sophomore effort, Eidolon, from Canadian doomers’ Zaum, I’ve settled on a new guideline for my personal rulebook: when writing a full-length album, don’t put all of your stock in only two massive songs.” A good rule is a good rule, regardless of its source.
