“Wastes of Life hit me at my most unprepared. Billed as “unapologetically defiant and shockingly melodic” including a statement from Wrath to the effect of “My new album is one of my most soul-destroying albums. It was written under feelings of frustration and disgust.” my expectations were high.” You know, there just aren’t enough soul-destroying albums out there these days.
“Grind doesn’t do much for me these days. Sure I still get the itch for some manic, face-peeling extremity but one of the main reasons I’ve lost interest in the scene over the past couple of years is largely due to the difficulty of finding interesting bands capable of balancing the core speed and blasting ferocity of the genre with actual songcraft and hooks to keep me coming back.” Until now, that is.
“I feel quite confident when I say that Helheim might be one of the most underrated Viking metal outfits on the planet. There weren’t too many Norwegian black-metal bands in the mid ’90s pushing the Viking sound as hard as these guys.” Hel, hel to Norway!
“The music of American drone metal duo Sunn O))), even though structurally simplistic, is anything but easy to consume. The richness of their sound still pours through layered subtleties that require attentive listening lest they be drowned out by the incisively crumbling riffs.” It’s all about that riff, that riff, that riff.
“What do you get when you throw former and current members of Cynic, Exivious, and Dodecahedron all together in a room to record music? If you said something like quasi-jazz infused blackened death fuckery, you’d be absolutely…wrong. Completely. Like, not even close. What you do get instead is some of the loveliest sounding prog rock you’ll hear all year. Who knew?”
“Once again, it’s that awesome moment when you’re given a band whose name isn’t exactly search engine-friendly. Joining the ranks of Voices, Satan, Hell, and Tomb of Finland, we have… Un. Not the easiest name to google for a band.” When naming sessions go awry.
“Having finally stepped out from the shadow of Roman numerals and single-track full-length albums, the French Monolithe has returned with their fifth LP, Epsilon Aurigae. I considered Monolithe IV a slight regression from the monumental Monolithe III, and it seems the decision taken to step away from the established formula (which had already been more-or-less perfected by III) was a smart one.” Attach the Rock of Triumph again!
“I love combining metal with long-distance running. I find that reducing myself to a wheezing heap is a surprisingly effective way to evaluate new music: if an album makes me say “fuck this!” and throw my iPod into the nearest drainage ditch, it probably isn’t worth revisiting. With Macabre Omen’s sophomore effort Gods of War – At War, the effect was quite the opposite.” You missed the battle of the year!
“I like my death metal like the Swedes like their herrings: putrefied to the point of being potentially hazardous to consumers. Come to think of it, that’s also how the Swedes like their death metal. No wonder I’ve been enjoying the waves of throwback Swedeath that have splashed across my eardrums with remarkable frequency since Bloodbath’s debut re-popularized the Stockholm sound over ten years ago. But even the pungent flavor of semi-rotten fish becomes bland and unsatisfying when consumed in bulk, and so it is with retro death metal.” When is too much really too much?
“Whether you know it or not, Jon Mikl Thor is a living legend. His bizarre 40 year journey through the entertainment wood chipper has taken him to the disparate worlds of bodybuilding, live quasi-porn theater, proto-heavy metal and Grade-Z horror films. Through it all and come what may, the amiable Canadian Juggernaut just keeps smiling and flexing away, forever awaiting his big break.” The hammer will fall on all those who deny Thor’s trveness.
