“Don’t get your hopes up, ye of heavy metal’s golden years. Heavy Meta is nearly everything you hate about today’s extreme music. Mathcore, black metal, noise rock, and prog all have a hand in this monstrosity, and if there is an inkling of distaste for any of these styles, Mana Regmata might need to come with a side of aspirin. Featuring a tongue-in-cheek moniker that you could proudly proclaim at any party, it’s a group that only jokingly defines itself as “blackened progressive cowboy nintendocore.”” Meta health.
Alternative Rock
Yer Metal Is OIde: Alice In Chains – Alice In Chains
“Seattle rock legends Alice In Chains may not strictly qualify as metal, but they are widely regarded within the metal community, especially compared to the other big name bands of the famed grunge era, which tend to polarize metalheads. Perhaps it’s the blanket of sorrow and darkness enveloping their sound, coupled with the sludge and doom influences, that compliment their hard rock core and melancholic acoustic forays. Although Alice In Chains are still chugging along admirably to the present day, it was the band’s ’90s heyday and era with doomed frontman Layne Staley that remains the classic and defining era of the band.” Alice lives.
A Perfect Circle – Eat the Elephant Review
“When A Perfect Circle dropped debut album Mer De Noms in 2000, the rock supergroup managed to exceed, or at least match, the lofty expectations its high profile membership garnered, led by Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan. The brilliant debut opus remains a staple in my listening rotation nearly 20 years later, and 2003 follow-up Thirteenth Step proved a worthy successor. Before inevitable clashes with the band member’s various main projects resulted in a 14-year recording hiatus, they dropped the ill-advised and overtly political 2004 covers album eMOTIVe. Now A Perfect Circle finally return with their highly anticipated fourth LP, Eat the Elephant.” Sphere today, gone tomorrow,
Tetrafusion – Dreaming of Sleep [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]
“I’m more of a modern prog dude. Not that I have anything against the classic ’70s era of progressive rock, but aside from a few notable bands, led by the obvious Pink Floyd, I simply haven’t been exposed to a lot of it, despite being a big fan of ’60s and ’70s music, in general. Yeah, I know, it’s something I need to rectify. Luckily, modern prog of the rock and metal variety offers an embarrassment of riches to indulge in.” Prog for the noggin.
Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun Review
“With expectations sky high after the mesmerizing Abyss, Wolfe returns with her highly anticipated sixth opus, Hiss Spun. One of Chelsea Wolfe’s key strengths as an artist lies in her ability to continually evolve and reinvent herself. Familiar strands tie her works together, but she is not in the game of repeating herself, as Hiss Spun firmly attests.” Wolfe at your doorstep.
Anewrage – Life-Related Symptoms Review
“Hey, you! Yeah, that’s right, I know you and your ilk, only scurrying out of your hatch for a new record if the music is heavier than a dying panda reading Sartre and the album is only available in limited release as sheet music stapled to the bathroom door in an abandoned hospital. Well, you better slink back to your cobweb-ridden hovel as Life-Related Symptoms by Anewrage is none of those things.” Time to appreciate the gentler things in life.
Oceans of Slumber – Winter Review
Oceans of Slumber is walking a very unique path. A combination of melodic death, doom and black metal influenced by the Century Black roster from about 1998, Winter blends that with a sadboy metal and alternative rock base. The album is beautiful, mysterious, and oddly chaotic. It’s also really good.
Kontinuum – Kyrr Review
“The Kontinuum… continues! Not to be confused with the tech death band Continuum reviewed here by Dr. A.N. Grier earlier in the week, Kontinuum are an Icelandic band that plays a multifarious blend of dreamwave and post-rock/metal with some inviting and interesting gothic undertones.” Is Iceland becoming the next Finland?
90s Metal Weirdness: Bruce Dickinson – Skunkworks
“Cast your minds back to a time when metal music was not cool. Nay, indeed, a time when metal was anathema to all that was considered to be “chic” and “in.” A time when your favorite bands were actually encouraged by the music industry to play slower, cut their hair, and write sensitive lyrics about their childhoods. Yes, this unfortunately really happened. Our new semi-irregular feature “90s Metal Weirdness” focuses on albums released between 1992 and 2001 and which we all probably would rather forget. But in the service of publicly shaming the musicians involved, we have pushed forward.” And how dare we accuse the Crown Prince of NWoBHM of weirdness? Oh, we dare, but it’s all very British and polite like.
90’s Metal Weirdness: pist.on – Number One
“Cast your minds back to a time when metal music was not cool. Nay, indeed, a time when metal was anathema to all that was considered to be “chic” and “in.” A time when your favorite bands were actually encouraged by the music industry to play slower, cut their hair, and write sensitive lyrics about their childhoods. Yes, this unfortunately really happened. Our semi-irregular feature “90s Metal Weirdness” focuses on albums released between 1992 and 2001 and which we all probably would rather forget. But in the service of publicly shaming the musicians involved, we have pushed forward.”