“In the green-binary star system of Xoth, the deity Idh-yaa got all down and dirty with Cthulhu to create his slutty star-spawn. In a similar fashion, the band Xoth have got all down and dirty with all the blackened sub-genres of the metal-sphere, spawning a debut album that reaches far beyond the stars.” Star Lust, that fabulous STAR Lust….
“Commercialized metal is one of the strangest and most unnatural phenomena our beloved genre has gone through. I’m not talking about metal that happened to get mainstream recognition, by the way. Even Metallica, with the most lucrative metal act in history, started off as a thrash metal band like any other and only gained widespread fame after 5 albums. I’m talking about bands that seem to have been created or molded precisely to sell metal to the masses, like Amaranthe or Sonic Syndicate.” The vogue of metal.
“Music is capable of many wondrous things. It can arouse the senses and instill emotion in even the most hardened of battle vesters. Its melodies can spark furious debate and vehement fervor in scenic sadboys and teeny boppers alike. Indeed, music is just about the only artistic medium that has ever successfully made me shed angry, metal man-tears.” It’s okay to cry. Now report to HR.
“Makers of what they have referred to as “shadowy,” “blackened,” and “industrial” noise, T.O.M.B. ask in their own language of exploding synthesizers what would happen if, instead of making music haunted and cinematic, someone collected everything haunted and cinematic about metal and made it musical. Literally, this is a group that has crafted an entire album from samples recorded at famous insane asylums, and here on their newest release, Fury Nocturnus, they do their best to convince listeners they have found an even spookier space.” An experiment in terror?
“Though I’ll admit to having steered clear of “Christian metal” over the years due to some silly, small-minded prejudices, there have been exceptions that slowly opened my eyes. Trouble began life as a “white metal” act and I still loved them intensely, and little known Barren Cross caught me in a weirdly inescapable web of hooks with their Atomic Arena album back in 88. Much more recently I was completely blown away by Theocracy’s 2011 opus As the World Bleeds, which mixed bombastic power with prog and classic metal in a way that suited me down to my nonspiritual bones.” It’s high time to get some religion!
“Choosing what to do for Halloween is, in some sense, a lot like choosing how to be a metal band. You can try to deliberately frighten people, like Portal, be as provocative as possible, like Anal Cunt, flaunt your good feminine looks like the one member of Amaranthe anyone cares about, do something wacky and out-of-the-box like Troldhaugen, or you can throw on some old goblin mask and just go get drunk, loud and rowdy.” The goblins and ghosts are at the door.
“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.
“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!
“2016 will go down as the year 80s thrash legends struck a blow for the AARP crowd. It’s the year Anthrax, Megadeth and Death Angel all shook off the dust and complacency, releasing shockingly good albums, and in what may be the final sign of the Apocalypse, even Metallica seems poised to drop something marginally listenable next month.” Next stop: Apocalyptic City!
“I’ve always thought that if there were to be a musical equivalent of abstract modern art then it would come in the form of eccentric, experimental prog or post-metal – music that requires patience and an open mind to appreciate and digest – and such a description could not be apter for Providence’s Queen Elephantine.” Horton hears some drone.
