Listenable Records

Villainy – Villainy II: Dim Review

Villainy – Villainy II: Dim Review

“Though I have no musical ability, back in high school I used to love plucking random strings on my friend’s Stratocaster knockoff and imagining I was composing an avant-garde interlude for some progressive screamo album.” You know, with an intro like that, I’m pretty sure you’ll end up not trusting this guy’s judgement anyway…

Satan – Atom By Atom Review

Satan – Atom By Atom Review

“NWOBHM legends Satan are one of the greatest comeback stories in recent memory. Formed in the UK in 1979, the band’s early work was part of the blueprint for what became thrash and speed metal. However, Satan themselves had a rough career, plagued by lineup issues and multiple name changes, resulting in nearly two decades of non-activity.” Court is now back in session.

Gorod – A Maze of Recycled Creeds Review

Gorod – A Maze of Recycled Creeds Review

“While other bands focus on heavy hits and constant pummeling, Gorod have made themselves the Muhammad Ali of death metal: light on their feet and surgically precise, and incredibly fun to bear witness to.” But will this be a Thrilla in Manilla or fall flat on its face? Anything can happen in a fight.” Kronos vs. Tech-death. FIGHT!

The Order of Apollyon – The Sword and the Dagger Review

The Order of Apollyon – The Sword and the Dagger Review

“Hey, remember what I said about supergroups last year? In 2008, there was another conglomeration of established musicians based out of France called The Order of Apollyon, and it consisted of B.S.T. (Aosoth), James McIlroy (ex-Cradle of Filth, Chaosanct), Peter Benjamin (ex-Akercocke, Voices) and Dan Wilding (Carcass, Trigger the Bloodshed). Such a who’s who of death and black metal would create a whirlwind of head-twirling mayhem, right?” Super groups…when will they learn?

Incantation – Dirges of Elysium Review

Incantation – Dirges of Elysium Review

“Wow, another accessible Incantation album. As you remove your jaw from your keyboard, let me make clear, the use of the word “accessible” in the same sentence as Incantation does not denote any sell out or radical style shift. Instead, these long running murk merchants continued what they started on 2012s Vanquish in Vengeance and eased back on the dismal sludge.” Folks, this is where the slime live.

Satan – Life Sentence Review

Satan – Life Sentence Review

“For a lot of bands, the album title Life Sentence would be a clever moniker, a reference to the penal system with the potential for lots of imprisonment imagery, but it might not say anything significant about the band’s core identity. For Satan, Life Sentence effectively portrays every band member’s relationship to heavy metal. Satan were founded in Newcastle, U.K. In 1979 and were instrumental in establishing the movement that has come to be known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Though they languished in obscurity for much of their early career, their style, which exhibited aspects of very early thrash and speed metal, would go on to help define both genres.” Old timers Satan are back with more court themed metal. Put on your lawsuit and check your briefs as Natalie serves as judge and jury.

Tormented – Death Awaits Review

Tormented – Death Awaits Review

“Talk about stereotypes. Let me provide you with the keywords: Swedish, death, metal, riffs. You get the picture: forty minutes of carefully packed distortions and growls to dance the night away, while remembering the good old days. Days when the underground was a truly transnational parallel world (trust me: I’ve seen it) connecting the various scenes at a sub-level: one carefully avoided by the majors, the media and almost all of your friends (the cool ones, at least).” Join Alex as he reminisces about the good old days, where death metal was … well… underground and uncool.

New Keepers of the Water Towers – Cosmic Child Review

New Keepers of the Water Towers – Cosmic Child Review

Cosmic Child came through a little thin on the promo information (and in fact prior to listening to it for the first time, I didn’t even know the name of the album – so much for embedded album info) at any rate, I figured alright, close your eyes, hit play and go from there – how bad can it be right? The band name conjured up images of something with a Finntroll flavor – tell me a band name like New Keepers of the Water Towers doesn’t sound even remotely folky and troll-like right? It actually ended up being absofuckinglutely nothing like Finntroll, go figure!” But…if it isn’t like Fintroll, what the hell is it like??? Calm down. Madam X will now answer your questions.