Stone Temple Pilots

Di’Aul – Abracamacabra Review

Di’Aul – Abracamacabra Review

“When it comes to the types of metal we cover on this site, it’s rare to find bands openly drawing from grunge, even though it was the dominant rock style of the 90s. Bluesy hard rock and prog from the 70s, 80s guitar heroics; scroll through the reviews on our homepage and you’ll find a band or five still mining those veins. Sure, there’s sludge, grunge’s fugly big brother, but love that genre as I do, it rarely trips the dormant teenage Cherd nostalgia centers of my brain that flare up when something 90s alt rock radio adjacent passes over my earballs. Di’Aul, on the other hand, crashes into the ol’ cortex like an atomic elbow off the top rope.” Alice in pains.

Into the Obscure: Masters of Reality – Deep in the Hole

Into the Obscure: Masters of Reality – Deep in the Hole

“We all have our dirty metal secrets that we selfishly keep to ourselves, only sharing with a select few close to us. Or alternatively, we incessantly talk up underground gems and spread the gospel to anyone that will listen, as we cherish our slice of underground cred. Into the Obscure aims to right the wrongs and unearth the artists/albums that for whatever unjust reason didn’t get the exposure, appreciation or credit they sorely deserved the first time round.” Master! Master!

Tristania – Darkest White Review

Tristania – Darkest White Review

“Norway’s Tristania was one of those quirky, but compelling bands that really grabbed my attention with their Beyond the Veil album. Their strange mash-up of goth, death, black and symphonic metal was quite intoxicating and had more moods than any crazy ex girlfriend you care to mention. Follow up World of Glass was also gripping and fascinating, but as the years went by, Tristania’s wow factor rapidly drained away. By the time of 2010s Rubicon, they had become a mere shade of their former selves and the album felt like run-of-the-mill goth-metal with little to set it apart from the legions of similar female-fronted acts. I expected more of the same here with Darkest White, but I was pleasantly surprised by the improvements the band has made in their approach and song writing.” Since all we do is review death metal that sounds like Septicflesh, Steel Druhm thought it might be a good time to review some goth-metal. Tristania was available, so here they are for your viewing and reading pleasure.

Audrey Horne – Audrey Horne Review

Audrey Horne – Audrey Horne Review

It’s been a long time since a sort of standard modern rock or traditional metal band really showed off anything that this Angry Metal Guy appreciated. For the most part, modern rock has been rehashed BS and overrated post-Seattle scene leftovers. The bands that have tried to convert their sounds (see: the remnants of Guns N’ Roses meets STP or Europe’s latest incarnation) have really failed at it because the sound is, at its root, boring as hell. Rehashing rock again with thicker guitar tone and a vocalist who will never live up to the classics is pretty much a good way to guarantee that your vocalist buddy goes to rehab, but not much more. Whatever happened to Buckcherry again? Oh right. Flash in the effing pan.