“A band’s swan song can often be a masterpiece, an emotional rollercoaster, or a dud. When a band knows they’re calling it quits for a while, most often they will pour their hearts into that final album. That’s what I hoped for when I grabbed Extinct Cults, the latest (and last, prior to what is described as a long hiatus) from German proto-rockers Mountain Witch.” Went witching.
“A peculiar thing happened when I downloaded the promo for 0160, the sixth release from German instrumental post-metallers BLCKWVS. Upon opening the folder containing the album and accompanying photos, I noticed that there were two copies of each and every song on 0160. Thinking it was a simple flub-up, I deleted the second copies of each song, saving precious space on my phone. Immediately after doing so, I read online that this was no ordinary screw-up on the label’s end. Rather, 0160 is a “double-album,” actually, and the quotations are there to signify that it’s actually just one album, but with two versions: one with vocals from various contributors, and one purely instrumental. It’s good to see an instrumental band give vocals a go.” Doubled over.
“Our resident Gungan evangelist recently posited a view in the AMG Slack group that has had me thinking a lot about why I don’t listen to a lot of straight thrash metal anymore. His view that the genre feels invalidated by Metallica’s best records, though initially seeming blasphemous, eventually became gospel to my ears. I’d personally swap Metallica for Kreator, but in essence, I’m completely in agreement with this stance; beyond notable experimental exceptions like Skeletonwitch or Vektor, modern thrash metal in its base form is inherently shallow, with bands failing almost universally to validate their existence among the classic acts. But sometimes – sometimes – everything just falls into place.” Thrash infection.
