According to the internet, Shi Haung Di was the first emperor of China all the way back in 221 BC. Responsible for massive political and economic reform, Huang proved to be ever the ruthless fellow, sparing Read more […]
The abyss is a peculiar place to lose yourself. Time ceases to have meaning and shape ceases to create definition; simply all things as they are known kind of devolve into an imperceptible fog that devours Read more […]
It’s taken five long years for Threshold to release their next opus, and it’s been well worth the wait. Their 9th studio effort begins life with new singer Damian Wilson (now a permanent member) at Read more […]
The unbridled reverence for Gothenburg death metal from the 90’s is insatiable, apparently. Once past the first wave of major bands (i.e. At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames), there’s an Read more […]
The dearth of djent–related releases in 2012 is a cause for a celebration of sorts. Around this time last year, the style seemed ready to flush the metal scene with a ho-hum cast of soundalikes and rip-offs, Read more […]
There are peculiar times when a release falls into your lap and as you sit down and soak it up you really have no idea how to process it. It features a number of different and overlapping styles (sometimes Read more […]
It’s Canadian to do things in an unorthodox fashion. Not like there’s anything wrong with it (there isn’t), and when it comes to metal, all one needs to do is look at the long list of prominent Canadian Read more […]
For reasons that hover around peculiar and head-scratching, there’s still this sort of mystical allure to all things Electric Wizard-related. That’s what you get when plenty of underground minions Read more […]
Within French metal (particularly black, but noticeable everywhere) there has been a movement over the past decade very similar to one within French cinema: a move toward and the continual redefining of Read more […]
Author’s note: This review was going to be left in the vaults, never to be posted, until Bury Tomorrow released this video for “Knight Life.” Unbelievable. As a point of comparison, playing Read more […]
Probably no better way to get the hipsters out of their weed-infested haze than to hit ’em with a new Witchcraft album. It’s only been five years and remarkably, the band’s name and “legend” (pun intended) Read more […]
What should a musician do when he has more ideas than his main act can handle? In the case of Astral Doors guitarist Joachim Nordllund, you pull together another band that includes a former member of Astral Read more […]
“Hallowed” would be the operative term when discussing vintage Mercyful Fate and Candlemass. Subsequent replications have been received warmly (see: Ghost, In Solitude, etc.), and you can add Denmark’s Read more […]
When Krallice emerged from the abyssal murk in 2008 their effects on the metal world (whether specific to black or not) were nothing if not immediate and polarizing. On the one hand the dazzling technical Read more […]
The development of Olaf Thorsen in the power/progressive metal world is quite intriguing, leaving one successful band Labyrinth in 2002 to avoid confusion between the dreaded “project versus real band” Read more […]
Absolute silliness. Guess that sums it up for Edmonton’s Striker, who fancy prehistoric creatures on their album cover and glowing cod pieces in their promo shots. And that’s fine, as long as the songs Read more […]
In this scribe’s domicile, only a dark metal band from Sweden, a constantly under-performing football team in the AFC North, and a Japanese Chin are immune to criticism. Everything else is fair game, including Read more […]
A slow creative process appears to be part and parcel of Prototype’s career. Formed in 1994 by guitarist Kragen Lum and vocalist/guitarist Vince Levalois, the band released their first full length Cloned as Read more […]
The similarities are inescapable…and uncanny: More than likely, The Chariot didn’t mean to copy the album art for Exodus’ long-overlooked Force of Habit album from 1992. It’s probably Read more […]
The cold can be an exacting beast to face or synthesize in new forms. Across all manner of mediums chilly images and wintery ideals have long been associated with themes of isolation, misery, and testaments Read more […]
Cue old man gripe: The problem with black metal nowadays is that it’s next to impossible to define. Certain bands that think they’re black metal, but they’re not, and a segment of bands claim they’re not Read more […]
Nepotism isn’t very prevalent in metal, given that, well, there’s room for everybody. And even the slightest of associations seem to work (“So-and-so was an ex member of this and that band,” etc.), yet Read more […]
Twenty-plus years removed from their outright origin and sonically evolving with every release, Katatonia makes their very welcome return to us with their ninth album Dead End Kings. Unlike most groups Read more […]
Drudkh – in their infinite and snow-covered mountainous glory – aren’t the only black metal band from the Ukraine worth fussing over. Obviously, Khors is the other and if their countrymen weren’t so imposing Read more […]
Band names can definitely make or break a band sometimes. For example, Dew-Scented is a strange moniker for a modern thrash band, as is The Lord Weird Slough Feg for a band that plays 70’s-tinged rock. Read more […]
A mid-level Swedish death metal band such as Zonaria could probably make a half-decent career out of hiding behind their homeland’s imposing sound connotations. It doesn’t matter what they do, for some Read more […]
Though a thought likely to resonate negatively with nekrobeards the world over, we seem to be living in something of a black metal renaissance. It’s slowly been coming together for the past few years Read more […]
Anyone who has seen AC/DC singer Brian Johnson live in the last ten years or so could make the appeal that he looks like he’s trying to “pass something” while singing. What that “something” is, we’ll leave Read more […]
Sound Storm have come a long ways from the days when they gigged in the northwest of Italy playing covers of Iron Maiden, Manowar, Metallica and Savatage. At least during those formative years, they honed Read more […]
Can’t you picture a high school football team listening to Sin and Bones before the big game? Under the Friday night lights? High-fiving and head-butting one other, picking out which cheerleader they’re Read more […]
