Rare when an artist owns up to one of their works being a dud. Most metal blowhards push the regular taglines of greatness, and frankly, it gets old after a while. Perhaps if everyone was a little more Read more […]
Spawned by Agalloch and popularized more recently by Wolves In the Throne Room, the Cascadian black metal scene is gradually swelling. Limited to the Northwest part of the United States (specifically the Read more […]
If we were to have a checklist for “troo” Norwegian black metal, then Svarttjern would meet the criteria (and get a lot of checkmarks). From the band’s corpse-painted image, to the indecipherable logo, Read more […]
Being signed doesn’t always lend credence to a band, and vice-versa: some unsigned bands are infinitely better than signed bands. And for someone that was once in an unsigned band before getting signed, Read more […]
Maybe we should all set up shop in Chicago and just watch bands appear before our eyes. The city probably has more metal bands per capita at this point than any other city in North America (note: They Read more […]
Long a well-respected name inside American metal circles, Riot has reunited with their classic Thundersteel-era lineup for the release of Immortal Soul, their 14th studio album. Playing faster than any Read more […]
Pepper Keenan-fronted Corrosion of Conformity never got its just due, you know? Subtracting 2000’s pedestrian America’s Volume Dealer, the Southern-bred metallers were at one point considered the Read more […]
As identifiable-sounding as anyone in the progressive metal scene, the brothers Tipton (Jasun and Troy of Cynthesis) are capping off an already successful 2011 with the release of their instrumental project, Read more […]
Few reference points exist for Israeli metal outside of Orphaned Land, who operate entirely on their own exotic plane. The rest of the bands that have come from this area have failed to make a dent, Read more […]
Not terribly distant from the early grandiose works of Rotting Christ (circa the mesmerizing Triarchy of the Lost Lovers) and Crematory (who are getting more and more nods of late), Italy’s Ecnephias Read more […]
Assuredly the last terrific album of 2011, Legion Helvete, the fourth full length from Norwegian black metal contenders Tsjuder is a breath of fresh air. Not that 2011 was lousy or lackluster (it was Read more […]
Formed in 2005 and ineffectively dubbed as “dark metal,” Germany’s Nachtblut snagged a deal with the venerable Napalm Records, who decided to re-release the band’s 2009’s Antik. As German-sounding as Read more […]
Strange to see a guitar virtuoso take a backset in his own band. As history has shown us, these type of gents will find every reason to meander off into a pointless guitar pyro section, oftentimes forsaking Read more […]
One of the major players in the artsy San Francisco metal scene, Giant Squid to this point, have made a career out of being left-field without being tooleft-field, if that makes any sense. 2009’s The Read more […]
Running the power sweep right through progressive metal’s tonal and gentle underbelly, East of the Wall are essentially how post-metal would sound if the style’s bands had more of a musical pedigree. Read more […]
The second killer black metal album to be released by the Eisenwald label (the first being Aurvandil’s immaculate Yearning), Ordo Obsidium’s Orbis Tertius travels down the icy slope of melodic black Read more […]
Not to be confused with the Canadian Martyr who recently lent guitarist Daniel Mongrain to Voivod, this particular Martyr is a once-forgotten thrash/traditional metal band from Holland. Initially a European Read more […]
Rare when a band actually tweaks us out while listening to them. Meaning, nothing prompts Blistering to feel uneasy or uncomfortable during an album spin, being that no amount of devil-humping, gore and Read more […]
Leviathan mainman Wrest (aka Jef Whitehead) is in a heap of trouble, as claims of him sexually assaulting and beating his then-girlfriend earlier this year have the man awaiting trial, providing most of Read more […]
Currently making preparations to bow out gracefully next year with their last studio album, British doom legends Cathedral are making their final moments count, capturing a retrospective 2010 live show on Anniversary. Anniversary is Read more […]
An exotic release on an increasingly exotic label (see recent Season of Mist acquisitions Drudkh, Silent Streams of Godless Elegy, Solstifair, etc.), Thy Catafalque’s fifth album Rengeteg is an odd, Read more […]
Korpkilaani has its booze, Finntroll has its trolls, Tyr has its Odin, and Russia’s Arkona has one of its own songs in an episode of The Office. Hard to pick who the real winner is here, although Read more […]
Going the ‘ole anonymous route is a sure-fire way to add some mystique to one’s project, and bands of the black metal variety are most privy to this, like Nine Covens. Comprised of supposedly a handful Read more […]
Amazing the mileage bands have gotten out of Left Hand Path, Like An Ever Flowing Stream, and Mental Funeral. These three albums have been picked at the bone until nothing is left (save for a rotting Read more […]
Djent has become such a formidable commodity that it takes seven Swedes to play it, apparently. Funny, ’cause a band Blistering reviewed earlier in the year (Deadfall) only needed two to pull it off, Read more […]
What is it about Northern Ireland? Bands up there just seem to sweat heavy rock dripping in melodies out of their pores. Mainstays like Therapy?, forgotten favourites such as Throat and recently established Read more […]
Listening to Krisiun is akin to falling off a cliff with a piano coming down with you. Somehow, the same fate will be met (not a good one, obviously), so it’s a race to the death with these Brazilian Read more […]
Like eating sweets, funeral doom must be consumed in small doses. It can tire out quickly, can get boring rather fast, and can make one’s stomach churn and burn (like candy). Because Esoteric’s Paragon Read more […]
When the masses in a movement clamor for a reunion, it’s only a matter of time (or economics) before such reunifications occur. Danish progressive metal band Royal Hunt may have started with Henrik Brockmann Read more […]
Can’t have prog metal with nods to Dream Theater, apparently. For once, it would be nice to see a band not utilize the chord and harmonic structures utilized by DT, for each go-round with bands of Haken’s Read more […]
