Huoripukki – Voima & Barbaria (2018)

by Brett Stevens on November 24, 2018


Huoripukki – Voima & Barbaria
Fallen Temple, 2018

This reissue of two EPs as one CD/LP demonstrates clearly why the “Incantoclone” bands are all the rage: they take metal backward to rock and carefully disguise this as a wave of noise. To make an Incantoclone band, you forget about all the cool extended riffs and structures of Onward to Golgotha and focus on the rushing riff, which consists of choosing a power chord — first five frets only please! — and then wiggling your fingers in a constant chromatic fill over that note.

(more…)

5 Comments

Tags: , ,

Death Squad – Split You At The Seams (1991)

by Brett Stevens on November 22, 2018


Death Squad – Split You At The Seams
Ever Rat Records, 1991

Speed metal — rising from Tank, Satan, Metallica, and Mercyful Fate — had a good but short run in the 1980s before enterprising poseurs worked rock and blues back into the mix, taking away the focus on riffs and song construction in favor of what were essentially pop songs with lots of muted E-chords. Split You At The Seams shows a late entry with roll-your-own spirit.

(more…)

6 Comments

Tags: ,

Nachtlieder – Lynx (2018)

by Brett Stevens on November 12, 2018

Lynx keeps a foot in both worlds: the mysterious atmosphere of the classic material, and the more emotional nature of post-metal, but without the self-pitying dwindling melodies of emo. In this way, it keeps what black metal delivered alive, but leaves out some of the technique and structure that made songs the original genre distinctive and expressive.

(more…)

39 Comments

Tags: , ,

Kever – Primordial Offerings (2018)

by Brett Stevens on November 11, 2018

Primordial Offerings follows up on the first Kever which focused more on an intelligent form of percussive death metal; the second EP from this promising band attempts to invent a new style of atmospheric death metal without losing any of the intensity, sounding like a mix of Florida, Buffalo, and selectively melodic European acts like Fleshcrawl and Demigod.

(more…)

8 Comments

Tags: , ,

Deserted Fear – Dead Shores Rising (2017)

by Brett Stevens on November 2, 2018


Deserted Fear – Dead Shores Rising
Century Media, 2017

Living after the age of vitality of a genre, one becomes accustomed to the process of decay that happens as knowledge of why things are done becomes lost, and people instead fill in with the usual stuff that they do anyway. Humans are experts at dressing up the mundane as the exceptional.

(more…)

5 Comments

Tags: , , , ,

Monstrosity – The Passage Of Existence (2018)

by Brett Stevens on October 30, 2018


Monstrosity – The Passage Of Existence
Metal Blade Records, 2015

Working within an establishment genre presents a challenge to the musician: the major patterns are known, and the audience has been inundated with an abundance of bands who can play the style of the classics note-perfectly, meaning that musicians have to either add new aesthetics to attract a lot of fans, or play a subtle take on the older for those with some knowledge.

(more…)

5 Comments

Tags: , , ,

Classic reviews:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z