Italian black metal band Mortuary Drape are embarking on a short tour of the North American West Coast next week.
2 CommentsTags: Black Metal, mortuary drape, tour dates, upcoming tours, US tour
Invisible Oranges Interviews Fred Estby
Hipster metal blog Invisible Oranges, who put women bragging about how attractive they are over the music, have posted an interview with Fred Estby of Dismember. Fred reveals pertinent information about the drum recording conditions in Sunlight Studios and the small knobs amidst the fluff. Invisible Oranges also included a version of that one promotional picture of Fred that’s seemingly attached to every interview with him.
5 CommentsTags: Dismember, Fred Estby, interview, Invisible Oranges
Negra Modelo Rebrands
For some time, Negra Modelo has been my go-to beer. The shelves are stuffed with variety, but much like metal, most of it straight-up fails by being too proficient.
9 CommentsTags: art, beer, economics, Heavy Metal, negra modelo
Gridlink – Longhena (2014)
Longhena is grindcore that is actually musical. Takafumi Matsubara (Mortalized) became the sole guitarist after Orphan and brought a longer, more narrative, heavy metal sense of songwriting to Gridlink’s hyper proficient blend of their musical influences. The riffing varies from post-hardcore chord progressions to New Wave of British Heavy Metal harmonies of the type originated by Thin Lizzy. Somewhat shocking for a grindcore band not Carcass or Bolt Thrower, Matsubara actually progressive his riffs to tell short narratives in short, cyclical compositions varying from one to three minutes in length, usually climaxing in a bittersweet, often melancholic solo. The drumming is blasting, inspired, and semi-tasteful, with fills that feel almost as if they are about to go off the rails but return to be properly enslaved by the riffing. Vocals are reminiscent of Assuck with lyrical topics ranging from nuclear holocaust to anime and lamentations of the destruction of the player-controlled spaceship in shoot ’em up arcade game. All melodically and lyrically reflect upon listeners certain Buddhist mental concepts of the emptiness, nothingness, and meaninglessness of human existence and suffering.
40 CommentsTags: 2014, gridlink, Grindcore, Heavy Metal, Longhena, post-hardcore, review, Takafumi Matsubara, technical metal
Dave Lombardo To Drum For Misfits
Dave Lombardo – formerly of Slayer, currently with Suicidal Tendencies, and one of the best metal drummers of all time – will man the kit for the Misfits at Riotfest this Sunday according to his Funbook page:
7 CommentsI’ll be performing this Friday with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES – OFFICIAL and then Sunday with the Misfits at Riot Fest !!!
Tags: dave lombardo, festivals, misfits, new drummer
Meditations on Ananku
Article by Lance Viggiano.
Ananku is random stereotypical sentimentality in terms of both pseudo climactic release and legacy nostalgia underscored by the crooning of its capricious composer. One may skip to any moment of this record and find a passable to competent riff which invites the listener to further explore its contents. Yet to sit through the work in succession, the order – or lack thereof- is much akin to a dreamlike state. Waking life is a comedic but rationally apprehensive continuity; whereas the experience of dreaming is much like thumbing through to one’s favorite moments in no particular order and therefore as a whole Ananku betrays its efforts at thematic unity. The forces behind Serpent Ascending make a noticed use of genre firmament however indecisive haste fashioned for itself a fallen world.
17 CommentsTags: 2016, ananku, Black Metal, i voidhanger records, Jarno Nurmi, metal art, Philosophy, Serpent Ascending
Conqueror – War Cult Supremacy (1999)
Conqueror wanted to be a part of the “scene” but did not have musical ideas. The band discovered that the muddied sound of early Beherit and Blasphemy circa Fallen Angel of Doom could be used to obfuscate their dearth of ideas. Furthermore the hostility between the Norwegian scene and the rest of black metal could be amplified under false pretenses while not offering any truly satisfying alternative themselves. Basically, point to candy assed pop drivel like Dark Funeral but go to the other end of the spectrum entirely with a paper thin wall of television white noise with a drunken chipmunk howling nonsense. Conqueror’s “music” is structured which ironically stands contra to the concept of all out war. A little anarchy would at the very least allow the essence of battle to bubble up from the pot. Instead it’s a tame morass of very low effort grindcore riffs and mostly incomprehensible low E-string noodling. The best that can be said about Conqueror is that J. Reed has an identifiable sound.
108 CommentsTags: 1999, canada, conqueror, drone, Grindcore, Hardcore Punk, hipster bullshit, noise, nuclear war now! productions, scenesters, War Cult Supremacy, War Metal
Itzamná – Maldito Predicador (2016)
Article by Anton Rudrick.
Originally babtized as Amerindio at its time of conception in 2014, the project today known to us as Itzamná presents us with one of the forms of Thrash that are most authentically crude. This flows from an inner knowing of violence and adversity which foundation upon personal experience can alone provide. As per Thrash tradition (not to be confused with Speed Metal, also known as “Thrash Metal” in less versed circles), Itzamná channel the spirit of hardcore punk through the phrase-like riffcraft of underground metal. This lends a more apocalyptic character and a bloody thrust to the music in the form of heaviness that it would otherwise be remiss to lack, given the unapologetic finality of the propositions to be found herein.
9 CommentsTags: 2016, crossover thrash, Guatemala, itzamna, Maldito Predicador, review, thrash metal
Asphyx debut “Incoming Death”
Asphyx debuted the title track of their incoming Incoming Death on Youtube today and it at least its better than the awful Obituary “song” that came out yesterday. The album comes out on September 30th on Century Media Records which even though they put out a lot of Hot Topic crap, take less of a hacksaw to reissues and classic bands than the toilet scrubbers at Relapse or the “commodify everything retro with EZdrummer” philosophy of Nuclear Blast.
18 CommentsTags: asphyx, beer metal, century media, century media records, new track, upcoming release
Abomination Vinyl Reissues
Doomentia Records is releasing both Abomination albums, Abomination and Tragedy Strikes, on vinyl. Abomination was another death metal/punk hybrid band featuring Paul Speckmann of Death Strike and Master.
6 CommentsTags: abomination, doomentia records, paul speckmann, reissues, vinyl
