Exhorder Preview New Song “My Time” For Upcoming Album Mourn The Southern Skies

by Nicholas Vahdias on July 14, 2019

Truly vicious Speed metal band Exhorder have previewed new song “My Time” after signing to Nuclear Blast(a death sentence in terms of quality for most bands) last year. Those expecting a return to Slaughter in the Vatican level of composition will be sorely disappointed. The last twenty seven years haven’t revitalized the band at all and there is little reason to believe that this exists for any other than a quick cash grab.

The comparisons to Pantera have numbed this band to the point where the band have decided on creating a bizarre mixture of their later albums but with a healthy dose of latter day Exodus to create standard Nuclear Blast Retro-Thrash for people who need even more Shovel headed Kill Machine. The blasts of anger funneled by almost labyrinthine arrangements give way to standard groove metal inspired Speed metal. Now complete with nursery level rhymes for karaoke while you angrily contemplate on taking over area 51. These chugs will put you in the right mood to drink your third can of Monster energy drink before your huge fortnite session. At least glam rockers Pantera had something to prove and could make decent Lite Metallica when they didn’t dance to their breakdowns.

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Miles Richmond and Peter Grenader featuring Steve Roach – POV (2019)

by Tyrell Dahlstrom on July 13, 2019

Ambient Allah Steve Roach has released his second effort of 2019. Like February’s HelioSphere, this new offering is a collaboration album, however this time he is working strictly in a “Guest Artist and Production Support” role as aid to a primary work by artists Miles Richmond and Peter Grenader.

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Serpent ov Old – Miskatonic Abysmal Path (2019)

by Tyrell Dahlstrom on July 10, 2019

After releasing an impressive debut back in 2012, then proceeding to vanish amidst the shadows, briefly emerging out of the mist and fog with a cryptic 2-track offering in late Summer 2018… Serpent ov Old, perhaps the most interesting Metal project of the past 15 years (if only to the the present author’s particular personal perspective and tastes musical and otherwise), have finally released their long-awaited sophomore full-length.

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Phantom – The Epilogue to Sanity

by Nicholas Vahdias on July 6, 2019

Phantom are a mysterious band with no information on them apart from various claims that range from their music being called Terror or Phantom metal and that they are there to completely innovate the genre and to create acoustic terrorism. While such claims have been spurted by many artists in easy marketing attempts or to stir controversy before an almost identical band makes the same claim and receives their mandatory fifteen seconds. Phantom unlike other bands, seem sincere in their objectives and genuinely try to live up to these claims.

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Mithras – Worlds Beyond The Veil

by Guest Contributor on June 30, 2019

article by Svennerick

Morbid Angel’s output after Covenant led to a huge divergence between Extreme metal fans. After the huge failure and one of Death metal’s biggest downfalls, which was Domination, the band decided to change things up, which is a move that has to be admired, since many bands would milk out such a success and let their own music suffer in mediocrity.

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Brief Analysis: Nihilist – “Sentenced to Death” Climax

by Nicholas Vahdias on June 29, 2019

For many bands, summer is the perfect time to record music and to rehearse for live concerts in a boiling garage or studio. The festival season and the holidays allow many musicians to take time off to focus on implementing new songs to their set list or to push their capabilities as players. Where most players seek to play more technically dexterous music, a few friends of mine wanted to master a song that was simultaneously simple yet physically exhausting to play. Nihilist and Sodom both fit the bill perfectly but we would settle on “Sentenced to Death” for its brief periods of respite between the bursts of rapid picking. Though we thought of this song as being a basic and minimalistic slice of powerful metal, after our wrists and arms had been decimated completely, we came to realize that the true power of this song is not the constant madness but the final flurry that manages to go even beyond the insanity before it.

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Extreme Metal in Cinema

by Guest Contributor on June 24, 2019


article by Belisario

There are many movies that portray heavy metal, but the ones addressing extreme metal could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and all of them are rather recent. In such a mainstream format as cinema, it is no wonder why extreme metal has remained largely out of radar, although it has to be pointed out that the treatment received by more conventional heavy metal has actually never been really thorough. Since the popularity peak of the genre in the late 70s, almost all its appearances on the big screen have portrayed a musical genre essentially grounded in rock music, with no clear differences discernible between both fields. That is the case of Wayne’s World (1992), Airheads (1994) or, for those familiar with Spanish cinema, the two parts of the Isi/Disi saga, Amor a lo bestia (2004) and Alto voltaje (2006). All of them share a stereotyped and humorous vision, which on the other hand always eschews any disquisition of the music itself or its fans.

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Riff Analysis: Sarcófago – “I.N.R.I”

by Nicholas Vahdias on June 15, 2019

So many bands have failed in continuing Sarcófago’s tradition of blasphemic and vicious black metal. Reducing the band to a set of aesthetics and confusing their minimalistic songs for dumb simplicity. I.N.R.I stands out not because of its context or its introduction of certain visual elements that would become common a few years later, but because of its nuanced composition that has eluded later bands. Let us look at the initial riff from the song “I.N.R.I” to understand why.

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Riff Analysis: Unleashed – “To Asgaard We Fly”

by Nicholas Vahdias on June 10, 2019

Unleashed had at this point released two good records that saw the band create Heavy metal songs with limited Death metal stylings and were known for possessing a particularly small set of tools which almost made their previous very repetitive. On Across the Open Sea, the band’s Magnum Opus, the band re-contextualized their previous influences to create rousing and anthemic works while seeking to expand further into Death metal technique and arrangement. “To Asgaard we fly” shows this subtle marriage between the two and how the band were able to combine such styles without to saturate the listener with stolen Iron Maiden leads.

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