After years of being forgotten and embracing the modern speed metal aesthetic, legendary USPM band Helstar return to its roots in an attempt to create a worthy successor for one of the greatest albums in the sub-genre, Nosferatu.
2 CommentsHuoripukki – Voima & Barbaria (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.
5 CommentsTags: death metal, huoripukki, incantoclone
Death Squad – Split You At The Seams (1991)
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.
6 CommentsTags: death squad, Speed Metal
The Chuck Schuldiner Syndrome
Chuck Schuldiner who once played crushing music that popularized Death metal before attempting to follow the mid 90s phase where every Underground band had to somehow rise to face the more rock influenced bands at their own game through whinier passages and trivial lyric matter. During that period his technical abilities increased but his inability to arrange worthwhile music become obvious rather as he relied exclusively on rock structures that culminated in a solo before repeating the whole process without any thoughts on progression, narration or momentum. This created the effect where some truly incredible melodies were juxtaposed next to some very mediocre sections derived from rock and other genres. This device was then taken by a large number of bands who have then used it to promote a singular idea over everything else and has contributed largely to the decline of metal in general. Let us look at a few moments where the Chuck Schuldiner syndrome was very apparent.
Tags: chuck schuldiner, Chuck Schuldiner Syndrome, death, death metal, grave, nile, Obscura, terrible, The Absence, vektor
Tom Araya Trolls Leftists With Boomer Conservative Meme
Metalheads hate civilization, or rather what civilization inevitably becomes: people forget why things are as they are and recede into a human only bureaucratic world, like a cult built on peer pressure, where they affirm reality-denial in favor of things that make humans feel good about being afraid of challenging themselves.
18 CommentsDarkened Nocturn Slaughtercult Interview Part I
Black metal is a highly spiritual music. At its peaks it is able to create a sort of mysterium and Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, despite its rawness and overwhelming intensity, possesses that potential. DNS picked up the essential traits of black metal, many of which were universally misunderstood and dropped or compromised even by their originators, and with a great sense of application and purpose restored them to their function and dignity.
2 CommentsTags: Black Metal, darkened nocturn slaughtercult, interview
Sometimes Drama Is Just Drama
Living in a dying age presents us with lugubrious entertainment that always boils down to a struggle for power. When everyone is equal, everyone also becomes an attention whore because the goal then is to rise above equality through utilitarianism (also called demotism) which rewards whoever gets the greatest number of votes, purchases, attaboys or “likes” on Faceplant.
33 CommentsTags: absu, drama, melissa moore, transgenderism, vis crom
DMU Song Contest Results Part 1
The second DMU song contest has been closed and the results have been compiled. More than fifteen contestants ranging from the hilariously bad to the inspiringly potent have shared their works for brutal and honest criticism. Our ever growing Discord community has submitted a few of these compositions,here is a permanent invitation for those wishing to partake in various discussions on the subject of metal and other related Hessian activities.
5 CommentsTags: Asgardsrei, death metal, Hitwood, JOSEFARNO, Peymakalir, S.O.C.O.M.D, Skölhammer, song contest, User 2220902, yass-waddah
The Craft of Metal #3 : Dethrone the Son of God
When Profanatica could not finish their unreleased album, the genius and creator of the band Paul Ledney took time away from the noise of other musicians to fully realize his vision in composing a short album that took the best of his influences from all over the underground into creating something that would show the world the extent of the musical genius that this man possessed and that he was much more than an alumnus of a few great bands. In this final piece in the Craft of Metal series, we look at one album that managed to open new branches for what was to remain of the underground as the Death metal movement had just began to explode with bands getting signed by big labels all over the place and leaving the most repulsive bands to grow far from the spotlight.
35 CommentsTags: Black Metal, havohej, paul ledney, profanatica
Analysis of Darkthrone’s “Neptune Towers”
“Neptune Towers” is a song from Darkthrone’s death metal album, Soulside Journey. In this song the artist’s goal is to paint an alien landscape and tell a story, by intertwining riffs and lyrics until they reach an eldritch keyboard climax, which leaves the listener with a sense of awe for the unknown.
19 CommentsTags: analysis, Black Metal, darkthrone, music theory
