In the years after underground metal imploded and became assimilated by standard teenage rock music, metal musicians have been reaching out toward styles which avoid the stereotypical elements of the underground. (more…)
16 CommentsTags: dawning, Gothic rock, guitar rock, Heavy Metal, interview, nothing left, pale existence, rotten copper, stephen cefala, steve cefala
Tau Cross previewed the cover art and a track of their upcoming Pillar of Fire album on Relapse Records. “Deep State” sees the supergroup headed by Rob “The Baron” Miller regress towards a hybrid of crust, thrash, and modern rock as seen on the final Amebix album, Sonic Mass. While free of the overt Brit pop and Godsmack of Sonic Mass, “Deep State” is still almost static like a rock song with riffs around a static chord for catchy rhythms and vocal hooks to be arranged around. The instrumental music is a tired retread that I have heard at least a few dozen speed metal band do better before.
5 CommentsTags: Crust Punk, hard rock, mainstream metal, new track, pop, relapse, relapse records, rob miller, tau cross, upcoming release
“Nothing gold can stay,” reminds us the poet Robert Frost, and this applies to black metal. Its gold occurred between 1991 and 1994, when its progenitors innovated a new style and took it to great heights, but after Burzum – Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, it became clear that black metal was not content to be a normal, rock-style music genre.
13 CommentsTags: Black Metal, Enslaved, epitaph, gorgoroth, Heavy Metal, immortal, impaled nazarene, nuclear war now! productions, NWN/FMP, selling out
Hamm’s is one of those sorts of beers your dad used to drink back in the day especially if your dad was from Minnesota. My dad wasn’t; I just bought a thirty rack as it was cheap and fresher than the High Life, Coors, and Pabst Blue Ribbon as I am a dirty metalhead. If you are going to headbang, you might as well get a buzz. You’ll be caring more about the music, so what you are drinking needs to be cost-effective while tasting only decent. I banged out Obsessed by Cruelty and Persecution Mania while drinking Hamm’s for this review. The original CD version of sloppy, raw speed metal as drunk band for a beer review; Chris Witchhunter died of alcoholism. I drank six cans for this review to get full Hamm’s experience.
3 CommentsTags: american adjunct beer, beer, hamm's, lager, molsoncoors
Article contributed to Death Metal Underground by Seth Berg.
A zoo in Demidiv, Ukraine has recently revealed a statue of speed/death metal godfather Tom Araya as well as a pillar featuring lyrics from Slayer‘s classic “Dead Skin Mask” off Seasons in the Abyss. Hats off to the folks at XII Months zoo for accomplishing something that will help introduce the next generation (and probably sections of the current youth demographic) to an essential band. Perhaps this will mean that certain children in Ukraine will be exposed to quality metal first rather than the turds that float to the top in media and plant a seed that will help ensure that up and coming hessians aren’t complete modern metal bozos.
5 Comments
Metallica‘s mediocre album Hardwired… to Self-Destruct has sold one million copies in the United States according to the band. Hardwired… to Self-Destruct was self released on the band’s own Blackened Recordings label along with reissues of the band’s older, better 1980s material.
17 CommentsTags: cash grab, hard rock, mainstream metal, metallica, music industry
Sorcier des Glaces‘ Ritual of the End, some of The Best Underground Metal of 2014, is coming out soon on compact cassette courtesy of Dread Records. French Canadian black metal maniacs who drive beat up old serial killer vans from the 80s like Buffalo Bill’s should pick it up. Everyone else should listen to Snowland MMXII and hate the human race.
No CommentsTags: Black Metal, cash grab, compact cassette, hipster bullshit, reissue, sorcier des glaces
Absu are embarking upon an almost non-stop European festival tour this July. Absu are always an experience live with Prosciptor’s psychedelic unpredictability. Continental headbangers in for an interesting show should check Absu out. You never know what will happen. Will Proscriptor rap? Will he hump inanimate objects when possessed by spirits from the Celtic underworlds? Only you can find out!
1 CommentTags: absu, Europe, festivals, tour, tour dates, upcoming tours
Bathory‘s Under the Sign of the Black Mark turned turned thirty years old last month. The album marked the start of Quorthon adding in the epic atmosphere of Manowar and Iron Maiden which would come to fruition on Blood Fire Death. Under the Sign of the Black Mark also happened to be one of the first black metal CDs I ever purchased, which I preceded to play non-stop for about a week until getting bored of it and going back to listening to Altars of Madness.
16 CommentsTags: anniversary, arthur schopenhauer, Bathory, Black Metal, charmimg, Heavy Metal, quorthon, Speed Metal, Under the Sign of the Black Mark
As part of their quest to ruin everything interesting and appealing about both metal and life, the gullible cronies of media pyramid scheme Vice Magazine have journeyed to the grim countrysides of the French black metal underground to film what is undoubtedly the most boring film in the history of music. While Vice markets this abomination as a “documentary” calling it such is actually a misleading statement as the film is little more than a collection of autistic ramblings without a single question or narrative statement. In any case, the eyesore is a bastardization of the region’s legacy as any shred of decency still possessed by the founding members of Mutiilation and Drakkar Productions have been urinated directly into the toilet as they hammed it up for the same forces that they claim to be rebelling against. Fortunately, the film’s lack of credible sources and unbelievably poor post-production prevents it from succeeding in the demystification of what was once one of the more intriguing regional black metal scenes.
11 CommentsTags: cash grab, crust, crustfundies, drakkar productions, drugs, france, hipster bullshit, hipsters, Les Légions Noires, scam, sell-out, thurston moore, trends mosh core fun, vice magazine
