Riff-driven punk-based music that nonetheless focuses on instrumentals more than vocals, The Sacrifice might remind us of The Process of Weeding Out from Black Flag or later Carbonized releases, albeit more harmonically-pleasing and perhaps organized than either.
4 CommentsDead Express – Brain Damage (2019)
The fine line between “quirky” and eccentric proves hard to spot, but with this NWOBHM revival with added melodic punk touches and yet a very old school sense of melody, Dead Express makes itself eccentric in a way that the quirky hipsters probably cannot appreciate, but might discover some quality music if they did.
No CommentsTags: dead express, Heavy Metal, punk rock
Obituary – “A Dying World” (2019)
Punk rock came about to make rock without the cruft and convention that had clogged it, since labels and bands tend to accumulate a collection of whatever has worked in the past, meaning that by the 1970s rock had become a fruit salad of folk, progressive, disco, blues, and country tropes that had no relation to a whole idea.
No CommentsTags: death metal, melodic hardcore, obituary
Bleedskin – The Rotten One (2018)
Sounding a lot like a hybrid between South American metal and Chicago death metal, Bleedskin make old school death metal with lots of heavy metal and some speed metal influences, but keep a unique perspective through what could otherwise be pure riff salad.
1 CommentTags: bleedskin, death metal
Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
Gore, horror, and revenge cinema converge on a single idea: the ability of the normal protagonist to snap out of the sleepwalk of civilization, recognize a problem beyond which socially-mediated language can address, and overcome moral qualms in order to address it with absolute certainty. Rambo: Last Blood comes straight from the middle of this genre.
3 CommentsTags: cinema, rambo, sylvester stallone
RIP Martin Birch (1948-2020)
Producer of many legendary albums, Martin Birch has died at 71:
1 CommentTags: black sabbath, blue oyster cult, deep purple, fleetwood mac, iron maiden, martin birch, rainbow
Early Moods – Spellbound (2020)
Doom metal really went into the toilet in the late 1990s when the labels got ahold of it and decided to make it into “slow Led Zeppelin” with a stoner theme. This hit at the same time that Slacker and other Boomer-worship propaganda filled the airwaves, and people thought it was “progress.”
No CommentsTags: Doom Metal, early moods
Pazuzu – Revenant Of Blasphemies (2020)
Old school doom-death with a strong tendency toward bounding grindcore riffs, Pazuzu understands how to make a riff salad talk to itself and how to use enough internal contrast to keep the unfolding story that results interesting. Like a good horror movie, Revenant Of Blasphemies alternates between suspense, terror, flight, and violence.
1 CommentTags: death metal, doom-death, pazuzu
Loudblast Releases Manifesto In November
French death metal institution Loudblast will release their newest album, Manifesto, continuing their journey through old school death metal and associated heavy metal genres. After thirty-five years of being active as a band, this act presents a somewhat unique view of underground metal.
No CommentsTags: death metal, loudblast
Shibalba – Nekrologie Sinistrae (Orchestral Noise Opus I) (2020)
Industrial music means pounding machine-like rhythm and city noise, but to that Shibalba add keyboards and ritual patterns to make a disturbing but pleasant soundtrack for all of your anti-modern experiences. This is both the strength and weakness of this music: it makes for good but sparse listening, better as background than focus.
No CommentsTags: Ambient, Industrial, Ritual, shibalba