Tags: akral necrosis, aphyxion, ashaena, black oath, blutrina, calligram, carnality, clangforge, Deathcult, diatonic, dreamshade, eternal champion, false reality, flaktiin, forlet sires, furia, grausig, greyablaze, in flames, irae, irillion, karg, lost opera, lvcifyre, macabre decay, magoa, moribund, nkvd, noise trail immersion, ophidius, sadistic metal reviews, satanic warmaster, skin drone, soul seller, starkill, sybernetyks, theocracy, trauer, void meditation cult, zora
When one traipses through the country outside of the lock-step conformist big cities, it behooves the pipe smoker to look for those varieties of tobacco favored in the less “civilized” areas of the world. This might bring one to Brenham, Texas, where the Brookshire Brothers grocery store offers up a unique and wonderful American tradition: the drive-thru Tobacco Barn.
7 CommentsTags: brookshire brothers, burley, cotton bowl twist, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipe tobacco blends, texas, tobacco, tobacco barn
History is full of paradoxes. Twentieth century Germany provides one of the major mysteries of the modern era: Why haven’t the Germans produced more high-quality black metal?
The country has been a heavy metal-stronghold since Neolithic times with a significantly high metalhead-per-capita rate. Furthermore, Germany has spawned more metal bands than any other country in Europe with abundant native labels, zines and distros supporting them. Yet, when it comes to black metal, there’s not much to write home about. (more…)
24 CommentsTags: Black Metal, German Black Metal, germany, primitive black metal, ungod
Article by David Rosales
Marduk has never, with the exception of the laudable Opus Nocturne, boasted of a deep mystical aura imbuing their music and has rather been known for the sonic onslaught which is their music. The present work sees a band that appears to have long settled for a style and seem content to reproduce it for the benefit of an expecting audience. That is, a very palpable pop mentality has settled in, even if the music has not completely degenerated in form. The artistic vision nonetheless has affected, as is the rule, the manifested aesthetic of the music, and will predictably continue to corrode its quality as it has been doing for the past twenty years or so.
12 CommentsTags: Black Metal, Frontschwein, marduk, pop metal, re-review, review, War Metal
Article by Anton Rudrick.
Now that a thorough overview of Sodom’s career has been completed, and a short analysis from that overview has provided us with new insights, we can be more confident in our evaluation of their new album, Decision Day, in a way that allows us to tentatively explain the origin of its strengths and faults. This becomes especially useful with an album displaying averageness on all levels, showing no prominent ideas that distinguish it neither in the abstract nor the actualized, and furthermore, certainly not being more than the sum of its parts. The situation is one in which all that remains are the references that these streamlined and pre-fabricated pieces meant in their original contexts, and how this commercial product attempts to play on them for maximizing revenue.
Sodom has earned a solid reputation among the metal crowd through the years. Most fans of the metal underground will probably have heard about Sodom, or that of Tom Angelripper, and will express respect at the mere mention of either name. Their newest album displays traits which one would associate with their own brand of speed metal (a.k.a. thrash metal, incorrectly dubbed), but these seem filtered through mannerisms borrowed from styles acquired over the last two decades and a half while Tom Angelripper explored the mainstream side of metal. Decision Day is catchy, and every step and turn is a hook optimized for comprehensibility and mass consumption.
18 CommentsTags: 2016, decision day, German Speed Metal, hard rock, mainstream metal, pop metal, review, sodom, Speed Metal
Humans are by nature delusional. They overestimate their importance and demand that reality fit their simple expectations. And yet, they are very good at mastering known skills, so they are highly proficient, but void of purpose. This hollowness is the left side of the metal Bell Curve, and to separate it from the good stuff, we have Sadistic Metal Reviews!
12 CommentsTags: ananku, autokrator, Cortege, meterosexuality, sadistic metal reviews, Serpent Ascending, todenlebend
Starting in the mid to late Eighties, many of the originators of death and black metal started to commercialize their music into straight speed metal for mass appeal to a bar show, beer metal audience; social concert goers in the uniforms of leather jackets, band tees, and high tops who treated shows as a time to socialize and shoot the shit with their friends while listening to typical bands that never challenged their musical preconceptions or startled them away from their ritualized moshing. Just a few years prior, many of these types would’ve been the same idiots seen in Heavy Metal Parking Lot. While most of their peers moved on from Judas Priest to Motley Crue and Guns ‘n’ Roses, many listened to what was considered an “acceptable” fusion of heavy metal and radio rock played by groups like post-Ride the Lightning Metallica, Anthrax, and Testament.
17 CommentsTags: beer metal, Bolt Thrower, death metal, Grindcore, Heavy Metal, In Battle There Is No Law, lame metal, mainstream metal, Metal Curmudgeon, Realm of Chaos, stadium rock
Article by Johan P.
This text is a continuation of the previously published article, The Difficulties of Folk Metal. As stated in Part I, the threefold aim of this multi-part article is, in rough terms, to: 1. Give a short introduction to the subject, 2. Point out some of the difficulties connected with integrating folk music into metal and finally, 3. Provide alternative methods of integration. Part II will be dedicated to the second part of this quest.
Naturally, there are limits regarding the scope of my endeavor – the most obvious demarcation being that the article primarily focuses on Swedish folk music. In my view, the critique of folk metal is an ongoing project, and this article should not be seen as an exhaustive treatment of the subject at hand.
So, if someone else out there finds the subject interesting, you are more than welcome to make contributions. It could be in the form of additional material (metal or folk related) and complementary ideas to enhance the project. For example, the depth and applicability of the arguments presented below would surely benefit if the scope could be expanded to include other forms of traditional music.
42 CommentsTags: folk, folk metal, genre, Heavy Metal, Månegarm, music analysis, musical analysis, neofolk, nokturnal mortum, Sweden, The Voice of Steel, Vredens Tid
Greetings, fellow metalheads,
Times seem grim. The orcs have taken Osgilliath and approach the gates of the white city. Western Civilization is still dying, accelerated by democracy and consumerism, but rotten to its core with a lack of hope. Metal once gave that hope by showing us an alternate morality comprised of effective realism and epic mythos. Many of us want to live in that time again, but it will not happen through democracy or consumerism. We must choose our leaders and then all of us participate in restoring and advancing the greatness we have known.
31 CommentsTags: athame, destroyer 666, gevurahel, Grave Miasma, immolation, katharsis, Mythology, mythos, noire, order from chaos, path of samsara, profanatica, radio, restoration, The Curling Flame of Blasphemy
Paramus, NJ band Monument Of A Memory creates what some call “modern death metal” and others, with a nod to its origins in a late punk/death metal hybrid, deathcore. The band is about to release its second recording, Catharsis, and vocalist Tommy Gehringer and bassist Josh Correa took the time to give us some insight on music and the theory of being a metal band in the current age.
7 Comments
