Psycho Survivors – Alive From the Grave (2017)

Many have noted the rise of the music in the intersection between martial industrial, synthwave, dark ambient and dungeon synth which has produced a number of offshoot genres. Coming to us from China, Psycho Survivors (失常幸存者) attempt to meld death metal and synthwave music into a new form that has the techniques of industrial with the compositional sensibilities of death metal.

(more…)

16 Comments

Tags: , , , ,

Pek – Preaching Evil (2008)


Review by Linus Douglas.

Pek brings death metal of the traditional, direct kind to your table that advances through simple but effective melodic phrases in low register and makes ample use of chromatism. Pek makes a progression between riffs happen, but it is more of an exchange than something that feels “through-composed”. Instead, we find cyclic structures that help expand simple content into longer songs simply by playing upon the replayability of the collection of riffs as narrative paragraphs, which helps the music support itself on more than the complexity of a single riff.

(more…)

1 Comment

Tags: , , , , , ,

King Crimson – Lark’s Tongues in Aspic (1973)

Heavy metal was born in very late 60s and early 70s as a merger of heavy rock, proto-punk, horror film scores and progressive rock, carving out a new form of dark music that spelled out longer phrases than rock by using moveable power chords in complex riffs.

(more…)

60 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whoredom Rife – Dommedagskvad (2017)


Review contributed by Jon Browning.

Whoredom Rife are exactly what is wrong with modern “underground” “metal”. All these posers do is take a bunch of riffs from records over twenty years old, chop them up, and randomly attach a few of them together to make… a track.

(more…)

13 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Malicia – Silencioso Dolor Que Aniquila (2013)

Sandwiched between keyboard compositions which attempt to sound random while hiding a simple progression in notes that initially seem like tangential harmony, Silencioso Dolor Que Aniquila consists of moderately successful compositions using the language of Hellhammer but a sensibility more like a late speed metal band.

(more…)

8 Comments

Tags: , , , , ,

Aversion to Advent Parallax


Article by Lance Viggiano. Read his take on Transilvanian Hunger here.

I was essentially swindled into purchasing the gorgeous gatefold edition of this Averse Sefira LP which showcases some rather magnificent and captivating artwork as well as an above average execution of the band’s themes, concepts, and symbolism in visual form.

(more…)

31 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Classic reviews:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z