Every genre hits a ceiling. How does jazz rise beyond The Shape of Jazz to Come, electronica exceed Computer World, classical beat the Beethoven nine symphonies, or black metal surpass Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, Pure Holocaust, and Transilvanian Hunger?
58 CommentsTags: amorphophallus titanum, dungeon synth, garden gnome, goatcraft
When you start writing about metal, you rapidly find that metal connects to lots of other stuff. Not just by lyrics and imagery but by sound alone, since listening to metal seems to shape consciousness toward viewing reality differently than what The Herd wants: oblivion, free stuff, nudes, and donuts.
36 CommentsTags: ptsd, sadistic metal reviews, smr
The funderground tryhards forgot to create music in their quest for image, and the mainstreamer emoclones neutralize musical potential in order to be socially inoffensive, but nature is healing itself as Shores of Null make a hybrid between power metal, doom metal, and post-metal that promotes beauty.
4 CommentsTags: Doom Metal, power metal, shores of null
When this site was started, back as an FTP server growing out of USENET and before that a collection of BBS g-philes, the paucity of information about underground metal was an issue. Now we have too much underground metal and too much information about it, almost all of it bad.
42 CommentsTags: aesthetics, ethics, genre, robert fripp, sadistic metal reviews, smr
We know there is broad cynicism toward religion here; after all the Abrahamic (Islam, Christianity, Judaism) religions seem awfully simple and emotional. However, there is a whole world of spiritual belief out there which is not metaphysical dualism, neoplatonism, or universalism.
77 CommentsTags: christianity, golden dawn, h.p. lovecraft, j.r.r. tolkien, magic, Occultism, Paganism
Famous for its death metal stickers in the bathroom and behind the bar, Cecil’s Pub has been a watering hole for professional alcoholics and amateur tipplers alike for four decades, but has lost its lease and is moving on.
30 CommentsTags: beer, cecil's pub, houston, texas
Since the late 1980s, all culture has been crypto: it hides in plain sight, it uses its own language and symbols, and it builds itself against the dominant contrarianism that took over in the 1960s and turned rock into propaganda and advertising.
32 CommentsTags: degeneration, lyrics, melody, metal, music
Century Media has taken a classic album and improved it by giving it production more like the first Sacramentum full-length. From the teletype:
23 CommentsTags: Black Metal, death metal, sacramentum
We regret to inform you that Paul Di’Anno (Andrews) of Iron Maiden has passed on to the other side at age sixty-six. As the paper of record tells us, he had an illustrious career as a vocalist for one of the top three NWOBHM bands:
46 CommentsTags: iron maiden, paul di'anno, RIP
Since the band is no longer active, Slayer has turned its focus toward preserving its place in history as arguably the most powerful and interesting metal band of all time. To that end, the band has launched the “Slaytanic Verses: Live Assaults 1981 Through Today” website.
47 CommentsTags: death metal, slayer, Speed Metal, Thrash
