Hanging out on the edge of the thrash genre with MOD and SOD, the Mentors represented the side of thrash that took thematically after punk; most thrash either placed metal riffs in punk songs (Cryptic Slaughter, Suicidal Tendencies, Fearless Iranians From Hell) or punk riffs in metal songs (DRI, Dead Horse) and took after one of the two thematically, but the Mentors kept the party and sleaze side of punk alive.
2 CommentsTags: elbow deep, gore-grind, Grindcore, mentors, Thrash
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
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
Coming from those classic years between speed metal and death metal, Pestilence launched themselves into death metal history with Consvming Impvlse and then slowly transmuted into a progressive death metal band, later returning as a progressive metalcore act in the 2000s.
2 CommentsTags: death metal, metalcore, pestilence
As COVID-19 passes from terror into absurdity, Hammerheart Records is offering a free mask with any online order. It may work for viruses, but it certainly works well for armed robbery! You can also pick up low-cost versions of classic metal albums, many of which are pre-COVID-19 and so feature band photos without masks.
10 CommentsTags: covid-19, hammerheart
On October 30, Vic Records plans to release the first Sacramentum EP, Finis Malorum from 1994, originally issued on Northern Records in limited quantities. Owing to rising interest in this epic melodic death metal band, more Sacramentum material has been re-issued, starting with Far Away From The Sun back in May.
2 CommentsTags: Black Metal, death metal, sacramentum, vic records
For those of us who have never been Deep Purple fans, the following analysis of their roots shows us the utility of classical music in making great heavy metal:
11 CommentsTags: Bathory, burzum, Classical, classical music, deep purple, Heavy Metal
Another collaboration from K.K. Null shows us the immense flexibility of the almost pure music he creates from manipulated sound, with Deison providing what sounds like a techno/necrowave framework over which ominous, haunting, and disturbing noise hangs like a funereal curtain.
1 Comment
Swedish death metal left a massive impression on the metal underground because it both created a sound from intense distortion and d-beat punk swept up in primal death metal and also gave a voice to this music with a viewpoint that was simultaneously energetic, ancient, and anarchistic. Sabrewulf add to this a raw spontaneity and give it a different path.
1 CommentTags: death metal, sabrewulf
Back in 1992 or so, Suffocation was the hot commodity and pretty much everyone in the death metal community wanted more of that sound. Ironically, it borrowed as much from Bay Area speed metal as death metal, using the percussive muted strum in ways faster than Exodus or Metallica could have imagined.
32 CommentsTags: death metal, Pyrexia
