Not being a fan of soft drinks means that they rarely come into your life, but periodically one manifests itself that makes a strong case for its value. The root beer produced by the Sprecher brewery seems to be one of these.
1 CommentRuben Elizondo (1966-2021)
It is with sadness that we note the passing of Ruben Elizondo, famed Houston-area percussionist for bands such as Imprecation, Adumus, Dark Reign, and Morbus 666. We wish him well in the eternal battle of good versus evil that plays out on the land as well as the lands beyond.
1 CommentTags: imprecation, ruben elizondo
Interview with Jan Kruitwagen of Kaeck (2021)
Already gaining a lead on all other contenders for the most compelling underground metal album of the year, Kaeck has on Het Zwarte Dictaat made the masterpiece of violent rhythm riffs and melodies that much of the underground wishes it could, combining black metal and war metal with doom metal and death metal to create a constantly changing mood within a fluid style. Fortunately, guitarist/composer Jan Kruitwagen had a few moments to give us his take on the band and state of the metal genre.
2 CommentsTags: Black Metal, jan kruitwagen, kaeck, War Metal
Smoking Outside the Box
They always tell you to “think outside the box,” as if having everyone focused on non-conformity will result in anything but a new variety of conformity. So much of life comes back to the mirror image, where we are staring at a representation of ourselves, and trying to change how it looks, despite everything happening in reverse since left is right and right left.
2 CommentsTags: gawith hoggarth & co., pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipes, tobacco
Sarcófago Releases “Woke Reissue” of 1987 Classic I.N.R.I.
Foundational proto-black metal band Sarcófago announced today that its 1987 classic of blasphemy, I.N.R.I., has been re-issued in a “woke version” by Washington, D.C. label Dischord and will be in stores shortly, packaged with a commemorative Satanic Lust N95 face mask.
4 CommentsTobacco and Drink Pairings
Pipes and Cigars sent out its tobacco-drink pairing guide:
7 CommentsTags: hermeticism, pipe smoking
Kaeck – Het Zwarte Dictaat (2021)
Easily a candidate for album of the year, Het Zwarte Dictaat from Kaeck makes a form of war metal that incorporates the subtle melodies of black metal and the longer atmospheric riffs of later death metal, melding a primitive assault along the lines of Zyklon-B and Blasphemy with the type of elaborate construction we might expect from Emperor or Demigod.
With use of precise riffs, this album creates atmosphere in the classic underground metal style that contrasts loping hypnotic riffs with bursts of fury, allowing the song to emerge from a smoldering inner conflict like a car shooting out of a darkened tunnel into the light, looking for clarity within a shifting landscape of ambiguity and violence.
In its blend of war metal, doom-death, and black metal, Kaeck runs the gamut of tempi and rhythms over the course of this album, transitioning from the primitive to the almost reverentially mood-driven. By blending current methods with the most ancient of metal traditions, Het Zwarte Dictaat keeps a foot in the past while stepping into the future.
2 CommentsInterview with Spinoza Ray Prozak on Necropolis Podcast
Jason Kiss of Goatcraft has reinvented himself again with a podcast called Necropolis, and he graciously invited me on to talk about ANUS, Dark Legions Archive, the classic underground, and the nowadays internet and corporate/hipster metal.
13 CommentsTags: dark legions archive, jason kiss, necropolis, spinoza ray prozak
How They Attempt To Assimilate You
We warned years ago that assimilation by the ancestor is a common fate of breakaway genres; rock, consumerism, and popular culture have been trying since the early days to turn metal into a variation on their basic formula.
15 CommentsTags: assimilation, normies, propaganda
Pazuzu – Oath of Unholy Sacrilege (2021)
For most listeners, the core of Pazuzu can be expressed as an Autopsy-inspired take on grindcore, with the slower doomy riffs like the tug of a scalpel through flesh alternating with bounding hardcore riffs much as the Bay Area band applied, but with elements of black metal and doom metal filtered in.
2 Comments
