The most epic bands often struggle to clarify their voice, which includes composition, technique, and performance. For Emperor, the first foray consisted of crepitant necrotic recordings which emphasized solidarity with the early works of Hellhammer, Sodom, and Sarcofago. Later they refined their approach.
35 CommentsTags: Black Metal, emperor
We all know the metal cycle: something gets press, people rush out to buy it, and then years later we see it in the sale bin as companies reduce stock in something which, since it is no longer in the metal media, is not selling. Right now the re-issue of the Abomination demos is getting this treatment.
4 CommentsTags: abomination, death metal, paul speckmann
In the modern metal lexicon, European metal has often been used to denote bands that relied extensively on Iron Maiden harmonies, keyboards, pseudo-classical melodies, female vocalists, tremolo picked riffs and overall less influence from Pantera and Metallica. Septic Flesh have come to epitomize this style despite adding a lot more Metalcore elements to keep with the times. Before the name change, the band were once an overlooked force and presented many ideas that metal as a whole was never fully able to capitalize on. Ophidian Wheel is the summit of the band’s creativity and pushes the romantic qualities of metal even further.
75 CommentsTags: death metal, Heavy Metal, hellenic black metal, septic flesh, the ophidian wheel
Pre-Entombed Swedish death metal powerhouse Nihilist released two demos and two EPs before becoming Entombed and going on to great fame in the death metal underground. Old timers used to talk about the first Entombed album wistfully, pointing out that the “real” Swedish death metal revolution had happened with Carnage and Nihilist.
15 CommentsTags: death metal, Nihilist
Xtreem Music announced the “10 Inches of Deathcult” series which will provide long time death metal listeners with a chance to obtain rare and long out of print demos from classic 80s and 90s extreme metal acts on ten inch vinyl, with its first release, “Perpetual Damnation” from Dutch death metal legends Sinister.
3 CommentsTags: death metal, sinister
Century Media Records has announced its intention to re-issue all three full length records from Swedish death metal veterans Unanimated.
3 CommentsTags: death metal, unanimated
As most of the West hunkers down in fear of Chinese lung AIDS, online providers are conjuring up things to keep us all occupied, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York which will be streaming live performances of Richard Wagner operas this week each night at 7:30 PM EST.
5 CommentsTags: live stream, Opera, richard wagner
We have all seen his logos: Christophe Szpajdel illustrated the branding for much of classic black metal and rose to prominence as the genre exploded in the late 1990s. Heavy Music Artwork honors him in part of its book series on hard rock and heavy metal artwork with Archaic Modernism: The Art of Christophe Szpajdel, now available for pre-order.
4 Comments
Master’s Paul Speckmann is known for taking an idea and squeezing everything he can from it through repetition and then utilizing the most direct route to return to that idea. Though this mentality would fail many bands because the riffs didn’t have the necessary urgency and creativity to work. Bolt Thrower on the other hand took this approach and pushed it to the logical extreme as each individual riff became the central focus while narrative development was relegated to an afterthought despite somehow still being present. What made Bolt Thrower so intriguing was that they possessed powerful riffs that were caveman like and more often than not completely idiotic yet the band managed to soar where others failed miserably.
17 CommentsTags: Bolt Thrower, death metal, Realm of Chaos, world eater
In the midst of the coronavirus devastating Italy, melodic Sardinian black metal act Infamous recently released a new track entitled “Forza e Onore” on a split with Ordo Sanguis Noctis entitled Strength and Honour/ Consecration of Mossy Sanctuary. With “Forza e Onore” mastermind S.A. explores familiar melodies with perhaps a greater sense of violence and urgency than those tracks which appeared on the previous full length.
3 CommentsTags: Black Metal, infamous, ordo sanguis noctis
