The venerable Royal Yacht serves many a pipe-smoker as a staple, since it presents the ultimate rarity, a high-powered Virginia-based blend that also manages to be flavorful, smooth, and sweet. Famous for its unique topping — a combination of rum, Tawny Port, citrus, and possibly honey — this blend has delighted smokers since 1912 and proves to be the most divisive blend most will encounter.
5 CommentsTags: Dunhill, peterson, pipe tobacco, royal yacht, tobacco
Ostensibly positioning themselves somewhere between the exalted primitivism of Demoncy and the “flowing” school of Eastern European black metal, Irillion emerged as one of the more promising black metal-acts of recent years with 2016’s Egledhron. Not so much for their choice of style, but for displaying courage to move beyond established forms in intuitive pursuit of the most effective and far-reaching mode of expression. This recently released second EP entitled Fatanyu retains the sonic signature and raw, essentialist approach evident on the debut, but trumps the debut in terms of composition and stylistic refinement.
6 CommentsTags: Black Metal, fatanyu, irillion
Timi Hansen who played on the classic Mercyful Fate records and the first few King Diamond albums has been confirmed dead by King Diamond himself. Timi had gone public with his diagnosis on early August while announcing that he would not be able to play on the Mercyful Fate reunion tour and that Armored saint bassist Joey Vera would be taking over. He passed on the 4th of November barely a week after his 61st birthday. King Diamond left the following message.
1 CommentTags: Heavy Metal, king diamond, mercyful fate, timi hansen
Two time finalist in the DMU song contests, which speaks loudly to the character of the music presented here. Over a decade in the making The Abject is diverse mix of various genres and style all held down coherently by the individuality of Chupacabra.
4 CommentsTags: Baroque, Chupacabra, hip-hop, jazz, metal, the abject
Phil from Nuclear Death returns with his new project Feral Viscera which continues on the path originally set out by the band but without the influence of the other members. The Nuclear Death Cult consists of eleven rerecorded Nuclear Death songs and two brand new songs. Songs remain the same in regards to composition but are produced in a much more modern manner. Gone are the demented screams of Lori Bravo, now replaced with a cold heavily distorted growl. The guitars are much louder and though are just unpolished are easier to make out due to the overly compressed nature of the music.
5 CommentsTags: death metal, feral viscera, Grindcore, nuclear death, nuclear death cult
Blitzkrieg’s three song demo, released during the height of the NWOBHM era and showing a harder side to the genre slowly edging towards full on Speed metal. Though known mainly due to Metallica’s cover and its influence on the American Speed metal bands. Blitzkrieg offer a combination of the triumphant riffing found on Stained Class and the theatrics of Focus’ Moving Waves.
1 CommentTags: blitzkrieg, demo, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Speed Metal
Blood Incantation return after the heavily flawed but full of potential “Starspawn” that showed songs with a well defined direction lose focus and meander aimlessly. Here the band have devolved into Timeghoul worship for Indie kids and tek-deaf fans who need constant riff changes. The titles are taken from the pseudo-historical documentaries that detail drug addled stories of humans being assisted by aliens throughout time. An obvious sign that something is deeply wrong with both the music and the musicians responsible for this.
17 CommentsTags: blood incantation, death metal
Attic hail from Germany are a German band that have recently started to tour with a few bigger bands recently. Their gimmick is King Diamond/Mercyful Fate for those oblivious to their existence. Within this gimmick there are a few bizarre surprises though.
No CommentsTags: andy laroque, attic, dissection, Heavy Metal, king diamond, sanctimonious, storm of the light's bane
Back in the day, this Norwegian band was derogatorily referred to as a “life metal”-band by scenesters. Especially their sophomore effort Silence suffered a reputation of being an exceptionally weak, pretentious and – above all – boring release. Although recent years have given rise to sporadic reevaluations of the band’s work, Fester remains largely neglected to this day (and some would say deservedly so).
11 CommentsTags: Black Metal, death metal, fester, norway, silence
One of many promising acts who fell by the wayside in the early 1990, Swedish melodic death/black band Sarcasm made a somewhat unexpected return in 2015 with the long overdue release of their 1994 debut full-length Burial Dimensions. Then in 2017 came their return proper with Within in the Sphere of Ethereal Minds, an aesthetically pleasing marred by haphazard assembly. With Esoteric Tales of the Unserene (2019), Sarcasm return to previously explored territories; maybe in the hope of striking a better equilibrium between the style’s main constituents: black-, death- and heavy metal.
5 CommentsTags: Black Metal, death metal, esoteric tales of the unserene, sarcasm
