Darkthrone announced that the title and cover of their upcoming album, Arctic Thunder, shares a similar name with many breath mint brands and 1980s ski bro flicks. Hopefully this album is not phoned-in retro-heavy metal more disposable than an Altoids tin like The Underground Resistance was.
30 CommentsTags: Arctic Thunder, Black Metal, darkthrone, Heavy Metal, upcoming release
Innsmouth play primitive blackened death metal in the vein of Darkthrone‘s A Blaze in the Northern Sky with the addition of several other metal riffing styles to the three chord hardcore Hellhammerisms. Consumed by the Elder Sign attempts to build an atmosphere resembling the terror and corruption of Lovecraftian Elder Gods through atmosphere, production, and samples that often come across as comically charming rather than haunting; cries of hatching star spawn sound like baby dinosaurs from Jurassic Park.
1 CommentTags: Australia, Black Metal, Consumed by the Elder Sign, death metal, Heavy Metal, Innsmouth, review
Article by Johan P.
The Final Damnation could be Abigail’s most worthwhile release since their sleazy blackened speed metal debut Intercourse and Lust twenty years ago. After tons of insipid punk/speed metal releases, more vicious black metal elements have once again made their way into Abigail’s repertoire.
7 CommentsTags: 2016, Abigail, beer metal, Black Metal, Heavy Metal, Japan, review, Speed Metal, The Final Damnation
Cirith Ungol’s final and worst album, Paradise Lost is finally being reissued for the first time since its release in 1991. Metal Blade Records was unable to secure the rights to the album back when they released the first CD versions of the rest of the Cirith Ungol catalog in 1999. The CD, LP, and merchandise may be preordered from Metal Blade’s website and the band posted a press release their Facebook page:
No CommentsTags: 1991, cirith ungol, Heavy Metal, metal blade records, paradise lost, reissue
Article by Johan P.
This text is a continuation of the previously published article, The Difficulties of Folk Metal. As stated in Part I, the threefold aim of this multi-part article is, in rough terms, to: 1. Give a short introduction to the subject, 2. Point out some of the difficulties connected with integrating folk music into metal and finally, 3. Provide alternative methods of integration. Part II will be dedicated to the second part of this quest.
Naturally, there are limits regarding the scope of my endeavor – the most obvious demarcation being that the article primarily focuses on Swedish folk music. In my view, the critique of folk metal is an ongoing project, and this article should not be seen as an exhaustive treatment of the subject at hand.
So, if someone else out there finds the subject interesting, you are more than welcome to make contributions. It could be in the form of additional material (metal or folk related) and complementary ideas to enhance the project. For example, the depth and applicability of the arguments presented below would surely benefit if the scope could be expanded to include other forms of traditional music.
42 CommentsTags: folk, folk metal, genre, Heavy Metal, Månegarm, music analysis, musical analysis, neofolk, nokturnal mortum, Sweden, The Voice of Steel, Vredens Tid
Cryptopsy‘s None So Vile turned twenty this month. A more successful turn off your brain death metal work than Cannibal Corpse, simplified and straightforward deathgrind song structures allowed each musician ample opportunity to show off and drop jaws. Unfortunately aggression and technical showmanship can only cover up for so many repetitive mosh, hit people verses, funky slap bass, and taking three steps back towards verse-chorus-verse speed metal songwriting from their inspiration Suffocation. Nevertheless, None So Vile remains worthy of the occasional, once every couple of years listen due to Jon Levasseur’s superb heavy metal leads when not caving skulls in with a rock or something and Flo Mournier’s over the top ferocity that the original Dark Legions Archive review famously compared to a police beating.
10 CommentsTags: anniversary, cryptopsy, death metal, Grindcore, Heavy Metal, None So Vile, Speed Metal
Article by Lance Viggiano.
Sacriphyx present a bog standard take on Hellenic black metal through the rollicking pulse native to Australia. The strength of the Greek strategy is in its ability to capture a variety of moods leading to a diverse heavy metal experience. The Western Front is a discontinuous concept album based upon World War I wherein its songs do not function as parts of whole; rather, they are self-contained units acting with autonomy in pursuit of the greater conceptual goal that is realized only through individual skirmishes. These compositional deployments reinforce stylistic choices by maximizing an array of emotive impact while minimizing any diminished efficacy of individual motifs as their power is not derived from their position in a greater narrative arc from song to song. Despite proficient execution, Sacriphyx fail to build upon the Mediterranean tactic in any meaningful sense and thus the movements of its elements will be predictable to those familiar.
22 CommentsTags: 2013, Australia, Black Metal, epic heavy metal, Greek Black Metal, Heavy Metal, nuclear war now! productions, review, Sacriphyx, The Western Front, World War I
There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself.1
Many metal-heads think that metal died out as a genre because it went corporate and lost its edge. Undoubtedly more commercialized metal appeared, as it always does whenever a genre becomes popular and therefore, profitable. There is more to it than that, however, as larger cultural forces and schemes were at play.
The question of commercialism arose because there was a bridge between power metal/jock metal (e.g. Korn) and more old school thrash metal (Metallica/Slayer) which was never gapped. This paralleled the gap of a decade earlier, when the gap between metal bands like Motorhead and hard rock bands like Van Halen divided the fanbase between album listeners and radio listeners. This gave rise to entire subgenres like black metal, death metal and grindcore which were deliberately designed to avoid having large-scale commercial success. That in turn triggered the rise of the 1990s version of glam, grunge, which was basically slowed-down indie-rock influenced hard rock.
21 CommentsTags: beavis and butthead, culture wars, Heavy Metal, pantera, rap
Shadow Kingdom Records has signed a deal to reissue the first three Death SS records with the original sound intact as per the band’s wishes. Fans should keep a lookout.
No CommentsTags: Death SS, Heavy Metal, Italy, reissues, shadow kingdom records, Speed Metal
Dismember are currently in the process of reissuing their merchandise and back catalog to combat rampant poor-quality bootlegs. Brett Stevens reached out to the band for an email interview and drummer Fred Estby most graciously agreed to answer our staff’s questions:
18 CommentsTags: carnage, death metal, Dismember, Fred Estby, Heavy Metal, interview, Sweden
