Alternative rock emerged from punk, looking for a way to be melancholic like the Goths and rebelliously cynical like the punks, but without becoming the same whiny bleat-beat material that 1960s rock made mundane. It went too far into rock, but eventually came back around to punk.
1 CommentTags: alternative metal, cult of scarecrow, punk
Famed for being a crypto-realist who lives in a world of imagination, Glenn Danzig laid out the brutal truth about political correctness:
6 CommentsTags: glenn danzig, kafkatrapping, political correctness, punk, sjws, the misfits, woke politics
Genres are like corporations: they move from innovation to participation to cash cow, at which point noone knows where to go and they simply aggregate everything that has not failed. Miasmal Sabbath bring together rushing death metal, d-beat punk, and Autopsy-styled necrotic doom-death into a listenable package.
7 CommentsTags: doom-death, miasmal sabbath, punk
A footnote in an article we ran last week sparked a lot of controversy among our very passionate friends who lurk the DMU comment sections. No, it wasn’t that we correctly identified SJW journalists as the nail in the coffin of metal as we know it; instead it was an observation of the last death of heavy metal:
In the early 1970s, heavy metal was an exciting new musical and cultural movement. So much so, that it surpassed even rock music (thought to be revolutionary just a few years before). But towards the end of the decade came a near-lethal blow: punk rock. Faster, louder, more abrasive and aggressive, punk had risen the bar and metal couldn’t compete. From 1977-1983, metal was almost completely obliterated. Many had declared the movement dead – a fleeting flavor of the week experiment that did not stand the test of time.
Many took issue with this: “metal wasn’t dead!” they cried. “Albums were released, things happened!” “You’re erasing history Brock, your articles ruined this site and my life!”
The intrigue and utter distraction of this phrase sparked the need to further elaborate: Did metal actually die, during this time period, or did I somehow just miss a few years of quality metal development?
7 CommentsTags: 1983, death, metal history, NWOBHM, punk, Speed Metal, the second age of metal
Back in the 1980s, a number of hardcore punk bands mostly in the New York area began to be influenced by Hare Krishna and Hindu ideas. They formed a pseudo-genre of their own, dropping out of the existing hardcore scenes to pursue a life of relative sanity and create music that channeled raw rage into a more meditative outlook. (more…)
19 CommentsTags: Hardcore, krishnacore, NYHC, punk
Most people compare this music to Motorhead, but in my mind, it resembles a fusion between Black Flag and folk music like the old Bob Seeger tracks that limousine liberals pretended to like along with their Harry Belafonte and Leonard Bernstein LPs. A strong punk energy and rhythm pervades the music while a vocal-driven melodic sense guides each song to a quasi-ironic, bittersweet but triumphant conclusion.
5 CommentsTags: folk, lilou & john, metal, pop, punk
If someone goes on this tour, make sure to hand Justin Broadrick a telephone to signify that this album has been phoned in. As the term implies, when content creators are no longer focused on making their work significant, an “it’ll do” mentality results. This fits within what Godflesh and related Broadrick-acts have done through their careers.
9 CommentsTags: emo, godflesh, Grindcore, hard rock, Heavy Metal, indie, indie/emo, Industrial, industrial grindcore, punk
Continuing his existence as a walking anti-drug ad, Cuban/Norwegian musician Al Jourgensen and whoever he has hired this week released “Antifa,” a track from the upcoming Ministry album AmeriKKKant on Nuclear Blast Records. In a desperate bid to remain relevant, Jourgensen has adopted a hybrid of Millennial politics and Baby Boomer sanctimony in a move that will alienate his Generation X fanbase.
16 CommentsTags: al jourgensen, antifa, heavy music, Industrial, industrial metal, metal, ministry, punk
For Generation X, droning sounds were good sounds. The train passing at night meant that order was restored, the Hoover vacuum passing the doorway meant that a parent was home and somewhat engaged, and the relentless churn of machinery meant that the order that was would not collapse quite yet.
25 CommentsTags: 1980s, 1990, 1990s, pop music, punk, review, sonic youth, tedium
With the fiftieth anniversary of metal music around the corner, forthcoming years will witness an increase of publications dealing with the history, legacy and defining characteristics of the genre. This could finally resolve the lack of consensus that still exists regarding the definition and origins of heavy metal.
25 CommentsTags: Ambient, article, black sabbath, cream, electronic, Genesis, hard rock, Heavy Metal, heavy metal history, heavy rock, metal history, origins of heavy metal, progressive electronic music, progressive rock, proto-metal, psychedelic rock, punk, tangerine dream, the stooges
