Hydra Head

Nihill – Verdonkermaan

Broken, beaten, scarred and bloody, Verdonkermaan is the aural equivalent of the worst Hostel/Saw environment imaginable. It’s bleak and cold, devoid of sustaining life and terrifying to its core. For all that, it’s a stunning and unforgettable album.

Happy 40th birthday to… Black Sabbath’s Volume 4

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the official release of what I consider to be one of the greatest albums ever made, Black Sabbath’s fourth studio album Volume 4. While many consider the two albums previous (Paranoid and Master of Reality) to be the band’s high point, the progressiveness of Volume 4 made it my Sabbath album.

Buzzov*en – Revelation:Sick Again

If you’re familiar with Buzzov*en, you pretty much know what to expect here, and you’re going to love tracks like “Never Again”, “Symptom”, and “Junkie” . If you’re not familiar with the band, Revelation: Sick Again is as good a place to start as any of their other albums. Mean-spirited, drug-and-booze-fueled Southern hatesludge that blazed the trail first. Rock solid.

Torche – Songs For Singles

As far as the Torche sound goes, Songs For Singles is a breakthrough; there have been hints of veering off in this direction from the beginning, but Torche have really nailed it down here. Though I’d have been just as happy to wait for a full-length, at 21 minutes, this feels like more a tease than anything.

Eugene S. Robinson: The Hellbound.ca Interview

Author, writer, singer, fighter, actor, father, Eugene S. Robinson is the inspirational everyman for those of us choosing to follow the loves of their life. He’s also a pretty good poster-boy for those for whom the notion of getting a full-time, square job makes their skin crawl and testicles and/or ovaries shrivel up and retreat into the adjacent nether regions.

Kevin Stewart-Panko speaks one-on-one with Eugene S. Robinson about his brand new crime novel A Long Slow Screw, his critically acclaimed writing career and his ongoing musical journey as front man of the experimental outfit Oxbow.

Jay Gorania’s SXSW 2010 – Part 1

Austin’s 6th Street area is the performance location for much of the musical side of South by Southwest—a massive interactive, film and music conference and festival. Historically, unsigned bands came to get noticed by suit ’n tie record label reps; however as it has evolved, signed underground and mainstream bands have dominated showcases, and schmoozin’ and boozin’ is underway as backroom deals and negotiation unfolds. Hell, it’s gotten to the point that Metallica played last year.

Jay Gorania recaps his take on this year’s SXSW Music Festival. In this first entry, he reviews the Relapse Records showcase as well as sets by Torche, Goes Cube and Goatwhore.

Keelhaul: Keelhaul’s Triumphant Return to Obscurity

Perhaps because their last release, Subject to Change Without Notice was released six years ago, coupled with the music industry’s short-term memory loss – not really anyone’s fault, as a plethora of albums are released every week – the understated brilliance of the Cleveland, Ohio quartet has largely gone unnoticed.