Category: Reviews
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Primitive Man – Home is Where the Hatred is
One needs not listen to a note of this EP to know that it’s gonna be bleak—the artwork is about *thisclose* to getting Relapse charged with supporting terrorism under the Patriot Act. And certainly, the band’s reputation precedes them, Primitive Man being known for downtuned, punishing sludge tunes and terrifying horror-movie music videos. And while…
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Black Khox – AKAB
First impressions, people. This four-piece out of Quebec City have a name that should make them a pornogrind band. That’s unfortunate, because: I hate pornogrind and will avoid it; I totally judge bands based on their chosen moniker; and, I now have to describe what Black Khox sounds like. (Eww.) Once I made it past…
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Anicon / Belus
In my feeble attempt to catch up on releases I want/was assigned to cover last year I’ve made my way to this split from a pair of New York bands. Released last July this collaboration between Anicon and Belus flew pretty much under the radar. Or mine at least. Which is rather surprising given some…
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Torche – Restarter
Haven’t seen or heard from Torche in a little while—their last album came out in 2012—but a new album means an excuse to tour, which makes Restarter a worthy release even without hearing a note. Few bands bring it live like these guys anymore, especially at the club level. No fancy pyros or elaborate stage props,…
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Witchrider – Unmountable Stairs
Not gonna lie, when I see a self-professed stoner/occult rock outfit with the word Witch in its name, I kinda cringe a little (notable exception: Witch Mountain). And if we’re judging an album by its cover, then I hope this trio doesn’t sound as tacky as their artwork looks. But hey, what with the dearth…
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Them County Bastardz – Sick Daze
Once upon a time, metal was actually fun, no really. And the splendidly named Them County Bastardz harken back to that era. What you got here are some seriously well-written riff-based tracks (crushing riffs, real’ wall of sound’ stuff) in the vein of Black Label Society and Pantera circa Cowboys From Hell. There’s also something…
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Arcania – Dreams are Dead
Hailing from France and charging out of the gate with a snazzily shot video, Arcania can easily fit in with the progressive death metal bigwigs of the day. The first comparison that came to my mind was the similarly melodic, yet undoubtedly heavy, Gojira. Their mammoth sound is also distinctive among the sea of melo-death drivel…
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Orange Goblin – Back From The Abyss
In an ever-changing world, one in which the foundations upon which our reality stands are constantly shifting, one thing you can be sure of is that the mighty Orange Goblin will release a superb album. Their music is always uplifting too. This doesn’t surprise me. I interviewed Orange Goblin’s vocalist Ben Ward for Zero Tolerance magazine,…
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Sangus – Saevitia EP
In ten minutes, Rhode Island’s five-piece Sangus accomplishes everything I could want from an unholy-blackened crust-core EP. Whirling poisonous clouds of tremolo guitars breaking out into screeching solos? Frantic, blasting drums? A vocalist hell-bent on spewing war-chants instead of words? Yeah, all there, and all tied to the mission statement of “get in, fuckin’ destroy,…
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Rise of Dissension – self-titled
Rise of Dissension, or R.O.D. as some call them, hail from Kingston ON and are composed of Doug Smith (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Andrew Simmons (lead and rhythm guitars, vocals, percussion) and Landon Chatterton (drums and percussion); also, when they play live, Darren McLean plays bass. Each member is well known and respected in the local metal…