FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
The long awaited 2009 release Black Cascade had many people, including myself, wondering if it could own up to Two Hunters – the sprawling second release from Wolves In The Throne Room. Glorified by critics, embraced by both indie rockers and black metal enthusiasts, Wolves’ majestic soundscapes, beautiful and dark, has flowed into the ears of a rather unique audience of all sorts.
I’ll be honest, even though I am a big fan of Norwegian metal in general, Norwegian black metal especially, I haven’t really cared for anything Satyricon has done since Rebel Extravaganza. The whole “black ‘n’ roll” thing they have adopted really makes my stomach turn… but there’s something about this record I really dig.
Yeah, we get it, you deathcore bands sure can play, but would it kill you to dial down the ostentatious bursts of technical dexterity enough to a) give us a breather and b) try to come up with a passage that we can actually remember?
The Plague of Butterflies EP, released by Finnish doom metal band Swallow The Sun, is a nice little package with potentially a lot of value for its price.
To call Sons of Seasons’ debut prog/power would be accurate but vague. Saying Gods of Vermin sounds like a fusion of inspirations from Savatage to Dream Theater and Therion would get it a little closer.
March 31st 2007 was a pretty important night for many doom fans, especially those lucky enough to have been in attendance at Stockholm’s Kolingsborg club. Seven hundred or so were there for the twentieth anniversary celebration of doom legends Candlemass, something that was originally meant to happen earlier on but was delayed due to the whole Messiah Marcolin departure fiasco.
It appears that Greece is quickly becoming a new breeding ground of quality original progressive metal thanks to the likes of Mindflow, Fragile Vastness, etc. And now with Persona Non Grata now signed on with the great prog label Sensory, this quintet has created a succint blend of heavy prog metal…
This four track demo EP is pure 80’s metal. It sounds to me like the early output of Scotland’s Heavy Pettin’ fronted by a singer that sounds somewhat similar to Kevin Griffiths of the NWOBHM band Briar.
Munich, Germany’s tech metal mastermind Steffen Kummerer returns in 2009 with his band Obscura’s sophomore album Cosmogenisis. With a few member changes and additional set backs now behind him, he now comes adorned with former members of Necrophagist and ex -Pesitlence bass extraordinaire Jeroen Paul Thesseling.
A couple weeks ago, the world’s most accomplished stoner, multiple gold medallist Michael Phelps, returned to the pool after serving out his suspension for inhaling what, considering his lung capacity, must have been enough weed smoke to lay out the state of Utah.