Category: Reviews – Audio
Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?
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ENSLAVED – In Times
First Impressions… Well, I couldn’t resist, I ate up the official stream made available by Nuclear Blast right away. As a longtime fan of Norway’s ENSLAVED I had been following the news of this release closely, so it was nice to get a reward immediately; the first track, “Thurisaz Dreaming,” had been partially released as…
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Callisto – Secret Youth
Sincere and heartfelt, this is not an album for the casual listener; rather it is for the music lover who is prepared to give the music time to plant roots in the mind and appreciate all its nuances. While Callisto are good song-writers, I found this album works best listened to as an organic whole. It…
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Cowards – Rise to Infamy
France is pretty much the last place that comes to mind when you think of sludge metal. But that’s not to say Paris doesn’t have its share of unrest—they still shoot cartoonists there, after all. And let’s not forget that Louisiana was once a French colony… although I’m pretty sure that Mike IX and Kirk…
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Visigoth – The Revenant King
I’m probably the last person I’d expect to see reviewing an album by a band such as Salt Lake City’s Visigoth. I’m usually the coward running the other way when “power metal” is mentioned but something about these traditionalists and their debut The Revenant King threw a bolas around my ankles and dragged me into…
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Hawk Eyes – Everything Is Fine
I’ve reviewed a lot of albums in my time, and inevitably so many of them have to include lines like ‘sounds like such and such a band’; it’s inevitable. But in the case of Hawk Eyes, I’m happy to report they sound like themselves, which is as it should be. Musically, the band are adroit,…
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Atten Ash – The Hourglass
Three-piece NC atmospheric death doom combo ATTEN ASH bear deep roots in the scene, despite only becoming an entity in 2011; Barre Gambling & Archie Hunt cut their teeth in heavyweight acts DAYLIGHT DIES and LEGION OF THE FALLEN before joining forces with founder James Greene. This collective muscle memory helped to carry an already…
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American Heritage – Prolapse
Another album that managed to slip through 2014 unreviewed by myself is Prolapse by American Heritage. Being as busy as I am is both a blessing and a curse. In this case more of a curse as I could have been listening to this bruiser for months. And on an even more distressing note, guitarist/vocalist…
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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…