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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Witch Mountain – Mobile of Angels
Much like the first time I saw ’em, Witch Mountain was recently touring in support of an album that wasn’t even available yet… at least not on vinyl. I did grab a CD, though, and if the live preview was any indication, their third record should be pretty decent. Sure enough, she opens up with…
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Orange Goblin – Back from the Abyss
I must say I quite enjoyed the Goblin’s last album when it came out, oh, some two-and-a-half years ago. I missed their headlining tour when it came through town (I was in Texas, incidentally), but caught ‘em when they opened for Clutch last year. Which has absolutely no bearing on this Orange Goblin recording, mind…
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Electric Wizard – Time to Die
I’ve heard all sorts of mixed reviews of this new Electric Wizard record, though most tend to be favourable (perhaps none more so than this liquidized-teeth kid). But for me, even before I lay wax to the turntable, my opinion is coloured by the whole Greening vs. Wizard feud, which is readily apparent just by looking…
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The Melvins – Hold It In
The problem which tends to spring up whenever two bands team up and pool their creative energy for an album is that neither band wants to be outshone and be seen as “the group who bent to [insert the name of other contributing act here].” It’s not exactly an ego trip, just that nobody wants…
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Brainoil – Brainoil
Like fellow Oakland outfit Noothgrush, Brainoil is/was a Bay Area sludge band that only issued one album, disappeared, then more recently reunited with new material (which I reviewed here three years ago). Well, this is that album, soon-to-be reissued by Tankcrimes Records. It’s no Erode the Person, but tis certainly none too shabby. The band…
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Northern Crown – In the Hands of the Betrayer
It’s not often I’m compelled to listen to an unsolicited, unknown band nowadays, but when said outfit covers Candlemass—and a cut from Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, no less—now they’ve got my attention. Much as Candlemass’ debut was largely a studio project, masterminded by Leif Edling, Northern Crown also appears to be mostly a one-man endeavour with…
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Cannibal Corpse – Skeletal Domain
And they’re back from the grave, ready to slash, butcher, cut up, kill and smash the listeners’ ear drums. Yes, it’s Cannibal Corpse and they are back with their thirteenth studio album, Skeletal Domain. On board for production this time is Mark Lewis who brings a darker and thrashier sound here. Some would say this is …
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John Garcia – John Garcia
John Garcia. John fuckin’ Garcia. There is no voice more synonymous with stoner rock or desert rock than that of John Garcia. Best known as the singer for genre progenitors Kyuss, he’s been a part of a number of projects since that band’s dissolution almost 20 years ago. While Kyuss may always cast a shadow…
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Snailking – Storm
You know you’ve been listening to this shit for a while when you start seeing bands named after some of your favourite albums. Y’know, like the Polish band Dopesmoker or Dopethrone from Montreal. Hell, there’s even an outfit named after the Truckfighters tune Desert Cruiser—though I guess that one shouldn’t be such a surprise. In…
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Opeth – Pale Communion
Pale Communion is a richly appointed collection of progressive rock that continues the approach of 2011’s Heritage, while refining and expanding the style that characterized that troubling (to some) transitional album. Everything on Pale Communion—the production, the material, the performances—hangs together more logically than on Heritage. The songs travel through candlelit corridors, sidestep into a…