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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Norilsk – Japetus
Although they’re actually from Ottawa, this doom duo is named after a former Siberian slave-labour camp now known as one of the most polluted cities on earth. Incidentally, it says here that Norilsk is “Home to the world’s largest heavy metal smelting complex,” which probably means it has a pretty decent metal scene. 😉 Alas,…
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Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket – In a Dutch Haze
Kick out the jaaaaams, man! When Earthless axeslinger Isaiah Mitchell suffered a bizarre gardening accident shortly before Roadburn 2012, the band drafted not one but two guitarists to replace him for the occasion. Enter J. Mascis and Graham Clise, both of Witch, although you probably know the former from Dinosaur Jr. Let’s just say he doesn’t play drums…
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Mars Red Sky – Stranded in Arcadia
I must be Facebook friends with someone in this French outfit, cuz I remember getting a request to “like” ’em a little while back, well before this album came out. Let me just say, I like ’em a lot. Mars Red Sky take a more melodic approach to stoner rock, still fuzzy but not fuzzed-out, with some…
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Triptykon – Melana Chasmata
A picture can often be worth a thousand words and you only have to look a picture of Tom G. Warrior (I know his real name, but to me, Tom G. Warrior is more real than any birth name). You can see his life experience etched into his face, those intense eyes burning out from…
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Judas Priest – Redeemer Of Souls
If Judas Priest‘s track record has done anything for metal over the last forty-five years, it has taught us that lineup changes can either mark a bright new beginning or be potentially disastrous for even the best bands. The band’s history speaks for itself; while Rob Halford remains one of the most respected singers in metal,…
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Barghest – The Virtuous Purge
For their second full-length, The Virtuous Purge, Louisiana deathened black metal titans Barghest have ratcheted up the production quality several notches. They still sound raw and born from the places hidden from the sun’s piercing glare, but now all the hellish screams, ice cold, bowel-shaking guitars and manic percussion can be heard with a new…
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SOiL – Whole
Few things are more instantly satisfying than a hard rock song which isn’t afraid to embed a glistening pop hook at its core. Songs like that often catch unsuspecting listeners deeply and just drag them along for miles; they’re the kinds of songs which make fans with radio play and establish the band who makes…
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Nunslaughter/Acid Witch – Spooky split
I love splis releases. A recent favourite would have to be Godreah’s splendid The Bones of This Land Are Not Speechless/British Black Punk Metal, from the excellent Old Corpse Road and The Meads of Asphodel respectively (see www.godreah.com). Wouldn’t it be great to see Mastodon and Voivod do a split? I’d love to hear Mastodon…
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Cardinals Folly – Our Cult Continues
Wasn’t a huge fan of the previous demos from Cardinals Folly, which were a little too black-metal-sounding for me, but I really want this to be good. Maybe it’s unfair to expect this outfit to fill the void left by another Finnish doom trio named after a quirky religious figure… but at least on paper, you’d think…
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Mortals – Cursed to See the Future
Much of the time I tend to shy away from bands that are getting a lot of buzz. At least at first. Not because I don’t trust the hype – and I don’t – but because, well, I don’t want to be one of those guys who loves everything everyone else loves. Enter Mortals. I’ve…