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?

  • Kamchatka – The Search Goes On

    Kamchatka – The Search Goes On

    This Swedish trio, Kamchatka, is best known for touring with Clutch, collaborating with Clutch (J.P. Gaster appears on a couple of their albums) and hell, even sorta sounding like Clutch. So if you like Clutch, keep reading… Their fifth album is somewhat shorter than previous efforts, offering 10 tracks in about 41-and-a-half minutes. “Somedays” kicks…

  • BL’AST! – The Expression of Power

    BL’AST! – The Expression of Power

    I must admit that I missed out on BL’AST! the first time around, eventually getting word of these guys through bands like Black Flag and Fu Manchu. But it wasn’t until their long-lost album Blood! was recently unearthed by Southern Lord that I really got into ’em, so this remastered reissue of their ’86 debut by the…

  • Coffinworm – IV.I.VIII

    Coffinworm – IV.I.VIII

    A double dose of Coffinworm reviews – Gruesome Greg and Matt Hinch both weigh in on IV.I.VIII. The Indiana band’s second full-length album is out on Profound Lore. It’s been nearly four years in the making for album number two from this Indiana sludge crew, and I was hoping it’s been worth the wait. I’m one…

  • Psalm Zero – The Drain

    Psalm Zero – The Drain

    Profound Lore has become known over the years as a go-to label for some of the best and most extreme black and death metal bands.  But with the release of Vaura‘s The Missing last year, the label opened up another avenue of exploration. Somewhat in that vein comes Psalm Zero. The collaboration between Castevet‘s Andrew…

  • The Socks (self-titled)

    The Socks (self-titled)

    These Socks don’t stink! The French quartet brews a blend of pungent, throwback heavy psych on their Small Stone debut. Kicking off with “Lords of Illusion,” The Socks use their illusion to channel Hendrix, Purple and Sabbath throughout this nine-track, 44-minute effort. There are also shades of modern bands like Monster Truck on the organ-accented…

  • Fossils – Flesh Hammer

    Fossils – Flesh Hammer

    Now, I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the album art on this one is made outta beef jerky, and I loves me some beef jerky… Anyhoo, Fossils is a Danish guitarless duo, and this is their third album, and third album about meat — at least in name,…

  • The Shrine – Bless Off

    The Shrine – Bless Off

    I was pretty impressed with these guys when they opened for Red Fang last month. While they’re not reinventing the wheel, they sure know how to roll it, bringing down some brief blasts of heavy vintage tuneage. It’s almost like one of those semi-obscure heavy bands from the early 70s (Dust, Bang, Gun, take your…

  • Grand Magus – Triumph and Power

    Grand Magus – Triumph and Power

    When I first popped Triumph and Power, the 7th album from Swedish trio Grand Magus I was taken aback. It had been a long time since I’d listened to them and their style has changed significantly in the last decade. Back in the early ’00s all I listened to (pretty much) was considered “stoner rock/metal.”…

  • Pale Divine – Cemetery Earth (reissue)

    Pale Divine – Cemetery Earth (reissue)

    By Gruesome Greg Don’t sleep on Pale Divine. They might not be one of the first bands that comes to mind when you think American doom — I’m guilty of this as well. But whenever I’ve seen ’em play at a couple doomfests down south, they pretty much steal the show. Did I mention there’s…

  • The Wounded Kings – Consolamentum

    The Wounded Kings – Consolamentum

    By Gruesome Greg Album number four from this female-fronted doom troop can be pretty much divided into two categories: the 10-minute epics and the two-minute interludes, of which there are three of each, along with one song that’s only six minutes long. We get started with “Gnosis,” which happens to be the longest selection, spanning…