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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Mammoth Grinder – Cosmic Crypt
2018 is shaping up to have some epic releases within the metal world. For some reason Mammoth Grinder wasn’t on my radar, but I’m glad I found it. Cosmic Crypt will be released on January 26th via Relapse Records; it’s the bands first release in five years, and it’s a good one. Going into the…
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Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue
Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals are back, and better than ever. Following up the group’s initial offering in 2013, Walk Through Exits Only, they prepare to release their second album on January 26th entitled Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue via Housecore Records. With a heavy new line up of musicians including Stephen Taylor…
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The Good The Bad and The Zugly – Misanthropical House
I’ll admit that the reason I listened to this Norwegian outfit was because of their name—Clint Eastwood is my spirit bear. But if you ever wished Kverlertak had somewhat intelligible English vocals, or that The Hellacopters had somewhat unintelligible sludge-metal vocals, then you’d probably dig this 31-minute debut. Opening track “H-Bomb” hits you like a…
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Tough Age – Unclean (7-inch)
After hearing all three songs of Tough Age‘s new Unclean 7-inch, listeners may find that they need to take a moment and collect themselves – I certainly did. I needed to take a step back because I had no particular desire to just spill ink and compliments all over a page. True, all three songs…
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Come to Grief / Fistula split & -(16)- / Fistula split
Cleveland’s Fistula might not be a household name to more casual fans of sludge metal. But they’ve been spreading their brand of caustic misery since the late 90’s, and suffice to say, they’ve made a few friends along the way. These two splits, released simultaneously on the band’s own Patac Records, see them share the…
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Mr. Plow – Maintain Radio Silence
If you remember the glory days of Man’s Ruin and MeteorCity, this album might be right up your alley. Mr. Plow started playing heavy riffs back in ’97, and released four indie recordings in 2000, ’04 and ’06 before calling it a day. Toronto scenesters might even know that voice—their singer made a brief appearance…
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Corrosion of Conformity – No Cross, No Crown
Don’t get me wrong, I really dug those two records COC put out as a three-piece in the past five years… but just like southern cooking, it ain’t the same without Pepper. Mr. Keenan’s return injected new life into some old tunes back in 2015, and now they’ve finally returned with another new album, making…
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Borracho – Riffography
I’m never quite sure what to expect with these “B sides/demos” comps. I mean, I dig Borracho, but do I really wanna listen to 75 minutes of music that never made it onto an album (often with good reason)? Mind you, most of these songs had already seen the light of day, including a couple…
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Monolith Cult – Gospel of Despair
This mid-November doom record nearly passed me by—I hadn’t previously heard of this U.K. outfit, and it’s just their second release. But when I finally got a chance to listen to the music, it grabbed me right away. If you like your traditional-style epic doom served with a side of power metal, complete with a…
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Throneless – Cycles
This Swedish trio has been compared to Conan, but I detect a slightly more psychedelic sensibility on this, the second album from Throneless. For one thing, the songs are all rather lengthy—the four songs here span 40 minutes, with the shortest one clocking in at six and a half. “Born in Vain” opens the album…