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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Noothgrush/Corrupted split (reissue)
Listen up all you Sludgy-Come-Latelys, cuz this is the real-deal, right here. Originally released in ’97, this split between Oakland OGs Noothgrush and everybody’s favourite bunch of Japanese hispanohablantes, Corrupted, has been remastered and reissued by 20 Buck Spin. Noothgrush starts us off with the caustic hate doom of “Hatred for the Species.” We get…
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Neurosis – The Word as Law (reissue)
Man, I’m looking forward to seeing Neurosis again in Toronto next month! Of course, they don’t really have any new material to promote—their last album came out last year—but we do get this reissue of The Word as Law, their second album from back in 1990. At this point, Souls at Zero was still two…
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The Judge – Tell it to the Judge
Remember about 10 years back, when all those 70’s worshipping fuzz rock outfits were all the rage? Well, since then trends have shifted (to Dungeons & Dragons doom in pawn-shop hippie clothing), and most of those bands that still sound straight outta the 70’s seem to be really into the stuff that they play. Now,…
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Ingurgitating Oblivion – Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light
This album proved to be a huge but welcome surprise for me, both in its scope and presentation. I have no previous experience with Ingurgitating Oblivion but I do enjoy the technical death metal genre a lot: it constantly pushes boundaries and out of all the extreme music styles it seems to be the subgenre…
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Howling Giant – Black Hole Space Wizard Part 2
I was all over the first installment of this Nashville trio’s EP trilogy last year, so I’ve got no reason not to listen to Part 2. And hey, if you like a little Hawkwind with your Black Pyramid, then you’ve got not reason not to listen, too! This second installment from Howling Giant spans 32…
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Demon Eye – Prophecies and Lies
Now, some of these occult doom rock bands that have come around lately ain’t no count, but Demon Eye… Demon Eye is pretty decent. I was a fan of their last album, Tempora Infernalia, which made its way onto my larger Top 25 list a couple years back, so a new record from this North…
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Low Flying Hawks – Genkaku
Don’t call it a side project! Although Low Flying Hawks features Dale Crover on drums, with guest appearances by King Buzzo and ex-Melvin Trevor Dunn, this outfit is the brainchild of two fully dedicated, otherwise unknown musicians going by the names of AAL and EHA. Following last year’s successful Kofuku debut on Magnetic Eye, the…
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Enfold Darkness – Adversary Omnipotent
After a lengthy hiatus, the mighty Enfold Darkness return, fronted by a new vocalist, delivering their long awaited sophomore effort. Technical, brutal, symphonic and most certainly blackened, Adversary Omnipotent is sure to dazzle fans of death metal looking for something fresh and yet familiar. Despite a lengthy departure from active duty, this new roster seems to…
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Gateway to Hell – Clovers
With Maryland considered to be Doom Capital USA, it makes sense for any band from Baltimore with a few heavy riffs to be labelled as part of the movement—even if they’re not traditional doom metal. While Gateway to Hell has a few shades of Pentagram or The Obsessed on here, I’d just as soon lump…
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Various Artists – Singles soundtrack
Singles (Original Film Soundtrack): 25th Anniversary 2LP/CD Reissue While there are several great soundtracks which were released in the 1990s (soundtracks for Tank Girl, The Crow and Great Expectations all leap to mind), arguably the greatest and most culturally important of the lot proved to be that of Cameron Crow’s first “rock memory scrapbook” picture,…