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?
-
Vermilion Whiskey – Spirit of Tradition
I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I’m a sucker for some good ol’ southern-style sludge metal. Actually, when I reviewed Forming the Void’s new record outta Lafayette, Louisiana, one of those dudes got in touch with me, and mentioned this other local outfit called Vermillion Whiskey that sounded much more like Crowbar, Down and…
-
Longhouse – II: Vanishing
Now, I do try to support Canadian bands that fly the freak flag for stoner/sludge/doom, but Longhouse definitely caught me off guard. I did not expect to find a progressive sludge outfit inspired by the likes of ISIS, Neurosis and Kylesa hailing from Ottawa, of all places! Vanishing is actually the second album from this O-Town…
-
Alastor – Black Magic
There are actually eight different metal bands called Alastor—without counting Lord Alastor or Sauts Alastor—so finding information on this specific outfit can be a bit of a challenge. This particular Alastor hails from Sweden, and are made more mysterious by the fact that each band member goes by a single initial. Not sure if I…
-
Harlott – Extinction
Generally speaking I don’t get too excited for new releases from bands I’m not familiar with, because let’s face it, there is a lot of bad music out there. When Metal Blade Records sent me a copy of Harlott’s upcoming release entitled Extinction, due out on April 7th , I had the usual lack of excitement,…
-
Warbringer – Woe To The Vanquished
Warbringer has a new record, Woe To The Vanquished, being released on March 31st on Napalm Records; this is the Ventura, California thrashers’ fifth studio album. I had the opportunity to see them last week in San Francisco at the DNA Lounge with fellow thrashers Exmortus and Havok, and what a treat it was. As much…
-
Old 97’s – Graveyard Whistling
The Old 97’s have been touted as one of the alt-country greats for years now but, really, one of the things that has kept listeners coming back for a while now has been the band’s steadfast refusal to believe their own hype and just try to make an album which comes close to answering it.…
-
Five Alarm Funk – Sweat
Without intending to come off as trite, there are occasions when it’s possible to mark certain similarities between a new album and music which has appeared elsewhere in music history, but those moments can still reverberate with excitement because no one saw that music or the connection to anything else coming – from anywhere, ever.…
-
The Second Coming of Heavy Chapter 5 – Desert Suns/Chiefs split
I know I’ve reviewed the last couple of these Ripple Music compilations, and as long as they keep ‘em coming, I’ll keep listening. The fifth installment of The Second Coming of Heavy features a couple California outfits in Desert Suns and Chiefs, both from San Diego. As opposed to the third coming, which combined a…
-
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana
Listening to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s ninth album, Flying Microtonal Banana, one is inspired to recall Karl Marx’s fairly damning summation of history’s propensity for repeating itself – “the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce.” In this case, there’s no denying that the fairly delightful rock n’ roll King…
-
Saturn – Beyond Spectra
This latest release from Rise Above Records comes from Swedish band Saturn, an outfit that treads a similar path to Witchcraft and Graveyard. What, were you expecting goregrind? Beyond Spectra is the band’s second album, following their debut, Ascending, from 2014. The 46-minute effort begins on a retro-metal note, with “Orbital Command” sounding like vintage…