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Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: King Witch – III

‘Cross the misted moors and moonlit eventides cometh Scotland’s KING WITCH, now trimmed to a trio and releasing its third album – aptly titled III – like hound’s breath at thine heels. Eventually I’ll get around to sharing in detail my Third Album Hypothesis, which has served me well since the late ‘80s, and will hopefully prove true here. 2025 also marks the ten-year anniversary of the band, making III doubly (triply?) important. With a natural, anticipatory build to the song itself, ‘Suffer In Life’ moves from a regal entrance to a self-assured, mid-paced stride, vocalist Laura Donnelly shrugging off […]

Music News

VIOGRESSION To Release Thaumaturgic Veil On July 11 / New Song Streaming

U.S. Death Metal veterans VIOGRESSION, will self release new album, Thaumaturgic Veil, on July 11. The album’s first single, ‘Renumeration’, is out now and available at THIS LOCATION Thaumaturgic Veil is a metaphysical sonic construct, weaving intricate threads of human consciousness, vibrational frequency, and esoteric intent into a tapestry that transcends the boundaries of death metal. This work explores the interplay of awareness, magic, and the latent potential encoded within humanity’s neurocognitive framework. Thaumaturgic Veil explores the interplay of consciousness, subconsciousness, and materiality, viewing existence as a binary system shaped by vibrational frequencies—the core medium molded by individual intent. These […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Walking Bombs – Blessings Bestrewn Part 1

While being extremely new to shapeshifter(s) WALKING BOMBS, courtesy of the January 2025 mixtape Bong Hits For The Death Of Imperialism, I quickly realized there was something possibly fantastic to be discovered. I mined the Brave Hours record of 2017, surprised to find more of a “true” band setup (whatever that is anymore), and found the indie-folk of ‘Loveislove’ childlike that best way, simple and strong enough to be. ‘Flower Punx 4ever’ became a memory trip through my own days of coming up in that glorious era of skaters/BMXers who jammed RUN DMC, CIRCLE JERKS and HUSKER DU on the […]

Music News

WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS: Lovecraftian Sludge Metal Trio Marks Twentieth Anniversary With Tenth LP, In The Glow Of The Vatican Fire, Out June 27th On Argonauta Records; Track Posted

When the soul dies, the animated meat is left behind to walk the earth in blind circles, mechanical life awaiting decay, feathered beings in the dark eating clay. In this space, WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS lurks, a paper-thin sheet of ice covering a blackwater lake, salivating for the weight of the unsuspecting. With a doom style both psychedelic and unsettling – in a word, Lovecraftian – WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS is singer and guitarist Aaron Lewis’ nightmarish vision, the current lineup fleshed out with experimental vocalist Amber Leigh and bassist Steve Wieda. Since 2005, the band has resisted classification, having […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Medea Project – Kharon

THE MEDEA PROJECT lists its beginning as 2003, however, the UK duo’s first long-player didn’t arrive until 2020’s Sisyphus. Enjoyable, succinct, thinking neither too highly of itself, nor too headily about the sound it was crafting, the band – while not going leagues beyond in a search for a singular sound – used economy to its advantage on the debut. EPs Southern Echoes (2021) and Reflections (2023) acted as sonic travelogues, showing that THE MEDEA PROJECT was beginning to search its own heart to discover what blood flowed through. Anguished vocals submerged in a wet fog moan/cry from behind the […]

Music News

RAVINE: new track, ‘Conjure’, available now, new album coming on Ripple Music

Portland, Oregon’s new masters of sludge metal RAVINE share the punishing second track off their forthcoming debut album, Chaos And Catastrophes, due out June 20th on Ripple Music. Get punched in the guts by the sludge power of ‘Conjure’ With a lineup of scene veterans that punches well above its weight, this hard-charging quintet delivers a whiplash-inducing blend of hardcore sludge metal and swampy doom blues packed with swagger, sinister grooves, brilliant sorrowful twin guitar harmonies, and gritty Bourbon-soaked vocals, which should comes as an absolute must-hear for fans of Down, Crowbar and Corrosion Of Conformity. Don’t miss RAVINE’s previous […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Employed To Serve – Fallen Star

Energy…it’s the one thing that keeps EMPLOYED TO SERVE afloat and not sinking into a sea of modern metal mediocrity. I noted the same thing in my review of their last record, Conquering. You could tell they put a lot of genuine fire into their playing and so you could forgive moments of banal cliché. The same thing goes for Fallen Star, except this record sounds somewhat bigger and more ambitious. But in terms of style, ETS is still trying to be a bit of everything to everybody. Within the grooves of this record, you’ll find balls-out modern thrash, touches […]

Music News

BIND TORTURE KILL Unleash Harrowing Visual For ‘Fétide’

High-octane hardcore unit BIND TORTURE KILL have unleashed the music video for their track ‘Fétide’ a searing cut from their latest full-length album, Sauvagerie. True to its name, ‘Fétide’ is a festering blast of sonic brutality – an ever-evolving composition where no riff is played more than twice, save for the crushing final passage. The track refuses to settle, instead spiraling through dissonance and controlled chaos with surgical precision. Lyrically, the band plunges listeners into the grotesque mindscape of a deformed man imprisoned and paraded as a sideshow attraction, exposing humanity’s darkest voyeuristic instincts. The accompanying video amplifies this narrative […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Deathblow – Open Season [EP]

The Salt Lake City hooligans return with a new EP, Open Season. Quality over quantity, natch, bro. With members named Holger, Gunk, Grob and Smelly, DEATHBLOW’s sounding a bit like a UK82 punk/Oi! band, but I’m here for it as Grob’s three-count kicks off ‘Open Season’. Think a slower-paced EXODUS circa Impact Is Imminent, but with tasty blues leads at the start, only to crash headlong into a hardcore-fueled rant. The train keeps chug-a-lug-alooing, meaty riffs and Holger’s bark resembling MADBALL’s Freddy at times in ‘Deny Defend Dispose’. The bass-heavy ‘Tormentor’ and ‘Never Again’, with its disjointed time signatures, prove […]

Music News

PSYCROPTIC Signs To Metal Blade Records; ‘Architects Of Extinction’ Video/Single Now Playing + Band To Kick Off Australian/European Summer Tour

Metal Blade Records is pleased to welcome Tasmanian death metal behemoths PSYCROPTIC to its esteemed roster for the release of their forthcoming new full-length. Australia is home to innumerable death metal bands. Few make their way beyond these shores, and fewer still garner global respect. Out of those, only one has maintained that position for a full 25 years: Australia’s finest, PSYCROPTIC. When the history of technical metal is viewed in years to come, the books will show that PSYCROPTIC is responsible for a hefty slice of the genre. The band blasted into the deepest underground in the late ‘90s, […]

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