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Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: Ensiferum – Winter Storm

That ENSIFERUM was on a downward slide between 2009 classic From Afar and ‘20s Thalassic still kind of hurts, given how reliable the band was for its first four albums. I’ve kept up peripherally with them since, always at least given each new release a spin, but have come away feeling disappointed, and never went back to see if there was anything I might’ve missed, because there was so much more to hear and give time to, even within the folk metal sub-subgenre. Intro ‘Aurora’ sounds like the loading screen for the flash game Crush The Castle, and ‘Winter Storm […]

Music News

WITCHPIT: new video ‘Through Eyes Of Apathy’ available, Forever Spoken out on Heavy Psych Sounds

South Carolina-based sludge metal warriors WITCHPIT unleash their bone-crushing new single and video ‘Through Eyes Of Apathy’, via No Clean Singing. Their new album, Forever Spoken, is out now on Heavy Psych Sounds. “Denny Stone has a hell of an intensely impassioned voice, which ranges between jagged bay-at-the-moon wails and the screams of someone being strangled with barbed wire but still trying to get at his executioner’s throat.” – No Clean Singing Watch the video for ‘Through Eyes Of Apathy’ About the song, the band says: “‘Through Eyes of Apathy’ explores the theme of making a bold decision to abandon […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Noroth / Grave Infestation – Split

When Washington State deathmongers NOROTH and GRAVE INFESTATION of British Columbia get together, there’s gonna be mayhem. NOROTH begins with ‘Trepanation Ritual’, positively spewing bile and fueled with an d-beat urgency, The Cult Is Alive DARKTHRONE, but more meaty, more burled, more gnarly and destructive; memorable in the way getting smacked in the cranium with a ball peen hammer is memorable. Instantly overpowering, GRAVE INFESTATION wields riff and convulsing rhythm with an uncompromising dexterity within the ‘Necroslaughterhouse’, sheep-bleating (bleeding?) leads and time changes aplenty, daring us to latch onto a time signature for more than 10 seconds, knowing we’ll fail […]

Music News

THE SABIANS: Shiver album reissue coming on Ripple Music

Bay Area heavy rock project THE SABIANS (with former Sleep members Justin Marler and Matt Hakius) will reissue their 1993 album, Shiver, this December 9th, as part of Ripple Music’s “Beneath The Desert Floor” vinyl series. Shiver is the sixth chapter of Ripple Music’s “Beneath The Desert Floor” series, which unearths long-lost treasures from the golden days of stoner and desert rock. Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, THE SABIANS feature two former members of doom metal legends Sleep, whose three seminal early ’90s albums were among the most influential of the genre. After taking part in the sessions […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Gaerea – Coma

Sticking with the pattern of releasing an album every two years since 2018’s aptly named Unsettling Whispers, Portuguese outfit GAEREA return with Coma. ‘The Poet’s Ballet’ glides into the ears, unhurried, yet with a sense of the near-liturgical, ALICE IN CHAINS vocal harmonies over peaceful keys and synths, the antithesis of what most have come to expect from GAEREA thus far – at least not to this degree. The true mark of quality here, among the many to be found over its catalog, is that, at just over 1/3rd of the way through the track, when treble flurries and the […]

Music News

Cruz Del Sur Music Releasing THE WATCHER’s Out Of The Dark November 29

Boston (MA) – Cruz Del Sur Music is proud to announce Out Of The Dark, the triumphant first full-length album from emerging U.S. doom-tinged heavy metal outfit, THE WATCHER. Nearly four years removed from their cult Your Turn To Die EP, Out Of The Dark will be released November 29 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. Fans of Iron Maiden, Pentagram, Trouble, and Satan should take note! Listen to ‘Burning World’ The song is also available on Bandcamp The 2021 release of THE WATCHER’s debut Your Turn To Die EP was the culmination of delays, false starts and good, old-fashioned […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Wring – Nemesis

THE WRING’s last album, Spectra, was a genuine delight and immediately put this Canadian power trio on my radar. A fun and engaging piece of progressive metal that was more than a little reminiscent of a certain other progressive power trio from Canada. In fact, it was a tremendous mixture of Permanent Waves / Moving Pictures era RUSH and the early days of DREAM THEATER. With Nemesis, not much has really changed…including my enjoyment. The RUSH and DREAM THEATER comparisons remain, but THE WRING also have injected their own personality into things. The songs are punchy and to the point, […]

Music News

NEPENTHE: Heavy Blog Is Heavy Premieres Of The Wand & The Moon Cover From Atmospheric Blackened Doom Outfit; The Fading Promise Of Tomorrow + Elegies Of Loss And Doom To See Release November 15th On Hypaethral Records

Heavy Blog Is Heavy is currently streaming NEPENTHE’s rendition of ‘Time Time Time’ from Danish neofolk project Of The Wand & The Moon. The cover appears on NEPENTHE’s forthcoming compilation release which features their new EP, The Fading Promise Of Tomorrow, and their 2020 debut, Elegies Of Loss And Doom. Forged in 2018, the NEPENTHE collective emerged from a shared desire to compose music that leaves a lasting impression on the world. Although rooted in doom and atmospheric black metal, NEPENTHE expands these genres’ boundaries by incorporating elements of post-metal, goth rock, and neo folk. The result is an emotional […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Deadform – Entrenched In Hell

DEADFORM’s self-titled EP didn’t so much “burst” onto the scene in 2022, unless speaking of a pustule oozing its infection out after the needle has pierced it to drain. Apparently the pus has returned, but instead of the surgical prick of a needle, the trio has decided to apply pressure until it ruptures of its own accord with Entrenched In Hell. What else would one expect from former members of STORMCROW, the mighty DYSTOPIA, and LAUDANUM? ‘Of Plagues’ quickly shifts from cave dweller drone to HELLBASTARD groove-laden crust, the rhythm section/dual vocalists battling to be heard over their own cacophony, […]

Music News

NOROTH/GRAVE INFESTATION: Two-Song Split Out Now On Carbonized Records; New Video Now Playing

Carbonized Records is pleased to announce a brand new split between Seattle, Washington’s NOROTH and Vancouver, British Columbia’s GRAVE INFESTATION. Featuring two new tracks of rabid death metal, the split release coincides with the bands’ Sacrificial Carnage Japanese Tour set to commence on October 27th in Nagoya and run through November 1st at Asakusa Deathfest in Tokyo. NOROTH’s ‘Trepanation Ritual’ was recorded by Nick Emard. GRAVE INFESTATION’s ‘Necroslaughterhouse’ was recorded by Greg Wilkinson. Both tracks were mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at his famed Earhammer Studio. Cover art was created by Paolo Girardi with additional artwork by Kyle Bowen. […]

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