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Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: Dead Heat – Endless Torment [EP]

Ahh, crossover. That glorious, sweat ‘n’ stale beer-drenched alliance unexpectedly created by streetwise hardcore kids who became better musicians and suburbanite headbangers who wanted to add a bit more groove to the rapid-fire riff onslaught of thrash. And when your first album ends with a CRUMBSUCKERS cover, it’s clear you know your history. So let’s see what ya got, DEAD HEAT. ‘Endless Torment’ begins with a keyboard intro that lasts about 40 seconds and is, therefore, 40 seconds too long, but rest assured that once this Oxnard, California four-piece gets going all is forgiven. A more outright thrash attack during […]

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Nordvis reissues folk music virtuoso Thomas von Wachenfeldt’s masterpieces

THOMAS VON WACHENFELDT’s Mythos Of The Forefathers – an ambient dark-folk work in two volumes – is a heartfelt homage to Fädernas gudasaga, a book by Swedish 19th-century scholar and author Viktor Rydberg. Mythos Of The Forefathers was created to complement the text in each of the book’s chapters. To capture its overall mood, Thomas combined conventional compositions which adhere to form and structure with unorthodox music that evokes an archaic atmosphere. Drawing from older Nordic folk scales, he utilised traditional instruments like lyre, flutes, drums, and string instruments, while also incorporating various synthesisers to instil a sense of metaphysical […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blodulv – I, II, III – Burial

The early ‘00s were a time of sonic upheaval in black metal. Tectonic plates were shifting, stars were realigning into some configuration never dreamt of by black metal’s originators, and likely never intended by the 2nd Wave of the early ‘90s. EMPEROR silenced its existence for a time with the uber-progressive – and final – studio album, Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire & Demise, France’s BLUT AUS NORD would drop The Work Which Transforms God in ’03, and ENSLAVED released the still-divisive Below The Lights. Into this shift strode BLODULV. With albums simply titled I, II and III – Burial, […]

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FREYA Announce New Album Fight As One

As the band approaches its 20th anniversary of their first release, As The Last Light Drains (Victory Records, 2003), FREYA have returned to their roots with a pulverizing new full-length album, entitled Fight As One, which will be released on September 22nd on Upstate Records. “Everyone in the band unified and composed some outstanding material together. Tom and Ethan poured everything they had into making Fight As One a truly powerful offering”, says Karl Buechner. FREYA are joined by three legendary hardcore front-men on their newest album; Freddie Cricien (MADBALL) delivers a crushing performance on the title track, Jamey Jasta […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Cloak – Black Flame Eternal

Having seen the Atlanta quartet open for IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT in what amounts to a shoebox with a bar inside earlier this year, I can vouch that CLOAK’s “is it black/death or death/black” hybridization does carry over well into a live setting. To be honest, I’ve never “gotten” the WATAIN comparisons, as, musically, CLOAK has more clarity while managing to haunt – and thus far thrive in – the shades beyond dark and light, good and evil when it comes to lyrical fare. Striking hard and early the anvil of the search for enlightenment, ‘Ethereal Fire’ ignites, the band sounding full-bodied […]

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NATHANAEL LAROCHETTE: Musk Ox/The Night Watch Guitarist And Agalloch Collaborator To Release New Solo Acoustic Album, Old Growth, On July 21st; First Single Streaming + Preorders Available

Seven years since the release of his ambitious debut double-album Earth And Sky (2016), Musk Ox/The Night Watch guitarist and Agalloch collaborator NATHANAEL LAROCHETTE returns with his second full-length Old Growth, a moving collection of solo acoustic compositions recorded live (often by candlelight) in a woodland cabin on the shores of White Lake, Ontario. Coming off the demanding productions of both The Night Watch and Musk Ox’s critically acclaimed third records, the idea for Old Growth was simple enough: record each of the album’s pieces live in a single take, capturing the atmosphere of the moment in all its delicate […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Frozen Soul – Glacial Domination

Texas’ FROZEN SOUL is one of the new generation of death metal bands stepping up to the plate and trying to take the torch from the giants of old. That is a super difficult task, because almost all of these bands just sound like an echo of what has gone before. In FROZEN SOUL’s case, they obviously are BOLT THROWER’s junior division and I imagine vocalist Chad Green spends a lot of time in front of a mirror polishing his best Karl Willets tones. Out of all the new “primitive” death metal bands getting big publicity…the group includes SANGUISUGABOGG, 200 […]

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FRAYLE premiere video single ‘Head Down’ from Superunknown Redux

FRAYLE deliver a beautiful take on SOUNDGARDEN’s ‘Head Down’, fueled by the mystery of Gwyn Strang’s haunting vocals and down-tuned frying guitars. The fast-rising doom act from Cleveland, OH has furthermore illustrated this dark song with a stunning video. More information about the forthcoming MER Redux Series installment Superunknown Redux can be found below. The massive double album has been scheduled for release on July 14. Pre-Order Parallel to Superunknown Redux, Magnetic Eye Records will release the by now customary companion album entitled Best Of Soundgarden Redux that contains further 15 cover versions of deep cuts and all-time classics from […]

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Album Review: Chrome Waves – Earth Will Shed Its Skin

Let’s just get this out of the way to start with. The term “post-” anything has begun to rub me very much the wrong way when it comes to genre identifiers. Yes, yes, I understand, due to the seemingly endless sub-sub-subgenres comingling in some bland incestuous orgy of redundancy, you “need” defining terms to guide you toward artists/bands that might be of interest. I get that. My true contention is that the prefix “post-” has been deep in glut for years now, much the same as the progressive scene experienced in the ‘70s. Chicago’s CHROME WAVES have been at it […]

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PERSEKUTOR: ‘Suck City’ video streaming

Los Angeles-via-Romania black’n’roll cultists PERSEKUTOR unleash an anthemic third video taken from their new album Snow Business, out on Blues Funeral Recordings. Enjoy the sleaze and electricity of ‘Suck City’ right now! “Drawing on influences from Bathory to AC/DC, the Transylvanian black ‘n’ roll cult heroes stack frosty riffs and even frostier vocals on Snow Business.” – Revolver Magazine Following the recent release of their headbang-inducing videos for ‘Night Job’ and ‘Snow Business’, PERSEKUTOR are ready to set the motherland of all sins (Los Angeles) on fire. With a muscular riff-heavy rampage from guitarists Inverted Chris and Blake Meahl, a […]

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