Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Vengeance EvangelOut 14th February on Lavadome Productions โTechnical death metalโ is a problematic label. Genre names often refer to some specific technique or dominant feature of the music itself. To apportion off a subgenre by simply asserting that itโs more technically demanding than its mothership can be something of a misnomer. Just exactly how or... Continue Reading →
Joseph and I go rogue due to a last minute change of plans, discussing politics, metal, and nostalgia, trying not to wet ourselves in the process. We hopen't you enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UYJpMLnUiY
The legendary Kam Lee joins for a roundtable discussion on scene dynamics in underground metal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woyIFZuI6no&t=1450s
How to avoid sex through music Spring is here. Trees are budding. Birds engage in their annual renewal of the housing stock. Days are lengthening, and somehow even the rainfall seems charged with heavy handed virility. The very air you breathe oozes sex. Of course this is all something Iโm thoroughly against. The listening rotation... Continue Reading →
Taking a longue durรฉe of its history, I argue that metal has always been at war with its own nostalgia, its canon formed at rare and exceptional moments of flux. I also ask whether we are moving into an uncanny period of harmony. Is the genre now at peace with its own stylistic norms? Has... Continue Reading →
Aedes: Odius ImprecationOut 31st January on Blood Harvest (originally released in 2023) Essentially a modern love letter to early Morbid Angel via the more chromatic tangents of the mid-90s exercised by Trey and the gang alongside Immolation. Whether intentional or not, there is a rawness to the delivery, a sense in which the music is... Continue Reading →
Tribulated BellsOut 24th January on Hammerheat Records (originally released in 1992) Coinciding neatly with our recent discussion on Chilean metal comes this reissue from Hammerheat Records of Sadismโs โTribulated Bellsโ, an early intervention in Chilean extreme metal. Notable alongside the likes of Torturer for being one of a handful of bands to make inroads into... Continue Reading →
As someone who doesnโt shy away from the occasional negative writeup, Iโm accustomed to seeing disgruntled messages in my inbox demanding I take down a review or adjust a % rating on Metal Archives. Recently, this escalated to a threat of legal action in response to one of my reviews from an individual who will... Continue Reading →
Weโve spent the last two weeks listening to nothing but Chilean extreme metal in an effort to understand its gestalt. Here we present our findings, along with some random thoughts on what it says about the state of extreme metal from the genreโs traditional heartlands in Europe and North America. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBxjSRt4uhg&t=110s Music featured at the... Continue Reading →
Vspolokh: ะัััะฒะพะทะตะผัOut 25th December on Purity Through Fire Coats the stoic austerity of Slavic black metal with a dusting of populist melodic metal sugar, resulting in an exhilarating and rewarding experience on a visceral level, but one that nevertheless leaves one feeling cheated. Architecturally, there is a clear articulation of identity, intent, and purpose. A... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 