Swedish death metal owes as much to d-beat punk as it does to Slayer. Although you can hear this like a backbone through the classic releases of its household names, for the death metal enthusiast, it’s really worth going back to the very early works of these artists to really get a sense of how... Continue Reading →

As a young black metal fan, sated of Norwegian black metal, and suitably disillusioned by one-dimensional American ambient black metal, Eastern Europe promised a bold new frontier of artists, as yet untapped. For the British, there’s something mysterious about this large landmass but a few thousand miles away. The land of Dracula and Countess Bathory.... Continue Reading →

Two artists most directly responsible for the modern doom boom from both sides of the Atlantic, two artists whose development from album to album was as gradual and laboured as the music itself, and two artists that were slow to gain a following. Both were at their most prolific and retrospectively celebrated at the turn... Continue Reading →

Over a ten year period, many subgenres of metal tend to follow the same basic pattern. The odd thing is, these patterns are not really visible until after the fact. Roughly speaking, they go from a ‘proto’ period, to a heyday, to a progressive offshoot, and then eventual stagnation. But no one is aware that... Continue Reading →

Volume II With unprecedented instant access to music from every corner of the globe, traditional metrics of quality are becoming obsolete. Like the rotting wooden pillars of an abandoned pier, the sand that once held them in place is gradually eroding, swept away by overwhelming tides of content. Cast adrift in a vast ocean, the... Continue Reading →

In terms of analysing the listenability of different styles of metal,  I find it helps to think of a solar system. At the centre, making up the sun, would be universally recognisable giants such as Iron Maiden or Metallica. If you head out in one direction you may come across gas giants like Cannibal Corpse... Continue Reading →

Of all the subgenres of metal, stoner doom is the most direct descendant of Black Sabbath. Therefore it is both the oldest form of metal going, yet somehow the most modern. It's just catnip for psychedelia revivalists; exuding more subtle cool than its dorky cousins. Metalheads of all stripes will find at least limited value... Continue Reading →

For many, black metal was ruined long before the hipster got their pale hands on it. The corpse paint cabaret it had become by the mid-1990s eclipsed the musical accomplishments of more serious artists at the time. But I would argue that there is a sweet spot of melodrama and tongue in cheek theatrics that... Continue Reading →

For some black metallers ambient side projects were a mere hobby. A testing ground for ideas, a place to hone the art of crafting atmosphere through synths, or a place of simple joy away from the carnage of black metal’s politics. For other black metallers it became much more than that. What starts as a... Continue Reading →