Another round up of the noise of 2019. Takafumi Matsubara: Strange, Beautiful, and Fast The history of grindcore is an interesting one. At its inception it became a catalyst genre of sorts. Pure grindcore was made up of the bare bones of music; half songs and incomplete scraps. But the unique levels of energy and... Continue Reading →

At its most fundamental level, music is a form of pre-verbal communication. Compared to the precision of language it is clumsy and open to multiple interpretations, but in its rightful domain of emotional and instinctive expression words do not compare. Throughout most of history, it was something that everyone could engage with, both as musician... Continue Reading →

Here's two buried classics of a time gone by. A reminder that with enough enthusiasm and creative energy, sloppy execution can sometimes be a virtue in death metal. This music is granted additional charm the swampy, lo-fi aesthetics of many underground demos and EPs floating around in the early 1990s, beneath the radar of the... Continue Reading →

Broadly speaking the origins of American death metal lie in thrash, and the origins of Scandinavian death metal lie in a blend of d-beat and NWOBHM. Whilst it pleases me that this fits so well, there can be a danger in placing too much emphasis on the importance of regional sounds in the develop of... Continue Reading →

There’s still a place in this world for albums that exhibit all of death metal’s nuts and bolts out in the open, for all the world to see. I mean, I talk about this week’s picks as if they were released fairly recently, but alas, 2011/12 was quite some time ago now. But nevertheless, they... Continue Reading →

Summer is over, a sense of finality is setting in, can we make an end to this decade with anything other than a morbid question mark?* Sometime the Wolf.: From Here and Earth The UK goth scene has certainly been eating its greens lately, especially in the north. The scene is now going from strength... Continue Reading →

Black metal, the music of colder climbs, soundtrack to clandestine rituals, the reverence for nature in sonic form. But if we look past the much-debated aesthetics, the core of black metal is a certain approach to metal that lends itself to otherworldly themes. This goes beyond a mere reverence for snowy mountains and old trees.... Continue Reading →

A brief roundup of some more doings in British extreme metal in the late 2010s. As ever, unapologetically Northern-centric. Necronautical: Apotheosis Is it just me, is black metal less preoccupied with the whole ‘elitism vs. sellouts’ thing? Aside from swivelled internet dwellers and the tired memes that prey upon them, I’m seeing more of a... Continue Reading →

Compared with current crop of much modern extreme, the blissful early 1990s look like a careffree wonder-world of colour and good cheer. Yes, I am talking about death metal. For all its violence, darkness, and heavy themes, those heady early days look unashamedly cheerful through the lens of history. The dirty little secret about death... Continue Reading →