Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Time to hear different Strange things happen in your thirties. You become irrelevant. But instead of accepting this with grace, you desperately cling on, gestating within you a borderline intolerable personality. One that continues to hog the zeitgeist, unwilling to relinquish its toys to an upcoming generation desperately trying to push you aside. You nurture... Continue Reading →
Master of the Nebulous ReachOut 14th March, self-released Despite the unevenness of Dis Pater’s body of work, he remains an artist I enjoy following closely. This latest EP goes some way to remind me why I am enamoured more with the idea of Midnight Odyssey – and indeed the other projects he has dabbled in... Continue Reading →
Sprung has spring There’re flowers everywhere. Something my son, who recently learnt how to say flower, repeatedly reminds me of every time we pass a dandelion, which is many. Rain still pelts the soil with sporadic and utilitarian urgency. But the pauses between showers are now defined by glorious stretches of sunshine, its inroads into... Continue Reading →
High Speed Death: Damned GenesisOut 7th March on La Caverna Records (originally released in 1991) This restored and remastered version of a previously lost demo reveals an Italian outfit working at the peripheries of thrash’s transition into death metal. I am unable to find out if this material was written prior to 1991. As it... Continue Reading →
Paul Ledney returns to Necropolis for his fourth appearance. Paul Ledney returns to Necropolis for his fourth appearance. Order the new Profanatica EP 'Wreathed in Dead Angels' here: https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/ite... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH5LwFk0ouEc v
Sadist: Something to PierceOut 7th March on Agonia Records If you want to understand the paradox of progressive metal, studying the career of Sadist can be highly instructive . The more influences the genre imbibes, the broader its expressive range, the march toward unchecked eclecticism, the more its core identity recedes into a distant memory.... Continue Reading →
A chat with my brother about some music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O_yR_wZC_k
Isaiah Berlin’s lecture series on the Roots of Romanticism in 1965 reveals an artistic movement with too many parallels to metal for us to simply ignore it. Romanticism arises at the start of industrialisation, two centuries later metal emerges at the point of its collapse in the former European and North American heartlands. Both forms... Continue Reading →
Voodus: Emanating SparksOut 28th February on Shadow Records/Regain Records Modestly melodic Swedish black metal that ups the game as far as their own standards are concerned. The overall packaging is still thoroughly domesticated, renting a generous helping of ideas from ‘The Somberlain’ whilst flattening off its longform ambition in favour of crowd pleasing speed thrills,... Continue Reading →
In an effort to further alienate a prospective audience, I’m giving Substack a try. The thought of monetising my hobby makes me uncontrollably vomit for hours. But I have been encouraged by multiple and unrelated individuals to consider it. I’ll therefore be using the platform to post longer, more involved essays. Some of which I... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 