Search results for 'subversion'

Review

Memoria Viva

Few bands have the kind of progressive death metal intuition that WHITE STONES are packing. Formed by OPETH bassist Martin Mendez just over five years ago, the Barcelona-based quintet have already released two well-received and intriguing studio records. The spirit of his other band was undeniably p...

Review

My Veneration

The follow-up to last year's much praised "Reach For The Stars" debut, "My Veneration" suggests that Dan Lorenzo (HADES / CASSIUS KING / VESSEL OF LIGHT) and Johnny Kelly (TYPE O NEGATIVE / DANZIG) are becoming a very reliable source of dark, gritty and unpredictable metal. PATRIARCHS IN BLACK are a...

Review

Beyond Vision

If it's quality not quantity you want, ACID KING are a solid benchmark. Lori S.'s stoner doom crew have been a recognized name in stoner rock and doom circles since the early '90s, popping up every now and then to deliver a large dose of eyebrow-scorching psychedelic heaviness. Early records like de...

Review

93696

Black metal was always meant to be about individuality and a fuck-you attitude, and so it's always laughable when supposed purists get upset about the subversion of non-existent rules. LITURGY found themselves on the receiving end of much shrieking opprobrium when they first emerged, but the New Yor...

News

POPPY Announces 'Stagger' EP, Shares New Single 'FYB'

After emerging as one of the most quietly disruptive forces in culture, Grammy Award-nominated alternative insurgent Poppy will unleash her new "Stagger" EP on October 14. It notably marks her debut for Lava/Republic. She comes out of the gate swinging with the new single "FYB". Powered by a thrash-...

Review

Eternal Steel

Their name speaks of a certain bullish self-confidence, and so it seems only fitting that I AM's big label debut has an unmistakable swagger about it. Symptomatic of a subtle sea-change in the metal world, wherein many new bands are veering away from the overt commerciality of metalcore, "Eternal St...

Review

Recollections Of The Insane

The furious midpoint between primitive death metal and caustic thrash has always been one of the most exciting places to bang your head. The full-length follow-up to 2020's utterly murderous "Voices" EP, "Recollections of the Insane" confirms that Belgium's SCHIZOPHRENIA are flying the death / thras...

Review

Krüller

While gleefully hurling spanners into the works, at some unholy midpoint between industrial, drone, doom and alternative metal, AUTHOR & PUNISHER (Tristan Shone to his friends) has already made eight full-length albums of spine-wrenching, soul-flaying heaviness and avant-garde sound subversion....

Review

Degenerations

Death metal has multiplied and evolved with ferocious force over the decades, and it continues to spew up new and determinedly brain-mangling strains. DISKORD have been an intermittent force for death metal weirdness for over 20 years, but their recorded output has never exhibited the slightest incl...

Review

Sarcoma

For those who worship at the twin altars of bone-crunching brutality and virtuoso showboating, ALLUVIAL's debut album, "The Deep Longing for Annihilation", was plainly one of 2017's most impressive debuts. Guitarist Wes Hauch is increasingly one of the most admired around, particularly when it comes...

News

Pop Star KESHA Rocks VOIVOD T-Shirt While Thanking Fans For 34th Birthday Wishes

Pop star Kesha has shared a video of her wearing a VOIVOD t-shirt. The singer, who celebrated her 34th birthday on Monday (March 1),took to her Facebook page the following day to post a six-second clip of her sporting a shirt from the legendary Canadian metal innovators. She wrote in an accompanyin...

Review

Paradigm Shift

I wish I lived in California. To be honest, I'd settle for Uruguay. Unfortunately, life's a bitch and marijuana is still firmly illegal in the UK, and so I cannot possibly enjoy the new AMON ACID in the way that nature intended. A terrible shame, of course, but you're stuck with the cards you're dea...

Review

Viscera

There's no shame in wearing your influences on your sleeve. The spidery guitar motif that begins "Tooth and Nail" on DEMON HEAD's fourth full-length album sounds unashamedly in debt to FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM, before the song itself arrives and does something completely contrary to what cynical music...

Review

Echoes From Deep November

Metal's relationship with keyboards hasn't always been the most amicable: readers of a certain age will doubtless remember numerous bands proudly proclaiming that no such nonsense would be tolerated on their record. Nonetheless, when used appropriately, keyboards unlock the key to a whole world of a...