metal

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Blood Money Part 0 LP by Dope. While the sequence in which the parts of Blood Money are supposed to play is a little unclear (that this LP is numbered part zero implies it’s supposed to be a prequel to Blood Money Part 1 – which was released in 2016 – and while the last song on this album is numbered 13 on the back cover, there are only twelve cuts...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Black Label Society’s Doom Crew Inc. 2LP. Funny thing about the bands and/or projects launched by guitarists, they tend to focus heavily on guitar. It is not uncommon, for example, for songs on such albums to feature extended examinations of the guitar as the central thematic and sonic element of every composition; the instrument functions more as the spine of the songs than the drums or bass or piano do. One needn’t...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Mastiff’s Leave Me The Ashes of the Earth LP. There has always been something which felt a little off about really aggressive metal (or Doom, or Sludge, or maybe Metalcore – pick your favorite undervalued sub-genre) – as greasy, heavy or dirty as it might get, there’s always an inherent clarity about the recordings. Even when the vocalist in a band like that is leaving his throat/larynx/esophagus on the recording studio floor,...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Brace Yourself LP by Seized Up. Ever heard an album which hits the mark brilliantly and causes you to remember why you like or got into one particular type of music or another, reader? Brace Yourself, the new album by Seized Up, hit me like that – about half the time while it played. The other half of the albums runtime just had me hoping it would find a way to...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into All Them Witches’ Nothing as the Ideal LP. Over the last five years or so, I’ve become acquainted with Nashville’s All Them Witches; reviewed a couple of their albums and gotten to feel like I know the band – or at least know what to expect from them from album to album. I figured I knew, for example, that their psychedelic/classic rock amalgam would end up being a consistent thread through the...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the All That Matters Is This Matter LP by Holy Beach. Someone wise once said that “Variety is the soul of pleasure. Variety is the condition of harmony. The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new. Variety is the very spice of life that gives it all its flavor.” In that spirit, The Deftones once totally reinvigorated heavy metal music by simultaneously making their approach...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Bowels of Earth LP by Entombed A.D. I have to confess that the last time I paid any attention to the members of Entombed was around 1993, when the band released Wolverine Blues. The truth is that I became interested when I saw an ad for it in an X-Men comic book, and Wolverine Blues became my first real introduction to death metal. Ironically, I’ve been pretty picky about anything I’ve...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Suffrage LP by Fucked and Bound. Full disclosure: on my first play through Suffrage, I accidentally had my turntable set to the incorrect speed. Because of that, my first judgement was that the band’s sound was thick, dark, sludgy and imposing – but it definitely piqued my interest and curiosity. I was fascinated by the hulking, demonic voice which dominated the song (“Similar to that of Roger Miret,” I thought) and...

Eagles Of Death Metal Nos Amis (Our Friends) (Blu Rae) (Shout Factory/HBO Documentary Films) I should confess that I delayed reviewing Nos Amis for as long as I could, before I say anything else in this review. The reason for that was almost entirely personal; during the release cycle for Heart On (EODM’s sophomore album), I had the good fortune of getting to interview and to know singer/guitarist Jesse Hughes – about as well as any journalist gets to know...

Mastodon Emperor Of Sand (Reprise/Warner) After having spent the last few years stretching stylistically in a few different directions (The “White Walker” single found a home as the lead track for a season of HBO’s Game Of Thrones, 2014’s Once More ‘Round The Sun say the band get leaner and almost blurring the lines between metal and punk rock a bit), there’s something refreshing and exciting about the fact that Mastodon has made a glorious return to the sort of...