Tag Archives: Wil Cifer

FEATURE: Goth is the New Black: 10 Albums from 2026 Carrying the Genre Forward

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Here we are at another Halloween, the time when the rest of the music world tries to get on the same page as me when it comes to creepy music for the season, which I just call my normal listening. Goth continues to have its moment in various online communities, in part due to the appropriation of the fashion, which has less to do with its subculture than the music from which it was spawned. In the words of Morrissey from the song “Unlovable.” – 

“I wear black on the outside, because black is how I feel on the inside” 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Enslaved – Mið

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Enslaved are worthy to hold the hammer of the elder statesmen of Pagan Black Metal. Mið (Nuclear Blast  Records) is the Norwegian band’s 17th album. Below the Lights is where they stepped away from being church-burning heathen Black Metal and began to introduce more progressive elements, which is why they now have 17 albums under their bullet belts, because they gave themselves room to grow. They are not returning to the black metal style of their early work, but the opening track might be more black metal than you might expect, though it still ll ebbs back into the more progressive grooves. Sami musician Johan Sara Jr. contributes to this song, which is not going to be that big of a deal to anyone outside of Norway. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Ghostemane – AM: FM

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AM: FM (Blackmage Records) finds Ghostemane’s brand of dark Trap Rap further blurring the lines into Nu-Metal. The opening track finds the crunch of late-nineties Metal guitars churning as guitar and sung vocals that fluctuate between a Chino-like whisper and a Johnathan Davis roar. This feels fresher since it’s not 1998, and unlike many of the nu-metal revival bands, it’s not trying to also make Metalcore Pop that pleases the kids. The more rapped verses of a song like “Miasma” are where Ghostemane (a.k.a. Eric Thomas John Whitney, Eric Ghoste, etc.) is the strongest. It is unlikely that the hip-hop community is ever going to be ready for what he does, so thankfully he is heavy and dark enough to appeal to metal fans with a broader perspective. Continue reading →