GC might have already released it’s End of Year list, but that doesn’t mean the machine stops rolling. There’s always more to review. And Swedish stoner trio Kamchatka have dropped Hoodoo Lightning (Border Music) as a last-minute Christmas present for those who dig the late-60s and 70s. Continue reading
Seattle’s BlackQueen have, in all official communication, always described their music as Witch Metal, a sonic amalgamation of Black Metal, Death Metal, Hardcore, post-Metal, and everything possible in between. This stylistic mash-up is housed within a cocoon of horror soundtrack-esque atmosphere and spiritually and thematically based around whatever founding member Pete Jay happens to be delving into at the time of writing. With their new album, The Destructive Cycle (Roman Numeral Records), they look deeply into the Taoist five element theory and how it relates to the human condition, from creation to destruction and ultimate rebirth. Sounds a bit heavy, I know, but the music offsets the deep concept with kickass riffs and general headbangery.
Buckle up, you’re about to enter an epic journey. If you’re just like me, that gets into the music and just get chills by listening to certain melody arrangements and you just cry; yes, cry, then this album will probably lead you to that (maybe not necessarily crying, but you catch my drift). It’s not because the music is necessarily sad, this is not the case here, but rather from the excitement of what you’re listening to. Well, that was my initial reaction to Wilderun’s third album, Veil of Imagination (Self-Released), I literally couldn’t stop the tears coming out of my eyes in awe of what the information my brain was receiving. The first track ‘The Unimaginable Zero Summer’, my absolute favorite, by the way, it’s a summary of what you will get from this album. From epic choir vocals to great instrumentalization, this album surely brings a great variety of elements that will make any Progressive Metal fan jump in excitement. Continue reading
40 Years, Still Breaking The Wall
Ever wondered what makes a “classic band” classic? Have you ever sat down and play records of bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc. just to analyze the components of what makes them be as magnificent as they are? Even more, how is it that forty, fifty years later their music still as intact and as relevant as ever before? This is the case with Pink Floyd, especially when we think about that four classic albums run that they had in the mid-seventies. Albums like The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals, brought us records that still are in the charts and are, basically, soundtracks of our current lifestyle. Continue reading
Twenty-one years ago, way back in 1998 when their star was on the ascendancy and the average metal fan was wondering whether they were Black Metal, Gothic Metal or That’s Not Metal, five years after the infamous ‘Jesus is a Cunt’ T-shirt made them a household name for a variety of reasons, Cradle of Filth release their third album Cruelty and the Beast on Music for Nations. A much-acclaimed tribute to non-vegan Ribena fanatic Elizabeth Bathory. It was a milestone in their developing sound and at the time, I absolutely loved it. Continue reading
The Extreme/Grindcore/Death Metal act, Cattle Decapitation has been pleasantly surprising modern metal listeners for nearly a decade. Since their record, The Harvest Floor (Metal Blade Records) in 2009, this quintet from San Diego has been pushing barriers in several different metal genres. Their relentless resilience and unabashed creativity throughout the years has been unexpected and still surprises fans today. The band is getting ready to release their eighth studio album, Death Atlas (Metal Blade Records) and the genius that is Cattle Decap is once again pushing the norm. Continue reading
Whenever our house is made home by a particularly large member of the domestic arachnid species, it’s affectionately called Boris: largely due to the long-attributed name for such creatures, but also to my affection for the Japanese band of the same name. Latest albums Lφve and Evφl, originally released in August as tour merchandise, now make an appearance as a double album on general release (Third Eye Music). Continue reading