When ordering from McDonald’s, you don’t complain about how the burger was grilled. When watching a movie from the Saw franchise, you don’t complain about how gory the film is.
Tag Archives: Albums
ALBUM REVIEW: No/Mas – Consume/Deny/Repeat
Grindcore by its very nature, is polarizing. It’s either unapproachably abrasive or energizingly frenetic; disorganized noise pollution or homicidally refreshing.
No/Mas stakes their claim by presenting a grindcore record peppered with intricacies that are as subtle as they are appreciated. One or two cycles isn’t enough to fully absorb the wonders that lie within Consume/Deny/Repeat (Closed Casket Activities)
ALBUM REVIEW: Egregore – The Word Of His Law
If I ever have the misfortune of finding myself trapped alone at night in a haunted cathedral, I at least found a soundtrack to get me through the ordeal.
ALBUM REVIEW: Black Death Cult – Diaspora
No two ways about it, this shit is terrifying Black Metal as it was meant to be presented: in a haunting display of magnificently uncomfortable, anxiety inducing foreign sounds. The purveyors of such unsettling filth, Black Death Cult, do so with six “WTF” tracks on Diaspora (Profound Lore). It’s a release in 2022 that could find familiar company just as well in the early nineties. Primitive production and unsavory wailing that inexplicably left the mouth of an actual human.
EP REVIEW: Crown Magnetar – Alone In Death
These days, with technology readily at our disposal, music isn’t always created directly by humans. Programming has significantly widened the plains of the musical landscape, for better or worse.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Agathodaimon – The Seven
Black Metal and groove seem to be fonder of each other as the genre diversifies and the landscape shifts evermore, progressing from the cavernous affair that was early Black Metal. The way in which Agathodaimon takes this trope to task results in an elegantly haunting experience, encapsulated in 10 tracks collectively titled, The Seven (Napalm Records).
ALBUM REVIEW: Allegaeon – Damnum
Simply put: Allegaeon manifested 10 dizzying tracks of utter brilliance; gave (further) proof the band is profusely proficient as a whole and individually; and created a Technical Melodic Death Metal album packed with so much aggression and speed, it sounds like Monster fornicated with Red Bull.
ALBUM REVIEW: Shape of Despair – Return To The Void
Shape of Despair are no strangers to the Funeral Doom Metal scene. In fact, they are arguably pioneers of the quite-niche genre, having debuted in 1998.
ALBUM REVIEW: Celeste – Assassine(s)
Some bands fit easily into a singular genre. And though it makes for much simpler categorization, it can inhibit an artist or artists that feel they want to branch out or try something new without alienating a fanbase. The French foursome Celeste do away with this notion entirely, and have dipped their toes in many different areas of music, most recently on their sixth album, Assassine(s) (Nuclear Blast), an effort that brings forth elements of Doom, Black Metal and atmospherics.
ALBUM REVIEW: maybeshewill – No Feeling Is Final
One of the many, many joys of Shoegaze is the innate versatility and layered, meticulous precision artists possess, which in turn rewards the listener with songs that probably should instead be referred to as scores. Continue reading