If you have ever wanted a hardcore punk band with wackiness that only Mike Patton can provide, then you owe yourself to check out Dead Cross and their new album, II (Ipecac Recordings). The result of this mix is absolute audible chaos that the world needs in this crazy day and age we all live in. Don’t worry metal friends, Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Testament) is in this stellar lineup as well so you no need to pull the “this isn’t metal” card for this album!
Check out our 5 Minute Review of the new album from Slipknot – “The End, So Far” – releasing on Roadrunner Records on September 30th, 2022.Continue reading
Nuclear Blast Records have been on somewhat of a roll recently, releasing big new albums from the likes of Machine Head, Soulfly, and Behemoth in recent weeks. But one of their lesser-known bands Irist certainly deserve some attention, and their new EP Gloria (Nuclear Blast) is the first new music they’ve released since their debut album Order Of The Mind arrived in 2020.
Escape Velocity (Nefarious Industries) is the debut album from Philidelphia, Pennsylvania-based instrumental duo Sarattma, and follows their debut Inner Spaces EP released in 2017. Featuring Mellowdeath and ex-Brian Jonestown Massacre drummer Sara Neidorf and Cleric guitarist Matt Hollenberg, their music is highly experimental with a distinct edge of tripped-out psychedelia, and is uniquely impressive! Continue reading
Atmospheric black metal project Tome of the Unreplenished have upped the ante on Earthbound (Avantgarde), the band’s forthcoming album. After laying the groundwork on a few initial releases, multi-instrumentalist Hermes brought in a full-band for 2017’s Theurgy – Act I. A departure from the more musically straightforward debut, 2015’s Innerstanding (both I, Voidhanger), the first “full-band” release, probably alienated some listeners. If you aren’t open to noise and industrial experimentation (think more Throbbing Gristle than Nine Inch Nails) you may want to leave that one alone. The latest release is far more in keeping musically with the debut record and it’s a satisfying forty-six minutes of riffing and atmospherics.
Kris Esfandiari has released many different styles of music under many different monikers. There is Miserable, a solo, Shoegaze project of Esfandiari. Then, there’s NGHTCRWLR, an Experimental, Noise, Industrial outfit. With each project more different than the last, Esfandiari is a versatile and inventive vocalist gifted at making transgressive music. On Celestial Blues (Relapse Records), Esfandiari returns as King Woman. Following up 2017’s Created in the Image of Suffering, the sophomore album from King Woman is a shocking release that is like horror.
Like the previous installment, the third chapter in Ripple Music’s Turned to Stone series is framed as a challenge between two contenders for Stoner Doom supremacy. But while Chapter II saw Howling Giant and Sergeant Thunderhoof put forth their competition as a battle of wits between mythic swordsmen, Chapter III is the culmination of an ongoing meme war between Merlin and Wizzerd. It also operates on a similar template as each band is given a full epic track to put their best foot forward.
As much as I enjoy Reverend Bizarre and plenty of Sami Hynninen’s other various projects, I’ve honestly not been as enthused about Opium Warlords. Their experimental brand of Drone Doom tends to be rather hit and miss, producing ideas that can be intriguing but more frequently stretched beyond their limits or constructed haphazardly. Their fifth full-length album, Nembutal (Svart Records), doesn’t promise anything different yet I find its execution to be somehow more palatable than anything else they’ve released.
2R0I2P0 (Twenty Twenty RIP, Relapse Records) is a collaboration album from two luminaries of the Japanese experimental music scene, Boris and Merzbow. Boris has released a vast number of albums over the past 25 years, and their sound ranges from psychedelic post-rock to crushing metallic doom riffery. Noise artist Merzbow (the brainchild of Masami Akita) has been even more prolific, having released hundreds of records over a 40-year career.
As well as being a mainstay of Psych-Noise stalwarts Comets On Fire, and frequent collaborator with such Experimental artists as Current 93, Ben Chasny is frighteningly prolific in the guise of his solo Folk / Americana project Six Organs of Admittance. Latest album Companion Rises (Drag City) is a shimmering trip through the stars which enriches the soul.Continue reading