FESTIVAL REVIEW: Damnation Festival and a Night of Salvation 2023 Live at Bowlers Exhibition Centre


 

This year’s Damnation Festival is the second since it has returned to its original home of Manchester after many years at the University of Leeds. The festival had outgrown the confines of its erstwhile venue and now takes place at Manchester’s Bowlers Exhibition Centre across three large stages. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Earthside – Let The Truth Speak


Over the past decade the genre known as “djent” strayed further from paying tribute to Meshuggah into a more slickly produced vein of pop music that just happens to have distorted guitars. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Voyager – Fearless In Love


 

For many who tuned into the Eurovision Song Contest in May, Australian entrants Voyager were just another fun, novelty rock act. Crowd-pleasers with wild hair and even wilder grins, the Aussie five-piece were still a markedly different proposition to the previous hard rock and metal participants in the completely serious competition reserved strictly for European countries, featuring absolutely no politically motivated judging whatsoever.

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Arctangent Festival Adds Scalping, Famyne, Outlander, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Cryptic Shift, and Ogives Big Band


 

Arctangent Festival is closing in on a sellout for their comeback festival later this month. The fest has now added new acts such as Scalping, Famyne, Outlander, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Cryptic Shift, Ogives Big Band, to the weekend. The fest already features headliners Opeth, Cult of Luna, and TesseracT as headliners, and has now added the updated festival map and clashfinder for fans to make use of!

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Arctangent Festival 2022 Announce TWDY, Godflesh, Devil Sold His Soul, Puppy, Stake, and More


Arctangent Festival already has one of THE line ups for 2022 festivals, and today they announce the very final new band additions for the event, as well as move TesseracT up to main stage headliner status. The fest already features headliners Opeth, Cult of Luna, and more. For the FULL list of newly added bands and artists being announced for ATG Festival today:

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ALBUM REVIEW: Carpenter Brut – Leather Terror


The second part of his ongoing conceptual “Leather” trilogy, Frank Huesco, the French darksynth artist better known as Carpenter Brut, follows up 2018’s Leather Teeth with the sequel, Leather Terror (No Quarter Productions/Universal Music/Caroline Records). Conceived during lockdown and featuring absolutely no electric guitars, this latest synth-driven piledriver serves as the soundtrack to an imagined 1987 horror movie about Bret Halford, a nerdy science student who resorts to somewhat dubious scientific methods to win a girl from her high school jock boyfriend. After his experiment turns unrequited love into disfiguration and madness, Halford becomes “Leather Teeth”, the scarred, peroxide blonde frontman of glam rock band Leather Patrol. Picking up the story at this point, Leather Terror uses its twelve tracks to show Halford taking his new serial killer rock star identity and wreaking revenge on those who abused him.

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GUEST POST: Weslie Negrón’s Top 20 Albums of 2021



We were able to survive the first week of 2022. Even if it’s with a bunch of weird stuff that is still happening, we can focus about all the positive possibilities that the new year may have in store for us. I have made my new year’s resolution be to listen to more music. If you know me personally you may ask “how can you listen to more music?”, well… I ask myself the same thing and I think I can do better. Personally, I’m really looking forward for the new Messa, Into Eternity, and Porcupine Tree albums this year, but before we get talking about the future, let’s delve ourselves on how much of a great year 2021 was for heavy, dark music. Some of the best albums I’ve heard in a while came out in 2021 and, honestly, it was pretty hard to assemble this list since there were just so many great albums to just narrow them down to 20. But I was able to come up with my final list and, after much deliberation, here are what I consider are the top 20 sonic repercussions of a Pandemic that is still at large:

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ALBUM REVIEW: Leprous – Aphelion


After two years of releasing the amazing album Pitfalls (Inside Out Music), the Norwegian Progressive Metal band Leprous comes back with an equally strong effort on their new album Aphelion (Inside Out Music). This is the kind of album that is released in what seems to be perfect timing, particularly for those who are going through some type of mental health issue. The quintet brings a variable set of songs that can capture both the passion and dexterity of the band in what seems to be a great year for Progressive Metal/Rock music.

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GHOST CULT PRESENTS: Mini-Metal Mixtape #24


Metal and Coffee’s Mini-Metal Mixtape, presented by Ghost Cult Magazine is back with another new episode! Time to get your weekly dose of an essential mix of the newest extreme music by essential bands, and a few classics baked in there too! In the latest edition of Mini-Metal Mixtape, episode #24, curated by Ebonie Butler a.k.a, Metal & Coffee, she brings jams out to Spiritbox, Leprous, Domkraft, Amenra, and Portrayal of Guilt. In her 12-year journey as an extreme metal DJ, Metal & Coffee has delved into the depths of the heavy music world to bring you a new mix each week. Metal & Coffee has been featured on Philadelphia’s most popular college radio station, WKDU 91.7 FM, and has also spent time as the resident New Releases DJ over on GIMME METAL. Stream the newest playlist right now!

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