When lead “single” “FOAL” (Short for “Fuck Off And Leave”) dropped about a month or so ago we were already, enraptured playing the song over and over and over some more because we couldn’t get enough of the rambunctious Rawk emanating from our speakers. Then the promo for Hellish Expectations arrived with “FOAL” as the album ender and we think that’s about as perfect as you could get with the way the nine tracks that precede it unravel.
[Read more…]Gozu Returns With The Right Amount Of Rawk On Riff-Fueled Remedy
So yeah, we may have already declared Cattle Decapitation’s latest to be our most favorite Metal record of the year but when it comes to sheer heaviness, Gozu might take the crown after the nine punishing (And creatively named) tracks they’re about to lay down for y’all throughout latest album Remedy.
[Read more…]Cattle Decapitation Unleash What Might Be The Metal Album Of The Year With Terrasite
Our most favorite Metal Record of 2023 has arrived?!?!? Too soon??? We don’t think so, especially when you get a chance to hear Cattle Decapitation’s Terrasite in full. It’s big, bad, and beautiful and hones in on the ever evolving sound of the San Diego quintet oh so exquisitely. We had been blasting first single “We Eat Our Young” pretty much daily since it dropped and the fact that’s it yet to get old even when listening to it within the album over and over and over some more is a huge tell for us about the longevity of both the track and the album.
[Read more…]Singles! Gozu, “CLDZ”
Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that jazz, right? Well, that especially rings true when it comes to the music that Gozu has been spewing out ramping up to the release of Remedy on May 19th. “Tom Cruise Control”, released last month and reviewed by us here, was a great reintroduction to the Boston quartet after a 5-year gap between full-lengths but “CLDZ” is just presenting fans with some next level Gozu material that, dare we say, kinda blows away an already impressive body of work.
[Read more…]Incoming! 23 for ’23: The Rock And Roll Fables Guide To The Greatest The Next Year Has To Offer… As Of Right Now
Here we go again! Part wishful thinking, part playing detective while piecing together social media updates, and part actual facts! We could only be talking about our latest crystal ball viewing as we look to the year 2023 and hope for the best that those “confirmed” releases actually come out and that maybe our thoughts and prayers are answered when it comes to those with less concrete plans as of this posting. Join us, won’t you?
[Read more…]Untitled Metal Column: Cannibal Corpse, Violence Unimagined
My experience with the legendary Cannibal Corpse is owning/enjoying the only album (so far) by Serpentine Dominion, the supergroup that features CC vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (Along with Shannon Lucas of The Black Dahlia Murder and Killswitch Engage’s Adam D) and that’s it. So stating that I’m a Cannibal Corpse noob is a vast understatement, okay? As a lifelong Metalhead, though, I respect the hell out of the legacy and, while I can’t recite “Devoured By Vermin” from memory, I sure as shit appreciate their continued existence especially when it comes to their latest, Violence Unimagined.
[Read more…]Dvne Produce Prolific Prog On Raucous Sophomore Shredder Etemen Ænka
Etemen Ænka, the latest slab of awesome from Dvne (Pronounced “Dune”) is like the perfect Prog pinnacle when At The Drive-In’s more raucous moments collide with Mastodon’s refined riffage. And as far as second records go, Etemen Ænka is undeniably a triumph from the first blast straight through to the last gasp.
[Read more…]Sacred Reich Celebrate Seminal Albums Ignorance, Surf Nicaragua, And The American Way With Brand Spankin’ New Metal Blade Reissues
I’m a late-to-the-party metalhead, okay? As in started my Thrash education with …And Justice For All and Countdown To Extinction kind of late. But from there, I went back and discovered the rich history of the genre and opened my ears to the outliers like Testament, Flotsam & Jetsam, and the band of the hour in this particular piece, Sacred Reich. I fell in love with the Phoenix-based outfit because of 1993’s Independent which is still beautifully brutal as much as it is lyrically potent and poignant.
[Read more…]20 for ’20: An Exhausting List Of Our Favorite Music That Got Us Through A Truly Exhausting Year
It’s an understatement that 2020 was a pretty fucked up year, right? Machine Head was the last live band I saw back in February and a few days after that I found myself in an emergency room with some unexpected surgery to be had (Don’t worry, I’m fine now!) followed by the shutdown across the country. There’ve been ups, downs, and everything in between in 2020 but one constant has been the music. Artists have adapted with some keeping those schedules and releasing new albums despite not being able to tour behind them while others are holding off altogether. Some have done well with the new norm of livestreamed concerts and while I’ve checked out a few, personally they’re just not my cuppa.
[Read more…]Armored Saint Celebrate Four Decades, Still Absolutely Crush On Punching The Sky
Confession time: John Bush was my gateway drug into the world of Anthrax. My musical awakening hit around the mid-’90’s where the Big Four was at a crossroads and, in the case of NYC’s resident Thrash titans, going through a major personnel overhaul as well as a musical one. As I got older I appreciated the old stuff but Bush will always be my guy and underrated albums like Volume 8: The Threat Is Real still stand the test of time and remain in my regular rotation to this day.
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