There are a few artists that I’ve reviewed here, and I’ve mentioned this before, that just kind of fall off my radar after their record of the moment is out and available. Not for lack of liking but more the abundance of new music coming in on the daily. But then I get a ping as something new from the artist is about to drop and get to give myself a refresher and dive back into their old stuff for research, nostalgia, and the inevitable comparison or two.
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Domkraft’s third full-length is filled with colossal sounds made up some of the gnarliest, most nasty sounding riffs that Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler wished they’d discovered first. Cap off all that inherent Heavy with an exquisite musicianship throughout and Seeds is easily a contender for many a year-end best list. Including ours.
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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.
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I could either completely exhaust myself and do four separate reviews of the albums that represent 2019’s Day Of Doom live showcase at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar heading towards the end of releases in 2020 when most are shifting their focus to year end lists and preview pieces…or just do one MASSIVE review of all the releases. Take a guess where we’re going with this one, won’t you?
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Delays are inevitable yet sometimes delays work for the greater good producing some unprecedented magic like Magnetic Eye Records has had as of late. Whether it’s pandemic or production-related, there’s been a slew of releases from MER affected by recent events but the silver lining in this story is that it’s caused a flood of material to come out one after another as of late bringing us to Vol. 4 [Redux] (Following Zakk Sabbath’s Vertigo and the Alice In Chains [Redux] both released last month) focusing on the iconic Black Sabbath album as reinterpreted by a bevy of current legends, legends on the rise, and legends-in-the-making.
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Alice In Chains is one of my all-time favorites. To the point of being almost sacred. So when Layne Staley tragically passed away, I like so many others believed that Alice In Chains was done. They weren’t and today continue to honor the legacy of Staley while cementing their status as living legends in the upper echelons of Hard Rawk and Metal. Speaking of that legacy, it was 1992’s Dirt that helped to catapult the Seattle quartet into those hallowed halls and almost twenty years later Magnetic Eye Records is paying tribute to the iconic record with their latest [Redux] release.
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There’s a lot happening in the five tracks that make up Rabbits, the latest from San Francisco’s Brume. Like, a lot. Dense and downtrodden but still downright delightful, Brume bring light to the dark with their unique brand of Doom for their Magnetic Eye Records debut.
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Caustic Casanova is a band you need to pay attention to. It’s as simple as that! On their new full-length, God How I Envy The Deaf, the quartet from D.C. unleash a rawk fury that’s epic, anthemic, and downright awesome. We became aware of them thanks to their incredible and ambitious trio of Pantheon EP’s which was conveniently combined to create an unstoppable rawk and/or roll Frankenstein which seemingly could not be beat. That is, until God How I Envy The Deaf came along.
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Easily one of our most anticipated releases of 2019 (It was number twelve on our “19 for’19” preview, Read that here), Ghastly Sound is finally ready to astound and amaze with their debut full-length coming at you through Magnetic Eye Records in September. But is the magic still there? Can this three-piece from Vermont hold your attention beyond three or four songs? Why are we treating this opening paragraph like the closing of a Batman episode from the ’60’s? Tune in next week at the same RNRF time and the same RNRF channel to find out! Or you could just keep reading below…
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“An album sure to hit the sweet spot for fans of Weedeater, Transnational Speedway-era Clutch, and the dream of 90s Relapse bands surviving years of meth and finally downshifting to whiskey”
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