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…]20 for ’20: AKA 20 Albums We Think Will Kick Off Your New Decade Right
2020 has a lot going for it already with a slew of stellar albums dropping right at the start AND a year where Ozzy will release new material is a feat in itself. Also on the horizon beyond what we’ve listed below is a new beast from Rawk Gods Aeges (Review coming soon), more maniacal mayhem from Dog Fashion Disco, Megadeth’s triumphant return, and the original members of Static X reuniting to bring the late Wayne Static’s final recordings to light as a whole new full-length due this May. Hell, even Duran Duran will supposedly be back this spring with the follow up to 2015’s Paper Gods!
But I digress.
[Read more…]SUMAC Give Listeners The Deal On Debut Album
Aaron Turner is like the underground heavy metal version of Mike Patton. He’s everywhere! [Read more…]
Igor Cavalera: A Rock And Roll Fables Conversation
Pandemonium, the third offering from Cavalera Conspiracy is easily their heaviest yet. From the onslaught of “Babylonian Pandemonium” and “Bonzai Kamikazee” it’s easy to see that CC has found a place in the musical echelon that suits them well and that happy place happens to be heavy as hell. Max Cavalera sounds like a veritable monster on the opening track with a throaty growl that’s unlike any vocal performance he’s given while brother Igor pounds away at ludicrous speeds one moment, settling into a tribal groove the next. [Read more…]
The Ape Of God is better than anything your band will ever put out. Ever.
I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say that Old Man Gloom albums are somewhat of a cathartic, almost religious, experience. Despite the exercises in sonic extremes, OMG always litter their albums with a certain ambiance that tempers the brutality making the music they create collectively not only unlike anything heard in their respective “day jobs” (Isis, Cave In, Doomriders, Zozobra, Converge, etc.) but also unlike anything out in current heavy music today. Is it magic when these four gentlemen convene in a room together? If The Ape Of God is the sole evidence then the answer is decidedly “yes!” [Read more…]