Remember how, when COVID was kicking off, we got a slew of articles talking about the new world which COVID will leave behind? While the declarations of COVID’s demise are very untimely, it’s safe to say that we are beginning to see a vision of our world, for better or for worse, where COVID has become “just” another cyclical disease. COVID is becoming, and will soon become even more so, something that we live alongside, albeit with augmentations to our lifestyles that we probably won’t even notice until there’s an outbreak. The funny thing is, if you look around at these “post-COVID” societies, they don’t really look anything like what those articles were projecting. Which is fine, don’t get me wrong; I don’t expect perfect predictions or even accurate ones because that’s not what predictions do or how the future works.
So, back to our societies: it’s not just that they don’t like what those articles were painting, they also look pretty much like the societies we had before COVID. On the personal level, people have gone back to rituals of intimacy; people hug, shake hands, and cough without covering their mouths (why though). On the societal level, sure more people are working from home but offices are poised to make a return and “hybrid models” are the latest fashion. Of course, for many people these are all illusions. Those who suffer from Long COVID or that have had their savings or homes wiped out by the economic crises which COVID only worsened or have lost a loved one. But these details are, of course, quickly swept aside by the march of progress, forgotten in favor of getting back to “it” (“it” of course being consuming products so “the economy” can do better).
But here’s the thing: one of the changes that COVID brought to us which seems to be sticking around, at least for me, is the distorted and convoluted perception of time which lockdowns and figures like “14 day isolations” brought with them. I mean, it’s fucking May??? It’s May??? 2022??? I remember writing the Missive intro for May 2021 like it was yesterday. Then again, things which seem to be extremely recent, like me getting acquainted with an album or other for example, actually happened way back in 2018. It’s just that the interim is made up of jumbled weeks and jigsaw months, lacerated down their middle by lockdowns, isolations, and their awful lack of routine.
Don’t get me wrong – this is not an anti-lockdown post. I think lockdowns, and certainly isolations, played and will play their part in the response to the pandemic and to those which will come after it. It’s simply an intro in which I suddenly realize that it is May again and, instead of writing yet another flowery tribute to Spring (although I love doing that because Spring, like all the seasons, is amazing), I suddenly realize that time itself has slipped away from me. And that’s it; no punchline or grand insight to close this one off. Just a shake of the head and a bewildered look around me as I realize that I will be thirty-five at the end of the month and that we are still careening around in the void, on more than three axes. Here’s a bunch of music to speed us on our way; happy Spring!
–Eden Kupermintz
Columns
Editors’ Picks
Genre agnostic spotlights from the blog’s editorial staff, highlighting key releases from last month.
Death’s Door
All the death metal that’s fit to print from last month’s offerings. Riffs, licks, and gutturals.
Doomsday
When you absolutely must have your music go low and slow, Doomsday is here for you. Get ready for fuzz.
Flash of the Blade
Music that is both fast, pissed off, and goes hard. Oh, and swearing. Lots of it.
Kvlt Kolvmn
The grimmest, coldest, most abrasive column there is. Only the most premium of perma-frost, from the heart of darkness itself.
Post Rock Post
Where the horizon is always just beyond the next hill and your heart can roam free. Delay pedals, crescendos, and dreams.
Unmetal Monthly
Head on through to turn down the distortion.
Rotten to the Core
Sure, you’re hardcore but are you this hardcore? The column with all the breakdowns, riffs, and gang vocals you’ll need.
Heavy Buys
Welcome to Heavy Buys, our column (mostly) dedicated to physical media and soft merch paid for out of the pockets of Heavy Blog writers.
Reviews
Atoll – Prepuce
We’re here to mosh about like the meat sacks we are and take a roaring, outrageous break from a depressing reality. Atoll understands this completely and delivers a brutal, guttural assault on human decency.
Moon Tooth – Phototroph
The best progressive music spills over with joy and celebrates the complicated and wonderful thing called life. Phototroph does that and then some.
Path of Might – Deep Chrome
Deep Chrome is Path of Might’s masterpiece: it bears the seamless marks of such a work, the joints and pivots that make the music work oiled and fixed to a tee, the whole gleaming with even more light than the parts should lend it.
Features
A Gift to Artwork
Hello all, it’s time to take a look at some more gorgeous cover art. This month Luis dives into the latest artwork adorning the covers of Absent in Body and Egregore latest records, while Karlo discusses Iomair and Meslamtaea. Let’s take a look!
The Anatomy Of – Lament Cityscape
Learn about the influences behind Lament Cityscape’s dark, twisted mix of industrial metal, heavy-hitting sludge, and a bit of hardcore.
