Half-Life – Cradle of Filth, Part 1

Joshua Bulleid
Half-Life
Cradle of Filth have become one of the most recognisable and quickly dismissed names in extreme metal. Yet, although the band are widely regarded as populist, entry level rendition of the black metal formula, a closer look at their extensive catalogue reveals a far more innovative and surprisingly consistent act than their reputation suggests. Since their discography is so extensive—the band have released eleven full-length studio efforts to date, with one in the pipeline as we speak, and numerous and often notable tidbits here and there—this survey has been broken up into two sections. This first offering examines what many would consider to be the band’s classic period: moving through their early, formative years, up until their commercial breakthrough and (only) major label release in 2003; while part two will pick up from 2004’s Nymphetamine and carry through to the present day.

Hey! Listen To Art Far Away!

Joshua Bulleid
Listen To This!
Just because you've never heard of them doesn’t mean Art Far Away didn’t release one of the best debut records to come out in recent times, and also one of the best albums you’re likely to hear from any band at any stage of their career. The sound of 2014’s Verisimilitude & The Second Estate is tough to pin down. Art Far Away are certainly a progressive act, and it’s certainly a progressive record. Yet it’s equally certain that the Swedish five-piece don’t fit the traditional “progressive” metal mold.

Djent Was A Genre Full Of Great Debuts And Little Else

Joshua Bulleid
Deep Dive, Features
Djent had an explosive entrance into the world of heavy music, around the start of the decade. It was a truly exciting occurrence, with first-wave acts like Periphery, Animals As Leaders and Cloudkicker filtering the technically-driven progressive sound of acts like Meshuggah, Sikth, and those of the budding “Sumeriancore” movement, into something  altogether more accessible, while still retaining much of their forebears’ technical and progressive edge. Yet, like most new sub-genres, djent quickly devolved into pastiche and gave way to over saturation—perhaps a little bit quicker than most. Djent, it seems, has had a propperly ballistic trajectory, and—in 2017—as its momentum trails off, it's hard to get excited about this once-promising phenomenon.