If you know anything about Beaten to Death, the Norwegian grindcore/avantgarde/genre-defying band, you know to shed any expectations when approaching any list written by them. This is especially true when we’re talking about influences; after all, the whole point of B2D is to create a frenetic motley of genres that doesn’t rest…
Another wild year is coming to an end so it’s about time all you grinders scrubbed down your manky gears and made them all pretty looking for Satan Claus. This list won’t be exhaustive in the slightest, as there are hundreds of grind and grind-adjacent records that I just didn’t have the time to check out — there were just as many that I gave a cursory fifteen seconds listen and decided ‘NOPE’. This ‘year in review ‘will be focused almost entirely on bands that I’ve thrown into the scabby battle pit of Grind My Gears over the last twelve months, with the snarky titles and blunt force imagery used rearing their charming, cultured head yet again. If you didn’t enjoy any of it so far, you can go right ahead and browse Pitchfork’s Top 50 instead, you fucking wet blanket.
Beaten To Death are more interesting than your favorite grindcore band. I’m not sorry. Actually, I’m sorry for assuming Beaten To Death wasn’t already your favorite grindcore band.
For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as…
For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as…
Another day, another progressive stoner band! But these guys aren’t your run of the mill, space obsessed occult weirdos. No, instead, these guys (Grant the Sun, that is) are members of bands like Insense and the grindcore act Beaten to Death and their less than standard pedigree shines through and the newest track from their upcoming debut EP, “Økologisk Rave”. The track is a weird jaunt between stoner tinged riffs, Meshuggah like chugging and soloing and an overall sense of technicality melded with aggression. Over all of that plays an ecological theme that’s hard to deny, lending the track a message and purpose. Head on over below for the new track and let’s meet up later to discuss.
For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.
How to navigate the sheer number of festivals now available for the metal fan? With the aim of helping you sort through this vast variety, we’ve compiled the following primer. It’s by no means extensive; it’s simply impossible to write about all of the festivals we would have liked to mention. We focused on those we’ll be attending and on those who have the most attractive setlists in our eyes. That being said, do feel free to share more great festivals with us in the comments and please enjoy this, our selection of festivals for 2017.
Even with the hundreds of albums we come across every year, let’s face it, we still sleep on things. Especially with a large group such as ours, even if most of us on staff have listened to and obsessed over a particular album, it’s inevitable that at least a few of us won’t have jumped on the hype train. For a variety of reasons, we either dismiss certain albums when they come out, can’t properly give the time to them at first, or were simply unaware of them until someone recommends them. With that in mind, we’ve decided to make a fun new addition to our annual end-of-year lists, which is one comprised entirely of our favorite albums we heard for the first time this year or learned to love that weren’t released in 2016. Though most of these have been released in the past 5 years, there are a few that are far older, all the way to the most classic of thrash. Being a music enthusiast means constant discovery, and that includes digging back through the annals of music history. We encourage you to share your own favorite non-2016 “discoveries” this year, but in the meantime check out some of our staff’s top picks below.
Much like Sunbather earlier this year, the cover for Beaten To Death’s Dødsfest! is striking, not due to ghastly horrors or a dystopian future that grindcore bands tend to love so much, but due to the colour scheme. Call it garish or whatever you like, the bottom line is it definitely had me…
