There’s a fine line between consistency and stagnation, especially with a sophomore album. Whether an artist offers too much of the same or does a complete about-face, both approaches can easily turn off early listeners. After such a strong debut like last year’s Mental Wounds Not Healing, it’s a relief…
It’s the last thing on a Friday so we’re here to ruin your weekend with this debut from Jamie Christ (Sectioned) and his new multimedia project – CHRISTWVRKS. We have the privilege of showcasing the first music released under this banner, as well as the terrifying, mania-inducing music video for…
Part of the inherent joy and frustration of being a music writer lies in attempting to describe sound to a reader while simultaneously diving deep into the musical memory bank to find appropriate reference points. You like (x band)? Here’s (y band), who sound a lot like (x band)! You’ve…
Industrial sounds are busy shaking up hardcore at the moment but, as far as the mainstream incarnation of the genre goes, industrial metal appears to be largely done and dusted. The pounding, mechanical sounds that once dominated alternative music during the ’90s and early 2000s have left little mark on…
As you might recall, Heavy Blog is ten years old this year. As such, we’re setting off on an adventure, each quarter exploring a different “Year 9”. After looking at ’79, we’re now at ’89, and oh boy was ’89 A Year. It’s the year in which the Soviet Block…
Despite the seemingly straightforward nature of drone, the style is a great deal more varied in practice. For drone metal in particular, the idea of drawing out doom to an even more low, slow and meditative state relies on each individual band’s interpretation of the genre they’re extrapolating from. As…
For fans of post-anything metal, there was a turning point where we came to dismiss instant gratification. The point where we came to fall in love with the longform sonic journey, the gradual and subtle expanse of musical ideas, or the entrancing (and at times physical) nature of cascading, droning riffing and phantasmal leadwork. Bigger than that, it’s where we abandoned immediacy in exchange for the ambient, the psychedelic, the densely layered, or the ruminating.
There are a few topics which we keep hammering at here at Heavy Blog, whether through the text of our posts, the musical selection which we make, on “external” channels like the podcast, and more. One of them is that music, whether we like it or not, is a business.…
It’s that time of year. Yes, ‘tis the season for pumpkin spiced everything’s, knitted scarves and socks from your grandmother, and gorging on avian flesh in the name of antiquated traditions. To be perfectly honest, I’m not above the bullshit holiday thing. I just like spending time with my loved…
Tristan Shone’s industrial doom project Author & Punisher is easily one of the most unique acts on the current landscape of extreme music; while many acts proudly identify as a “one-man band,” Shone’s array of handmade instruments and impeccable limb independence allows him to weave songs together by himself without relying on backtracks to get the job done, borrowing musical cues from the likes of Neurosis, Godflesh, and Helmet in the process. Leaning heavily into drone and doom on initial releases, Shone’s musical palette and production know-how have broadened the dynamic considerably.
