Excommunion – Thronosis

Jonathan Adams
Reviews
Some things just go really well together. Ham and cheese. Cookies and milk. Frodo and Samwise. Alcohol and an unusually horrible following morning. The metal world, intent on constantly reinventing and expanding itself, tends to mix differing sounds into new amalgamations of metal mayhem in hopes of finding similarly delightful pairings. Some of these ventures are more successful (Full of Hell and Merzbow) than others (here’s looking at you, Metallica and Lou Reed). But few things pair as well in the metal world as black and death metal. All the key ingredients for hate-filled success are there: unparalleled intensity, blast beats, tremolo insanity, thematic cohesion, and harsh, unrelenting vocal deliveries. With all of these commonalities between the two metal subgenres, you’d think that their fusion would be relatively easy to pull off. Based on a lot of recent death metal releases that incorporate black metal into their sound, however, it would seem that this isn’t always the case or even the norm. Outside of the success of bands such as Behemoth, there are surprisingly few examples of blackened death metal seeping deeply into metal culture. Excommunion is here to change that with their fierce new record, Thronosis.

What Heavy Blog Is Really Listening To – 4/28/17

Scott Murphy
What We're Really Listening To
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.

Metallica – Hardwired…to Self Destruct

Heavy Blog
Reviews
In a lot of ways, Hardwired is like an anthology of the band's entire discography in all of its splendor and stubbornness. The album kicks off with the no-bullshit barn-burner "Hardwired," an undeniable throwback to the band's primitive debut record. It's the only song on the record that keeps things under six minutes and is much better for doing so, leaving no time for subtlety or nuance and going straight for the jugular. After that, the remainder of the album ventures into much more expansive territory. The remaining eleven tracks can range from the riff-o-rama aesthetics of ...And Justice for All, the stadium rock swagger of the Black Album, the blues/hard rock mish-mash of Load and the Cthulhu worship one could have found on Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning. None of these songs are outright references to a particular album quite like the title track, but it doesn't take a die-hard Metallica fan to see that the band have gone back and thoroughly analyzed what makes them a truly fantastic band.

Indie Rapidfire Roundup – La Sera, Nicolas Jaar & Preoccupations

Heavy Blog
Reviews
With Heavy Blog having changed the kind of content we publish and how we publish it, we’ve decided to retire our recurring Unmetal Monday column in favor of more ongoing/mercurial coverage of unmetal genres like indie rock, alternative, EDM, and more. One of the side effects of this is that we no longer had a central place to write about new music and albums from these kinds of artists/bands in a more informal way - things we might want to talk about but not necessarily in long-form. In light of that and our tradition of combining certain metal releases into groups to form “Rapidfire Reviews,” we've established this semi-regular column to take three recent or upcoming releases from the world of “indie” in the pejorative sense and offer some quick takes on them. In our latest Indie Rapidfire Roundup, contributor Mike McMahan and editors Nick Cusworth and Scott Murphy offer their thoughts on three very different, yet all well-anticipated albums: La Sera's Queens, Nicolas Jaar's Sirens and Preoccupations self-titled debut.

Opeth: Not the First Musical Act to Piss Off Their Fans

Mike McMahan
Deep Dive, In Defense Of
The wait is over. The release date for Opeth’s latest, Sorceress, is almost upon us; and with it, the latest round in the controversy that has dogged them for three albums now. “What happened to the death growls?” “Why aren’t these guys heavy anymore?” “Opeth sucks now.” These are not opinions that I personally share, as I’m huge fan of Pale Communion. That said, Heritage is certainly not their best record, or even one of their top 5. In fact, it may even be their weakest. No shame there, given the ridiculous quality of their complete discography. Time will tell how successful and well-regarded Sorceress is, though early indications are that your opinion on Sorceress will likely mirror your opinion on Pale Communion. The two tracks released in advance, the title track and “Will O’ The Wisp” certainly strongly suggest this. But they aren’t the first band to release a record that has the fans howling with rage.

The Jazz Club Vol. 6 – Accessibility, Defining Jazz and Blind Purchases

Scott Murphy
The Jazz Club
Welcome to yet another Jazz Club, where we get to take a break from the admittedly wonderful world of metal in exchange for some horns and sax and plenty of Miles Davis. Honestly, we tossed around topic ideas for today, but nothing really seemed to stick, so we’re going to have a much more conversational installment centering around various questions we’ve been mulling over lately. Sorry ahead of time, unless this turns out great, which in that case, you’re welcome.