I listen to a lot of music every year. Which is as it should be. I do write about this shit regularly, so some semblance of a finger on the pulse of various scenes is, in my mind, essential to writing meaningfully about music. One thing that I’ve marveled at…
Welcome to Death’s Door, Hellions. Pop a squat on a bone throne and get comfy. There’s plenty of premium content to be had in the world of death metal, and Scott and I are here to deliver unto thee the goods. I’ve been doing quite a bit of complaining about…
I’m a sucker for the kind of discordant, dissonant, technically adventurous death metal that leaves you simultaneously baffled and awed. Think Portal and their utterly unhinged songwriting, Ulcerate and their fire and blood approach to technical death metal, and Mitochondrion’s relentless, blisteringly paced barrage of audio brutality. It’s a sound…
There are plenty of fantastic bands that toil in the margins of relative obscurity. Some eventually find a wider audience and catapult themselves to various levels of fame, while others never reach that coveted status of instantly recognizable. It’s fitting, then, that Pennsylvania upstarts Veilburner signed with the aptly named…
Welcome to Death’s Door. Wipe your snowy boots on the mat. Which, I mean, is obviously a joke. Because there’s no snow anywhere on this godforsaken rock. It’s a million degrees outside and all of humanity is hurtling toward ecological destruction. How delightful. Pull up a bone chair and get…
Portal, Mitochondrion, Antediluvian, Grave Miasma, Adversarial, The Ominous Circle, and Impetuous Ritual. The mere mention of these bands automatically conjures thoughts of a particular sound, a sonic aesthetic, within the death metal community. Jagged riffs, overwhelmingly heavy and murky production values, vocals that leap slowly and maniacally from the deepest pits of hell itself. Though this strain of death metal isn’t without its detractors and controversial elements, these above bands and a host of others have constructed successful careers upon the foundation laid by Finnish gods Demilich, and in my mind death metal is all the better for it. Spain’s Altarage also belongs in this group, cementing their reputation among the most punishing of death dealers with their monumental debut release Nihl. It was as relentless, pounding, and utterly suffocating as anything yet released in the band’s chosen subgenre, and ended up being one of my favorite releases of last year. With Endinghent, the band’s much-anticipated sophomore record, Altarage continue to expand upon the sound that brought them such positive attention, but with a twist: Endinghent is without question an evolutionary leap for the band in both song-craft and sound that serves as a sonic departure from their previous work. Whether these changes are good or bad depends on your view of what makes Altarage special, and in my book the band have begun a gallant voyage into a more refined and sharp sound that not only serves to highlight their songwriting ability, but also flesh out elements of their sound that were somewhat drowned out in their last album. It’s a bold move that pays dividends with repeated listening.
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…
The genre of death metal has defied all odds, aging gracefully as acts continue to push the boundaries of extremity, technicality, and the genre’s sonic palette into many different subsets. Starting with the almighty Death, you could trace the evolutionary branches into any of the myriad of styles that exist today in any direction. For instance, one of the more interesting fringe developments is atmospheric death metal; in direct lineage of Death’s technical and progressive style, Gorguts incorporated a nuanced intensity with avant garde musicianship and a muddy Lovecraftian atmosphere that paved the way for the likes of Mitochondrion, Portal, and New Zealand’s rising stars Ulcerate.
So, April has come and gone and now spring is here in earnest. While there was definitely a slow down in the SHEER VOLUME of releases from April, there definitely wasn’t a decline in quality. May brought us some of our favorite albums from 2016 so far and some which are certain to feature on high spots in our end of year lists. Speaking of which, next month we won’t be doing an Editors’ Picks or rather, we will but it will be a special, Worth Your Time in 2016 so far edition. In the meantime, let’s dig in to this month’s selection, featuring some heavy, some sad and, mainly, a whole lot of excellent.
The organizers of North America’s extreme metal mecca Maryland Deathfest must never get a vacation, because the hype and planning of the annual festival begins almost immediately after the last one draws to a close. Truthfully, I greatly suspect the planning for next year’s iteration began before this year’s fest…
