We here at Heavy Blog like to ponder the big questions: Who are we? Why are we here? Do people even “own” music anymore? Did they ever own music? Can music ever actually be owned? You know, the big stuff (actually, that one is kinda big). In order to better…
The story of foundational punk band, Jawbreaker, is equal parts cautionary tale, mythos, and the brutal reality of the ways in which human relationships tend to disintegrate. Sometimes, though, that disintegration can eventually lead to a resolution that appears unimaginable on the surface. The ostensible “plot” of Don’t Break Down,…
There’s something gorgeous happening in Denmark. It seems you can’t throw a guitar into a crowd without hitting great new hardcore and metal bands from the Nordic country – Copenhagen, in particular, is the home of many of these talented, tuneful new acts, forcing me to drastically consider a music-centric…
If the coming months in punk music are going to continue to be so stacked there’s not really going to be any room for me to pontificate on the state of affairs in the punk world. Suffice to say, that’s not entirely a bad thing. With that said, the last…
There’s a lot happening in the music world, and we here at Heavy Blog try our very best to keep up with it! Like the vast majority of heavy music fans, our tastes are incredibly vast, with our 3X3s in each Playlist Update typically covering numerous genres and sometimes a…
I’m honestly warming up to the idea of using this series to introduce you to new bands; after all, what description of the band’s music could ever live up to the band themselves talking about the influences which made it be? With Bleeth, fresh of the release of their debut full length album titled Geomancer (it was released just last Friday, the 24th of August), it’s a double pleasure since I don’t just get to introduce you to a band but an excellent one at that. They deliver the kind of emotional doom/stoner/psychedelic that we’ve come to expect in 2018, replete with great riffs, moving vocals from two complementary vocalists, and an overall dedication to momentum that lies at the core of what makes this kind of music work.
If you’ve followed Heavy Blog over the last few years, you’ve likely noticed how much we adore the output of Art As Catharsis. This year alone, we’ve seen phenomenal albums ranging from the nu-jazz-fusion of COAST to the artsy chamber pop of Lack the Low to the blackened, deathly metalcore of Bridge Burner. I’ve long…
Do you like to throw your ears to the whim of open, swirling compositions? Or are you just a sucker for the fuzz? Either way, the debut long player from Brooklyn’s River Cult has you covered. At a glance, Halcyon Daze is a dirty, bluesy, and doomy stomper of a record. Thickness in tow, it hits like a champ enough to satisfy those strong of neck. At the same time, it’s complete with loose, jammy structures, gradual and dramatic builds and breaks, fat tones, and freak out solos – it has all the ingredients for a truly great heavy psych record. With five tracks at a hearty seven-minute minimum, it gives you plenty to get swept up in without compromising their unique vision that brings these worlds together. Lucky for us, these dudes break from the (what can be) formulaic nature of these genres, and come out with a truly spectacular 2018 record. Head on over the jump to stream the entire thing!
Some might say hair metal died in the 90s when Nirvana disrupted the rock industry. Yet, all of hair metal’s celebration of excess and sexism, musical dilution, and market oversaturation is present in today’s mainstream country scene. The factory seems to have just moved from the Sunset Strip to Nashville. It’s massive appeal to young listeners has created a divide in the country music scene not unlike the divide in the metal scene in the 80s. On one side industry titans argue that Bro Country is just the music of the times and that old people are just whining about being left behind. On the other side, more “authentic” artists are rising under the banner of “real country.” This is all quickly acessible on Wikipedia and Saving Country Music in more depth. But is Bro Country really just the second coming of Hair Metal? Or does Hair Metal deserve a little more credit?
We’ve covered a fair bit of ground with our Starter Kit series, where we select a handful of key records that highlight a niche musical style or penetrate the prolific status of a staple genre. Unfortunately, this format doesn’t lend itself to covering proto-genres—microcosms of musical history comprised of a specific set of albums released in a fixed period of time. But these movements are crucial to the evolution of our favorite genres, particularly when it comes to the trajectory of sludge metal. What’s become a multifaceted and often refined style was once a disparate lineage of bands from different genres who all applied the “sludge factor” in different measures. While you won’t find a dedicated section for proto-sludge at your preferred music store, the following albums an artists laid the framework for the modern sludge landscape. So whether your sludge purveyors of choice come from the atmospheric, blackened or progressive sects of he genre, they’re all indebted to the groundbreaking statements these albums made.
