Hello and welcome to September, where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter. Cultural references aside, September is indeed the month where the year usually goes: “Oh, you thought there was a lot of music so far? Well, get ready for this”. The holidays are already looming high in…
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.
Last year I took it upon myself not only to organize and compile our own staff’s AOTY list, but to take things one insane step further and compile a bunch of lists from major metal or metal-covering publications and websites into one MEGA AOTY list to rule them all. Eden and I then analyzed the list and made some (mostly snarky) comments about the metal journalism industry and how they approach these sorts of things. Though I still 100% stand by what we wrote there and the conclusions we drew from it, I was really interested in seeing how well some of them would stand up to another year to use as a data point. Thankfully, this year I had a lot of help in all of our list-making efforts thanks to fellow editor Noyan, who put a ton of work into coming up with the method we ended up using to aggregate our lists (if you haven’t already, you should absolutely read his post delving into the nitty-gritty of that methodology) and then did the actual number-crunching.
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.netthrough 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.
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 more complex genres of music each have their own trick. With progressive it’s melding groove into technicality, being very careful not to lose emotional impact within grand ideas. With experimental or avant-garde music it’s to give the listeners some sort of cipher, a way to approach and translate the music they’re hearing. With the complex genres that live in the feedback, in repetition or in slow, considering movements, it is to have a core. A center must be found, a place to which you return with your music when the going gets rough, when the ears ache from the overwhelming oscillations of ponderous instruments.
The ever-revolving door of black metal supergroup Twilight has made it an incredibly interesting project to follow. Over the years and the course of three albums, members of some pretty formidable bands have come and gone, including Xasthur Nachtmystium, and Isis to name but a few. So, naturally, the final chapter in their blackened tome comes complete with a new line-up, this time boasting members of The Atlas Moth, Leviathan and Sonic Youth(!?). That’s all well and good in terms of pedigree, but how does the music match up to the promise?
No long introduction. Let’s just get down to business. 20. Ulcerate – Vermis Ulcerate take their trademark brand of swirling, abrasive death metal and meld it with seamless post-metal interludes, this is one of the darkest albums of the year. 19. Revocation – Revocation Vicious, unrelenting and a head above…
Terrorizer have the full stream of the brand new Oranssi Pazuzu album Valonielu and they make a really great point in their write up on the band — whilst much of black metal at the moment is preoccupied with shoegazing introspective atmosphere, Oranssi Pazuzu take the opposite approach and thrust their black…
Who else would you entrust to unveil a new track from spaced-out Hawkwind-worshipping black metallers Oranssi Pazuzu other than a site by the name of PopMatters? So while you’re listening to the beautifully weird and wonderful new track from Oranssi Pazuzu, entitled ‘Vino Verso’, you can also check out articles…
