Cattle Decapitation’s transformation from novelty goregrind act into one of the premier progressive/technical death metal bands of the modern era has been one of the most surprising and rewarding events in modern extreme metal. Now (at least) three records into a career-defining hot streak that’s rivaled by few if any…
I don’t listen to grindcore as often as Matt does, but I still know my way around the genre. Deathgrind has always been my preferred iteration of the style. Bands like Pig Destroyer and later Napalm Death are able to couple the unbridled aggression of grind with the memorability and…
Short bursts of off-kilter aggression have yet to go out of style for me. As much as I’ve gravitated toward longer and more complex music, I still periodically revisit my high school affinity for the ’00s mathgrind and noisecore scene. I was addicted to bands like An Albatross, iwrestledabearonce, and…
There have been a few surprise releases over the last fortnight, including a few featured below. I’m not entitled enough to complain about them throwing off my playlist or writing schedule, but their appearance from out of nowhere has shuffled the Grind My Gears pack a little bit; fewer words…
Greetings unto thee, heaviest of Heavy Bloggers! Welcome to the end of Q1 for Riff Lords, Inc. I am Pete, here as always with your monthly presentation of doom economics. 2019 has slowly been ramping up the releases, but now we’re in the midst of what could possibly be on…
Doom metal can sometimes become a catch-all term. Bands just get that label because they don’t clearly fit into something else. If it’s not fast-paced or evil enough, then you can’t give it the death or thrash or black label. But you have to give it something. If it sounds…
January didn’t have an edition of Grind My Gears because yours truly was up to his nuts in boring, boring life bullshit. There’s little point in fixating on it – that wouldn’t be very grindcore, after all – so we’re slamming back into reality with a journey through the halls…
Hello, and welcome to the final post we will have about 2018! Yes, it’s late January. And yes, this is coming out much later than in previous years. After several years of completely burning myself out assembling these industry lists, I made the decision early on in planning out our…
Those of us music lovers who purchase and collect physical media understand the thrill of the hunt. Be it digging through crates, scoring a deal on that grail on Discogs, or getting in on the pre-order before the limited edition variant sells out, the rush of broadening the collection is one of the most fulfilling things about consuming music for much of the Heavy Blog staff. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is also a huge driving force due to the limited nature of many releases, and collectively, we tend to spend way too much money for the sake of getting in while the getting’s good. However, funds are not always in supply, and we often spend our free time adding out-of-press releases to our Discogs wantlist or staring longingly at /r/vinyl and /r/heavyvinyl in hopes of catching a contact buzz.
New albums from Virginian grindcore legends Pig Destroyer are increasingly few and far between, so each new release is a genuine momentous occasion. This time around, in the six years since Book Burner (which was itself five years removed from Phantom Limb), the stakes grew higher for the band in maintaining their spot on grindcore’s pedestal; or the first time ever, the band have invited a bassist into the fold in John Jarvis, further expanding their lineup after additions of drummer Adam Jarvis replaced Brian Harvey prior to Book Burner and sampler/electronics guy Blake Harrison on Phantom Limb. Such a change in dynamic, both sonically and interpersonally, is bound to have an affect on the output, and when taking into account six years of artistic development and fan anticipation, the group’s latest effort Head Cage was bound to be heavily scrutinized.
