A thousand greetings unto thee, Heaviest of All Bloggers! Another month has passed, so another review of the slow and low is very much required. Much like last month, I’ve been thinking more and more about metal’s place in the world throughout the seasons. It’s just this recurring thought I…
For this month’s introduction to this, our Editors’ Picks, I decided to run a little experiment by going back to the last three years of April installments and see what’s what. I had a suspicion that proved to be correct: April is usually a goddamn amazing month. Whether it’s because…
In the beginning, there was darkness. Nothing. A total absence. Then, in a brilliant flash, something. The foundation of everything. Clouds of life’s most basic elements roiling slowly through once empty space. Eons upon eons pass, then stars. Planets. Water. Vegetation. Life creeping slowly, desperately, onto the beaches from the…
Despite the seemingly straightforward nature of drone, the style is a great deal more varied in practice. For drone metal in particular, the idea of drawing out doom to an even more low, slow and meditative state relies on each individual band’s interpretation of the genre they’re extrapolating from. As…
Each month, we always seem to come to the same conclusion when it comes to our Editors’ Picks column: Friday release days open the floodgates and unleash a seemingly endless stream of quality new music. But while some of our Editors and Contributors sit down gleefully each week to dive into this newly stocked…
Tristan Shone’s industrial doom project Author & Punisher is easily one of the most unique acts on the current landscape of extreme music; while many acts proudly identify as a “one-man band,” Shone’s array of handmade instruments and impeccable limb independence allows him to weave songs together by himself without relying on backtracks to get the job done, borrowing musical cues from the likes of Neurosis, Godflesh, and Helmet in the process. Leaning heavily into drone and doom on initial releases, Shone’s musical palette and production know-how have broadened the dynamic considerably.
Given that its impetus came with the sinister riff opening “Black Sabbath,” doom metal has arguably had the longest evolutionary stretch of any metal subgenre. Of course, just how much any given subgenre has evolved is difficult to pin down, especially considering the disparate directions and offshoots are present within each…
Anonymity in black metal has always been a double-edged sword. While it’s refreshing to see artists solely focused on their music and presentation rather than themselves as artists, it can also be frustrating to be unable to spotlight bands that truly excel at their craft. This latter point certainly applies…
Instrumental doom is exciting but sparingly travelled terrain in the metal landscape. And fair enough: operating on an instrumental basis by definition removes an intuitive connection point for listeners in both the actual lyrical/narrative content as well the natural draw a frontperson has with an audience. Bands that dare to…
No genre has experienced a more distinct shift in its cultural purpose than classical music. What was once the sole form of musical expression in Western culture has been largely relegated to specific roles in society. Modern classical certainly hasn’t lost any of its esteem, but in terms of popular…
