2018 has been quite the year for metal as a whole. With big releases from big bands hitting all the high notes, and several subgenres experiencing some of their most consistently impressive output in decades, it’s fairly safe to say that this has thus far been a premium year for…
Hello, friends. Welcome once more to Kvlt Kolvmn. Another month, another helping of fantastic black metal. May was a veritable smorgasbord of the good stuff, but also deftly displayed the variety in theme, style, and execution that makes black metal just the very best. A quick peek below at this…
What happens every time you try to introduce someone to metal? No matter if you’re playing your favorite record, the craziest thing you’d heard recently, or something a bit more introductory, you’ll inevitably give it to someone who has the same common complaint. “OH, I CAN’T TAKE IT, THERE’S JUST…
Welcome to our first installment of Kvlt Kolvmn in the Year of Our Dark Lord 2018! We’ve missed you. Let’s talk about black metal. 2017 was not a watershed year for the subgenre like it was for death metal. While there were a number of quality releases throughout the year…
Experimental black metal in this latter portion of the 2010s brings to mind a particular sound and aesthetic. I’m here referring to the angular, jagged riff building of bands like Thantifaxath, Dodecahedron, and Deathspell Omega, who use versions of anti-melody and severe technicality to create a swirling maelstrom of sound…
Editor’s note: Yes, it’s that time of the year again! While our own Album of the Year list is already published by the time you read this, we still have a ton of end of year content for you. Over the coming week, we’ll be exploring 2017 in various of ways: through curated summaries for specific genres, editorials on specific phenomena we found interesting and, of course, guest lists! This time around, we have a band who’s name should by synonymous with metal’s success in 2017: Artificial Brain. Infrared Horizon, their album from this year, is top of the crop in the extremely busy and prolific technical death metal field. With all the releases coming from the sub-genre this year, Artificial Brain still managed to prove they’re a cut above the rest, providing an aggressive, abrasive and yet strangely captivating science fiction masterpiece.
Their list makes a lot of sense, in that regard. It’s chock full of overwhelming and abrasive metal from bands like Aosoth, Thantifaxath and Dying Fetus. But it also includes more beguiling and subtle choices, like Circle or the avant-garde trappings of Fleurety. Thus, you’ll just have to check it out for yourself and see what’s what for Arti-B in 2017!
It’s pretty incredible to reflect on how much Kvlt Kolvmn has grown over the last couple years, especially when it comes to how consequential it’s been for Heavy Blog’s coverage of the vast web of metal subgenres. What began as an outlet for me (Scott) to occasionally ramble about my…
Even a cursory glance of our biweekly playlist updates will reveal that there is a great deal of variety among our staff’s musical tastes. Due to this, we brainstormed the idea of Playlist Swap, where two of our contributors pick their favorite track from each of the nine albums in their grid…
November. The end of the year is upon us. What a fucking mess. Politically, socially, ethically, take your pick. It’s all bad, bad, and bad. In 2017, the world found itself repeatedly at moral and ethical crossroads, and opted almost exclusively for the most ridiculous and asinine path possible. Honestly,…
The year winds down. The stream of news, releases, and overall music community activities begins to slow as we prepare for the heart of winter. As if remembering days when winter’s darkness had a stronger hold on us than it does today, people’s minds turn to introspection, eyes moving away…
