It is in fact failure, and not its rarer though far more popular cousin’s success, which is the most easily identifiable symptom of effort, and Norse explorers Ulver have been long overdue for a good old-fashioned Donner Party after years of casually strolling up and down Everest. Granted, I am not making an argument that […]

Back in 1999, Italian guitarist/vocalist Ferdinando Merchisio a/k/a “Herr Morbid” made a savvy career decision, turning his hatred inward and transitioning from early and unremarkable bland metal to a pitch-grey blend of doom ‘n’ gloom dark metal heavily influenced by classic era Katatonia and Bethlehem. Eventually perfecting his take on this sound, and in the […]

Among the few facts you can find about this Ukrainian trio online, is that they refer to their music as “aesthetic grind”. My pet peeve about bands inventing their own “one band” genres notwithstanding; I suppose the implication is that Painful Defloration is more concerned with artistic considerations than their genre brethren, which would be […]

That Maruta is a quintessential Willowtip band may be more of a tribute to label than artist. Always leaning slightly more to the grind side of the death-grind divide while releasing material that is often technical, but rarely polished; the now decade old label has certainly established a trademark sound at this point. That there […]

As disappointed as I was to learn of the demise of what certainly has been my favorite underground metal band for the past decade plus, I hate to say I was a bit relieved in a way too. Satisfied that there would never be a shit Japanische Kampfhörspiele album, I raised a glass to them, […]

Taking their moniker from the B-Sharps school of “we need a name that’s witty at first, but that seems less funny each time you hear it”; New Mexico’s Noisear has been cranking out the fast and furious since about the turn of the century, to gradually increasing recognition culminating in this, their debut album on […]

Sure it may not be as impressive as being the “5th Beatle” ala George Martin, but being the 6th Cephalic Carnage ain’t too shabby either. Colorado based musician, sound-tech and all-around internerd Matt Blanks has made a decent name for himself contributing on the sonic support end for the well-regarded hydro-grinders, as well as assisting […]

Not to make excuses, but Subarachnoid Space isn’t exactly the hardest band to lose track of. Having released three good-bordering on-excellent albums on Relapse’s experimental imprint, Release Entertainment, the instrumental group led by guitarist Melynda Jackson (that’s not her on the cover) has sort of always floated on the periphery of the experimental space rock […]

I’ve always considered myself an open minded music fan. While admittedly, I have always most enjoyed those artists who are innovative and creative while still focusing on song craft which is coherent and relatively accessible, I have also always had a yen for the off-the-wall and experimental. John Zorn making his sax sound like a […]

Despite holding a high opinion of Josh Graham’s talent, particularly in his expert handling of the visual elements of Neurosis’s live performances and the stunning A Sun That Never Sets DVD release, I was somewhat let down by his first foray into our collective musical consciousness, that being the pleasantly heavy, if not all too […]

Of the recent spate of doomy metallic hardcore bands that have emerged in this brave new millennium to date, France’s Overmars have possibly been among the most overlooked and underrated. Beginning their career with a limited split CD w/Japanese crusters Fugue, the innovative seven-piece was barely a blip on the radar until Candlelight Records issued […]

Neurosis frontman Steve Von Till reaps the benefits of his home studio and sows confusion on this second release from his other solo project, Harvestman, a name that either evokes the image of some pagan human-deity hybrid, or suggests a great brand name for vegetarian tv-dinners, depending on how serious the listener or reviewer is […]

The newest addition to Italy’s Supernatural Cat/Malleus Art collective musical and graphic arts family are these five homeboys from Pistoia who join psychedelic sludgies Ufomammut and proggy instrumentalists Lento to represent some of the best of modern Italian innovative heaviness. The group has elicited some blips on the international underground radar, with Converge‘s Kurt Ballou […]

Ahhh… the final album epilogue, how it pains the reviewer. Do we judge the album by the higher standard of the career ending kiss-off, or as just another brick in what has been nothing if not a solid wall? Perhaps best to start off with the context-setting history, as while it was Burnt By the […]

Outside of the realm of reissuing out of print label discography, Relapse Records has specialized in two different types of reissues, first, the painfully obvious and effortlessly successful, read: Atheist, Repulsion, Pentagram and Cryptic Slaughter with the second tier consisting of the absolutely obscure, such latter being met with appreciation from underground spelunkers in the […]

Undoubtedly the most prolific doom band in history; while Nadja’s discography – approximating 33 releases since 2003, and counting – doesn’t quite rival the ridiculous output of say Agathocles or Unholy Grave or even Merzbow, yet, it is certainly by no means do to a lack of effort on the part of cute Canadian couple […]

It’s funny about revelations, moments of clarity, epiphanies and the like. When they come to us, it seems like a deep spiritual phenomenom, the type named and generally described better by eastern rather than western religions, what with their deja-vu, preja-vu, reincarnations and similar “god moves in mysterious ways” mumbo jumbo, but in reality it’s […]

One wouldn’t think it would be the crushing weight of despair that brings couples together, yet here in the wake of Nadja‘s many successes we find ourselves with another product of unholy matrimony in the form of Laudanum‘s The Coronation. The apparently unhappily married Judd and Becky on guitar and drums/vocals respectively form the core […]

First impressions are very important, never having a second chance to make them and all, as the saying goes. After hearing some hype about Bloody Panda, my immediate reaction was of disdain, seeing the band members engaged in the extremely tacky act of sound checking their gear in the intimate confines of the Mill Creek […]

2006’s debut release Deceptive Awareness seems to have flown under the radar of many fans of epic, atmospheric doom metal despite having been released by Firebox, to my mind the premier label for that sound, based appropriately out of Finland and also boasting releases from scene icons such as Saturnus, Until Death Overtakes Me, Swallow […]

A good portion of the first decade of the new millenium marketing in both underground and mainstream rock music has been a question of labelling all the new, increasingly interchangable product of independent and corporate labels. It used to be readily apparent which bands were indie and which mainstream, but those lines have been blurred […]

Snarkily nodding to their small but fiercely dedicated following with this album title as they did with the preceding EP, You Waited Five Years For This?, Cleveland’s finest mostly instrumental four piece is back and they haven’t skipped a beat, or rather drummer Will Scharf is still skipping beats left and right, but that’s a […]

An EP, apparently, at 39 minutes for this fairly prolific British doom trio, both of whose proper albums have exceed the hour mark and who have been fairly well-regarded among doom aficionados. My only prior experience with the group comes from their 2004 split with the excellent and sadly defunct Torture Wheel, who I thought […]

Not being quite certain whether the title refers to the end of the lawsuits related to Mike Scheidt’s interim band, Middian, or whether this is his way of saying that the reformation of the band he is best known for is a one-off kiss this ass goodbye proposition – hope not – I am quite […]

As the story goes, when Prosthetic Records asked D.C. – based guitar virtuoso Tosin Abasi to record a solo album based on his performances with his former band Reflux, the artist demurred as such a project would be ‘egotistical’. Here then, is his solo project under the band name, Animals as Leaders, on which Abasi […]