A big part of the DNA of your average Shred band nowadays is inspired by the “Big Dick Lick” Shredders of the 80s. The Satrianis, Gambales and Vais of the world are the usual prototypes of this sound, but even more recently, guitar nerds (myself included) have been smitten by the wave of late 70s/early 80s Japanese Fusion Guitarists, including the race car aesthetics of Cassiopeia and the more laid back attitude of faux-Brasilian Surfer Boy Masayoshi Takanaka – a favorite in the house of Goat. High Octane Sega Genesis Metal.
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Grand Cadaver – Deities of Deathlike Sleep Review
For all the talented people involved in Grand Cadaver (featuring members from Dark Tranquility and Katatonia, among other bands), their mission statement is simple: to write Death Metal songs that are conceived spontaneously and quickly, letting their passion for the music guide the way. Grand Cadaver are anything but sleepy.
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Blut aus Nord – Disharmonium: Nahab Review
I’m convinced that Vindsval, the figure behind peerless enigmatic Black Metal entity Blut aus Nord, picks which styles they want the next BaN album to sound on a whim. On any album, the listener could face beautiful Atmospheric or Melodic Black Metal, such as on one of the Memoria Vetusta albums or 2019’s Hallucinogen. Always bet on black.
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This Week in Metal, 2023 Week 34
Another week, another round of metal reviews in the bag. Words are tough, so we assembled the highlights. And if you want to read the latest reviews for the new offerings from Deitus, Horrendous, Tongues, The Night Eternal, Mizmor, or 夢遊病者, you can do that too!
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夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) – Skopofoboexoskelett Review
Skopofoboexoskelett (or Snufferdoodle as some folks call it) is an exercise in absurdity that is layered in a pulsating amount of chaos before giving way to a hypnotic end. *Eggplant emoji*.
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Mizmor – Prosaic Review
A.L.N has until now built a fascinating tool-set of sounds with his Blackened Doom Drone project Mizmor. Albums like Cairn and Yodh stand out as unique for their ability to mix genres that one could think should be at odds with each other. Though the loss of faith has fueled these journeys, should we still place our faith in Mizmor?
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The Night Eternal – Fatale Review
Finding good Heavy Metal amongst the modern output is hard. In the most classic genres of Metal it is harder to hide behind novelty, thus tight songwriting and performances matter become more important. The Night Eternal seem to know this as they write very melodic songs with a slight Gothic bend. Nothing new really, but does Metalligatorrr find any Fatale flaws?
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Tongues – Formløse Stjerner Review
Tongues hits many taste centers with uncanny precision. From salty waves of Doom riffs echoing on the back half to spicy Death Metal outbursts to the sour and dramatic tremolo riffs of Black Metal… Tongues has licks. Taste the black metal.
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Deitus – Irreversible Review
Indeed a lot of metal doesn’t riff anymore. Particularly, Black Metal is very willing to completely drop rhythmic interest a lot of the time and become a thick, soupy soundscape of trebly tremolo and monotonous blast beats. But what about Deitus? Are they too slaves to the anti-riff?
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Crypts of the Unknown: 2024 Vol. 1
