A harsh, nihilistic world calls for harsh, nihilistic music. The last few decades have seen catastrophe after calamity after quagmire repeated ad nauseam. In a world constantly engulfed in war, perpetually on the brink of climate disaster, and struggling through a pandemic that still kills by the thousands daily, waking life is anything but a…
For more than 20 years, Dallas Toler-Wade has been a steadying hand within the world of death metal. The North Carolina-born Toler-Wade first made his name as the guitarist and one of the vocalists behind the otherworldly run that Nile went on in the ’00s through the mid-’10s. It’s no coincidence that Toler-Wade’s first album…
Nightmares stick with you. You wake up with sweat dripping down your back and a noise halfway between a pained wail and a terrified scream lodged in your throat. The bathroom is calling you now that you’re awake but that hallway is awfully dark and, although you’ve walked it a million times, those oh-so-familiar features…
We’ve all been there. You’re at a concert, having some brews, having a blast, having a headbang, when all of a sudden, a turd rises to the top of the punchbowl and ruins your good time. This turd takes many forms but in the end the result is always the same: a bummer of a…
Much like the cover of the band’s second LP, this year’s Yawning Depths, to listen to Thorn is to descend into the gaping maw of doom-drenched death. The band, which is the brainchild of Brennen Westermeyer of grindcore band Fluids, has been on a tear since Westermeyer formed the one-man group in 2019. Since its inception,…
There’s something about experiencing the story of a thrilling quest to get you feeling alive, isn’t there? Knights, dwarves, and elves hit the road with the intent of reclaiming their birthright or vanquishing the malevolent force at the heart of the land or hell, maybe just to seek out copious amounts of treasure. Whatever the…
It might be the most fundamental truism on a universal scale but time really doesn’t wait for anyone. For death metal, that might be even more relevant than it is in any other form of music. Playing with the blistering speed and aggression needed to pound out classic death metal releases takes its toll on…
Anger gets a bad rap these days. The amount of people that I’ve seen complaining about people’s anger at the status quo as something bad over the last few years truly baffles me. Corporate greed keeps the majority of this planet locked into a perpetual cycle of economic servitude, politicians offer the illusion of choice…
Storms are some of the most destructive forces in all of nature. They have the power to rend the very Earth that they rage over and wreak havoc upon anything and everything unfortunate enough to be within their path. For anyone raised in the Midwest, there’s a special sense of dread that lies in the…
Some bands come out the gate swinging with a legendary debut that just grabs you and makes you a diehard from the jump (for examples of that from this year, see Cryptic Hatred’s Nocturnal Sickness or Pillaging Villager’s self-titled debut). Other times, you hear what a band is putting out to start their career and you can…