Metal stands in opposition. The mainstream, the church, politicians, pop culture…all tend to thumb their noses at metal and metalheads. Who gives a shit though? What’s popular is very rarely what’s good, and what makes the big bucks is usually, at the least, compromised and at worst, completely manufactured. If the music we loved was…
Blaze of Sorrow, which formed in 2007, damn well knows what it takes to make a black metal album stick. Since their debut, L’Ultimo Respiro, in 2008, the band has put out seven albums of killer, atmospheric black metal. The Blaze of Sorrow sound takes traditional elements from classic black metal bands and blends them…
Sometimes it’s easier and more efficient to just take care of business on your own. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely an appeal to teamwork and having others help with a task can certainly make the work easier and less lonely. That being said, when it’s a creative endeavor, other people around can dilute your…
Metal, as much as any other genre, loves a good comeback story. There’s something immensely satisfying in a band that comes roaring back to life as strong as ever that just feels exhilarating for both the fans and the performers. The last decade has been filled with triumphant resurgences of a multitude of killer bands who have…
Black metal has always had a history with helping people express deep wells of pain and sorrow within their lives. The tortured shrieks, the dark lyrics, and the harshness of the music all make for a natural outlet for artists to purge the demons from their minds or at the very least commiserate with other like…
The old saying goes that if you stare into the abyss too long, it’ll stare back. While that might sound like a frightening prospect to most people, extreme metallers are cut from a different cloth. If you’re a fan of heavy records that effectively mix doom, death, and black metal, the abyss returning your gaze isn’t…
It’s almost more difficult to grasp how the bizarre wouldn’t interest someone than how it would. Everyday life can get so boring and dull and routine definitely can make today feel like yesterday feel like tomorrow feel like yesterday in one long, unbroken line. The bizarre, the weird, the strange all give us a chance to…
Extreme metal is meant for the nighttime. Ok, so there’s obviously nothing wrong with blaring Celtic Frost at any time of day but the night just feels more appropriate for anything and everything extreme. Face it, your black Cause of Death T-shirt looks way cooler when it’s not 80 degrees and sunny out. Sure, outdoor festivals are…
Going it alone can be tough, especially when you’re a band. Writing, recording, and performing music is an onerous enough task when you have partners around you, let alone when all the decisions fall on your shoulders. There certainly are benefits, like not fighting over creative directions and figuring out how to split revenue, but there’s…
The music that stays with you, that actually lives as a part of your life, that shit comes from the heart. It’s probably a real “duh” statement but you have to put your heart and soul into something to make it last. How many disposable pop albums that all sound the same are released in…