Metal sometimes gets badly stereotyped as a lesser form of music in the lyrics department. Sure, there are plenty of bands within the genre that write, shall we say, less than stellar words to go along with their music but that holds true for every style. To me, it feels pretty unfair that metal gets…
There’s never been a better time to be a pot smoking death metal fan. On the metal front, it’s easier now than ever to access any and every band, from the obscure to the most mainstream (well, mainstream for death metal), and bands are way more able to interact with their fanbase from all over…
It’d be hard to think of a more fitting moniker for a brutal death metal band than Serial Butcher. The name itself pretty much tells you everything you’d need to know about the outfit. It’s kinda hard to imagine a bubblegum pop group calling themselves Serial Butcher, isn’t it? When you come up with a name…
Editor’s Note: Last summer, I conducted two interviews with people from two of my all-time favorite bands. This interview with Crowbar drummer Tommy Buckley was one of them. Due to issues with my old laptop, I thought the files got deleted before I had a chance to transcribe them, which was a massive bummer. Other…
Are you ready to have your skull caved in? Kind of a weird question to ask, I know, but if you’re a death metal fan then you’re probably always down for a little cranial crushing if the mood is right. Well, it’s a Friday and the mood is more than right if you’ve picked up…
Faith, at least how it’s practiced by a large swath of the world, is a cancer on our society. Think about some of the worst abuses of power in recent years, from pedophile priests to apartheid states to the vicious and obsessive persecution of trans individuals across the U.S., faith in a higher power has…
There’s something to be said for going the lone wolf route when it comes to music. Sure, sharing the load and having others to help out can make things easier but it can also lead to a lot of tensions and scheduling issues that can hamper the actual creation of music and lead to all sorts…
There are exceptions to most rules but, by and large, the death metal faithful aren’t really the faithful type, at least in the theological sense. Sure, there are some christian death metal bands (quality not guaranteed), but it’s a style that lends itself way easier to ripping an angel apart than praising one. The fury, speed,…
It can be a struggle for bands to release records that people care about over any period of time. That first burst of youthful creativity might be all you’ve got to really offer the world and lead to what you’re remembered for. Other bands might make it a decade or so before internal issues, trends, and the…
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…