Ashes are usually what’s left at the end. When the fire has burnt out and everything that it’s consumed has been taken, ashes are all you’re left with. There’s a finality to something being reduced to ashes. Few things feel more like a definitive ending than everything distinctive about something being burnt away from it….
Tag: Metal
Vacuous Depths – Corporal Humiliation Review
Some bands take their sweet time getting it together. Those first few releases can be rough but promising, showing listeners what could be in store for them if they stick with the group for a few outings while they figure things out. Putting together kickass records, and doing it consistently, takes time and effort. It’s…
Ed Bingaman & Paul Richards (Re-Buried) Interview
Sometimes the metal release calendar doesn’t make you wait too far into the year to have new faces rip your old face off. The ink is barely dry on the shitshow that was 2022 but we already have one of the most exciting debuts of 2023. That Repulsive Nature, the first LP from Seattle death metallers…
Ritual of Ash – Ashen Review
It doesn’t take long into Ritual of Ash, the debut longplayer from Australian death metallers Ashen, to realize that these dudes know what the Hell they are doing. If you’ve listened to enough death metal over the years, Ashen’s influences should be pretty readily apparent upon firing up their first LP. Pretty much any band that…
Mother of Graves Interview
Heavy times call for heavy music. It’s no secret that people lean pretty mightily on whatever brand of music speaks to them when the going gets tough. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you’ve noticed that the going has gotten tough lately for most people. Having a great piece…
Re-Buried – Repulsive Nature Review
A ton of great debuts come out every year from across all subgenres of metal to the point where compiling a list of the best debuts every year can be a pretty perilous task. Last year I ended up putting together my end-of-the-year debuts list way too late and had a ton of albums to…
John Tsiakopoulos (Black Soul Horde) Interview
It takes a lot to stand out in the world. With more people having more access to more types of entertainment than ever before, getting yourself recognized and remembered as someone or something that rises above whatever crowded field you play in can be a Herculean task. Granted there are more outlets for exposure than…
Damon MacDonald (Detherous) Interview
Finding the line between thrash and death metal can sometimes feel like trying to determine the world’s shortest tall person. There’s not a lot of difference between the heaviest of thrash and death metal sometimes, and honestly, who cares? Genre definitions can be extremely limiting and, honestly, if a band is a thrash-influenced death metal band or…
Vacuous Depths Interview
Talk to anyone deeply into extreme metal for long enough and you’ll walk away with a list of new bands to check out and a full playlist of stuff you’ve missed or haven’t gotten around to yet. Extreme metal fandom, and music fandom in general, is a mapping diagram of bands leading you to other…
Mikael Lindgren (Carnal Savagery) Interview
Let’s face it, extreme metal is not a genre for the faint of heart. Between the ravenously hungry living dead, the slaughter of nuns, and the blazing fires of Hell, extreme metal is something that you don’t get into if you’re wired like everyone else. If you want to play it safe with music that…