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20 Buck Spin \ Alexandria \ California \ Ian Miller \ Oakland \ Oregon \ Portland \ United States \ Virginia
Ulthar – Anthronomicon (Abomination Metal)
Ulthar can do no wrong at this point, pretty sure about that. When we last encountered them I was thrilled by the music, but disgusted at the thematics, which were, ugh, Lovecraft BS; a theme far too many metal bands have milked dry until only blood remains, and you don’t even want any of […]
Ainul Iblis \ California \ Los Angeles \ New York \ Osman Ramadanović \ plaintive black metal \ United States black metal \ USBM
Vaamatar – Medievalgeist (Plaintive Cries US Black Metal)
Well that’s a black metal logo, right? But that art…something…more to it…something sinister and plaintively classique perhaps? Whatever that vague feeling is, I knew it was going to totally crush. But wait, this is USBM, which sometimes like to think it crushes but makes us blushes from embarrassment? Not in this case. LA’s Vaamatar, […]
California \ Caligari Records \ experimental death metal \ San Francisco \ Stefan Thanneur \ The Flenser
Succumb – XXI (Philosophy Metal)
Oooohhh, tasty, tasty, tasty be this. First thing, released partially by The Flenser. Second thing, wow. To be wowed anymore I need to be challenged and surprised. Well, hard to challenge me so just stick with surprise. Make it a jump scare of riffs. I want riffs to bend mental states, I want the […]
California \ Carbonized Records \ grindcore \ San Jose \ Stephen Bower
Socioclast – S/T (Bittersweet Grindcore)
Well this was surprisingly enjoyable for an album that first appears to be a rip off of some Teitanblood shit, but not nearly as long. In fact it’s not even half of that or so. Albums that deliver in such a short span of time are amazing to me when they work. Most bands […]
California \ Gothic death metal \ Transcending Obscurity Records \ Zé Burnay
Sarcoptes – Plague Hymns (Two Bittersweet Tracks of Blackened Gothic Death Metal)
At first I thought there was something wrong with this promo. Two tracks of “death metal”, WTF? That’s practically single length, barely an EP in my books. But okay it’s an EP I guess. So here’s the thing about EPs. You have to prove yourself fast and hard or it’s all over. You hear […]
California \ hardcore punk \ Los Angeles \ Southern Lord Recordings
Entry- Detriment (Some Prosaic Punk Stuff)
I typically review punk submissions when I get them unless they’re absolutely awful, so even the average I’ll give a shot just because it’s so rare I receive anything from the genre that doesn’t reek of stagnancy. When I saw the quintessential post-punk look to the cover of this I figured it would be […]
California \ Neil Scrivin \ post-punkwave \ Santa Cruz \ Starfield Music \ synthwave
Vandal Moon – Black Kiss (Post-Punkwave Lovechild)
It always annoys me so listen up you guys. Send me more promos like this. Gawsh why do bands of this type seem to be so poorly promoted? Maybe it’s the focus we used to have on metal all the time, I don’t know. Seeing our metal focus long ago they say “oh that’s […]
AD&D \ beholder shit \ blackened death metal \ Blood Harvest Records \ California \ one-dude metal \ role-playing metal lol wut \ RPG \ United States
Xantam – Altered State (AD&D Blackened Death Metal)
Is it a thing that bands starting with “Xa” are one dude? Total exaggeration on my part, because only Xasthur comes to mind, but now there’s Xantam. Maybe I’m on to something… Anyway, so clearly there’s an AD&D obsession here, because one, dude’s got a beholder on both of his releases (this and a […]
California \ classic metal \ hair metal \ heavy metal \ Marc Schoenbach \ not pussy \ Pounder \ Sadist Art Designs
Pounder – Uncivilized (Badass Period Heavy Metal)
I can’t remember the last time I reviewed heavy metal. Unlike thrash, which you still feel totally badass for listening to, heavy metal can lack that effect outside of its original context, that is, the olden times. It has a tendency to feel more dated than Satanic imagery in metal at large. Oh shit […]
20 Buck Spin \ California \ HP Lovecraft \ Ian Miller \ Jesus fucking Lovecraft AGAIN \ Lovecraftian bullshit \ post-black metal \ post-death metal \ post-metal
Ulthar – Cosmovore (Lovecraft Does It, Sigh, AGAIN)
Now here’s a good one, musically speaking… Thematically it almost killed me with redundancy, which I’ll explain, but these guys are so skilled at what they do I could ignore it, mainly because I didn’t know what any of it was about until after I listened about 10 times. California’s Ulthar are true masters […]
