Is there anything a band can really do without? Drummers and bassists are indispensable. Guitarists summon the magic and give the punters something to throw things at. Keyboardists? Well, sometimes they’re OK. The dude with the bagpipes? Folk Metal is the new Sex. Continue reading
This review was brought to you by many things, but mainly sleep deprivation. It seems the new Darkthrone album, Old Star (Peaceville), is such an objet désiré that it could only be reviewed via a stream released the day before the album hits the shops. So, if I start weeping, and cross-reference any talking squirrels, take some comfort that I am doing all this for you. Continue reading
One of the stranger aspects of Metal is its ‘thing’ for women being burnt at the stake. Doom Metal, in particular, positively thrives on it, as bands like Witchfinder General and, err, Burning Witch makes only too clear. So it shouldn’t really a surprise that there is not only a (Sardinian) Doom Metal band called 1782 (named after the last year a “witch” was burnt in Europe), but that its self-titled debut (Electric Valley Records) is a full-on concept album of hag-burning excess. Continue reading