Seattle’s BlackQueen have, in all official communication, always described their music as Witch Metal, a sonic amalgamation of Black Metal, Death Metal, Hardcore, post-Metal, and everything possible in between. This stylistic mash-up is housed within a cocoon of horror soundtrack-esque atmosphere and spiritually and thematically based around whatever founding member Pete Jay happens to be delving into at the time of writing. With their new album, The Destructive Cycle (Roman Numeral Records), they look deeply into the Taoist five element theory and how it relates to the human condition, from creation to destruction and ultimate rebirth. Sounds a bit heavy, I know, but the music offsets the deep concept with kickass riffs and general headbangery.