Vattnet Viskar are one of the countless new black metal bands that have taken the once vilified and ridiculed genre and are helping to breathe new life into it making it once again one of the most exciting heavy metal genres. The trouble is, when a genre of music starts to become popular every man and his dog is at it (remember grunge?) and among the genuinely masterful acts one or two are sure to have slipped through the net. Vattnet Viskar are not an awful band, certainly not one of those that slipped through, but on the basis of Sky Swallower (Century Media) they could pop out.Continue reading
Tag Archives: Dan Bond
Fates Warning – Darkness In A Different Light
At the dawn of progressive metal Hartford, Connecticut’s Fates Warning were among the first guard. Along with Dream Theater and Queensrÿche they forged ahead with a new style of progressive music that made superstars out of John Petrucci and Geoff Tate. But when it came to back-slapping and, importantly, record sales, Fates Warning were often left wanting. Eleven albums in and on the basis of latest work Darkness In A Different Light (Inside Out Music) it is perhaps evidence of why they have been left behind.Continue reading
Late For Nothing – An Interview With Iwrestledabearonce
When Krysta Cameron left Iwrestledabearonce during the Warped Tour 2012 to concentrate on having a family (being pregnant isn’t really conducive to being a in metalcore band) it was up to lava-lunged Unicron vocalist Courtney LaPlante to fill the shouty void. And fill it she did; after the tour IWABO set about constructing their third album and follow-up to 2011’s It’s All Happening. The result was the astonishingly heavy Late For Nothing. Bassist Mike “Rickshaw” Martin arrived on time for Ghost Cult.Continue reading
Infanticide – Misconception Of Hope
Three years on from rampantly evil second album From Our Cold Dead Hands, Sweden’s Infanticide continue their grindcore odyssey with the even more uncompromising third album, Misconception Of Hope (Willowtip).Continue reading
Powerwolf – Preachers Of The Night
Corpse-painted Germans Powerwolf have never been a band to do things by half, and so they prove again on blustering fifth album, Preachers Of The Night (Napalm Records). A play on the KISS album title Creatures Of The Night, Preachers… is an all-out, non-stop charge of metal.Continue reading
Iwrestledabearonce – Late For Nothing
Trying to put Iwrestledabearonce into a neat little genre box is almost as futile as attempting to fight against its awesome power. Typically brash and abrasive, Shreveport, LA’s noisiest output have retained their grizzly crown on third album, Late For Nothing (Century Media).Continue reading