Listening to The Mosaic Window’s Plight of Acceptance (Willowtip Records) I can’t help but think of a particular scene from The Crow. Yeah, the one film that depends on how you feel about Dark City may be Alex Proyas’ sole seminal work. Our antagonist Top Dollar laments that the thrill of Devil’s Night is gone and proclaims, “The problem is, it’s all been done before…” and why that’s the best reason to quit.
2023 continues to prove itself as a year of strong death metal as Horrendous drops their fifth album Ontological Mysterium (Season of Mist) and the Philly headbangers might have the year’s best death metal album on their hands, perhaps a bold statement given the fine releases the year has seen from the likes of Obituary, Frozen Soul, Creeping Death, Cattle Decapitation and Outer Heaven.
Incantation is one of the most influential death metal bands of all time. This legacy rests on the shoulders of guitarist John McEntee, who is the sole original member. To his credit, McEntee has been playing with the rest of the band long enough to build the kind of chemistry to make this feel like Incantation even in the absence of Craig Pillard, who went on to form Disma.
Anyone can make a concept album (which is not to say that it’s easy, but that it doesn’t depend on a particular musical style). That said, when it comes to the rock-opera-style concept album, the tendencies towards elaborate instrumental explorations and grand, dramatic spectacle often found in progressive rock and metal, provide particularly fertile ground. Pink Floyd, Queensryche, The Who, and many others have followed this path (coloured by their own particular musical approaches).
Beltfed Weapon has often felt like a fun but sort of long-running vanity (but nonetheless valid) project for Seattle’s talented Frank Hetzel, many years between quite short releases featuring a who’s who of underground metal players guesting in support of a slightly odd discography. It is strange to me that there aren’t a series of full-lengths after so much time spent between releases, but every shorter thing Frank has released still has moments to enjoy for the casual thrash, death, and (at times) power metal fan.
If you like your death metal brutal, progressive, and quite possibly from another dimension then look no further than genre-bending quartet VoidCeremony. Formed in 2013, the Californian act’s second full-length studio album Threads of Unknowing (20 Buck Spin) delivers more of what was promised on their 2020 debut but with even more intensity and technical virtuosity.
One of the most influential figures in the constantly evolving Indian metal scene, vocalist and guitarist Demonstealer (aka Sahil Makhija) is probably best known for fronting progressive technical death metal act Demonic Resurrection. Since 2000, Makhija has been integral to the growth and development of a metal scene in a country not exactly renowned for its metallic input. Not just via his music and the establishment of India’s first designated metal recording studio, a record label (Demonstealer Records), and metal-centric festival (Resurrection Festival), but by creating Headbanger’s Kitchen, the world’s first heavy metal cookery show. Because why not.
We end the year on a chaser episode. Who are the Big Four of Death Metal? If Death Metal had a Mount Rushmore, what bands would be on it? Nik and Keefy rank the best Death Metal bands of all time, checking down from a list of about 30 bands!
#thebigfourofdeathmetal
Legendary death metal icons Morbid Angel will celebrate their 40th anniversary this Spring with a month-long US headlining tour! The United States Tour Of Terror 2023 will commence on March 15th in Pensacola, Florida and run through April 22nd in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Support will be provided by Revocation and Crypta as well as Skeletal Remains from the March 15th through April 4th and Vitriol from April 6th through the tour’s conclusion.
Old school metal lovers gathered on the west side of Detroit last Saturday to witness the acclaimed and beloved band, Accept. Nestled on the borders of two of the city’s burbs, The Token Lounge is a cozy-sized venue that has been serving Livonia, Westland, and beyond for over fifty years. Known for welcoming everyone from world famous bands to local artists down the street, this hallowed hall was a special spot to host the legendary German/American act. Touring for the first time in a while, Accept have been excited to promote their sixteenth full-length, Too Mean to Die (Nuclear Blast Records) that came out in 2021. Read our review here! Their show last weekend hit town near the end of their month-long North American run, and we Michiganders were happy to have them.