Tanith have perfectly the sound and feel of seventies Hard Rock and Heavy Metal with their latest album, Voyage (Metal Blade). Imagine traveling in a VW bus that is painted with brightly colored dragons and wizards with plenty of magic smoke billowing out the windows. Tanith would be the soundtrack of choice as you travel back in time.
Into Sorrow Evermore (Napalm Records) marks the return of the German Black Metal two-piece Imperium Dekadenz, who wears the influence of the Norwegian second wave firmly on their sleeve, along with the inspiration of their Black Forest surroundings. The album is their seventh full-length release and dives deep into a landscape of atmospheric black metal, written as a symphony of aggressive yet uplifting music, woven around sweeping and mesmerising guitar riffs.Continue reading
Through Sheer Will and Black Magic (20 Buck Spin) is the debut full-length release from Philadephia’s Daeva, a perhaps overdue followup to 2017’s Pulsing Dark Absorptions EP. The new record is a “fiery maelstrom of early demonic black metal and jagged edge thrash convulsions”, according to the press release, and the cover art is undeniably of the Hellish persuasion, depicting as it does in quasi-cartoon form a plethora of dragons, devil-beings and other assorted ghoulish creatures against a dramatic backdrop of moody skies and outlandish cliffs. It’s the type of album cover that could have been plucked straight out of the eighties and that could either be viewed as life-affirmingly nostalgic or snigger-inducingly ludicrous.
Super7 Toys will release new ReAction figures next week of Slayer and Venom! Slayer’s figure is based on the track “Born of Fire” from 1990’s Seasons In The Abyss (American Recordings) and comes in translucent orange. The Venom figure is the classic mascot in Glow-In-The-Dark green! Pre-orders will go live by mid-week when Super7 usually drops new releases.
With bands taking so much time between studio albums these days, it’s astonishing to believe that in the space of just three years, between 1970 and 1973, Brummie icons Black Sabbath released no less than five of the most important records in the annals of heavy metal.
Twenty-five years plus into his career, Marilyn Manson continues to be an enigma, wrapped tight inside a riddle, not wishing to be fully known. By never making the same album twice with his namesake band, he continues to defy expectations, and be equally loved and hated. While his early albums are masterworks that others from the 1990s would kill to rest their reputations on. However, as the rockstar gains on years and gets further away from his early years, he has transformed into a much more interesting character than when he was freaking out pastors and scarring moms and dads.
Vicious music chameleons Turkey Vulture are back with a new single, from their upcoming second EP, Time To Pay, due out on July 31st. Up until now, the duo from Connecticut has shown shades of Stoner Doom, old-school Punk, local Sea shanty’s, Heavy Metal, and on occasion, Americana with inventive originals and inspired covers. In a new track derived from by the infamous “Crossroads” story of Bluesman Robert Johnson and the Devil, “Old Nick” is a revved-up, proto-metal blues track with a great shuffle beat! Check out the track now!
Black Sabbath in 1970, photo by Warner Brothers Records
On the sleeve: a grainy picture of a woman dressed in black. A stagnant pond. A creepy looking mill house.
And two words. Black Sabbath.
On the record: Rain. Thunder. A tolling bell. Those three notes. That voice.
And just like that, in February of 1970 – appropriately enough on the 13th – the face of music was changed forever.
You’ve got to hand it to Poland’s Arkona, flying their black metal freak flag for over twenty-five years, weathering changes in tastes, technology, and personnel without wandering a smidge from their original Mephistophelian masterplan. Their unique blend of earthy black metal and fancypants symphonic trappings has corrupted many a vulnerable mind over the last couple of decades, leaving their victims humming wicked hooks long after the chaos has ended. The combination of beaut and brute still can’t be slowed by conventional weapons, despite their mix of Polish/ English lyrics and their release history of obscure splits and full-lengths on tiny labels – this is a band fighting the good (bad) fight. Continue reading
Decibel has announced the final bands for their annual Metal and Beer Festival in Philadelphia. The final bands on the bill are Midnight, Gatecreeper and Necrot have joined the lineup of Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly at the Fillmore Philadelphia on April 3-4, 2020. All tickets are on sale now for April. The second edition of their Los Angeles Fest is just weeks away and tickets are moving fast. The headliners for the fest include Napalm Death performing a special one-time-only set of exclusively Harmony Corruption and Utopia Banished songs, Converge playing Jane Doe in its entirety for their first time ever in the USA, and Pig Destroyer will help to present sponsors Relapse Records celebrate their 30th anniversary with the first-ever performance of PD’s game-changing Prowler in the Yard !Continue reading