Ukrainian blackened stoic sentinels 1914 conjure their fourth full-length pantheon, Viribus Unitis (Napalm Records), Latin for “With United Forces.” The colossi title unveils the resilience through destruction and malice brought from war, building on the band’s acclaimed concept, delving further into vehemence and severity. Continue reading
10.15.25_Pioneer Works, Brooklyn NYC
This world is full of gifts if you know where to look for them, and a night with YOB and Windhand is definitely a gift. A sold out weeknight show in Brooklyn’s industrial ravaged Red Hook neighborhood, on a beautiful October evening, where the music was thick and heavy with riffs. Pioneer Works is definitely one of the city’s more unique venues with its stained glass, high ceilings and exposed beams. It’s great seeing Windhand as a five piece again, they were able to give the crowd the sonic bludgeoning we deserved. It’s never an easy task to open for YOB but Windhand nailed it.Continue reading
In this new interview, Stavros Giannopoulos (The Atlas Moth) talks the low-key Chicago supergroup Motherless, and their new debut album, “Do You Feel Safe?” – out now via Prosthetic Records! Stavros catches us up on the last few years of life, the formation of Motherless (also ft. Alex Klein of The Atlas Moth, Gary Naples and Anthony Cwan of Without Waves). He discussed how group came together, the Chicago scene, his sister’s amazing Pit Bull rescue in Chicago, the finer points of the the new album, and what the future of The Atlas Moth looks like.Continue reading
It can only be attributed to an act of divine blessing that the world has been treated to the match made in heaven that is Mastiff and Church Road Records.
On Submerus (Sentient Ruin Laboratories/Lower Your Head for digital), his fifth full-length from Hell, the sludge project leans into a nasty wall of downtuned rumbling. This wall of rumble is set behind the tortured screams of someone who’s more intent on losing their mind than adhering to the bounds of songwriting. It feels more like someone who create art from a dense heavy sound, that is impressive due to it’s sheer heaviness, but in consuming an album the goal would be for the music to hook you in rather than a test of endurance as to what you ears can stand at high volumes, though not to kink shame anyone who is into sonic masochism.Continue reading
In the world of “caveman battle doom” metal, there may not be much competition, but Conan is the clear champion of this primitive sludge/doom metal genre. The Liverpool threesome has dropped their sixth full-length in the form of Violence Dimension (Heavy Psych Sounds). Clocking in at just under an hour with eight excruciatingly heavy tracks with all of the unga bunga you could ask for is just right.Continue reading
Unlike Britain’s flagging public transport system, Melvins are regular as clockwork. In fact, such is the Los Angeles by way of San Francisco by way of Monsanto, Washington outfit’s lust for creating new music, that the fantastic amount of releases put out can be positively overwhelming and hard to keep up with. Continue reading
London’s WREN have been releasing music for over a decade and Black Rain Falls (Church Road Records) is their third full-length record. The band describe it as “a crystallisation of the conceptual voice-giving to natural collapse, humanity’s decline and the shadowed spectre that has imbued WREN since the beginning.” Continue reading
Funeral Doom is one of the more difficult subgenres of heavy music to get into. Hell, I am not even sure if I can say I am a fan of the subgenre, moreso some bands or even some albums by said bands.
Six albums into their career, SUMAC stretch the limits of what Metal can be with The Healer (Thrill Jockey Records) — a four-song, 76-minute double album of fluid, evolving, at times seemingly freeform Jazz Metal that requires some patience, but impresses with its expressiveness and creativity. Continue reading