Scratching all itches from black metal to doom to speculative hardcore with even occasional hints of the more gothic side of extreme metal, Creon manages to be all things to everyone without sacrificing urgency or vision. Not one to be slept on, which you will no doubt be reminded of come December when these pages are inundated with unanimous year-end accolades.
This EP comes as a welcome stopgap, proving Tombs are still capable of topping themselves as well as most similar acts toiling in their wake.
Origins Vol. 1 is basically one of those all-too-common covers albums that were clearly more fun for the musicians to record than it is for the fan to sit down and listen to.
Along with the two volumes of Metal for Muthas, the Metal Massacre series loom large over the history of heavy metal in the 1980's. Where Muthas was a short-lived showcase for UK artists dabbling in the freshly minted New Wave of British Heavy Metal genre, Metal Massacre enjoyed a much more extended stretch highlighting a variety of new sounds emerging (mostly) out of the US west coast.
Church of Misery rely heavily on the strength of their music, which bears a strong familiarity that could be equal parts turn on or turn off depending on one's propensity for well-trodden groove.
Though stylistically adventurous, the unifying thread across The Gospel lies in adherence to an interrelated group of early-to-mid 1980's musical genres, namely the aforementioned splinter groups that fractured off from the trunk of post-punk's root. Though no two adjacent tracks sound a whole lot like each other, it nonetheless reads like a credible greatest hits album by a band who spent the 1980's cycling through that decade's succession of genre innovations.
Early on in the earnest, deservedly beloved 2008 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a series of 80's metal luminaries are trotted out in talking head fashion to opine about how influential the band Anvil were to their own band's nascent sound, the ultimate aim of which is to introduce the question the remainder of the documentary makes only the most cursory attempt to answer: why didn't Anvil become as successful as the peers namechecking them?
There is a lot of metal coming to Austin starting on Saturday
Consistency is the order of the day here, which is what makes For All Kings a notable improvement over Worship Music. This feels more like an actual album in the old school sense rather than a collection of singles
The gulf between Mayhem's seminal Deathcrush EP in 1987 and their first proper full length in 1994 was an industrious but often low key period in the genre's ascendance.
See how it all started and where it goes from here…
Extreme polemics have long held an unfortunate place in heavy metal in general, and black metal in particular.
The Astonishing, Dream Theater's latest sprawling epic, seeks to both add a little juju back to a staid and true formula
Purple stands to add every bit as many classics to the band's mixtape canon as any album they've produced thus far, including the more expansive Yellow & Green.
Man, it's too bad MTV doesn't show music videos anymore. I know, I know, tired ass grumpy old man argument,…
Back in 2012 (which makes this DVD a bit on the belated side but whatever) the mighty Melvins undertook a novel tour, playing all 50 American states plus the capital of Washington, D.C. in 51 days.
Skeletons is a stopgap album of covers centred around Danzig's early influences. For a guy nicknamed "Evil Elvis" apparently Glenn is unaware that we know he likes 50's and 60's rock
There's not a lot of quality material coming out this time of year so don't fuck around and sleep on this. We're serving it to you on a goddamn silver platter, for Pete's sake.
Ba. Ku. is admittedly a niche product aimed more at photography buffs who also have overlapping interests in heavy metal and skateboarding, but there's an arcane quality to the imagery here that is strangely compelling if inexplicable.
Kylesa has long been a band of limited metamorphosis, which made their abrupt turn toward a sort of mitigated psychedelia on 2013's Ultraviolet eyebrow-raising, but even that smirkingly "outré" turn was still recognizably within the band's wheelhouse. Was it meant as a furtive first step toward something more outlandish, though, or did Ultraviolet represent a standalone experiment, a notable – even commendable – blip in an otherwise reliably consistent (if increasingly predictable) catalog?
This collection encompasses two previously released Deceased cover albums in their entireties, 2002's Zombie Hymns and 2004's Rotten to the Core, plus another 17 unreleased bonus covers. Party.
The Book of Souls offers a textbook example of how a band's previous album can effectively set fan's expectations for the follow up before a signal note of new music has been heard by the public.
