avant-garde metal
She's a maniac
I recently watched Flashdance for the first time. It is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. Even though it is not very good, it is great. Never mind its two-dimensional characters, formulaic arc (a straight line), or that it would spawn Save the Last Dance with the addition of hip-hop and jungle […]
Bongripper & Winters in Osaka - Meat Ditch
Restraint demolishes this release, an unfortunate outcome from these Chicagoans. A successful collaboration would embellish the magnitude of both Bongripper and Winters in Osaka. But Meat Ditch lacks the heavy instrumental fallouts of the former and the boisterous noise infusions of the latter, ultimately seducing eardrums into unconsciousness. Meat Ditch denies these expectations in a […]
Fight Amp, Avenger of Blood, Brutus, and more
Fight Amp At Pitchfork, I’ve reviewed Fight Amp, a ’90s AmRep throwback whom I suspect has a Danzig fetish. The recording is tough; the guy-girl vocals are tougher. At All Music Guide, I’ve reviewed Avenger of Blood (German thrash from Las Vegas), Barbara (artful Israeli sickness), Bilk (Croatian drum ‘n’ bass ‘n’ rock), Brutus (Caesar-slaying […]
V/A - My Own Wolf (A Tribute to Ulver)
Speaking of Ulver, Aspherical Asphyxia Productions (say that two times fast), a Russian imprint, has released a two-disc tribute to Ulver – free for download. (The physical version is due out May 15, 2008.) I am normally not big on tribute records. But this one interests me, since the objet d’affection is Ulver, whose material […]
Ulver - Shadows of the Sun
Those who carp about Ulver‘s post-black metal output should note that the “Black Metal Trilogie” (Bergtatt, Kveldssanger, Nattens Madrigal) represent but the first three years of Ulver’s existence. Since then, the band has spent over a decade growing, experimenting, and striving for more individuality than 99% of black metal bands ever will. VigilFunebre Admittedly, the […]
Sleep Terror - Probing Tranquility
Sleep Terror sound like if Necrophagist and Primus had a child and raised it on surf music and schmaltzy jazz. That would probably be horrible, wouldn’t it? But at high enough speeds, neoclassical riffs, diminished arpeggios, and rubbery, slap-happy tones somehow make sense together. Right now, the band is one guy, Luke Jaeger, on guitar, […]
D
Dødheimsgard started as a standard black metal outfit (1996’s Monumental Possession stands out), then threw fans a major curve ball with 1999’s 666 International. The album was, frankly, a friggin’ mess. Blastbeats and industrial hip hop and classical piano interludes made for an occasionally interesting but wildly scattershot listen. A name contraction in 2000 to […]
Nucleus Torn - Nihil
Encyclopaedia Metallum is a great metal resource, but it’s a funny beast. “Metalcore” bands like Himsa and Premonitions of War aren’t listed, but to my ears they’re pretty much metal bands. However, Switzerland’s Nucleus Torn makes the cut, even though the vast majority of its debut full-length, Nihil (Prophecy Productions, 2006), is un-metallic. I suppose […]
The Abodox - New Knife of the Berserker
After enough listens, I like even the ugly-ass artwork of New Knife of the Berserker. It fits the record, which is hairy, lo-fi, and violent. Imagine Fantomas with worse chops and better songs, fuzzing out 14 tracks in 29 minutes. Metal, punk, prog, skronk, and general chaos collide in a grand mal bout of uneasy […]
Lux Occulta - The Mother and the Enemy
Missa Solemnis Metal Mind2001 Holy album cover! Whoever decided that a boob could be a face has some serious issues. Once I get past that haunting mammary, The Mother and the Enemy is no less strange. The most recent album by on-hiatus Lux Occulta, it was evidently too weird for its drummer, who jumped ship […]
