Tear the riff off: ASG, Krisiun, Inquisition

ASG – Win Us Over Inside layout

The secret word of the day – every day – is riffs. I’ve reviewed some nice batches. The latest record by ASG has the best riffs I’ve heard this year. Imagine a whole album of “March of the Fire Ants” or “Hollow Severer.” The rest of stoner metal might as well give up. Brazilian death metallers Krisiun understand the art of the riff. So do Colombian black metallers Inquisition. Support the arts, folks.

ASG – Right Death Before
Krisiun – Sentenced Morning
Inquisition – Nocturnal Gatherings and Wicked Rites

I’ve also reviewed retro revivalists Bigelf, Pelican-plus Capricorns, drum machine grinders Enemy Soil, NYHC veterans Inhuman, and Bay Area rollers Totimoshi.

Good reads elsewhere: Phil Freeman’s feature on Runhild Gammelsaeter, Brandon Stosuy’s interview with Hammers of Misfortune, Todd DePalma’s interview with Arghoslent, Adrien Begrand’s feature on John Darnielle‘s book about Master of Reality. Some killer quotes in the latter, especially this one:

I think the indie aesthetic is pretty invested in a very old, very tired idea about whether the creator and the audience are in agreement about what makes the music good. The indie audience wants to feel like the people on stage are their people. I think the metal audience is quite different, insofar as it?s composed of people who are less willfully outsiders and more genuinely outside – people who?re so used to being on the outside that they don?t give a shit whether anybody else in the room is feeling what they?re feeling. You see this at metal shows: one or two dudes off to the side air-guitaring wildly right on the edge of the pit, just not giving a shit. I think that level of individuation, of comfort with not fitting in, is something that indie audiences are uncomfortable with…

Is this true? One could arguably switch in “metal” for “indie” here.