Riffage: Celtic Frost - "Procreation (Of the Wicked)"
Ooh! The Roadburn Festival has chosen Tom G. Warrior as its curator for 2010. By all accounts, this year’s Neurosis-curated event was a hit, so Warrior’s work is cut out for him. He will select 16 bands for the festival. His pals 1349 (reviewed here) will likely make the cut. Perhaps so will Valborg, an...
Reign Supreme - Testing the Limits of Infinite
Philadelphia’s Reign Supreme takes its cues from hardcore forebears who borrowed from metal: Hatebreed, Madball, Cro-Mags, and Agnostic Front. The blurring of lines between genres resulted in legions of reprehensible bands. Yet Reign Supreme stands out due to a firm (though formerly limited) command of the music and an above-average frontman. Saving GraceSlipping Away Thanks...
Support the black arts
Some of today’s most forward-looking black metal bands have gotten visuals to match. Frenchmen Merrimack have unveiled the cover for Grey Rigorism, out September 15 on Moribund/Osmose. Two new tracks up on the band’s Myspace show an almost geometric sense of space. It’s a welcome progression from previous relentlessness. Seldon Hunt‘s artwork looks to be...
Birth A.D. - Stillbirth of a Nation
The back of Birth A.D.‘s Stillbirth of a Nation says, “Fuck your party metal, we’re here for war!” This is the key to its greatness. The band plays crossover thrash like its acronymic influences D.R.I., C.O.C., M.O.D., S.O.D., and so on. But unlike today’s retro thrashers who play the music for its style — white...