Invisible Oranges

Jared Anderson recently passed away at the tragically young age of 30. He was the bassist/vocalist on Morbid Angel’s Gateways to Annihilation tour and on Hate Eternal’s first two albums. He also had a solo project called Internecine, which released one album, 2002’s The Book of Lambs. On this album, Anderson handled bass, guitars, and […]

Converge makes intensely painful sonic workouts that sometimes feel like scraping knuckles over rock. But they’re also emotionally fulfilling, if only for the feeling of, “Man, I thought I had problems.” Converge albums are definite moments in our lives, and No Heroes (on Epitaph) is a fine addition to the legacy of one of the […]

This past weekend, I attended a wedding that was half Jewish. One of the Jewish customs observed was dancing the hora. If you’re unfamiliar with the hora, it’s a lot like a mosh pit. There’s tons of circle pits dancing around the bride and groom, who get raised above the crowd on chairs – kind […]

My review of the new Trivium album The Crusade is now up at Stylus.

My review of the new Ludicra album Fex Urbis Lex Orbis is now up at Stylus. It’s awesome, hands down one of my favorites of the year. I usually listen to music in headphones before I go to sleep; this album is one of the few I’m afraid to hear before bedtime. Not even the […]

Over the course of its three albums, Insomnium‘s sound hasn’t changed so much as matured. This Finnish band sounds like Paradise Lost doing Swedish melodic death metal, combining the majesty of the former with the pace of the latter. 2004’s Since the Day It All Came Down was pretty much perfect; Above the Weeping World […]

My look back at Prong’s Prove You Wrong is now up at Stylus.

Note to black metal bands: when playing live, turn down your damn kicks! We know you can play blastbeats. We came to hear some cold atmosphere, not a never-ending barrage of kick drums. If we wanted that, we’d go hear techno. I recently saw Keep of Kalessin open for Satyricon, and though the performance was […]

Pretty much everything Blackmarket puts out now is buy-on-sight, and Delenda is no exception. On its first album, From A Second Story Window greatly expands on the chaotic, dissonant metalcore of its Not One Word Has Been Omitted EP. The degree of maturation is shocking; it’s almost like a new band. This is due, perhaps, […]