canada

Nadja seem to have emptied their hard drive onto CD’s, sent them out, and gotten signed to 10 labels simultaneously. By the end of 2008, they will have put out 15 releases in two years. That’s too much. But it’s about right if you consider each album as a song. Make one long ambient fuzzfest, […]

Devin Townsend I’ve published 22 pieces since my last update a month ago. I’ve also started to write for Pitchfork. Both are somewhat ridiculous propositions, I realize, so I don’t even know where to start. Just look at the sidebar and see if anything appeals to you. If you think all that will take a […]

Contrary to what its title might suggest, The Great Northern Scenekill (self-released, 2006) has nothing to do with Pantera. It’s modern thrashy melodic death metal, and quite aggressive – think Darkane or Darkest Hour. This Canadian band features Martyr drummer Patrice Hamelin (who’s touring with Despised Icon this year); this record has Threat Signal’s Marco […]

Afe Records is one of my happier discoveries this year. This Italian dark ambient/experimental label, run by Andrea Marutti, stands for both quantity and quality. Its discography is enormous, yet each release comes in awe-inspiring packaging – limited edition CD-R with pro-printed A5 sleeve and high quality artwork. For the past few months, I’ve listened […]

3 Inches of Blood Some new writing up – at Metal Injection, I have reviews of film buffs/metalcore-rs Killwhitneydead and Relapse retro thrashers Dekapitator. At Stylus, I have a look back at Fugazi’s most underrated record, Steady Diet of Nothing, as well as reviews of the Speed Kills…Again compilation on Heavy Artillery, metal-obsessed rapper Necro, […]

For the first time in my life, I’m into power metal, and I think I know why. In the course of moving, I don’t have any speakers right now except for the crappy ones on my laptop. Thus, atmospheric stuff like black or doom metal doesn’t translate, but bright, shiny melodies do. Also, maybe in […]

The Red Chord I’m moving from Berlin to San Francisco at the end of this month. This, combined with excessive travel (five trans-Atlantic crossings in six weeks, with five destination airports and way too much sleeping while sitting), has severely hampered my recent productivity. The Red Chord – Tread on the Necks of KingsHalford – […]

Cold Spring bills Deep Frieze (2007) as “dark ambient,” which is sort of true; the nether regions of this release are often dimly-lit. But for the most part, this disc matches its cover – glacial and wintry. This isn’t the tranquil beauty that Norwegian black metal fetishizes. It’s the harsh indefiniteness of a Midwest winter, […]

My review of The Esoteric’s Subverter is up at Stylus. Great album, great band, why aren’t these guys huge??? Also, I’ve started writing for Metal Injection. I’ve been a fan of the site for a while. In its early days, it put out primitive, often hilarious shows composed of metal videos, tongue-in-cheek interviews, and some […]

My dual review of Stolen Babies’ There Be Squabbles Ahead and Unexpect’s In a Flesh Aquarium is up at Stylus.