germany

SO36, Berlin, 19.06.07 SO36 isn’t just a club. It’s a friggin’ complex, with stairs in back and on the side leading up to an immense backstage area that resembles an office, albeit a punked-out one. Graffiti from previous occupants litters the walls. In multiple rooms, band and crew members sprawl on couches, check email, and […]

Neurosis, upstairs @ GAMH, SFPhoto by Brendan Tobin It’s been a while since my last reviews update. There’s so much good stuff now, it’s almost overwhelming! At Stylus, I’ve reviewed Cephalic Carnage, Neurosis, Pelican, and Pig Destroyer. At Metal Injection, I’ve reviewed Akercocke, Toxic Bonkers, N.I.L., Deadlock, Merciless Death, Thought Chamber, and Watain. Neurosis – […]

When you name your band World Downfall, you pretty much guarantee yourself a lifetime of Google page rank fights with Terrorizer (I wonder if Daylight Dies are pissed that Killswitch Engage put out an album with their name in it). And on Beyond Salvation (self-released, 2006), this Cologne band indeed walks a similar line between […]

Obscurus Advocam Some new writing up – at Metal Injection, I’ve reviewed robust efforts by old-school thrashers Hirax and 420 advocates Six Feet Under, as well as black metal from The Ruins of Beverast and Obscurus Advocam. The latter has been really doing it for me lately – black metal that’s heavy for once! At […]

Secrets of the Moon blend black, death, doom, and prog metal, slightly recalling Akercocke, though the latter lets in more light. I haven’t heard this German band’s first album, Stronghold of the Inviolables, though one review describes its production as “of the basement variety.” Thus, Antithesis (Lupus Lounge, 2006; AJNA Offensive, 2007) follows the path […]

Antigama A bunch of new writing up – at Metal Injection, I’ve got reviews of Polish grinders Antigama, Norwegian black metal band Throne of Katarsis, and Los Angeles prog metallers Redemption, as well as interviews with Spanish band NahemaH and shredder Laura Christine from San Diego death metallers Warface. Antigama – Neutral BalanceNaglfar – The […]

Causal ReasonsReversal Self-Released2001 “Sounds like ____” is tricky business. Really, it’s best (though perhaps not for commercial purposes) to sound unique. But since that’s basically impossible, given today’s cultural forces (perhaps someone in some media-deprived locale could hit upon playing heavy metal, but I highly, highly doubt it), most musicians hope to remind listeners of […]

Bar menu, Berlin, DE One day here in Berlin, I stumbled across a bar called “wenn ick reich bin, ick koof mir Dave Lombardo.” The waitress said that it was local dialect for “when I am rich, I will buy Dave Lombardo.” Now, that hardly makes sense. And other than its name and logo, the […]

Polished Surface Yonah2006 Jitterbug is a four-piece instrumental prog rock/metal band from Germany. If that conjures up images of ponytailed guys in Dream Theater shirts, rest easy. This six-track MCD has hints of that older sound, but it has one foot firmly planted in the present. Thus, it has a modern sense of concision and […]

Drumcorps is Aaron Spectre, an artist in Berlin who makes what could loosely be called breakcore. Now, I’m generally not a fan of breakcore. To me, it seems like the worst result of letting white people near black music. Breakbeats lose their funk, grooves lose their soul, and sounds bunch up at unpleasant frequencies. But […]