greece

I recently watched Flashdance for the first time. It is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. Even though it is not very good, it is great. Never mind its two-dimensional characters, formulaic arc (a straight line), or that it would spawn Save the Last Dance with the addition of hip-hop and jungle […]

Original album artworkCeramic sculpture by Cecilia JanssonPhoto by Jukka Tilli Septic Flesh have made much good music – almost too much. These Greeks mix death, doom, black, goth, thrash, and industrial metal, with clean and dirty vocals, both male and female. Their records are sprawling, and their epic feel can get tiring. So can their […]

by Cosmo Lee So much music comes out now that it’s impossible to have a bad year in anything. Take metal, for example. Approximately 234,827,358 metal records (give or take several degrees of magnitude) came out in 2008. If you couldn’t find 10 to like among those 234,827,358, you weren’t trying hard enough. Though 234,827,358 […]

by Cosmo Lee Lately, when I want to remember what death metal sounds like, I put on Dead Congregation. Not the nth generation dub with slick production and click tracks. I mean the original, the stuff aficionados capitalize. Death Metal. These Athenians have Morbid Angel’s tunneling riffs, Incantation’s necro atmosphere, and Immolation’s groaning bends and […]

The annals of songs about cunnilingus – a pantheon that includes Madonna’s “Where Life Begins,” The Stone Roses’ “Going Down,” SWV’s “Downtown,” Foo Fighters’ “All My Life,” and, as one wag claimed, U2’s “In God’s Country” (or was that “I Still Have Not Found What I’m Looking For”?) (also, Ireland’s national airline is called Aer […]

Aeon For some reason, I’ve been in a death metal mood recently. Maybe it’s because I’ve been hitting the gym (TESTOSTERONE! BR00TAL!). Or maybe it’s because it’s warm here in SF, which enjoys its summer in autumn. It’s hard to be grim and cold when the sun’s out. Prong – The BanishmentDethklok – HatredcopterAeon – […]

Named for the Godflesh song, Voidhead avoids the obvious Godflesh elements (crushingness, nihilism) in favor of the liminal ones (atmosphere, drone). The four tracks of Land (Head to Avoid, 2007) each sound quite different and thus slightly incohesive. However, Voidhead impressively writes distinct-sounding songs with elements that usually emphasize sound over song. LandSchematic Thus, “Land” […]