post-metal

Photos by JOE M500 Insect Warfare have reunited for a two-week UK/Ireland tour that begins today. (See dates here.) Evidently the venues are tiny rooms that cannot possibly fit the hundreds of people — some traveling from the Continent — planning to attend. I wish I were one of them. Armored VirusEnslaved by Machinery To […]

Boston’s Disappearer certainly sound familiar with Neurosis’ Through Silver in Blood. It’s not surprising that they began as an instrumental trio in the vein of Pelican. The tempos trudge and the drums sound like they were recorded in Carlsbad Caverns (with bats in black orbits for evil ambience). What makes their debut a welcome addition […]

Isthmus What’s the state of play in post-metal? By post-metal, I mean the bands that have arisen in the wake of Neurosis, Isis, and Mono. I suppose I should know, since many of the genre’s releases cross my desk. But I’m also not a fan of the genre. My aesthetic preferences are sharpness, definition, and […]

It’s interesting how hardcore punk colonized sludge/doom metal, starting with Neurosis. Then came Isis, Old Man Gloom, and the late-’90s Boston/Hydra Head/Deathwish, Inc. scene. The result was bands that sound metal, but that probably have short hair. Europe got this bug hard — see Cult of Luna, Callisto, Knut, Burst, The Ocean, and so on. […]

On their third full-length, Minsk brew a swirling cauldron of massive sounds. It’s not unlike Through Silver in Blood. Both records fuse the anguish of early Swans with the crunch of Sabbath. Though Minsk are no Neurosis, the band is almost as adept at depicting the existential wasteland of modern man. Almitra’s Premonition Minsk aren’t […]

Mike Hill, Tombs The tour diary is one of my favorite forms of writing. It combines two things I love, music and travel. The best tour diary ever is Henry Rollins’ Get in the Van, about his Black Flag days. But I love reading most other tour diaries, even by bands I dislike. Their music […]

Since 2002’s Oceanic, Isis have basically written one song. It’s not a song so much as a template, a theme with variations. These include clean and dirty vocals and guitars, and myriad paths to the top of Isis Hill, the peak of each track. Over time, Isis have softened, trading riffs for textures. This has […]

Photo by iamdonte To celebrate their 10th anniversary, Japan’s Mono played a one-off show last Friday at New York’s Society for Ethical Culture. Originally, it was to be their only North American date to support their new album, Hymn to the Immortal Wind. However, it sold out, causing the addition of a second date. People […]

Mamiffer is pianist Faith Coloccia and friends. Their Hirror Enniffer was one of Hydra Head’s more intriguing releases last year (reviewed here). Coloccia’s collaborators included three-fourths of These Arms Are Snakes, Hozoji Matheson-Margullis from Helms Alee, and Aaron Turner of Isis. We had Coloccia listen to six tracks identified only by title. Each title had […]

Isis have posted a track, “20 Minutes / 40 Years,” from their new record, Wavering Radiant, out May 5th on Ipecac. It’s both interesting and not. The intro is the best part, with nocturnal atmospherics and indefinite tonality. It reminds me of ’80s action movies, in the non-action parts. As for the song’s body – […]