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Pictured: Echtra I get sent a lot of stuff that’s not metal, but may be of interest to metalheads. This includes side projects by metal musicians, non-metal releases by metal labels, dark ambient, noise, and so on. Some of this stuff is too good to keep secret, so I’m starting this column to feature it. […]

Recently I was listening to Godflesh’s Pure/Cold World/Slavestate 3-disc reissue that Earache put out, and I couldn’t help thinking that the music was fantastic but also quite dated. In referencing the techno and hip-hop of the day, Justin Broadrick was pushing boundaries. But contemporary sounds inevitably become obsolete. Streetcleaner, which turns 20 today according to […]

Click to enlarge Motörhead’s Bomber turns 30 today. Incredibly, the band also put out Overkill in 1979 (see here). Bands these days take longer to write worse records. I prefer the music on Overkill, but Bomber is no slouch. The Overkill/Bomber/Ace of Spades trilogy is as fundamental to heavy music as Black Sabbath’s first six […]

Bill Steer’s guitar has soundtracked much of my life in the past two decades. His work in Napalm Death and Carcass helped lay the groundwork for grindcore and death metal today. Now he has a bluesy retro rock trio called Firebird, for which he sings and plays guitar. I’ve listened to their latest record, Grand […]

After a spoken word lament of the death of nobility, Loss (Bindrune, 2009) proposes, “Each of us must face the question, are we man or are we beast?” Wodensthrone suggest that our humanity comes from a religion rooted in memory. Humanity is a fossilized drawing on a cave wall, the knowledge that our ancestors are […]

Today Voivod’s Nothingface turns 20. I wonder if it was a kind of Black Album for Voivod’s fans. Its prog rock was such a change from the twisted thrash of previous albums. Also, it was the band’s first major label record. Did people cry “sellout”? Having discovered Voivod with 1991’s Angel Rat and not hearing […]

Iron Monkey, we hardly knew ye. England’s answer to Eyehategod released two full-lengths, a self-titled debut and Our Problem, then broke up in 1999. Earache recently collected these records into a 2-CD set along with bonus tracks and extra liner notes. House Anxiety Normally I have little patience with Eyehategod clones. But Iron Monkey had […]

UrgehalPhoto by Jess Tonight Urgehal and Spearhead begin a US tour. (See dates below.) This is a big deal, as both bands rarely play the States. I have a soft spot for Urgehal‘s Goatcraft Torment (Agonia, 2006), as it was the fifth album I reviewed for this site. The album itself has no soft spots. […]

…or perhaps of Soft Cell. The more I read about Freemasonry, the less I know about it. (I have the same difficulty with Scientology.) What I have gleaned so far: the Masonic apron is worn by members at society functions. It derives from the aprons worn by actual stonemasons, and is “an emblem of innocence, […]

. . . When Brütal Legend, the upcoming video game with a metal soundtrack, was announced, I didn’t think much of it. I’m not a gamer, and the intersection of metal and video games (e.g., Guitar Hero and Rock Band) has not interested me. I’d rather play an actual guitar. But when I took a […]