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Spin Cycle: Overkill’s “The Electric Age”

by Nick on Mar 29, 2012 • 1 Comment

I’m not sure exactly what happened in the past few years and if it is related to the emergence of a new generation of bands emulating the ’80s thrash metal style, but over the past couple of years, many of the originators of the genre have been releasing some of their best albums in years, if not, in some cases, of their careers. While Overkill has always been good at releasing consistently good albums, their last few albums have been […]

Spin Cycle: Lucero’s “Women & Work”

by Nick on Mar 19, 2012 • No Comments

music / New Releases / Pop Music / rock music / Spin Cycle

I was first introduced to Lucero in 2001 when I saw them open a string of dates for the North Mississippi Allstars in Colorado. Prior to hearing them for the first time, I was told to expect “Jay Farrar meets emo”. I found this description to not only be fairly accurate, but musically, it was wildly successful in execution. The band’s self-titled debut and sophomore effort Tennessee were quality releases, but the third album That Much Further West is where […]

bLISTerd Presents: Nick’s Top 11 Albums of 2011

by Nick on Dec 18, 2011 • No Comments

bLISTerd / Lists! / music / Pop Music / rock music

Aw…they look so cute. Mastodon leads the charge on Nick’s list of the top 11 albums of 2011.

Who The Hell Are: Slough Feg?

by Nick on Nov 11, 2011 • 1 Comment

music / rock music / Who The Hell Is?

While I enjoy almost all genres of music (hardcore dance, trance and techno are just beyond my understanding and therefore ability to enjoy), hard rock and heavy metal and the various genres that they spawn are beyond a shadow of a doubt my true and life long love. I’m on a constant quest to find not only newer artists operating under the broad hard rock and metal umbrella, but also established artists that weren’t/aren’t wildly popular that I might have […]

Spin Cycle: Skeletonwitch’s “Forever Abomination”

by Nick on Oct 14, 2011 • 3 Comments

Album Reviews / music / New Releases / rock music / Spin Cycle

Back in 2007, I was first introduced to Skeletonwitch via their Prosthetic Records’ debut (and second album overall) “Beyond The Permafrost”. I liked the record upon first listen and found myself going back to it a respectable amount of times, but certainly not at a level that would qualify as addictive. That’s not a dig on that album at all, I simply only have so many hours in the day and an oversized and ever growing music collection that prevents me from […]

Concert Review: The Big 4 @ Yankee Stadium (9/14/11)

by Nick on Sep 20, 2011 • No Comments

Concert Reviews / music / news / rock music / Uncategorized

The Big 4: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax – Wednesday, September 14th 2011, Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY I’ve seen Anthrax (with Joey Belladonna on vocals), Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica on more than a few occasions (Anthrax as recently as two days before The Big 4 event), so seeing them all play live again wasn’t necessarily earth shattering, but seeing them all play TOGETHER live and in the flesh was certainly a teenage dream of mine come to life. Much was […]

Nick’s Mini Metal Reviews 3: Yob’s “Atma”

by Nick on Sep 17, 2011 • No Comments

Album Reviews / music / New Releases / rock music

Yob “Atma” Yob is a critical darling in the metal press. I got sucked in by the hype and picked up their 2004 release “The Illusion Of Motion”. If memory serves, then I listened to it once or twice and subsequently filed it away and never listened again. That’s not a statement about the quality of the album, it just didn’t grab me at the time. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to see Yob perform live at SXSW […]

Nick’s Mini Metal Reviews 2: Today Is The Day & White Arms of Athena

by Nick on Sep 9, 2011 • No Comments

Album Reviews / music / rock music / Uncategorized

Today Is The Day “Pain Is A Warning” I first got into Today Is The Day in 2000 when a band I was working with at the time recommended I check out TITD’s 1997 album “Temple Of The Morning Star”. At the time, I was just starting to dip my toes into the realms of “extreme” metal and wasn’t sure what to expect when I popped the CD in the player for the first time. TITD’s sound is easy and […]

Nick’s Mini Metal Reviews Vol. 1: Diamond Plate & Revocation

by Nick on Aug 30, 2011 • No Comments

Album Reviews / music / New Releases / rock music

Diamond Plate Generation Why? When the scene first started to develop, I was completely against the new wave of thrash movement. To me the bands were just blatantly ripping off the acts who gave birth to the thrash movement in the ’80s. I mean, if you want to listen to thrash, just listen to the originals right? But then, I quit being such a curmudgeon, loosened up, begin to explore the burgeoning movement and found that I actually quite enjoyed […]

R.I.P. Jani Lane

by Nick on Aug 12, 2011 • 2 Comments

music / pop culture / R.I.P. / rock music

Warrant first emerged on the music scene in 1989 with the release of their debut album “Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich” when I was a freshman in high school. Hair metal was still wildly popular at this time and Warrant became instantaneously well known upon the release of their first single “Down Boys” and then megastars upon the release of the ballad “Heaven”. The singles “Big Talk” and “Sometimes She Cries” kept the popular streak alive and Warrant had officially […]

Spin Cycle: Battlecross’s “Pursuit of Honor”

by Nick on Aug 11, 2011 • No Comments

Album Reviews / music / New Releases / rock music / Spin Cycle

In recent years, young bands have been emerging in the metal world that not only worship at the altar of classic thrash albums by Slayer, Megadeth, Exodus, Testament, Pantera and the like, but also at the altar of classic death metal albums by Morbid Angel, Deicide, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse and the like. While thrash and death metal are certainly distinct and unique genres within in the metal umbrella, a melding of the two is actually fairly logical considering death metal’s […]

Spin Cycle: Mariachi El Bronx’s “II”

by Nick on Aug 8, 2011 • No Comments

Album Reviews / music / New Releases / rock music

I remember when The Bronx first appeared on the scene that there was a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding them. Not being one to dismiss things because there is hype around it (as sometimes the hype is well deserved), I decided to check them out. Quite simply, I didn’t get it at all and stopped paying attention. I have a lot of friends who enjoy the band and when they made their transformation from The Bronx into Mariachi El Bronx, […]