I had the privilege of talking with guitarist Hiran Deraniyagala last year (Read the interview here ) when the seeds for War Of Will were just being planted and after hearing the finished product I can tell you that thrash is alive and well in 2013 thanks to bands like Battlecross. A band that merges new school power metal in the vein of Dragonforce with other modern heavy greats like 3 Inches Of Blood without the gimmicks or hokeyness, Battlecross also offer […]
Metal Monday
Metal Monday Volume 127 (6.17.13)
Maybe it’s fitting that Isis is unleashing a remastered vinyl edition of their seminal masterpiece, Celestial, barely two weeks after the release of Palms’ debut which feature three-fifths of the group within its’ ranks. Sure, Aaron Turner can continue with Split Cranium and Old Man Gloom, Aaron Harris can work with Tool’s Danny Carey for the Man Of Steel soundtrack and on Palms (With Bryant Clifford Meyer and Jeff Caxide), and Mike Gallagher can work on more MGR or with […]
Metal Monday Volume 126 (6.10.13)
Probably the biggest surprise of 13 is how much it actually sounds like a Black Sabbath record. From the opening dirge of “End of the Beginning”, it’s deadly apparent that this is Sabbath incarnate. Is it bad? Nope. Is it good? You know what? It is. If you want to talk negatives then it’s probably in the drumming department. That’s not to say Brad Wilk is a bad drummer. To the contrary, in fact, Wilk is a great drummer. He’s […]
Metal Monday Volume 125 (6.3.13)
We are living in a world where I now favor Noel Gallagher over Liam Gallagher and Metallica over Megadeth. Bizarro World indeed. If I start queuing up for the latest Iron Maiden record over one from Judas Priest then you have permission to commit me to the local nut house. But onto Super Collider, the latest from Megadeth. There is nothing inherently wrong with Super Collider, Megadeth’s fourteenth, there’s just nothing new here. Where as Metallica is taking years and […]
Metal Monday Volume 124 (5.27.13)
On Blood Drive, ASG has created this perfect balance of music that’s more of a hard rock celebration than a heavy metal epiphany. It’s heavy, sure, but it’s filled with so much more joyous oomph that’s sorely lacking from today’s metal scene. The comparisons to Torche, Baroness, and Kyuss are inevitable but at the end of the day what ASG presents with Blood Drive is something else entirely. Just listen to Jason Shi’s high pitched wail that is actually more […]
Metal Monday Volume 123 (5.20.13)
MA heavy rock is alive and well and Second Grave is definitive proof of that. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what bands the members of Second Grave used to be a part of. What matters is what they’re doing now which is completely and utterly fantastic. On their debut album/EP (It’s six songs but three of those hit the eight minute mark), the purveyors of true doom might come off as a female-fronted Sabbath (No, not Hand Of Doom) at first but they […]
Metal Monday Volume 122 (5.13.13)
I was mistaken when I previously insinuated that there were only two French metal bands you needed to listen to because apparently there are now three. If you take the best parts of Gojira and Hacride and mix them with some Meshuggah to up the technical aspect then you might have an idea of what Eryn Non Dae sound like. With Meliora, they’ve constructed an intense and extremely dense body of music that stands defiantly apart from their French countrymen. […]
Metal Monday Volume 120 (4.29.13)
Is it possible to do a 200-250 word post on a 45 second or so snippet of an album or song? We’re about to find out as this week Metal Monday says some stuff about the teaser that local faves Jack Burton Vs David Lo Pan recently posted from their upcoming full length entitled Exhibit C: An American Tragedy. I’ve been championing Jack Burton Vs David Lo Pan in these pages because I’m not only lucky enough to know the […]
Metal Monday Volume 119 (4.22.13)
This is not the same Hacride who released Lazarus back in 2009. This is a more focused and determined Hacride sporting a new vocalist and drummer and a positively destructive fourth album called Back To Where You’ve Never Been. The other French metal band you need to pay attention to, Hacride deliver a more concise yet just as potent opus with songs never lingering past the five minute mark on average (Lazarus opened with a fifteen minute track by comparison) […]
Metal Monday Volume 118 (4.15.13)
Rob Zombie has been a hit or miss artist for years now. At least for me, nothing he ever produced musically after 2001’s The Sinister Urge has been as solid as his late White Zombie work and early solo releases. That’s not to say he’s put out bad albums or singles, it just felt like nothing had that spark or focus that his earlier output had. Perhaps directing was a distraction as well considering that Sinister’s… follow up Educated Horses took […]
Metal Monday Volume 117 (4.8.13)
It’s embarrassing how much fun the debut from David Draiman’s Device is at times. I’m a casual Disturbed fan, owning the first three records at least, but you mention industrial metal to me and cite early Nine Inch Nails (Going so far as to cover “Wish” on the Deluxe Edition) and Ministry as influences on your latest project and consider my interest piqued. That said, Device is a solid debut that doesn’t stray too much from the Disturbed mold yet […]
Metal Monday Volume 116 (4.1.13)
It might be April Fool’s Day but I guarantee that I’m not joking when talking about The Melvins upcoming covers album, Everybody Loves Sausages (Fer serious, this is the title.), and how essential it is to your Melvins collection. This isn’t like your recent Anthrax covers EP featuring familiar names, bands, and songs. This is a music lovers covers record with some known (David Bowie, Queen), some lesser known (Throbbing Gristle, Venom) and some, well, I did say it was […]
