Metal Music
Mid-month Metal Masterpiece 28: Infester – To the Depths (In Degradation)
Seattle death metal band Infester only had one release, but damn if it wasn’t an instant classic. 1994’s To the Depths (In Degradation) (featuring one of my favorite song title naming conventions (that is, of course, parentheses)) kind of plays like a doomier version of Suffocation, which is to say, incredibly brutal, but with slower…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 27: Burzum – Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
As the years have passed and my taste in black metal has narrowed further and further, one album has consistently remained atop my “all time greatest black metal albums of all time” list. That album is Burzum’s 1994 masterpiece, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (If the Light Takes Us). No matter how brilliant new discoveries like Paysage…
Read MoreIO5M 8: The Top Five Best Metal Songs About Trains
Welcome back to my most infrequently occurring Monday feature! I’m speaking, of course, of Infrequently Occurring Fifth Monday (IO5M), where I come up with a new “top 5″ list on a quad-yearly basis. This time I take a look at that most venerable of heavy metal lyrical topics: trains. Actually, despite being literally “heavy metal”…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 26: Oz – III Warning
Back in the day, when even a hint of clean singing in my metal was enough for me to roll my eyes and cry “not kvlt,” I probably would have hated New Wave of Finnish HeavyMetaler’s Oz. Cut to 10 years later, when I’ve discovered a boundless appreciation for a much wider array of old…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 25: Old Funeral – Devoured Carcass
If there is one thing I thought I knew about black metal bands, it was that they couldn’t write death metal for shit (thankfully most of the Norwegian guys must have realized this and quickly switched to black metal in the early 90s). Darkthrone’s Soulside Journey is ok, but I challenge anyone to get through…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 24: Paysage D’Hiver – Paysage D’Hiver
Black metal is not a genre of music known for its crystal clear productions. So it is rather impressive that the productions on your average Paysage D’Hiver albums are so bad that many black metal fans find their music unlistenable. Today’s album, their three song, 55 minute 1999 self titled demo might just be their…
Read MoreUnruh’s debut ep Grim Midwinter Necrohymns – WORLDWIDE RELEASE
This is the official release of the kvlt Pagan Necrofolk band Unruh’s debut ep Grim Midwinter Necrohymns. Unruh supports the destruction of all creative endeavors and as such, you may steal this album HERE. Moralist pig dogs and all those who believe in such fabricated weaknesses as guilt and conscience may purchase the album along…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 23: Bathory – Blood on Ice
Bathory was always in the advance guard of the metal underground. Their 1984 self titled album was years ahead of its time and was probably the single greatest influence on the sound of modern “second wave” black metal. Then, with 1990’s Hammerheart (as well as most of 1988’s Blood, Fire, Death) Bathory created the quintessential…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 22: Demoncy – Joined in Darkness
I usually try to alternate between black metal, death metal and thrash each month on MMMM–so why am I doing a “black metal” band on a death metal month? Aside from my oft repeated (and mostly facetious) claim that I’m not all that into death metal, I’m not so sure that Demoncy really is a black metal…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 21: Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger
My first ever black metal cd was the Emperor/Enslaved Hordanes Land split. It has already been featured on MMMM, and as I said then, I wasn’t sure what I heard, but I was pretty sure I liked it. Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger was my second ever black metal cd. I had come across it at the…
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