metal

Interesting mid-career output from the legendary Voïvod. Not as harsh as their early 80s records, and not as bland / stonery as the 00s output, Outer Limits is a strong 90s offering from a band that is always unafraid to play about with its style and approach.

Hossannas From The Basements Of Hell is the sound of latter-day Killing Joke pushed to the extreme. Everything about the band is pushed to 11 on this release, as the band explore meandering, deafening compositions which were recorded in some catacombs beneath the streets of Prague. As someone who has visited some of these interesting subterranean caverns, one can only imagine the intensity that unfurled as the band conjured their ungodly work. Killing Joke have…

For the longest time, I couldn’t abide King Diamond’s vocals. But, in the last year or so I’ve made a conscious effort to listen to metal that I have always overlooked or wouldn’t usually partake in, so I finally allowed myself to listen all the way through. I enjoyed the concept, and most of the music (the production is definitely of note), but as legendary as King Diamond’s vocals are, I just cannot get behind…

God save me! I always considered myself an Ill Niño fan but somehow always passed up on this album when I was a nipper. Unfortunately, for me at least, Revolution hasn’t aged all that well, with the band’s smoothed-over nu metal sounding clumsy and over-produced. There’s a few stand out tracks, but for the most part, it’s an average listening experience. I bet these guys could still kill it live, mind you. (2021 edit: did…

Its mad to think how far Sabbath had come, or better to say maybe, how much Sabbath had changed, over the course of the seventies. This isn’t a terrible record, but if you compare it to the bands earlier Ozzy-fronted output, there is a lot left lacking. As a side note, it contains the song “Dirty Women”, which has a wicked riff, and this album has a whole bunch of keyboard stuff on it too….

Life Is Killing Me is the final Roadrunner-released Type O record, and brings the band back to focus on their original doomy riffery. Don’t get me wrong, World Coming Down was heavy as shit, but things seem a little more focused here. I’m unsure if I’m remembering things incorrectly, but this release seemed very low key, and aside from single “I Don’t Wanna Be Me”, the record more or less flew under the radar. I…

Fear Factory’s debut (well, the ‘debut’ that actually got released lol) is a perfect distillation of death metal meeting industrial. Coming on like a mix of Harmony Corruption era Napalm Death and Selfless era Godflesh, Soul Of A New Machine is much different from a lot of the band’s more well known stuff. Honestly, the mix is great, and as someone who has always enjoyed Fear Factory, and who loves ND / Godflesh, going back…

I recently did a run through all the original Carcass records, ending with the rather perplexing Swansong. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Heartwork either so this one has always stood out like a sore thumb to me. My recent re-listen hasn’t changed that, but its probably the first time I’ve ever sat through the whole thing in one sitting. Swansong was an interesting time for Carcass. They had split by the time it…

Gimme dat cheese! Haha! Nah, despite the band name, album title and cover art harking to the hormonal-nerd-focused approach of old (and with eyes firmly back in skull), Eternal Champion have given us a solid trad record with an excellent production sound. All in all, a tidy listen.

I’ve put off listening to this for about 15 years as when I was in high school, me and my mates – with our immense new found love for metal – burned this one to death with its constant rotation. I’ve been trying to imagine what it was like at the time, after the sheer heaviness of …And Justice For All, to be a metal fan eagerly anticipating the release of the next Metallica record,…

Walk is one of, if not entirely, Pantera’s most well known song. The reason I’ve included this single is because when it was released on CD and vinyl in the 90s, it came with a series of “Biomechanical” and “Cervical” remixes and dubs. So what, I hear you cry, loads of bands did crappy dance remixes of their stuff in the 90s. But, in this case, the Biomechanical remixes were made by Justin Broadrick, and…

HM2 worship out the ass! Buzzsaw dark hardcore all up in this motherfucker. There is something artificial and even derivative about this particular guitar sound but you can’t argue with the immediate impact that it has. Trap Them snare this sound in a stranglehold, squeezing out pure savagery and anger. At 25 mins, Seizures… doesn’t overstay its welcome. It gets in, fucks you up, and gets out.

I was Re-ally surprised to Re-alise, on a Re-cent Re-listen to Metallica’s Re-Load (I’m sorry), just how much I enjoyed the listen. I used to be all elitist about this thing because it represented everything about Metallica that I didn’t like; the whiskey drankin’ mainstream normie metal verses the blistering thrash of old. However, in my old age, and for the purposes of cataloging my thoughts on it here once and for all, I can…

Another chunky, well produced offering from Killing Joke in what I like to call their “second wind” period. The band did absolutely not fuck around during this time and MMXII, which is followed by Pylon and preceded by Absolute Dissent, is a meaty chunk of industrial rock. Tracks like “FEMA Camp” and “Premobile” exist to remind you that Killing Joke are one of the best bands on the planet. Geordie’s guitar is absolutely huge and…

Well this is just absolutely absurd. I gotta be honest, I only listened because of the title of the album – none of this is even remotely in the ballpark of what I usually enjoy. Nevertheless, it served as a decent background soundtrack to my blasting through of The Lost Episodes of Doom lol. Question is – would I ever listen to it again? The answer is, a firm no.

Well then, what a disappointing shower of shit. Its like they took everything that was fun about the first record and purposefully decided to remove it all from the next record. Honestly, there are some good songs here or there, sure, but this just reeks of a cash-in. There was no good reason to return to this project, at least without a good portion of the original line-up.

Imagine how hyped I was when I found out that this 5th episode of Doom was a thing! As someone who has played through the first 4 episodes countless times as a kid and then as a teenager, this WAD, billed as the unofficial 5th episode of Ultimate Doom, but created entirely by John Romero, was the icing on the cake when I started looking for reasons to play through Doom again. Those of you…

Tbh when I was a teenager I only checked out Lacuna Coil because Christina Scabbia was (2021 edit: and still is) all kinds of gorgeous. Off the back of such shallow interest, I never really got much further than the big singles, two of which are included here in the form of “Swamped” and “Heaven’s A Lie”. Yes, these do give the impression to the casual listener that the record is stacked at the front…

I remember people going crazy for these in the 00s era. Some of my friends idolized them but I never so much as ever looked their way, I’m unsure why. Anyway, today is the day I finally listened to The Gallery, and what a record it is! I expected it to sound like At The Gates, but first impressions are more along the lines of Cradle Of Filth meets Children Of Bodom, but with a…

Small town girlllllll! Haha! Now, I’m no stranger to weird and wonderful music, and of course one of the sad caveats that come with such worlds: music that is up its own arse, or collaborations that are just doomed to fail but float along on the artistic merit of those involved. I’m not want to shit on these worlds, but what Metallica and Lou Reed attempt to do with this “bold” and “challenging” record just…

I completely ignored 13 when it came out. I had no interest at all in the reunion, especially after the damage Sharon Osbourne has done to Sabbath over the years, effectively burying the Iommi solo years, and having Heaven And Hell form as a separate band. This is of course, barely the fucking surface of things when it comes to Sharon and her horrendous behaviour, but I digress. 13 is, simply, not very good. The…

Darkly Darkly is a hideously-titled later effort from Cradle Of Filth, in what I refer to as the post-Thornography lull of disinteresting releases (Devil’s Thunder aside). Darkly is just that – dark, almost artificially so. Cradle’s sense of mystery and evil is something that permeates most of it’s musical output over the years, however here on Darkly Darkly the atmosphere seems forced and cheesy, and a little crap, to be honest. Musically, the band are…

Trult, madly, beautifully awful. There is so much manufactured angst in this I feel an inescapable desire to purchase spiked wristbands before the record is over. I wasn’t into Kittie when I was younger and I’m not into them now. Oh well, was worth a go.

Can’t say I’m the biggest fan of this kind of thing but in 2020 I made the decision to look back at some of metal’s greats, including Maiden, Sabbath and Priest. Killers is, of course, a world-class record. I absolutely love the old analogue production, the drumming and the bass are a pleasure to listen to. For a casual listener such as myself, hearing Maiden without Dickinson is weird, but refreshing. Plus, I love that…

As part of my mission to explore more mainstream records that I have overlooked, the most-recognised “debut” of “proper” Pantera came into my periphery. Still boasting some silly tropes of their earlier style, Cowboys From Hell is an odd mix of redneck metal and cringeworthy power metal tropes. Honestly, I just fucking don’t like Pantera. At all.

Thornography could happily be considered the sister release to its predecessor, Nymphetamine. It was also the last album to feature Adrian Erlandsson on drums. It is also, unfortunately, nowhere near as good as Nymphetamine ever was. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great songs here, if we’re going song by song. Its just as a Cradle Of Filth studio album it lacks in several of the departments at which they usually excel: speed, intricacy…

Arguably the album that ended the klassic era of Korn? And by klassic, I suppose I mean the 90s. In which case, Korn left the era with a return to the drab and dirty sound that they had pioneered on their first two records. Issues is a strange one, as alongside the usual clank and rattle of Korn’s nu metal is a whole series of shorter songs; vignettes if you will, which range from bizarre…

Nymphetamine is a double-edged sword for me. I remember tuning into Scuzz TV at the time (I was an avid Cradle fan at this point, having started with Damnation… and worked my way backwards obsessing over the band’s spooky metal), and being enormously disappointed with the single version of the title track, namely “Nymphetamine (Fix)”. As a 14 year old meathead, I loudly proclaimed that I was done with Cradle at this point, and that…

Chunky chunky chunky! Punishing hardcore-tinged dark metal from the kings of the style. God Is War is more of APMD’s perfect storm of a sonic recipe.

This is a strange one. On one hand, it is almost quite stale metal, on the other hand it is quite bizarre and unusual. There exists a strange duality between the two opposite ends of the musical spectrum, as it were. Surreal Overdose is thrashy, and more-metal-than-thou listeners will no doubt enjoy. But for me, dipping in like this, the production and general style is clumsy, and everything seems to be tripping and falling over…

Recieved the sad news that Alexi had passed away (edit: date of writing is 4th Jan 2021) so decided to spin up some older Children Of Bodom classics. I’ve never been the biggest fan, but there is something cathartic about COB’s sprightly music. Sitting in its own world between melodeath, metalcore and something altogether more Blind Guardian-esque, Hatebreeder is a polished collection of lightening fast tunes filled with youthful energy. RIP dude.

Some lovely head-buzzing drones from the earlier portion of the Sunn O))) discography. “Mocking Solemnity” and “Death Becomes You” are excellent offerings, as is the uhhh, interesting take on Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, which is of course, completely and utterly unrecognisable. The biggest drawback with this album is the middle two collab tracks. I love Sunn O))), and I love Merzbow, but fuck if these works are not irritating as fuck. The second…

What is considered by many to be a missed step by Cradle is actually one of my favourite releases for them. Depending on how old school the Cradle fan you are talking to is, Cradle either died with Midian, Damnation… or Nymphetamine. I can see arguements for all of the above, when comparing and contrasting to the original style and vision of the band, but all of the above are great albums in their own…

A mammoth of a record, pulling from a myriad of styles and influences. Can’t say I’ve ever been massive on BTBAM but I heavily enjoyed this album.

Terria was my first taste of Devin’s up and down world of solo work. I vaguely remember Syncestra (is that spelt correctly?) coming out, but this goes back even further. I’m not sure what it was about Terria that made it stand out amongst some of the others, but its a bizarre, airy trip through some long and dense tracks. If I had one criticism of Terria it would be that it doesn’t really go…

Easily, hands down, zero argument: the best Sabbath album with Dio. Released seemingly randomly between the band’s albums with Tony Martin on vocals, Iommi rather unceremoniously sacked off that entire line up to reform with Geezer and Dio to reignite the Mob Rules line up. There seems to be a lot of shit online about Dio’s lyrics on here, but I genuinely don’t think they are particular awful, especially on the usual Dio cheese to…

Cross Purposes is yet another Sabbath album in the seemingly endlessly bland Tony Martin era. I don’t blame Martin for this per se, but every album he fronts just happens to be some different variation on the theme of boring stadium rock. That being said, Cross Purposes is definitely the heaviest output to feature this line up thus far (not counting Forbidden) and notably includes Geezer Butler back on bass, even though he was not…

The debut from Priest is far removed from a lot of the band’s later albums, from any of their eras. In fact, Rocka Rolla is a snapshot in time of a band that may not have ever moved into the world of heavy metal. Its not for me, but I’m glad I started from the beginning.

It took me quite by surprise when I turned on Radio 1 one day whilst in the work van, and was treated to a single from the up and coming new record from long-time heavies, Mastodon. Wait, like, they play this shit on the radio now? Since when? But I digress. I’ve been meaning to check out some “later” Mastodon stuff for a while, and the cover art for this thing stood out to me…

Christ! What the hell is this!? Doomy Sabbath? That’s what I’m talking about. In something of a U-turn from Cross Purposes (the heaviest Tony Martin album but still a shitter), Forbidden is a weighty record. It sounds like a mix between 90s Cathedral and Warning, but with a lacklustre vocal performance over the top of it all. As a whole, the album is a swing and a miss, but showed Sabbath on a correcting path,…

Untouchables was incredibly anticipated at the time, even more so on the strength of opening track and lead single “Here To Stay”. Even although in hindsight, the gap between this and the previous record was fairly short (3 years? Ish?), reports in media at the time had Untouchables down as some sort of Chinese Democracy style spiral of ridiculous cost and excess – a record stuck in studio purgatory. When it did drop, Untouchables was…

I understand that one should expect the unexpected when it comes to Mr. Bungle, and I understand that this is a revisit to a pre-self titled world, but I did not expect this to be as metal as it is. Sure, the inclusion of Scott Ian on guitar and Dai Lombardo on drums probably goes a long way in facilitating this feel, but there is not a single saxophone, trumpet, jazzy interlude or glockenspiel to…

Like its predecessor The Eternal Idol, this more or less builds on the failure that was Seventh Star, although not in the same level of success as Eternal Idol, which is much more polished. Nevertheless, I am wholly enjoying these Tony Martin records for the first time.

Probably my least favourite of the Dio & Sabbath original era. Don’t get me wrong, this era isn’t exactly my favourite to begin with, but I’m working through Sabbath’s stuff chronologically, and returned to Heaven and Hell in full. I mean no disrespect to Dio, but the swords and sorcery approach to Sabbath doesn’t really do anything for me. Fortunately, this is still an excellently put together record, and its an enjoyable listen all the…

My favourite of the Sabbath 80s output. Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan is a bizarre choice to succeed Dio, and whilst these two worlds collide awkwardly, it results in the most interesting post-Ozzy album I’ve heard thusfar. There are no stand-out tracks for me, per se, but rather Iommi’s guitars have real weight to them once again, and Gillan’s warble adds a quality that has been missing since Ozzy. I’m not an Ozzy fanboy at all,…

Dio fans will most definitely disagree with me on this one, but Live Evil is the most interesting recording from the original 80s Dio era of Black Sabbath. That’s not to shit on the two studio albums that they did together, but this live album is an incredible window how the band operated in those times of change, blending their original legacy whilst creating a new one. Hey, let’s be honest, Dio singing Ozzy-era Sabbath…

Bitter Suites For Succubi is a strange stop-gap EP / mini album between the release of Midian and the band’s epic Damnation And The Day. I’m not entirely sure of the reasons why they decided to release this as it is, but I expect it was something to keep the fans happy and busy when the band were no doubt in the long negotiating phase of being signed to Sony records. I loved Bitter Suites……

I never realised how truly rare Remix 2000 was until recently. Fuck knows where my copy is, probably buried under some junk in the attic. Anyway, Remix 2000 builds on the original Remix CD that came out in 1997, and features – how did you guess? – remixes of Mushroomhead tracks from the first two records. There’s probably nothing of value here if you’re not a huge Mushroomhead fan, but its worth noting that the…

Never Say Die is the final and somewhat lacklustre album the band did with Ozzy, before 13 came out a few years back. Sabbath (read: Iommi) can be accused of phoning it in at multiple times in their career, but this is the first time the band well and truly jumped the shark. Never Say Die isn’t awful, it just doesn’t really do anything or go anywhere. Ozzy had already left the band by this…

I haven’t listened to Cruelty… in donkey’s years. In fact, I didn’t even know there had been (finally!) a remaster of it either, so I decided to listen to both back to back for the purposes of commiting the records finally the vaults of Lines In Wax. What surprised me however, was that I heavily preferred the first mix to the remaster, despite the heavy shortcomings of this original release. But anyways, I’ll get to…

The mob ruuuuullllllleeessssssss! Or, so I’m told. Not an awful album by any stretch, and is given an injection of new energy what with Bill Ward bowing out and Vinnie Appice coming on board for the drumming role. I just can’t buy into the Dio ham factor. Other than that, to me, the uninitiated Dio listener, Mob Rules is more or less a continuation of the themes on Heaven and Hell.

Machine Violence is a breath of fresh air. Don’t get me wrong, if I wanted to be a cunt I could say that Realize sound like a mix of Decline & Fall era Godflesh, and something like Static X, but this is industrial metal folks, and it’s pretty difficult to not be derivative. When I say a breath of fresh air – I mean, when was the last time an industrial record was pushed by…

I mean… where do I begin? Dusk… is probably the benchmark for measuring all Cradle albums, and whilst yes, there are some issues with the production, these aren’t anywhere near as glaring as those which plagued the follow-up record, and if anything, these gremlins add to the atmospheric whole, rather than detract from the experience at all. If I was to make one gripe about the production, its that sometimes the drums are almost totally…

Wow. This has to be the absolute low point thus far in my Sabbath journey. Surely it cannot get any worse than this? I mean, for a large portion of their (read: Iommi’s career) the band have peddled awful rock and or roll with that inescapable 80s feel. Surprisingly this varies in flavour and in quality from album to album, with Seventh Star being the absolute lowest point utter dogshit rock bottom that is nothing…

WOMAN! I hope you are ready for Danzig’s dark and evil moooosak to pour all over you? Wolves, wine, satan, leather and enormous belt buckles are the order of the day here. But, in all seriousness, this is a genuinely enjoyable romp through Danzig’s unique charge of rock and or roll. Listen loud, and enjoy.

Necro Deathmort are an incredibly underrated band. Music Of Bleak Origin is – I think – the band’s own origin, and they have come leaps and bounds since then. The records since this one float away in a dreamy yet claustrophobic hell of electronic and industrial music, but this debut album has more in common with Godflesh than it does to say, something like Scorn. There is an electronic backbone to this nightmarish journey, but…

Well isn’t this just awful. I was reading about Halford’s 90s musical excursions when I discovered he’d collaborated with John 5 on an industrial project. ‘What was all this then?’ I thought innocently to myself, but it was not long before the shitty, studded metal dildo that is 90s industrial fucked me once again. Like, this is not industrial music. The tag is used far too loosely. You can’t just get some heavy snare sounds,…

Megadeth’s first record is full of vitriol, hate and boundless energy. Its quite sad that Mustaine’s entire career has been a case of trying to one-up Metallica, but off the mark with Killing Is My Business…, it certainly shows that there are far worse motivations than this kind of thing. The album is fast and fairly heavy. I can’t get my head around the Megadeth “version” of “The Four Horsemen” but that’s a small price…

Say what you want about Korn but the early records are dismal affairs of grubby downtuned heaviness and generally unsavoury vocal topics. The self titled is a dark journey in itself, but Life Is Peachy sounds heavier, more drab and scruffy, and generally is a very nasty record from start to finish. The nu metal stylings may not have aged well, but the creepy, messed up vibe of this thing lives on even today. This…

Hrmmmm. Without wanting to sound mean, this has to be one of the most stereotypical rock and or roll / metal records that I have ever heard in my entire worthless life. Every possible trope is dragged out kicking and screaming, and it almost makes metal a parody of itself. Yes, this is symptomatic of the trends at the time, but Jesus, this is awful. “Mr. Tinkertrain” is one of the nonciest things I’ve ever…

Many thanks to local guitar smithery legend Luke for turning me onto this Bossk record. Bossk are not a name that I have come across in sometime, in fact not since the I and II records from quite some time ago. Audio Noir builds on those sprawling compositions, but offers – in my opinion – a more metallic sound, and a tracklist that is consistent and flows well.

This took me by surprise. Recently decided to investigate some “proto” metal, as in, who came up alongside Sabbath in the formation of the heavy metal sound? I was recommended Blue Cheer, who sit a bit more on the bluesy end of the spectrum (hey, I guess the clue is in the name). I love the crunch and the muddy sound of the guitars. It fills me with complete joy. Something so simple yet all…

I’ve never properly taken the time to sit and listen to Dream Theater before so decided it would probably best to start right at the beginning. I understand that a different vocalist is at work here, but honestly, When Dream And Day Unite is pretty much as I expected it to be, discounting a roughness around the edges. This has 80s to the max vibes; snippets of hair metal breach through, and that snare is…

Greed Killing – as a single – is probably the lowest point in Napalm’s career, if I had to pick one. The band were pursuing an industrial or “groove metal” (says the press) direction at the time, but Greed Killing is a shameful commercial grab that is hideously out of place even with the album it’s from, let alone the band’s output in general.

Did someone say proto-thrash? You can literally smell the BO when listening to this record. I conjure images of a band of spotty teenagers or twentysomethings playing Flying Vs and wearing cut off shirts; performing before a crowd of greasy-haired, denim jacket wearing beer drinkers bumping into each other in time to the music. Metal is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? A lot of the “bigger” bands either seem to come out blazing; defining their…

Power Trip has been on my to do list for fucking years. I have no shame in saying that it was the grisly reminder of Ryan Gale’s untimely death that led me to finally taking this record and listening to it. I can only offer my condolences to his friends and family; he seemed well liked and of course loved, and after listening to this record I can attest that he was a brilliant front…

Head Cage is a solid (yet decidedly not grindcore) offering from all-round good eggs and metallic riff kings, Pig Destroyer. Immediately, I’m taken aback by how “compressed” and artificial this album sounds; it’s like everything is fighting for competition and the drums sound treated and false. I’m sure this is some technical engineer’s wet dream but honestly it sounds like complete shit. Thankfully, after the initial adjustment to this production style, it gets a bit…

How does one critique an album like Reign In Blood? I often ask that of myself when I start to write about something that is often considered legendary, timeless or even just historically important in regards to the genre at hand. This time, the genre is thrash metal, or arguably even just metal as a whole, and the impossible album to analyse is Slayer’s magnum opus. I’ve never really been that big a fan of…

Selfless was the big, shiny offering that Godflesh dropped for Columbia, when Earache proffered up a bunch of bands to the mainstream. Ultimately, the gamble failed, but this move no doubt gained Godflesh a whole world of new fans from the industrial metal world, especially in America. Selfless is noticeably much cleaner than what came before it. Even against the precision of Pure, Selfless soars, with melodic riffs, uplifting synthesisers, and the largest amount of…

I stumbled across this forgotten gem one day and on a random Saturday shift, I made my way through the whole thing. First off, let’s put all our cards on the table here. Hopefully, I’m not offending anyone when I say that The Mist (or at least the Gottverlassen album) are a pure Sepultura clone. I mean, just take a look at that record sleeve for a start! If you can look past that however,…

Holy shit this is bad. The “goth” end of the industrial spectrum has never ranked highly for me, but Mine is a perfect example of all the awful tropes that the genre perpetuates. The guitar playing is lazy and dated, as is the harsher vocal styles. The clean vocals are pretty good but are mixed awkwardly. Percussion wise, we’re clearly in drum machine territory here (if not, then that’s some stale-ass drumming, guys). A prominent…

Images And Words is, I believe, the second Dream Theater album and the first where the really cringey album sleeves began. Touching more into a power metal vibe than I am admittedly usually comfortable with, Images And Words is an upbeat yet often cheesy romp through some serious musical dexterity. Its nice to see the origin of “Metropolis Part I”, and closing track “Learning To Live” does unfold to be rather epic, but on the…

I’m not entirely sure what struck me to finally listen to Motörhead. Over the years I’ve written them off as a band that sounds exactly the same for decades, peddling the same muddy rock and or metal as the years go by. Several times have I seen Motörhead live, mainly at festivals, where I have remained in much of the same school of thought. I’ll admit, starting at their self titled release from 1977 has…

Vol. 4 is often regarded as one of the very best albums that Sabbath put out, but I’ve always found it kinda hit and miss. It seems to me like the album is arse-backwards; side A for the most part being rather weak, with the hideous “Changes” and the irrelevant “FX”. Side B completely outguns it however, with a veritable bevy of sonic titans in its arsenal. As a whole though I love how dirty…

Satanic Royalty is a beautiful record from the ever excellent Midnight, leaning more towards the blackened metal sound than the punk side of things. Satanic Royality is dark and fucked up (I mean, just check out that incredible artwork). I can’t fluff this post up any longer, just play it already, and bang your head!

I don’t know what it is about Manowar, because I usually can’t stand this kind of thing, but there is something about Battle Hymns (and a few of the other earlier Manowar records I’ll no doubt cover at some point) that is really endearing to me. For one, the bass playing is fucking fantastic, as is the drumming, but these bare bones, cheesy as fuck tunes are just too enjoyable for me to pretend otherwise….

Ah, Cold Lake. I’ve been avoiding this one for a while, and for good reason. Cheeky chappy glam metal is not what I am particularly looking for when it comes to spinning Celtic Frost records, but I gotta admit, after a few tracks of adjusting to the sheer absurdity here (just compare this to Monotheist lol), I actually started to get into it. This won’t be winning any awards any time soon, but Cold Lake suffers…

This is, traditionally, in the days before I decided to go through the entire discography, where my Sabbath listening would end. There would be many insults thrown at this album during drinking sessions “back in the day” (and a few defences bandied about too). The main sticking point would be about how high Ozzy is singing on some of the tracks here. Don’t get me wrong, he can get shrill at the best of times,…

Årabrot play an interesting blend of rock and metal; from the noisy to the soothing, the chaotic to the serene. Their history is long and intriguing, but I start here today with The Gospel, which comes on a bit like Great Annihilator-era Swans through a twisted, modernised and European lens. That trite description of course does them no justice, but I thoroughly enjoyed the record and look forward to listening to more.

Slipknot is one of those albums that I have absolutely played into the ground. My introduction to – and infatuation with – Slipknot began with the follow-up record; 2001’s impossibly heavy Iowa album, something which I do not take for granted. The impact that such a record would have had on a 12 year old me cannot be put into words. I have tried and tried and tried to listen to Iowa again, imagining that…

Despite not really being interested in the band’s output for many years, Jeff Hatrix’s departure from Mushroomhead felt like a gut punch, and to me, even with J Mann back in the band, this particular gut punch felt like the final nail in the coffin for a band that was long past their prime. I had little to no hope for A Wonderful Life, and I even considered if I should bother listening at all,…

XX was the record that began my love affair with the bizarre world of Mushroomhead. It may be a re-issue of older material, which is presented here in various forms of remixed, remastered and completely re-recorded states, but to most if not all Mushroomhead fans outside of the USA, this was the first encounter. My favourite band was Slipknot, so when I was 12 years old, surely you can understand why I gravitated towards bands…

The End Of All Things To Come was released around the time that nu-metal began to tank in the mainstream, so although I enjoyed the single off of this, I totally snoozed on the record as a whole. Let’s be honest too, as much as I loved LD.50, I was far too immature at 12 years old to really dig (geddit?) what Mudvayne was doing at the time. Mudvayne have always had a serious musical…

By the time Beautiful Stories dropped in 2010 I’d lost most if not all interest in what was once my favourite band. I remember my mate Pip played it in his car and it seemed like more of the same badly mixed, lazy, phoned in redneck metal with keyboards. However, I’m not sure if it’s because the band has fallen even further into a pit of absolute cess in recent times, but I can now…

This was a random spin for me, but I gotta be honest, I absolutely loved it. My limited experience with Prong had them pegged as a hardcore/thrash kinda crossover with industrial tones. Power Of The Damager however, is a hard hitting metal release through and through. Its all about the dry, bludgeoning riffs, and macho delivery. Its very 101, but its a super heavy record.

I am fairly unfamiliar with Prong, only having heard the name being dropped in every now and then. Force Fed kinda sounds to me like DRI crossed with a very subtle industrial bent; that driving, slightly rigid approach to metal counter acting the hardcore / trash style jams. I didn’t fall in love with this but I enjoyed it all the same.

I caught these guys supporting Mortiis all the way back in – I think – 2004. It was whenever he was touring The Grudge. Anyway, I remember absolutely nothing of the set as I was 14 and mainly there to have a goose at Mortiis’ show, but I stumbled upon the band’s only full length recently so decided to give it a spin. Expect angry industrial. And when I say industrial, expect the NIN-vein of…

Merciless is a stunning record from the almost flawless Godflesh project. Nearly every part of me wishes that this EP was a bit longer and more of a full length experience. I love the feelings that Merciless invokes; deep melancholic passages are underpinned by guttural bass and clanking industrial rhythms. Imagine the fragility of what would come later with Jesu but set to a glowing apocalyptic rumble. A stunning EP and a true vision of…

I’ve seen so much! Indeed. This little release was a companion of sorts to the Selfless record. Back when Godflesh was on Columbia (through Earache) it seemed like they attempted to release some singles commercially, so this and “Crush My Soul” got the single treatment, which included some edits or dub remixes but not much else. The dub is a decent listen and is worth the goosey alone if you’re a massive Godflesh fan. 

Where does one begin with a record that is as life changing for me as Streetcleaner? Sandwiched in somewhere between my obsessions with grindcore and early Swans, Streetcleaner took me to places I didn’t know exist. I’m trying to remember where I first heard this album. I think I downloaded it off some dodgy Russian mp3 site, after my sixth form teacher mentioned Godflesh multiple times in class. I liked it, but I didn’t really…

Today I stumbled upon an old UK-based industrial metal band that blends “crust punk” into the sound. If by “blend” they simply mean “have Phil Vane from ENT on vocals”, then they have achieved something, at least. Not wanting to diss underground music unless absolutely necessary, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you, dear reader, that this fucking blows. It wheels out every tired trope of the industrial genre (or what…

Us And Them is probably the least popular of the original run of Godflesh full-length records. When I first bought this (from the Earache stall at Damnation Deathfest festival 2009) it was before I was on Discogs or anything like that, so I thought it was some sort of weird bootleg or remix album. I remember finding the heavy drum and bass parts infuriating, before turning it off and throwing it into a pile. It…

What in the absolute holy fuck is this? Dogpile appear to be a gay porn focused industrial metal band (yes you read that right) from the 90s. They had a few short releases and that was that. This is… what is this, exactly? Musically, the tracks are rather tight; mechanical industrial drum machine tropes up against riffs upon riffs upon riffs. The production is a little flat, but nothing unforgivable. And then, you have the…

It was only with the release of Godflesh’s new full-length album A World Lit Only By Fire that I realised that I hadn’t even done a post for their comeback EP, Decline & Fall. I suppose it’s because it dropped when Lines In Wax was taking a bit of a break earlier in the year, and I did most of my listening for Decline & fall lying on beaches on exotic Thai islands (a strange…

Wellity wellity wellity, this just fucking came out of nowhere didn’t it? There is always room in the world for more Godflesh so thank the heavens that Justin & Mr. Green have decided to bleed more of that sweet, sweet crushing goodness out into the world. Post Self might be one of the best Godflesh records ever. That is a sweepingly bold statement I know, but the band have expanded on their previous release with…

Godflesh’s return was one of the most exciting things ever. I traveled to France in 2010 to catch their first ever live appearance since splitting up years before, and then I fanged it over to Roadburn the following year in order to catch them slamming out Streetcleaner in it’s entirety. I unfortunately missed the performance of Pure live at Roadburn two years later but after catching a few more live appearances around the UK I…

Lick Forever Dog was a little single (?) / EP that came out in 1991. It had a crappy edit of the full-length track off of Vae Solis, but was accompanied by some stunning re-dubalubs of “On Ice” and “Heavy Blood”, which are some of my favourite tunes off the accompanying Vae Solis record.  The original 12″ version isn’t worth hunting down unless you are a collector of Scorn records, as all the tracks here…

Well this is a noisy little badger. A completists item though, most definitely. “Lament” is a disturbing wall of noise recorded in Italy, and “Soliel Noire” is some sort of live or early version of “Black Sun Rising” (I should have seen it coming, with that song title) or one of its seemingly endless Deliverance variants. All in all, nothing new, but it’s nice to hear these tracks all noisy and grimy.

Colossus is a trip. In only a year since their debut, this record showcases the sheer progression that Scorn was making as a project. It would perhaps be lazy of me to say that Colossus continues in the vien of the moody, dubby second half of Vae Solis, but truly it is something much more sparse, harrowing and desperate. The songs are length trips, spaced-out and drums are drenched often in reverb. The feel is…

After the release of their album Vae Solis earlier in 1992, Scorn quickly followed up with the Deliverance…. EP? I mean, I call it an EP but its long as fuck. I see the Deliverance sessions as one long sprawling track, more than individual segments. The way the the song titles flow kinda encourage this too; “Deliverance Through Dub”, “Delivered”, “To High Heaven”. At first it seems repetitive and annoying, but you eventually get used…