Tag: Metal

The Marshmallow Ghosts Count Down to The Witching Hour

For 12 years, Savannah-based Ryan Graveface’s spookcentric project The Marshmallow Ghosts has released annual Halloween-themed records that are as distinctive in packaging as they in concept. This year’s offering, The Witching Hour, is presented as a radio show featuring a mix of call-in ghost stories interspersed with songs by The Marshmallow Ghosts, San Francisco’s swirly… Continue reading The Marshmallow Ghosts Count Down to The Witching Hour

Sevendust Drills for Blood & Stone

Kind of hard to believe it’s coming up on 25 years that Atlanta “nu metal” thrashers Crawlspace hooked up with TVT Records and changed their name to Sevendust. The quintet – still with its original lineup (though guitarist Clint Lowery temporarily departed for three years in the mid-aughts) – has seen numerous highs and lows… Continue reading Sevendust Drills for Blood & Stone

Mastodon to Release 20 Years of Rarities

Geez, has it really been 20 years since Mastodon first trudged onto the Earth? Indeed, it has, and to commemorate the milestone Reprise Records is releasing an album of rare recordings from the Atlanta-based bombardiers on Sept. 11. Medium Rarities includes a bevy of B-sides, soundtrack contributions, cover songs and other castoffs such as instrumental… Continue reading Mastodon to Release 20 Years of Rarities

Brown Acid Compilation Series

The Eclectic Brown-Aid Acid Test: Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Record Collectors There was kind of a weird spot just a smidge past the mid ’60s when the halcyon, zombie-dance daze of the much vaunted hippie era took a dark turn. Music critics and pop culture obsessives will probably argue till the end of time… Continue reading Brown Acid Compilation Series

Misanthropic Aggression Unfetters Freaks in Hell

Misanthropic Aggression is an apt description for nearly all I witness on social media on a daily basis, certainly lately. It also happens to be the name of an Atlanta-based black/death/thrash metal band, whose three-song 7-inch is out this week on Boris Records, carrying the absolutely brilliant title Alcoholic Polyneuropathic Freaks in Hell (which would… Continue reading Misanthropic Aggression Unfetters Freaks in Hell

Witch Taint Ain’t for the Faint, Bitch

From deep within the putrid bowels of Gary, Indiana comes Witch Taint, without question the vilest, darkest, most extreme Norwegian black metal band from Indiana ever. Proof can be found in the goat’s-blood-encrusted grooves of their debut album, Sons of Midwestern Darkness, out now on Tee Pee Records. The core duo of Lance the King… Continue reading Witch Taint Ain’t for the Faint, Bitch

William DuVall Goes It Alone

William “Kip” DuVall has a long history within Atlanta’s music landscape and far beyond. Most of us oldsters likely first bore witness to his talents at the Metroplex or 688 on one of the many nights his hardcore band Neon Christ (with DuVall on guitar) blasted cracks in the walls. Speaking of blasting, he next… Continue reading William DuVall Goes It Alone

Cool New Marshmallow Ghosts LP, and Other Graveface News

Savannah’s Graveface Records caught the Halloween spirit, as usual, and they’re spreading the bad news gospel through new music and a planned museum devoted to true crime, sideshow oddities and all things bizarre. First up, the Marshmallow Ghosts’ 11th annual Halloween album, The Old Witch’s Cavern, teams label boss Ryan Graveface with Casket Girls, Kid Dakota,… Continue reading Cool New Marshmallow Ghosts LP, and Other Graveface News

Cloak

Cruel Optimism: Cloak Ascends from the Venomous Depths of Atlanta Metal Hell to Face The Burning Dawn There’s a certain point in the trajectory of a band (well, any band that’s to a degree “making it” in whatever’s left of the music biz, that is) where what is perceived by the average Joe as success… Continue reading Cloak

Forsaken Profits Scorch and Destroy

A supporter of Forsaken Profits’ Bandcamp page named Larry Parker wrote the best summary you’ll ever read about the band, calling new album Destroy the Evidence “perfect church and school zone music.” That’s an apt description of music that’s dialed into the suburban rage and youthful rebellion fueling thrash metal, hardcore punk and other sounds captured throughout the… Continue reading Forsaken Profits Scorch and Destroy

Motörhead’s Early Albums Get Deluxe Reissues, Again

Well, hey, now that everyone from that classic-era lineup is dead, Motörhead are getting the fancy-schmancy reissue treatment one more time for their early albums, courtesy of BMG. Kicking things off on Oct. 25 are 40th anniversary 2CD/3LP editions of Overkill and Bomber, both the original albums augmented with full live shows recorded in the… Continue reading Motörhead’s Early Albums Get Deluxe Reissues, Again

Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind

Corey Taylor is back with the sixth studio album from mainstream metal mainstays Slipknot, and while it’s kind of a mishmash content-wise, it does make sense for their fan base, as they’re all over the map musically as well. In spite of the content being so sporadic, the production is certainly well-focused, especially for this… Continue reading Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Infest the Rats’ Nest

Insatiable Aussie monolith King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard release the yang side of this year’s two-album offering with Infest the Rats’ Nest. It’s a hell-bent, interplanetary suicide mission – but we just call it Gizzard’s take on Metal. Infest the Rats’ Nest follows the cautionary tract of a world where human intervention has led… Continue reading King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Infest the Rats’ Nest

Five Years Rippin’ Out the Jams

Atlanta-based A Rippin’ Production spent over four years putting on some of the best metal and punk shows in town before earning booking responsibilities at 529 back in April. To celebrate its growth from a one-man operation to a multi-person force in the East Atlanta Village, the company will host a three-night fifth birthday party… Continue reading Five Years Rippin’ Out the Jams

Torche

Nunez Amplification: Torche’s Jonathan Nunez Expands (and Expounds Upon) the Possibilities of Sound It’s really, really hard to get ahead these days – especially in the music biz. Sadly, the current pop milieu is a by-the-numbers, cut-and-paste, ProTools music marketplace. Granted, the lowest common denominator pop neoliberalism of the present day is nothing new. It’s… Continue reading Torche

What’s the Matter with Holy Beach?

Atlanta-based band Holy Beach formed earlier this year, and the six-piece is already ready to suit your angsty listening needs with its heavy, experimental debut album, All That Matters is This Matter. When John Lally of shoegaze group Sleep Therapy’s songwriting took a metaphysical turn, he recruited guitarists Jon Hilton (Us Prizms), Mike Gibbs (Krem Love)… Continue reading What’s the Matter with Holy Beach?

Sadistic Ritual’s Happy Death Day

On June 14, Atlanta’s Boris Records and Athens-based Unspeakable Axe Records will free thrash metal traditionalists Sadistic Ritual’s debut album Visionaire of Death from the fifth circle of Hell*. For several years now, the band’s gruesome vision, inspired by Kreator, Sodom and Megadeth, has made for some of the best music to emerge from a… Continue reading Sadistic Ritual’s Happy Death Day

Paladin’s Ascension Out Now on Prosthetic

European metal-loving, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening-playing four-piece Paladin dispense soaring riffs and scorching vocals aplenty on new album Ascension, out since May 17 on Prosthetic Records. The twin guitars of singer Taylor Washington and Sadistic Ritual’s Alex Parra complement the solid rhythm section of drummer Nathan McKinney and bassist and vocalist Andy McGraw across 11… Continue reading Paladin’s Ascension Out Now on Prosthetic

Baroness

The “Southern Thing” That Cannot Be: Stairclimbing, Genre Splicing and Blowing Ears Open with Baroness Let’s face it, it’s never been exactly cool to be from the South. Sure, The Southern Thing has its own mystique. And there are buttloads of bands that have honed, mythologized, fetishized, commoditized, struggled with and even claimed to deconstruct… Continue reading Baroness

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Rodrigo y Gabriela: Echoes of the Past, Focus on the Present The music that Mexican acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela make is sometimes characterized as “acoustic speed metal.” The pair’s flamenco-influenced instrumental approach has certainly attracted fans from the metal scene, but Rod y Gab’s style draws from flamenco and classical guitar as much… Continue reading Rodrigo y Gabriela

Pretty Maids – A Blast From the Past

The annals of unlikely rock ‘n roll box sets include the 21-disc Smithereens Mega Box and “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 15-disc Squeeze Box. There’s also The Complete Archies Albums Collection. But nothing seems as unlikely as Pretty Maids showing up with an extensive album collection that proudly captures their run from 1995 to 2016. Even weirder,… Continue reading Pretty Maids – A Blast From the Past

Riverside

Ultimate Trip: Polish Rockers Riverside Set Their Sights on North America Riverside isn’t exactly a household name in the American music scene, but the Polish rock group is on a mission to change that. Founded in 2001, the band balances metal, progressive and ambient approaches with a strong emphasis on melody. The group’s 2003 debut,… Continue reading Riverside

Baroness Complete Color Cycle with Gold & Grey

Onetime Savannah band Baroness, now based in Philly, will release their new album Gold & Grey on June 14 via Abraxan Hymns. Like their other LPs since 2007, this one features a spectacular color-themed cover painting from vocalist, guitarist and band founded John Baizley. “Like the forthcoming album itself, [the painting] is the result of… Continue reading Baroness Complete Color Cycle with Gold & Grey

State of Georgia, Public Records Division

Intending to dive into the Record Store Day shenanigans on April 13 in hopes of getting your paws on one of those Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls” picture discs? Well, while you’re feverishly digging through the crates, you might wanna also keep an eye out for these special releases from some Georgia old-timers. Bingo Hand Job… Continue reading State of Georgia, Public Records Division

Voivod

Answers that Seem Like Questions: Voivod’s Unlikely, Eternal, Intergalactic Quest When Canada’s Voivod first emerged on the (then) nascent proto-thrash/metal/crossover scene of the mid ’80s, nobody knew exactly what to make of the band. Voivod’s first album, War and Pain (1984) was kind of like an ancient time capsule from the future that had drifted… Continue reading Voivod

Cloak Heaves Forth Two Hits From Hell

Atlanta band Cloak’s heavy, harrowing sound dodges metal or punk subgenre classification. This bent on creating bleak rock ‘n’ roll without adhering to norms gives the group a Danzig-like devil-may-care creativity that’s lacking among modern horror-punk copycats.  That’s why recording a cover of “London Dungeon” for a 7-inch titled Two Hits From Hell seems more like a natural step than a… Continue reading Cloak Heaves Forth Two Hits From Hell

Vimur: Pummeling Skulls for Sport

Vimur has transformed over time from a one-man black metal recording project of some guy calling himself Vaedis Eosphorus into one of the most formative Atlanta bands on the Boris Records roster. Their latest album Triumphant Master of Fates arrives March 1 and pays homage to musical heroes from much colder climates. “Seditious Apertures” starts… Continue reading Vimur: Pummeling Skulls for Sport