Throwback Thursday: Milestone Anniversaries for Death and Gorguts!

DanLeave a comment

ITPObscura

So, can we talk about how tricky it can be finding post-worthy anniversaries for specific dates on Throwbacks like these? I tried looking back through and finding cool stuff that’s happened or dropped on June 21, and…couldn’t find much of anything I felt like writing about. Damn you, history.

BUT…break outside the strict adherence to post-date alignment, and suddenly, things got easier. After shifting the search parameters to include “+/- a day or two,” I came almost immediately upon two death metal classics: Death‘s Individual Thought Patterns, which turns 25 tomorrow; and Gorguts‘ Obscura, which crosses 20 on Saturday. THROWBACK TOPIC DECIDED.

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Column: The Path To Paradise Begins In Hell

HeraLeave a comment

The Path to Paradise Begins In Hell

On last month’s column, I discussed some of the genres to look forward to as I descended forwards and ascended backwards into my timeline as a metalhead. I also mentioned going into some deep cuts, but have decided to forgo that completely as I want to continue exploring genres and their gateway albums. With that in mind, it’s time we move forward into a hybrid genre that fully led me down a rabbit hole.

Back in my peak symphonic metal days – that would be early 2009 to late 2012 – I didn’t dabble into any other genre except when someone recommended me an album or a song to listen to. Of course, I did, but didn’t move forward with those recommendations, hoping that, once I got comfortable with my metal listening habits, I would take the time find out what I really liked and pursue that. However, Pandora would throw a wrench in my routine by slowly introducing a dose of death into the music.

It’s time we explore my foray into symphonic death metal.   Continue reading →

Album Review: Khemmis – “Desolation”

JoshLeave a comment

Khemmis - Desolation

Denver’s Khemmis took the fast lane to acclaim on debut Absolution and quickly followed it with the ante-upper Hunted and now return with Desolation which will catapult the band into a stratosphere they’ve yet to see. And it should because it’s THAT good. Take everything that made those first two a success, split it, mix it, swirl it and make it, for lack of a better word, better and you have this album. Weird right? Not really, since in my opinion bands with any salt at all will do their best to better themselves and their craft. Khemmis are hungry and it shows time and again. Here they’ve topped themselves but more than that have truly entered the all exclusive hall of heavy metal legends and with three albums of top quality I can’t see this stopping anytime soon. Continue reading →

Profile: Humbaba of Saudi Arabian Black Metallers AlNamrood

VincentLeave a comment

al-namrood

Folk metal has a tendency to be an insular, European-centric genre, particularly so at the intersection of folk and black metal.  But looking past the acts that have gained mainstream attention yields many and sundry iterations of folk metal as diverse as the cultures across the world that make them.  Since 2008, Saudi Arabia’s AlNamrood have blended black metal’s staunch anti-religion focus and dark aggression with the folk melodies and instruments of their native Middle Eastern home.  Ahead of the release of their newest album, 10 Years of Resistance, AlNamrood’s vocalist Humbaba was gracious enough to answer our set of Profile questions.  Read on below the cut.

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Nine Circles ov…2018: A Mid-Year Report

ChrisLeave a comment

2018 mid year report

We’re about to hit the mid-point of the year, and as ever the amount of quality releases seems to increase with each passing breath.  I’ve spent some portion of attention to 183 metal releases so far, and in a year where I find my personal tastes drifting more and more away from metal there’s always something that manages to pull me back in.  So far there doesn’t seem to be a particular genre or style pressing its nose against the Trend Window™ (unless you count the amount of sax going on I guess…) and I’ve been surprised at the sheer variety of music pulling at my nerve endings these past six months.

So similar to last year, consider this edition of Nine Circles ov… a snapshot.  It’s a measure of a point in time, personal to me and indicative as to where my head’s at halfway through the shitstorm that is 2018.  And since that’s probably all the justification I’m going to give, so let’s do this. Continue reading →