metal

Profile: North Carolina metal crew Wretched

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The end of 2025 is quickly approaching, but before we get too hyped up about 2026 releases we still have plenty of good stuff to touch on from the year that was very much still is. For instance, Decay, the fifth full-length album from North Carolina metal merchants Wretched. Released back on October 17th through Metal Blade, their latest output offers something for everyone. Decay explores a wide range of different weights and complexities, while holding firm to a sound that is truly authentic. It’s raw in all the right ways. To help us explore this album and this project a little further, Billy (vocals), Steven (guitars), Andrew (bass), and Marshall (drums) all stepped in to respond to our Profile questions. It’s an awesome read to accompany an awesome release. So, I invite you to take the jump and get started!

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Profile: James Woodard of genre benders The Grasshopper Lies Heavy

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The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy image courtesy of Oscar Moreno

There’s just something about Heavy, the new album from San Antonio’s The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, that puts it in its own box even though comparisons to Mastodon and whatever the band du jour is from that spectrum will no doubt be thrown around. For good reason though, this album is as catchy as Torche on their best day and as thick as Crowbar on their worst…seriously, that GOOD. These eight tracks are an ingenious class on how to write a fistful of earworms and keep the metalheads coming back for more while simultaneously slaying all the mathcore kids at the blackjack table. It’s a party and a slammin’ metal show rolled up in one hell of a shell, just take a look and listen to this recently released video. Getting away from Heavy for a sec; for those of you who don’t know, the band are no one-trick ponies so be sure and take a leisurely stroll through their Bandcamp page to find all sorts of treasures from all over the musical map and to see why we say these guys are pretty damn amazing. But first, dig in below as guitarist and vocalist James Woodard gives us the lowdown on all things The Grasshopper Lies Heavy.

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Album Review: Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin

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howling giant - crucible & ruin

Expectation is such a heavy thing when it comes to your favorite bands. You want to support them, to give them room to stretch and create and follow their personal muse (muses? It’s early in the morning) wherever it will take them. But you know deep down there’s a small kernel of…let’s call it yearning…for them to do exactly what YOU want. I can’t help it, you can’t help it, best to just acknowledge the bias and move on. Especially when said favorite band knocks it out of the park by doing both, as Howling Giant have done with their third full-length Crucible & Ruin. An expanded lineup brings new complexities into their prog/psych/stoner rock assault, and the songwriting gets even sharper, aided by a brighter, soaring production that highlights the best aspects of the band.

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Profile: Australian metal/hardcore crew Nicolas Cage Fighter

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In case you missed it, there were a lot of awesome releases in September, and I’m still crawling my way through the pile. Next on my list, the (awesomely-named) Nicolas Cage Fighter. The four-piece metal/hardcore outfit out of Ballarat, Victoria released their debut, The Bones That Grew From Pain, back in 2022, and now they’re back a few years later with I Watched You Burn. Out through Bleeding Art Collective and Blood Blast Distribution (Nuclear Blast Records/Believe), their aggressive style has taken a notable step forward. The riffs are heavy, and they’re delivered with a pace that makes you move. There’s a lot to love. Check out our latest Profile, and the embeds within it, to get a sense of what Nicolas Cage Fighter has been up to. You’re in for a good one.

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Album Review: Between the Buried and Me — The Blue Nowhere

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between the buried & me - the blue nowhere

This is how I know I’m old: I remember Between the Buried and Me before they were one of the elder statesmen of progressive metal. Those origins of metalcore and slamming death started to evolve almost immediately, and 23 years later here we sit with The Blue Nowhere, an unapologetic progressive metal album that sounds like a rebirth. Their first as a quartet and the first for progressive super label InsideOut Music, The Blue Nowhere stretches into more unexplored sonic territories for the band, getting downright funky and heavy in equal measure. It’s a great rebound after a somewhat lackluster Colors II, and a bold step into a revitalized future.

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Album Review: Green Carnation – A Dark Poem, Pt. I: The Shores of Melancholia

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green carnation - A Dark Poem, Pt. I: The Shores of Melancholia

Having a touchstone album in your discography can be a blessing and a curse. For all the acclaim and recognition it can bring to a band, it also hangs like an albatross, with everything else being compared to it. I feel like Green Carnation have been struggling with that ever since Light of Day, Day of Darkness came out almost a quarter century ago, and it wasn’t until 2020’s Leaves of Yesteryear that it felt like the band was unfettered and free of expectation to craft some epic progressive-leaning metal. Five years later and that freedom continues to blossom with A Dark Poem, Pt. I: The Shores of Melancholia. The first part of a trilogy, it presents a revitalized group unworried about their part, only gazing forward.

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