This past year, I was fortunate enough to attend 35 different metal performances. There were a couple of duplicates (This Will Destroy You), but for the most part each performance was unique and left an impression in its own way. So, in going back through the past year and finally deciding to tally these shows, I thought it’d be a worthwhile idea to go over some highlights. You’ve obviously seen the more detailed concert reviews the days and weeks following various shows here, but the goal here is a high level recap of my favorites. This has proven more taxing than I would have anticipated, however. Looking back now, I don’t think there was a single show that I did not get at least something out of. Regardless, in no particular order, here are nine (ten?) performances that stood out to me last year. Continue reading
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Best of 2017: Chris’s List
And here we are. A few more pages of the book before it closes.
Two thousand and seventeen years after we decided to start again at zero it feels like a reset is needed more than ever. And this doesn’t even take into consideration the collective chaos and suppurating hate that seemingly fills the space between the molecules in our media, our politics, and our increasingly hostile behavior toward each other. That poison surrounds but has yet to work its way into my bloodstream. It’s a selfish ask, entirely due to my own weaknesses, insecurities and inability to take the steps needed to be just a little better each day: as a husband, a father, a writer, a musician, but most of all as a human being. It’s been a challenging year, and I have a long road ahead if I want to keep on having challenging years, let alone any years.
More than ever it was music that kept my head above water, allowed a glimmer of land to guide me ashore. Continue reading
Concert Review: Sannhet and This Will Destroy You, 11.15.2017

Despite the fact that the brief run of shows featuring Sannhet and This Will Destroy You has already concluded, I still felt compelled to share some of the sights and sounds from what was a thoroughly entertaining night in my hometown. So, here I am. The tour featuring these two instrumental post-metal masterminds was fleeting, to say the least, covering only seven cities together between November 12th and 18th. There’s no doubt that I was thrilled to see that one of their stops happened to be a few blocks away from my residence. I tend to miss a quite a few shows that come through my area, but I had literally no excuse not to turn up for this one. Continue reading
The Horns Up Podcast: Episode 42 (March 6, 2015)
It’s time for Episode 42 of The Horns Up Podcast, your weekly catch-up on all things metal!
This week, the guys ponder their existence in a world in which a Kid Rock album debuts at No. 2. In 2015. Because honestly, what the hell kind of world is THAT? Plus, new albums from Leviathan, Sannhet, Helrunar and A Forest of Stars, some Detroit and Cleveland jokes, and a discussion of Dan’s stupid face!
All that and much, much more in Episode 42, so check it out!
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Live. Love. Plow. Horns Up.
Album Review: Sannhet – “Revisionist”
If you were to ask an average music listener what they thought to be metal’s standout quality, there’s at least a decent chance he or she would mention the diverse and powerful vocal work in the genre, right? So what’s one supposed to do in a metal band without a vocalist? You might bring the drums a bit further forward into the mix, subtly work additional melodies into your sound, or even just set out to create the heaviest sound you can—to the point where having someone open their face would just seem wrong. On their new album, Revisionist, Brooklyn instrumental trio Sannhet pulls out all of these stops and then some, and delivers one of the most crushing and consistently-engaging listens of the young year. Continue reading