Maryland Deathfest XIII. Baltimore. May 2015 It’s been awhile since I’ve had a guest post. It’s also been awhile since I’ve covered a lot of extreme music. So I asked Genji to share his thoughts on MDF XIII. Reading his trip report really makes me wish I could’ve made it out. Oh well, it sounds like it just keeps getting better,… Read more →
When it comes to real life guitar gods, few are bigger or better than the legendary Michael Schenker. Not only was he responsible for helping create two of the biggest rock bands in the history of rock/heavy metal (Scorpions and UFO for those few poor souls who don’t know any better) but his solo stuff is arguably even better than… Read more →
God bless Redd Kross! It’s been 15 years since their last album, Show World, and amazingly in 2012, they’ve released a gem of an album called Researching the Blues. The brothers McDonald have never sounded better and have come back to bring their infectious brand of power/punk/pop/glam/rock back to the world. One of the oldest punk bands I can remember… Read more →
Dark, sweet, haunting, beautiful. These are words you wouldn’t expect to describe the vocals from a band called Acid Bath, but if those vocals came from a man named Dax Riggs (and they do) then these descriptions would not even come close to doing his amazing voice justice. His dark, gothic lyrics combined with his soaring and soulful delivery really… Read more →
When we wrote the profile on Profound Lore Records earlier this year, one of questions I posed to Chris Bruni was ‘ever thought of doing anything like the Power of the Riff shows that happened on the West Coast this year?’ His answer, in summary, was he would like to do it if he found the right location and the… Read more →
One of my favorite metal albums from the ‘Great American Metal Drought’ of the 90’s was Cleansing by the highly underrated NY crossover kings, Prong. I’m a huge Tommy Victor fan, love his guitar tone, love his riffs and love his passion. The guy is a meat and potatoes metal warrior and whether he was influential or not, he was… Read more →
I have to say I really hate all ages shows. As a kid of course I appreciated them, and when I was unemployed it really didn’t matter, but now that I’m old (and employed) I have to say it’s just plain annoying. Last night was the second show in a row where I had to miss most of the undercard… Read more →
Vektor became the thrash metal darlings of 2011 when they dropped Outer Isolation on an unsuspecting audience late last year, so when they came to town Sunday night I thought it would be a great opportunity to catch them because I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about them or really got what all the buzz was about. In fact,… Read more →
10 years ago last weekend, the Bay Area lost it’s most beloved metal ambassador, the immortal Paul Baloff. Paul lived, breathed and bled metal. He was the godfather of the Bay Area thrash scene and he truly represented heavy metal and all it stood for. For me, legendary album Bonded By Blood is one of my top 5 all-time albums… Read more →
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll already know we’re big fans of Chelsea Wolfe and Wolves in the Throne Room. Both acts topped most of our lists last year in almost every category. So it’s with extreme jealously that I present Genji’s review of the joint bill at Echoplex last Thursday night. There’s a certain backlash against underground bands, particularly… Read more →
Happy New Year metalheads! 2011 was a good year for the underground, with lots of solid and promising releases by newer and unknown bands, but for the old guard it wasn’t such a hot year. Lots of disappointments for me personally (Morbid Angel, Anthrax, Mastodon, Opeth etc….) but one of the sadder announcements last year was hearing of the departure… Read more →
