Swedish DSBM outfit Lifelover quite literally carved a name for themselves as one of the most unique bands representing the genre. Released in 2011, their final album, "Sjukdom" (Swedish for sickness or disease) was one not to be fucked with. Sjukdom is as miserable as it gets: a deranged descent into madness and misery, a … Continue reading “Sjukdom” -Lifelover
Cast out, mocked and feared: this is the life of a pariah, this is what it is to become feral in a domesticated world, writhing in the gutters and speaking with shadows, 21st century lepers. We all wear the same filthy mask. This is the face we show when the drugs begin to take us, … Continue reading “The Leprous Ones”
Eerie and mysterious, "Haunts" by Caulbearer is sodden with gloomy atmosphere and exudes existential dread like a bloated carcass emanates rot. The chilling ambience of Haunts can't quite decide if it wants to lull listeners to eternal slumber or berate their subconscious with ineffable nightmares, or perhaps do both simultaneously, but with expert subtlety. At … Continue reading “Haunts” -Caulbearer
Molten hellfire and plumes of billowing sonic smog spew forth from the very depths of hell as soon as Gorgoroth's 2003 opus "Twilight of the Idols" begins. The album erupts immediately with "Procreating Satan", a cacophonous miasma churning and growling like a sentient maelstrom. From there on, "Twilight..." slows its pace: the song "Proclaiming Mercy … Continue reading “Twilight of the Idols: in Conspiracy with Satan” -Gorgoroth
Conjunctivitis (good ol' pinkeye) can be a real bitch if left untreated. I say this because what began as minor irritation and swelling in my right eye transformed over a period of several weeks into a blinding white-hot nightmare in both of my eyes. Let's start from the beginning, or as close to the beginning … Continue reading “Night People: The Eye Infection Incident”
When I saw the album art for Barbarian's "To No God Shall I Kneel", my first thought was "did I miss something?" I've been listening to metal of all sorts for most of my life, but I had never checked these guys out. Why not? At a glimpse, "To No God..." looks like something straight … Continue reading “To No God Shall I Kneel” -Barbarian (Italy)
Life is fragile. This short sentence is the first thing that comes to my mind when I look back at my behavior and quality of life during my battle with drugs, and it couldn't be any more true -even now that all of the shit has been flushed and scrubbed away from my life, a … Continue reading “Crawling Out of Satan’s Asshole: My Emergence From the Pits of Addiction”
Doom metal is a genre which wears many faces, changing, evolving and spreading out into many branches and sub-genres within sub-genres. From the early days of Black Sabbath, to more contemporary iterations such as Sleep, Electric Wizard, to the funeral doom subgenre, represented by the likes of Thergothon, Esoteric, Loss, and others, doom is a … Continue reading “The Wretch” -The Gates of Slumber
I was first introduced to Nine Inch Nails in high school. My first remembered encounter with the band’s work was “The Downward Spiral”, with which I wasn’t terribly impressed. I was an arrogant teenage metalhead, and permitted my ears to imbibe only the most grotesque and brutal strains of black metal, death metal, and grind. … Continue reading “The Downward Spiral” – Nine Inch Nails
I knew a working girl who called herself Ashley. She wasn’t like the other burnouts who walked Ridgewood avenue in Daytona after dark: a thin, pretty blonde of twenty-seven with hazy blue eyes. She lacked the track marks and facial scabs the others had etched into their frail, dying bodies, and she had all of … Continue reading “A Wandering Disappearance”
Towers of Rust 