I feel increasingly disconnected from the world around me. Even the handful of people I interact with on a regular basis seem like far-off shadows, vague mirages assuming familiar shapes. I often wonder how much of this is real. The idea of suicide appeals to me but I still haven't got the strength to pull … Continue reading 9/22/2022 | Disaffected, Broken, and Alone
“Sickness In” – Trees | Mind-Obliterating Drone Metal from the Pacific Northwest
The third offering of Portland’s Trees, “Sickness In” is a sonic nightmare of titanic proportions. This two-track monster opens with sinister groans awash in shrieking feedback and evolves slowly into a hellish maelstrom of megalithic drone metal heavy enough to knock planets out of orbit. While there isn’t a lot of excitement or bombast, that … Continue reading “Sickness In” – Trees | Mind-Obliterating Drone Metal from the Pacific Northwest
“And Here It Is…”
For a great span of time, I wished to become a ghost. Not to die, but to become invisible, imperceptible to anyone and everything for the sake of observation, but also of protection. This world is a nest of vipers, and their venom is as lethal and debilitating as any. To move unnoticed among the … Continue reading “And Here It Is…”
“Nothing”
The other night, I asked my wife to put a funnel up my ass and fill it with Drano. Of course, she did not comply with my wishes, but the idea of turning my innards into a slurry of dead, wet slop and cleaning chemicals amused me more than it should have. I'm not well.
“He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten” – Fossilization | Primitive Apocalyptic Devastation in Sonic Form
“He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten” is the debut EP of Brazilian titans Fossilization, a band whose band’s very name evokes images of deceased primitive beings ossified by time and dust, encased in hardened grime and locked forever in Pompeian torment. This unique blend of primeval death metal and megalithic doom is a grinding, plague-riddled … Continue reading “He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten” – Fossilization | Primitive Apocalyptic Devastation in Sonic Form
“Abominion” – Abstracter | Crushing Nihilistic Misery
When I was about thirteen years old, I crashed a jet ski at full speed and was jettisoned into the air. I flew hard and fast, and my last thought before crashing into the water was simply “Shit” and then everything went dark as I plunged into the cold depths below. When I first heard … Continue reading “Abominion” – Abstracter | Crushing Nihilistic Misery
“Festivals of Atonement” – Nile | A Review in Retrospect
Nile is likely one of the foremost names in technical death metal: Long time listeners and genre adherents are apt to think of the band’s groundbreaking full-length debut “Amongst the Catacombs of the Nephren-Ka” and the ever-popular “In Their Darkened Shrines” (both of which were named in Decibel Magazine’s “Top 100 Death Metal Albums of … Continue reading “Festivals of Atonement” – Nile | A Review in Retrospect
“Sovereignless Souls” – Nameless King
Dungeon Synth albums tend to either hit their mark or run far astray of it; sometimes it works, others it drops like a heavy stone cast into the bottom of a well, dying with an audible plunk! before being forgotten utterly. There are innumerable practitioners of dungeon synth, but in a burgeoning genre of shameless … Continue reading “Sovereignless Souls” – Nameless King
S/T – Somme
Somme’s 2020 self-titled debut crashed into the trenches scattering blood and brains across the sonic battlefield of today’s modern black metal scene. Themed after the first Great War, “Somme” is raw, apocalyptic and mercilessly cruel in terms of its frenzied aggression. There is a certain aura of hopelessness and regret which permeates Somme’s music and … Continue reading S/T – Somme
“Foul and Defiled” – Coffin Lurker
Across the vast infinite gulf of death’s dark, ineffable fetid horrors lurk in the repugnant murk between our reality and the next, stalking the nether regions of the human imagination and spreading night terrors like wildfire. One such nightmare is “Foul and Defiled” by Coffin Lurker, an enigmatic collaboration of Maurice “Mories” De Jong (Gnaw … Continue reading “Foul and Defiled” – Coffin Lurker
Towers of Rust 