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Sanctifying Ritual

Sanctifying Ritual
Iron Bonehead (2020)

Most death metal bands exhibit a morbid quality to their sound but few would be believed if they said that their music was actually recorded in a catacomb. However, if the German death-thrash thrallers Sanctifying Ritual confessed as much to me, that their raw and cavernous debut was recorded in such an odious environment, it would be a sheer act … Read more

Einstürzende Neubauten

Alles in Allem
Potomak 2020 (2020)

It’s a fairly long story as to the exact circumstance, but a couple of years ago on a rainy winter day in Tasmania I found myself as the only passenger in a shuttle bus when just when we were about to depart, the door opened and three constituents of the Einstürzende Neubauten entered the vehicle. While their World War I … Read more

Skeleton

Skeleton
20 Buck Spin (2020)

There are a lot of skeletons out there. Stuffed in closets. Hanging on metal hooks in medical school classrooms. There is a skeleton in me writing this. And there is a skeleton in you reading it. If you think about all of those sharp, calcified rods and lobes, shifting below tender, malleable flesh, it might unsettle you somewhat. There has … Read more

Sam Russo

Back To The Party
Red Scare Industries (2020)

Anytime it’s just one person on the stage, the music being created is going to be intimate and personal. Sometimes it’s so personal that it doesn’t bridge the gap from the stage to the floor. Fortunately, Sam Russo isn’t one of those artists. When he sings, you know it’s about his own life experiences, but it sounds like it’s coming … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Broadway Calls

Meet Me On The Moon
Red Scare Industries (2020)

Meet Me On The Moon is a teaser single for the new LP, Sad In The City, which also happens to be Broadway Calls’ first new full-length in almost a decade (which will release close to the time this review publishes). While I knew of the band, I’d never really spent any time with their records. On this short-player, I … Read more

Mutant Reavers

Monster Punk
Wolverine records (2020)

Back in the late nineties I started listening to horrropunk. To this day it is one of my favourite scenes. Back in the day I listened to basically everything I could find that would match the description horrorpunk. Nowadays I am more picky. Still, if I see a promo mentioning horrorpunk I am so tempted to review it. I’ve skipped … Read more

Kissed by an Animal

Kissed by an Animal
HANDSTAND RECORDS (2019)

Kissed by an Animal is getting the vinyl treatment a year after release of their self title album from 2019. To describe these guys, well it’s hard to nail down a specific style that the Brooklyn, NY based band is trying to hit. To be honest, this album is hard to get use to in general.To prepare for a review … Read more

Xibalba

Años en Infierno
Southern Lord (2020)

Southern California's Xibalba is back with a new LP titled Años En Infierno. The title of their third studio album translates to "years in hell," and it is a loathsome pillar, raised in tribute to the pain of living in a world populated by misery and ruin. Somehow the band's sulfurous combination of doom and death metal and hardcore from … Read more

Havok

V
Century Media (2020)

To say that this album gives vibes similar to those of …And Justice For All, is an understatement. The newest album by Colorado thrash metal aficionados, Havok, starts with guitar harmonies that can only be described what it must sound like when descending into the metal underworld upon death.With raw intensity this album is the epitome of thrash. With screaming … Read more

Fake Names

Fake Names
Epitaph (2020)

Fake Names formed when two long-time friends decided to play music together at home, with no plans for it to grow into an actual group. But after Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion) and Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace, One Last Wish) put the pen to paper, they changed their mind and recruited a band. They’d attended elementary school … Read more

Vile Creature

Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!
Prosthetic (2020)

There has been a shift in recent years, in heavy music, and it’s one that has given bands and artists the opportunity to use their platform to speak out, to uplift those who need help and to talk about difficult topics more openly. Heavy music is changing, for the better, and one such band using their space for good is … Read more

Died

Less Life
Independent (2020)

Does Died’s debut LP Less Life see the band growing up, or is it just them getting old? It’s an odd question to ask of a group who are in the midst of pushing out what should be their first (and best impression) to the world, but hardcore bands tend to operate on different rules. For instance, a band's early … Read more

Drain

California Cursed
Revelation (2020)

Santa Cruz is a convoluted place. It feels like the rest of the country erroneously thinks Santa Cruz is just like Santa Monica. It’s much more of a town than a city, and in a lot of ways it’s a microcosm of everything in California: conflicted and nuanced, beauty found at a high price with an oft-ignored grimy underbelly. Is … Read more

Jacoti Sommes

Travel Time
Orange Milk Records (2020)

Clocking it at just under 27 minutes, Columbus, Ohio electronic music producer Jacoti Sommes’ 2020 release Travel Time is all around better than his excellent 2018 effort Ubermensch. I think the album’s title accurately reflects what it’s all about. Featuring a handful of longer tracks periodically broken up by short ambient interludes (“Phases” I through III) that sound similar to … Read more

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