Four flavors of black metal providing plenty of atmosphere, intensity, and brutality, for a great show in Portland! I was in Portland for the weekend with plans to see the Dark Tranquillity / Soen / Persefone show on Saturday. Since I had Friday night available, I was curious to see if there was another show […]
Various flavors of heavy metal collide in Uster, Switzerland, for a fantastic early year Festival! Elements of Rock Festival took place March 13 – 15 at Stadthofsaal in Uster, Switzerland. It started in 2004 and has run annually since, with exception of a few years during COVID. I have only been once before, in 2007,
Five albums from January 2026 that deserve your listening attention! I am a little late posting this (something about launching my website and getting things ramped up), but here are my top 5 releases from January 2026. The reality is, January kicked off the year in splendid fashion. I reviewed 19 albums released during the
My Top 5 Albums for January 2026 Read More »
Phenomenal post metal that is melodic, atmospheric, and full of emotion! Post metal is such an interesting subgenre. Like many subgenres, the name alone isn’t always prescriptive enough to tell you what you are getting, and even this year I have reviewed multiple releases in this specific genre that sound quite distinct from each other.
Møl – Dreamcrush – Album Review Read More »
A wide variety of extreme metal bands making up a fantastic show! The Glacial Ascension Tour featured 5 bands on a short tour up the West Coast, culminating in an appearance at Day 3 of Glacial Mutilation Fest in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The penultimate stop was at Substation in Seattle, WA, on Friday, February 20,
Killer progressive black / post metal from Lithuania! If you have read my reviews, you know that lyrics are important to me and are something I often connect with when listening to an album. Even a few releases this year, such as the latest from Marianas Rest, have become even more deeply meaningful to me
Juodvarnis – Tékmés – Album Review Read More »
Black, death, doom, and more! One of my favorite things about going to shows is discovering new bands. I have never gone to a metal show fully blind (though this one was close!), but there have been plenty of shows I have attended where I was only really familiar with 1 or 2 out of
Ulthar & Nightfell at Baba Yaga in Seattle, WA, February 7, 2026 – Concert Review Read More »
Frosty post metal from the frozen tundra of…Rochester, NY! Pâro hails from Rochester, New York, but I would have thought they were from the frozen lands of Scandinavia after an initial listen. Post metal is a genre that always intrigues me but, like many genres these days, isn’t necessarily prescriptive enough on what to actually
Pâro – Sketches of an Unseen Realm – Album Review Read More »
Symphonic technical blackened death metal that will crush and immerse you! I am kicking off my 2026 reviews with something quite a bit heavier than I usually review, but this album caught me by surprise and wouldn’t let me go. I wasn’t familiar with US-based Null Existence prior to an Instagram ad letting me know
Null Existence / Cryptic Monolith – Album Review Read More »
Post rock, screamo, progressive blackgaze, and more! Dawn of Ouroboros is a band I love, and they kicked off 2026 with a short West Coast tour with the bands Sadness and Life. I have no idea whether it was intentional or not, but at least in my head I have fabricated that this tour was
