400 Pound Deadlift

I'm just finishing up my second 5/3/1 cycle tonight. My biggest achievement is the 400 pound deadlift I pulled a few minutes ago.



Apologize for the lack of posts lately--sick kids, holidays, etc. I'll share more metal soon.

Vhöl: Deeper Than the Sky (2015)

Vhöl is turning out to be--as their debut might suggest--more than just a supergroup. It's a worthy, unique band in its own right. As I described them before, they're sort of an American Darkthrone, combining black metal with old-school heavy metal, crust, and thrash.

Deeper Than Sky by VHOL

The formula from the first album is intact, but this time around the song lengths are more varied. The

First 5/3/1 Cycle Complete

I've completed my first cycle on the 5/3/1 weight training program, and I've accomplished some things:

- On bench press, I did 200 for 6 reps, and 190 for 11.
- On overhead press, I increased my max from 150 to 160.
- On deadlift, I increased my max from 375 with straps to 390 without. I had always been training it with straps before, but Wendler's right--you shouldn't do that. I've focused a

Author & Punisher: Melk En Honing (2015)

In case you don’t remember, Author & Punisher is the one-man band of Tristan Shone. Well, one-man in the same way that a BattleMech pilot is a one-man army. He creates his noise with a bunch of homemade, manually-controlled, analog machines, like something out of a steampunk/industrial world

The spectacle must be fantastic to watch. But in the past, I’ve been a little underwhelmed by the

Funerary / Ooze: Split (2015)

The split album from Funerary and Ooze showcases two bands that are extremely raw, and whose names suit their respective genres, but otherwise have little in common.

Funerary contribute two tracks of funeral doom with touches of death and black metal. Raspy vocals, slow riffs, and a bit of feedback. They sound quite a lot like Thou, but (possibly due to production) not quite as heavy. Still,

Beginning the Wendler 5/3/1

It's been a long time since I posted about my workout routine, and a lot has happened since then. I kept with my old routine for quite a while, with small gains. Then, I started working from home. I thought I could work out, a set here and there, during my work day, and it would benefit both my work and my life in a way that didn't detract from my lifting. Well, it led to laziness. I slid, not a

Grime: Circle of Molesters (2015)

I’ve reviewed Grime before, and every time I hear them I just have a hard time imagining this disgusting band coming from a picturesque part of Italy.

Circle Of Molesters by Grime

They’re still awesome, but I think they’ve taken a bit of a stylistic turn. Before, more of a sludge metal band. Now I’d call them sludge/death. That is absolutely a good thing. No-nonsense, mid-paced or slow death

The Sword: High Country (2015)

Summary JudgmentThe Sword were a lot better when they were a rocking sludge metal band. Now they're just a rock band, barely even a hard rock band, playing 70's and 80's inspired rock that's just sort of boring.

Mastery: VALIS (2015)

The promo spiel for Mastery’s VALIS called it the most extreme record the Flenser has ever released. That’s saying something.

This is some intense, weird, dissonant black metal featuring two long compositions, a shorter one, and two interludes. I’ve spent a lot of time listening, trying to unravel its secrets, to no avail. But I’ve enjoyed it along the way. There are some strangely compelling

Ahab: The Boats of the Glen Carrig (2015)

As I’ve mentioned before, Ahab are proven masters of funeral doom. They began with two albums of crushing funereal death/doom. On The Giant they went with a more melodic approach with emphasis on loud/quiet dynamics. The Boats of the Glen Carrig continues that approach. And, of course, the nautical theme of their entire catalog.

I always find it difficult to write about funeral doom with the

He Lives On in Our Hearts

I was listening to "Holy Diver" and standing next to a dry erase board. The result was inevitable.

Christian Mistress: To Your Death (2015)

Christian Mistress released a fantastic slab of heavy metal with Possession not too long ago. But looking back, it was a cover song—the titular track—that was clearly the best on the album. Regardless of the fact it was a little-known song before the cover, that’s still a red flag. I wondered how good their follow-up could be.

To Your Death by Christian Mistress

The answer is, it’s still

Chelsea Wolfe: Abyss (2015)

As far as I was concerned, Chelsea Wolfe came out of nowhere with Pain Is Beauty, and immediately she had a hardcore fan. So when Abyss was first brought to my attention, I made my purchase within 30 seconds.

My two big things on this blog are, obviously, metal, and also dark Americana. I occasionally cover some gothic, folk, shoegaze, or dark electronic stuff. Wolfe inhabits a space that draws

Horrendous: Anareta (2015)

So, last I checked, Horrendous was a fantastic death metal band with a style based in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean circa 1992. I had read about their last album and how far they progressed, but I never got around to checking it out. I should have, because this Anareta sounds like a completely different band.

The vocals are a blend of Chuck Schuldiner and Martin Van Drunen, which is to say,

GosT: Behemoth (2015)

There’s been some buzz about GosT. The only reason seems to be it’s not a metal album, but has the cover of a metal album and song titles that should be on a metal album. There’s nothing about it especially that should appeal to metalheads, except I suppose a few of the beats are heavy.

Behemoth by GosT

It’s some flavor of electronica. I think some of it’s dubstep? But then I’m severely

Myrkur: M (2015)

Relapse isn’t typically known for releasing atmospheric/folk black metal, so the debut full-length from Myrkur certainly caught me off guard. It’s the project of one woman, whose background is in indie pop, so of course hipster alarm bells will go off. And go off they have: The Metal Archives ratings for this record are abysmal.

But fuck that, because I like this. If you’re looking for

Warhorse: As Heaven Turns To Ash (2001)

The last two releases of the defunct Warhorse were reissued earlier this year by Southern Lord. This review will be confined to the band’s sole LP, As Heaven Turns To Ash. (The reissue also includes the final EP, I Am Dying.)

As Heaven Turns To Ash by Warhorse

This is so heavy it nears a 1.0 on the Electric Wizard scale. Huge, lumbering riffs steadily pound the listener. Raspy, semi-growled

Odin

So I started making some of my own memes, and thought I might as well start posting some here.

Blasphemy: Fallen Angel of Doom (1990)

Say you run across some backwoods boys slitting the throat of an animal at just the right moment to create the proper bucking motion. You might get out of there alive, but only if you hand them a third-generation tape of Slayer's Hell Awaits. Those boys would go on to create something like Blasphemy.

Fallen Angel of Doom by Blasphemy

Fallen Angel of Doom is a perfect blend of mindless, bestial

Doomed: Wrath Monolith (2015)

We’re All DoomedNormally by this point in the year I’ve given out two or three perfect scores. This is the first for 2015.

WRATH MONOLITH by DOOMED

In metal, the riff is king. The German death/doom monolith Doomed have a fucking lock on riffs. Massive lurch-and-stumble rhythms all around here. And their sound is just perfect. I’m reminded of a mix of Evoken and Doom:VS, with a pinch of

Career Advice

I just got an e-mail from a student at a top-tier law school* wanting some advice for a young man covered in tattoos who never wants to say to a character and fitness committee that he enjoyed, say, Craft’s Fuck the Universe? Should I wear my Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses shirt to law school, and when? And how do I steer myself to a job that doesn’t make me want to retch?Most of

Destruktor: Opprobrium (2015)

Opprobrium by DESTRUKTOR

One of the best parts of Ride the Lightning is that part in “Fight Fire With Fire,” where Hetfield warns, “Soon to fill our lungs the hot winds of death . . . .” Destruktor play a similar riff on “Eradication.”

That’s the level of speed and aggression these Australian black/death metal tyrants keep up for nearly an entire full-length album. It’s got a whole lot of

Coffins: Craving to Eternal Slumber (2015 EP)

Regular guest reviewer joanismylover is right: Coffins doesn't seem to do anything particularly special - it's just death metal. They aren't ground-breaking - others drop-tuned before they did. They aren't the most talented on the block - technical this is not. They are just heavy as fuck.And what else is there to say, really?

Nothing.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Craving To Eternal

Die Choking: Die Choking and II (2014)

Die Choking is a fucking great name for a band. It's short, brutal, and imperative. Not just Someone Should Maybe Die of Asphyxiation At Some Point, but Die Choking. That means you, and it means now.

I by Die Choking

A more fitting moniker there never was.

Die Choking and II are the band's first two EPs, both released last year and both clocking in around six minutes. They are manically fast,

Skepticism: Ordeal (2015)

Updated 7/27 with music clip


Skepticism was one of the first funeral doom bands, and they’re still going strong. If you don’t have the patience for it, move on. But if you’re into it, you’ll definitely want to check out Ordeal.

I think most people instinctively believe it takes a lot of skill to play fast, but not to play slow. I think that’s dead wrong. If you’re playing fast, you don’t need

Steve Von Till: A Life Unto Itself (2015)

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about any dark Americana music. But a new Steve Von Till isn’t something I could just ignore, is it?

The record again finds our man in the pattern of playing a few acoustic guitar chords, singing a line, playing a chord, singing a line, and playing a few more chords. He doesn’t really play and sing at the same time, which is a perfectly acceptable way to

Perversor: Anticosmocrator (2015)

Perversor is a Chilean band who play bestial black metal. It’s brutal, ugly, and uncompromising. I must be a sucker for this kind of stuff, because it seems I never hear one that I don’t like—but then again, I mostly listen to the ones that come out on Hells Headbangers, and if any label knows their shit, it’s them.

*FREE* Compilation Vol. 8 by PERVERSOR

I couldn’t tell you what sets them

Goatsnake: Black Age Blues (2015)

Hey, Yeah
For the uninitiated, Goatsnake are minor legends of doom metal. If you need to know their philosophy, the liner notes to one of their records list all their gear (only the best) alongside Black Sabbath riffs. In other words, they are unapologetically old-school.

Well, it’s been eleven years since they’ve released any new material, and even though Metal Archives says they’ve been

Marginal: Chaos and Anarchy (2015)

More Violence, Please.In which joanismylover demands a higher fee

I like surprises. Good surprises. I do not like to be surprised with a last minute filing or an unexpected witness at trial. But I do like to be surprised when I check the docket to find another related case that the plaintiff's attorney has not told me about. I like to be surprised that opposing counsel has the gumption - the

King Diamond and Slayer at Stir Cove, July 7, 2015

I don't know why I debated with myself over going to this one, because, King Diamond. If you've read this page at all over the years, you know I'm a Kind Diamond fanboy and I have been for a very long time. OK, I do know: I didn't exactly want to support the Mayhem Festival, regardless of how great the headliners are.

The show was in Council Bluffs, Iowa (just across the river from Omaha), and

The 7th Day of July, 2015

I'm going on a King Diamond marathon today. You should, too, because it's the 7th day of Julyyyyyyy!

I'll also be seeing the King today, and Slayer. I'm going to try to show up late enough to miss almost everything else at the Mayhem fest.

Now, Grandma is calling, so I've gotta go.

Graveyard Shifters: High Heels and Broken Bones (2015)

Remember that feeling of pure joy that you felt the first time you heard Kvelertak? Graveyard Shifters give me that same kind of feeling.

The songwriting is infectious, and their enthusiasm for the music comes through in the performance. It sounds great, and it's almost impossible not to love.

I mean, how can you not love an album with a song called "Beerserker"?

Like Kvelertak, they play

Demon Lung: A Dracula (2015)

When I read the title A Dracula I couldn't help but chuckle. Any time someone refers to vampires as draculas, yeah, that's an old joke by now, but sometimes the best jokes are properly aged. I don't suspect they meant it as a joke here, but it is a joke.

Yes, it's time again for my quarterly female-fronted doom metal review. I don't plan it that way, but that's pretty much the rate that I'm

Aelter: IV: Love Eternal (2015)

Aelter IV: Love Eternal LP by Aelter

Aelter is a side project of Wolvserpent guitarist/vocalist Blake Green, and on paper it seems like something I should really like. It's gothic, atmospheric rock made by someone who knows how to write really long songs that are enjoyable. And it's on Pesanta Urfolk, a label that's always fascinating even if not everything they release is great.

It's

Pale Chalice: Negate the Infinite and Miraculous (2015)

It has been observed many times—including by me—that the term “black metal” has become increasingly vague over the years. Are we talking about atmospheric music? Something epic and woodsy? Artistic and weird? Blistering, cold, boneheaded?

Pale Chalice, though: They embody black metal as it is today. The combine the weird, epic artistry of bands like Agalloch with a blistering, concise approach

Jason W. Walton: Mara (2015)

After seeing Agalloch live last year, they instantly catapulted from being merely a band I like and respect to being one of my five favorite active bands. So of course I wanted to check out the bassist's solo project.

Jason W. Walton's Mara is purportedly about his experience with sleep paralysis, which by all accounts is a horrifying thing. Two short tracks go from one of a muted dread to an

Årabrot: You Bunch of Idiots (2015 EP)

I first heard Årabrot after they generated buzz for their 2011 album Solar Anus. I was flabbergasted—I’m sure that’s the only word for it. I kind of like to be flabbergasted. But unfortunately, I wasn’t impressed. Luckily, I gave them another go with their self-titled record two years later, and it snaked its way under my skin.

The You Bunch of Idiots EP is just what I hoped the Norwegian noise

My Silent Wake: Damnatio Memoriae (2015)

I make a big deal about not caring what a band believes, professes, or puts into their lyrics. Nonetheless, I’m still pulling for Christian bands to make solid music, because sometimes I feel pretty lonely as a Christian in the metal world. To that end, I started watching My Silent Wake several years ago, but they fell off my radar for the past few releases.

Their latest effort, Damnatio

Coal Chamber: Rivals (2015)

Regression and Defense, Or: Nostalgia Is Big Business These DaysI've recently begun lifting weights with my neighbor on a regular basis. The stereotype these days is that dudes listen to Godsmack when they're lifting weights, and that's not far from the truth. You see, he likes a lot of the stuff I was listening to 12 or more years ago. We take turns in control of the music, but I'm conscious of

Psycroptic: Psycroptic (2015)

The last time I checked in with Kids These Days—and by that I mean, budding, young metalheads on the more well-traveled parts of the metal blogosphere—they were really into technical metal. That was a while ago, but it seemed like every other band MetalSucks was going on about was a technical death metal band. I went through a brief phase of this obsession myself in my late 20’s,* but then

Black Witchery / Revenge: Holocaustic Death March to Humanity's Doom (2015)

Black Witchery is one of the finest bands in metal right now. What they play is furious, uncompromising black/death that can singe your ass hair all the way from their Floridian den, no matter how far away you manage to get. This is what some call bestial black metal, or war metal. As they say, war is not going to win any beauty pageants. and bestiality is something reserved for only a few

Coffins: Perpetual Penance (Compilation 2015)

Regurgitated Guts, Japanese StyleReview by joanismylover, the third metal attorney.

My father is retired U.S. Air Force. From 1982 to 1985 our family served along side him in Tampa, Florida, at MacDill AFB. I spent the beginning of my "formative years" in the bloody sewage where death metal was just being [re]born. My buddy at Booker T. Washington 7th Grade school was - he claimed - good

False: untitled (2015)

False is serious black metal. This Minneapolis band isn't playing riffs to make you bang your head and lose your shit. You couldn't possibly keep up, anyway. No, they're playing epic hymns to something untoward, something that experiences time and space more fully than we do.

On their 2015 untitled full-length, the pace is almost entirely fast. It's played and produced in such a way that it's

Metal Briefs: Otaku Edition

I know I’ve mentioned before that I’m a nerd-wannabe, and that includes a minor case of Japanophilia. For better or worse, though, my Japanophilia is not uncritical. Also, you should know that there’s Japan—which can put forth such magnificent, serious music as Corrupted—and then there’s Japan, which apparently has giant robots and synthesizers in everything. I turned my giant anime eye to three

Sigh: Graveward (2015)

Sigh would most likely be the craziest thing to come out of their own country, if they were from anywhere other than Japan. But as the popular wisdom has it, Japan is home to some crazy pop culture. Now, it’s been my experience that crazy Japanese pop culture stuff is mostly terrible, and occasionally brilliant. Sigh has been mostly brilliant. I mean, their last album was just one example of a

Solefald: World Metal. Kosmopolis Sud (2015)

Why the hell isn’t anyone in America talking about Solefald? Their full-length Norrøn Livskunst was the most criminally underrated album of 2010, and now they’ve got a new full-length, and once again nobody is talking about this brilliant duo.

World Metal. Kosmopolis Sud is unmistakably the work of this avant-garde Viking metal oddity. It’s got catchy riffs, both high-speed black metal style and

Dwell: Vermin and Ashes (2015)

I have to confess that I’m more inclined to check out bands from Denmark than bands from anywhere else. (LLTK, for those in the know.) Dwell is one such band who caught my attention for just that reason.

They’re billed as a death/doom band, but I think you’d find it difficult to pick up any death metal in this at all. The vocals might fit that mold, but the rest does not. The first song sounds

Hands of Orlac: Figli Del Crepuscolo (2014)

"You're All the Same, The Lot of You"Review by joanismylover, the third metal attorney.

I had the distinct pleasure on Monday (April 20) to see Electric Wizard in Santa Ana, California. This is a band so steeped in doom and B movie horror films that it feels like they invented the melding of the two. They probably did. Emphasizing their prominence in this doom meets 70s horror genre, Satan's

Royal Thunder: Crooked Doors (2015)

Remember when Relapse only released metal albums? That was weird, huh?

Crooked Doors is the second album from Georgia hard rockers Royal Thunder. The style hasn’t changed much—bluesy rock and roll with a female vocalist oozing swagger and soul. But I hear a lot less doom influence this time around, and a few more radio-friendly elements (even some 90’s R&B) that are a little surprising. But just

Sketches

Here are some sketches I've done recently. One is concept art for a book I'm making for my son's fourth birthday. The others are for a placard for my neighbor's weight room, where I've been lifting a couple times a week. 

Wino & Conny Ochs: Freedom Conspiracy (2015)

The legendary Wino has been working with German guitarist/singer Conny Ochs for a while now. It started out a little shaky, as they didn’t seem to know how to use their very different voices in a coherent way. It seemed like the only thing tying them together was a similar vision and perhaps friendship, not complementary qualities. But now, on their third collaboration, they’ve really got this

Domovoyd: Domovoyd (2015)

The last time I mentioned Finland’s Domovoyd (based on their 2011 EP), I said they were basically Electric Wizard knockoffs. Today, there’s no way I can say that.

Domovoyd has come up alongside Oranssi Pazuzu in forming a small revolution in Finnish psychedelic metal. In both cases, the elements are familiar, but blended in a new way. But where Oranssi Pazuzu started with black metal, Domovoyd

Goatloard: Demo '87 / Reh. '88 and Sodomize the Goat (1988)

Caprine Rectal CopulationIt's amazing just how many completely unknown bands have been lost to history, only to be exhumed by those dedicated to revealing these lost treasures. Of course, some of them should have stayed buried. Which one is Goatlord?

First, I've gotta say how much I enjoy the crudely-drawn album art for these two records. They look like they were sketched during third-period

Dark Wave Briefs

"Full Metal" . . . right . . .It seems these days I'm circling further and further afield of metal or even anything remotely associated with it.

In wrapping my head around the brilliant work of Chelsea Wolfe, I've begun listening to an iTunes Radio station based on her. It is one of the most remarkably eclectic stations I've ever heard, playing Nails as well as some clearly hipster-oriented

Black Pussy: Magic Mustache (2015)

Hipster Mustaches Are Categorically Not MagicalReportedly, this band’s name is taken from the original title of the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar.” I’ll forgive them for that. As terrible as I think the Stones have always been, I still think ridiculously offensive names like this are great. I think it gives you a sense of their personality, too. And if that doesn’t seem like a positive thing to

Xibalba: Tierra y Libertad (2015)

I reviewed Xibalba’s last album a few years ago. Since then, they have gone from a hardcore sound almost completely into death metal, and it’s a glorious thing. Dan Seagrave’s art once again graces the cover, so you should have some idea of what to expect.

This is brutally heavy, and the guitars have this sort of scraping quality to them. The way most of it lumbers forward at a slower pace, then

The Decibel Magazine Tour 2015

April 4 at the Bourbon Theatre, Lincoln, Nebraska
I bought my ticket to the Decibel Magazine Tour about three minutes after they went on sale, and that is not exaggeration. I don't really care about Converge, and Vallenfyre I could take or leave, but At the Gates? This is the band who released arguably the best metal album of the 90's. Yeah, I was excited. When Pallbearer was added to the bill,

Converge: Jane Doe (2001)

Converge's Jane Doe has been sitting on my "I want to check it out some day" list for several years. Basically since I found out how well-regarded it is by Decibel. Well, since they're on the Decibel Magazine Tour this year, and I'll be seeing that tour tomorrow, I thought it was finally time to familiarize myself.

I don't listen to a lot of hardcore, but my first thought on hearing this was

Acid King: Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (2015)

Time for the quarterly female-fronted doom album! I’ve reviewed so many of these by now, I have nothing left to say about the combination of feminine vocals and slow, meaty riffs.

Specifically, Acid King play stoner doom. It’s slow, mellow, and repetitive. Sometimes trance-inducing, sometimes weird echo effects, but always with a general feeling of psychedelia. The vocals aren’t anything special

Doldrums

Sorry I've been away from the blog for so long. You don't want to hear me drone on about taking care of sick kids (again--this has been the worst year for that) or about how I had an ear infection myself. I don't want to review an album when I've been listening to it with slightly askew hearing. But everyone is recovered for the time being. So let's get to it.

As you probably know, this time of

Metal Briefs: Clearing the Docket

National Sunday Law: Festival of the Horned God (2012)
4 out of 5 stars

It's practically criminal how long I've been sitting on this one without a review, because it's actually pretty damn good. I have some trouble getting past that modern metal vocal style, but this is worth it. It's progressive and dark, with synths that bring to mind Mose Giganticus (the first track) or Opeth (the second).

Death Metal Briefs: Part 1000 or Whatever

Skelethal: Interstellar Knowledge of the Purple Entity (2014)
4.5 out of 5 stars

Skelethal is an extra-heavy, extra-doomy kind of Swe-death band. It's a very satisfying listen, and goes out on a high-energy, faster-paced tune. It definitely leaves me wanting more of this brand of death. I notice they're French. What the hell is going on in France now? How can France be home to the most vital

Betoken: Beyond Redemption (2014)

Inadvertently Correct Album TitleReview by joanismylover, the third metal attorney.

I have only been to a lounge once that played "lounge music." It was fun. We lounged around. We drank cocktails. We chilled. We requested Billy Joel be played by the piano man. We tipped said piano man when he played "Piano Man." It was relaxing, fun and a good time out. I'd never do it again, but it was

"Metal Lifestyle" Products

I was contacted by someone who is starting a line of "metal lifestyle" products. Naturally, I was curious about this. What are "metal lifestyle" products? I thought, perhaps, since most of us can't collect Nazi memorabilia like Lemmy does, because it's just not practical, maybe it's Paula Deen cookware. (Get it? Because . . . oh, never mind.)

So I clicked through to find that it's a blog (a

Torche: Restarter (2015)

Undeniably HeavyNot all that glitters is gold, not all that struts on seedy street corners is actually a woman, and not all that is heavy is brutal. Torche is undeniably heavy, but definitely not brutal. They’re not even dark. But I think you’re going to want to hear them anyway.

Restarter brings me actual joy—not that catharsis stuff, not the pleasure-through-displeasure of violent dissonance.

Studio Ghibli Drawings

OK, I promise this isn't going to completely transform into a poorly formatted stand-in for a Deviantart page. (Maybe I should sign up for a Deviantart, but anyway.) I still wanted to share some more drawings. I've found I really enjoy working with ink, and I'm slowly getting better at using it.


I fell in love with Studio Ghibli films more than a decade ago, and my kids and I were watching some

A work in progress:

The Lich and Pinkie Pie

I like to draw characters from shows that I watch with my kids. Here are the Lich (of Adventure Time) and Pinkie Pie (of My Little Pony Equestria Girls).

Satan's Host: Pre-Dating God, Parts 1 and 2 (2015)

Power Metal That’s Not a JokePower metal is a joke. If you’re American, you’re probably going to agree with me there, and I’m guessing there are a whole lot of extreme metal fans around the globe that feel the same way. But then, there are exceptions to that rule.

Satan’s Host is exceptional. A few years ago they blew my mind with their blackened power metal, and now they’re back to do it again.

Negură Bunget: Tău (2015)

ThineBy weird coincidence or a mood I’ve been in lately, my last two reviews have been for albums in the folk/pagan/black metal spectrum, and I’m continuing that trend with this one.

Romanian band Negură Bunget continue to practice that Eastern European brand of the style. Om and Vîrstele pămîntului were the Eastern European counterpart to Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room: Cinematic,

At the Heart of Winter

It's -10 here; 30 in Bergen. Who's grim and frostbitten now? I just got home from walking the dogs. Three miles. 
I fucking love winter. 

Panopticon: Roads to the North (2014)

Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need RoadsIf you haven’t heard Panopticon’s Kentucky, then stop reading this right now and buy that album. It is essential. A keystone of the present-day metal landscape, and a triumph. When you’re done absorbing that one, come back here.

. . .

Ready? OK. Now, Roads to the North isn’t quite the revelation Kentucky was. That brilliant interplay of traditional protest

Primordial: Where Greater Men Have Fallen (2014)

One-of-a-KindIf you’re one of the few metalheads who isn’t familiar with Primordial, you’re missing an essential and truly unique piece of the metal landscape, and you need to go buy 2005’s The Gathering Wilderness right now. But most of you already have strong opinions on the band, mostly positive. Where Greater Men Have Fallen is a predictable continuation of the band’s trajectory, with

Lotus Thief: Rervm (2014)

Hey, Give Me My Lotus Back!Unless I’m mistaken, Lotus Thief began life on the companion Allies disc to Botanist’s Doom in Bloom. If you’re not familiar, that disc featured different bands using the drum tracks from the Botanist album to play completely new songs. It seems at least one of those has been fertilized and is now growing on its own.

The band features Otrebor (of Botanist) so of course

"You are using your guitar in metal as a weapon. It is an axe, literally, and you should be wielding it, right? Zhi-di-di-di-GA! Oh, yi-di-di-GUH, ERR! You're just chopping at these Middle Earth creatures with your axe, di-GA!"

--John Roderick

Joshua's Dungeon

Since this has always been a blog where I share whatever I feel like sharing, I thought I'd start posting some of the drawings I've been doing lately.


This is a dramatic/triumphant scene from history's greatest TV show, Adventure Time, where Finn obtains a sword that's literally made out of demon's blood and faces down a giant, maniacal monster.

Solefald: Norrønasongen - Kosmopolis Nord (2014 EP)

I don't quite know how to categorize Solefald, and this new EP doesn't make it any easier.

I was first introduced to them eons ago by The Metalcast, so they were a pretty early addition to my extreme metal library. (I almost wrote "oeuvre," but I'm trying not to be an asshole.) I had picked up their Icelandic Odyssey albums, which had a couple of fantastically killer songs and a whole lot of

I apologize for the slow pace of posts here lately. Between Christmas celebrations, my own illness knocking me out for a day, and the illness of my children (two tested positive for pertussis this week), I've been so busy I haven't had any time to listen to any new music. Hopefully I'll be back to it soon.

Dark Americana Briefs, Volume 19

King Buzzo: This Machine Kills Artists (2014)
3.5 out of 5 stars

King Buzzo (of Melvins fame) released an acoustic album in early 2014. It's entirely him and his acoustic guitar, sometimes with vocal distortion but mostly this is naked singer-songwriter. In mood and style I'd say it's pretty close to Wino's Adrift, with lively, energetic and surprisingly uptempo riffs but a downbeat mood. It