Artist: Altar Of Plagues

Pictured: Sunn O)))Questlove will get droned out with Sunn O))). MC Ride will form a side project with Pallbearer. Danny Brown will show The Atlas Moth all about that income tax swag. People might actually be able to hear Zola Jesus.All these are possible scenarios thanks to Hopscotch Festival.Taking place in Raleigh, NC from September 6-8, the fest brings an electric gathering that Chaos in

Altar of Plagues is releasing a split with Year of No Light via Music Fear Satan / Radar Swarm Records. The Altar of Plagues contribution to the split, originally conceived prior to the "White Tomb" sessions, is now available for streaming online via Brooklynvegan. The band also commented: "We are proud to finally share a piece of music that was... Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com

by BBG Two European titans of metal, Altar of Plagues and Year of No Light , have teamed up for a split LP due via Music Fear Satan / Radar Swarm Records. The two track release is available for streaming in FULL for the first time below. To order a copy of the release, head to Music Fear Satan / Radar Swarm Records or through your favorite distro like Season [...]

All this week, Tom Dare has been guiding you through how Black Metal has evolved over the course of the last two decades (check out parts one , two , three and four if you haven't already). Now, as the week draws to a close, we've asked Tom to put together the songs that have made it happen into a Spotify Slaylist , and in doing to to lovingly cobble them together in an order that somehow tries to make sense of the wildly differing styles that constitute the genre these [...]

In the final part of his look at the Black Metal evolution over the past 20 years, today Tom Dare is examining the murkier and more indistinct realms of "post"-Black Metal band, as well as those bands who might've moved beyond the boundaries of Black Metal musically, still remain within the genre in spirit, at least.... 6) Post-Black Metal The post-black metal mob (aka, the sub-sub-genre where we shove bands we don't know how else to label [...]

Candlelight recording artist Altar Of Plagues has revealed the dates of its upcoming European tour with French doom band Monarch. Stream songs from Altar Of Plagues' second full-length album "Mammal" by heading over to the band's Facebook page. FEB 17 AZTETXE AKOTZ ? Basque Country FEB 18 LA CONSERVERIE ? Angers, France FEB 19 CARLO LEVI ? Lie... Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com

Here we are. The end of the sixth year of the Nialler9 poll. Thank you all once again for voting. We had about 100 or so votes that made up the results in songs , new artists, EPs and now, the big one - albums. Our ultimate winner has topped the poll before that doesn't negate the indisputable fact that there's plenty of superb Irish music contained within this list... 25. The Ambience Affair - Burials 24. LaFaro - Easy Meat [...]

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Music is an intensely personal form of art - for both those who create and those who take the time to appreciate. Music is often reflective of time periods within life. I feel that this list represents a very significant change in my life within the last year: the disappearance of time. My list last year had records that I enjoyed on a very deep level. I spent a lot of time listening to

For those of you unfamiliar with the name Amit Sharma, he's the swish young longhair you'll have seen interviewing bands over on our YouTube channel. Amit is so superfly, that Corey Taylor once mistook him for an actual rockstar. True story. He really, really wanted his own page to tell you about his favourite albums [...]

We've shown you what Raz and Hugh's albums of the year are, but they're not the only ones responsible for the Thrash Hits Top 20 Albums of 2011. Oh no. We've got a whole load of contributors - writers, photographers, and miscellaneous behind-the-scenes types - that help keep Thrash Hits running smoothly, and the albums [...]

The votes are in, the arguments have been settled, and the fights concluded without too much bloodshed - The Thrash Hits Top 20 Albums of 2011 list is here. We polled all of our writers, photographers, and contributors as to what their favourite records of the year have been, and through a series of complex [...]

Ahh, it's that time of year again. One of my favorite times of the year in fact. Christmas lights, rampant consumerism, the approaching NFL playoffs, the sun beginning to set before 5pm which causes depression and sickness, and a chill in the air that feels like it wants to choke you to death. Seriously folks, the thing I actually love the most about this season is all of the fabulous "Best of

Every year we go to Candlefest. The Underworld, with all its delicious beer and heavy metal, is a wonderful way to spend an autumn day. We rocked it.

Let's do some maths. Whats's £15 divided by 8? It's £1.88, if you round up to the nearest whole penny. What's that got to do with Candlefest 2011? Well, tickets for Candlefest 2011 cost £15, there are (at least) 8 bands on the bill, and that figure of £1.88 is how much you'll be paying [...]

A headline like "Tori Amos Issues Challenge to Metal Bands" is hard to ignore. So I went over to Spinner.com to read this interview with Ms Amos, and this is what she had to say: "Well, look, sometimes you don't know how music affects people. I embrace that because I don't think that just because I [...]

It's been a bit of a slow news day, but thankfully Damnation Festival have come to rescue by announcing the final seven bands of their 2011 line-up, chief among them being Grand Magus. Joining the Swedish metal outift in he final brace of bands to be added to the bill are Cerebral Bore, Conan, A Forest Of Stars, Humanfly, Talons, [...]

There are many awesome things about touring. You get to see new places, make new friends, hang with old ones, get free booze (sometimes), develop sweet guns from lugging gear around (Seriously, you should see my biceps. I'm straight-up Amazonian by this point.), make a little money (sometimes) and, if you're lucky, get to listen [...]

When a debut album smacks you between the eyes and forces you to pay attention, there's always the risk the follow up will not live up to it. It takes a fairly special band to build on what they have done before, to improve every single aspect of their music and develop stylistically into an even more distinctive beast. With their second full-length Mammal, Altar Of Plagues prove just how

Before the quibbling starts: I didn't include YOB's Atma because it isn't out until August. It would be way up there. I've also been listening to Dragged Into Sunlight's Hatred For Mankind quite a bit, but since it has an original release date of '09 before Prosthetic's 2011 reissue, I didn't include that either. On the other side of things, I've recently started listening pretty intensely to Servile Sect's Trvth (Handmade Birds), a collection that feels like it'll stick around for awhile. Otherwise, this is what I've found myself returning to [...]

Hailing from Cork, Altar of Plagues are easily one of the most interesting young bands to come out of Ireland today. Their debut album White Tomb gained them international recognition, tours with the likes of Isis and Mayhem, and a hard won fanbase. With such reputable musicians as Aaron Turner (Isis/Hyrdahead Records) and Ben Frost singing their praises many were left wondering how White Tomb would ever be topped. Mammal is a brilliantly executed and wonderfully diverse album. All in all it exudes confidence beyond the band's years and exhibits a well refined [...]